The Word On The Street

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Here is the bible verse quoted in today's episode:

Colossians 4:2-6, “Never give up praying. And when you pray, keep alert and be thankful. Be sure to pray that God will make a way for us to spread his message and explain the mystery about Christ, even though I am in jail for doing this. Please pray that I will make the message as clear as possible.

When you are with unbelievers, always make good use of the time. Be pleasant and hold their interest when you speak the message. Choose your words carefully and be ready to give answers to anyone who asks questions.”

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Never stop praying.”

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Here is the bible verse quoted in today's episode:

Philippians 2:7-8, “Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought."

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

1 Peter 1:16, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

Philippians 2:3-5, “Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought.”

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For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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Here is the bible verse quoted in today's episode:

John 13:34-35, “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

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Discover in this episode why Christians value the Bible so much!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Hebrews 4:12-13, "God's word is alive and powerful! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts. Nothing is hidden from God! He sees through everything, and we will have to tell him the truth.”

2 Timothy 3:16 “Everything in the Scriptures is God Breathed. All of it is useful for teaching and helping people and for correcting them and showing them how to live.”

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Christians believe there are a number of Biblical truths that are well worth committing to memory. These are truths that we believe are of great importance and are useful in helping us to live the Christian life well. We call these the Christian Values. Our prayer is that we will all hold these truths in our hearts, treasure them, commit them to our memories and do our best to live by them every day.

This series will be focused on teaching these values in every episode. Our goal is that you may learn about them in the hopes that you may value these things too.

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In this episode you will discover a type of love that is so much more than all the others!

AGAPE (pronounced: Uh-GAH-pay) is God’s love for humankind - perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, pure, selfless and heroic. It is not about feelings but about actions. We are called to love like that too.

The Bible Verses in this episode:

JOHN 3:16 “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.

MATTHEW 22:36-39, “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?” Jesus answered: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”

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This is the perfect episode for your family to listen in the car together on a short trip!

This episode is about the Greek word PHILIA (pronounced FILL-ee-uh) which is a strong friendship/intimate love, personal, dear, care, compassion, affection.

The Bible verse today is:

JOHN 13:35 “If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

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This episode is perfect for a quick car trip with the kids and explains love that is talked about by Paul in Romans called STORGE (pronounced: STOR-jay) στοργή

Today's Bible Verse:

ROMANS 12:10, “Love each other as brothers and sisters.” As family. Parents and their child. Between siblings. Grandparents. Natural affection due to being related.

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Love is the key theme that runs throughout the whole Bible, but does love in Biblical times mean the same as the term love today? Tune in to find out!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

JOHN 3:16 “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.”

The 4 types of love in Ancient Greek that appear in the Bible:

EROS Pronounced: AIR-ohs - romantic love - 1 COR 7:5 There isn’t much in the bible about this and what is there is not relevant for this podcast! So let’s move on!

STORGE Pronounced: STOR-jay - familial love - ROMANS 12:10, “Love each other as brothers and sisters.” As family. Parents and their child. Between siblings. Grandparents. Natural affection due to being related. With God as our heavenly Father, people who believe in Jesus are family. Not like family, actual family!

PHILIA Pronounced: FILL-ee-uh - strong friendship/intimate love, personal, dear, care, compassion, affection - JOHN 13:35 “If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

AGAPE Pronounced: Uh-GAH-pay - God’s love for humankind. Perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, pure. Selfless. Heroic. It is not about feelings but about actions. JOHN 3:16 “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die.”

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There are many versions of the events of the nativity recorded in picture books, in movies and most accurately in the Bible. Today's episode contains the story of Jesus according to Luke.

This is the final episode of The Word On The Street for 2023.

Don't forget to subscribe so that you may be notified when new episodes arrive to mark the beginning of Season 5.

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The bible passage from today's episode can be found at Luke 1-2.

Today's Questions:

How can we fix our eyes on Jesus this Christmas?
How can we help those we know around us to fix their eyes on Jesus this Christmas?
What is a Christmas tradition that you might like to start and do every December that can help you to focus on Jesus?

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Jesus lived in Heaven with God before coming to earth. What was coming to earth like? Humbling for sure, and not just because he was born to ordinary parents, placed in a manger and visited by lowly shepherds. It was humbling because he lost his high status! But did he think it was worth it? Tune in to find out!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:Bible Passage: Philippians 2:5-11

Christ was truly God.
But he did not try to remain
equal with God.

Instead he gave up everything
and became a slave,
when he became
like one of us.

Christ was humble.
He obeyed God and even died
on a cross.

Then God gave Christ
the highest place
and honored his name
above all others.

So at the name of Jesus
everyone will bow down,
those in heaven, on earth,
and under the earth.

And to the glory
of God the Father
everyone will openly agree,
“Jesus Christ is Lord!”

Today's Questions:

How has today’s episode changed the way you see the nativity story of Jesus’ birth?
Does Jesus’ humility, when he gave up his high position in heaven, spur you on to be more humble and how?

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Presents can satisfy us for a short time (days, months or maybe even a few years) but Jesus can give us a deep satisfaction that lasts for eternity! Tune into this episode to hear about Paul's life and how he achieved this contentment.

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:4

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here. Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything.”

Bible Passage: Hebrews 13:5

Don't fall in love with money. Be satisfied with what you have.

Bible Passage: 1 Timothy 6:7-8

We didn't bring anything into this world, and we won’t take anything with us when we leave. So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes.

Bible Passage: Ecclesiastes 6:9

It's better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.

Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

I have worked harder and have been put in jail more times. I have been beaten with whips more and have been in danger of death more often.

Five times my own people gave me 39 lashes with a whip. Three times the Romans beat me with a big stick, and once my enemies stoned me. I have been shipwrecked three times, and I even had to spend a night and a day in the sea. During my many travels, I have been in danger from rivers, robbers, my own people, and foreigners. My life has been in danger in cities, in deserts, at sea, and with people who only pretended to be the Lord's followers.

I have worked and struggled and spent many sleepless nights. I have gone hungry and thirsty and often had nothing to eat. I have been cold from not having enough clothes to keep me warm. Besides everything else, each day I am burdened down, worrying about all the churches.

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:11-13

I am not complaining about having too little. I have learned to be satisfied with whatever I have.I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions. I know what it means to be full or to be hungry, to have too much or too little.Christ gives me the strength to face anything.

Today's Questions:

Imagine you were Paul and put in jail. How would you feel? Do you think you might sing praises in the cell, or do you think you might do something else?
What do you think you need to do in order to feel complete peaceful happiness?

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In this episode Anna chats about how what you focus your thoughts on is the direction you end up going in life, so make sure you take charge of your thoughts and focus on things God wants you to focus on. What is that? Tune in to this episode to find out!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:8-9

Finally, my friends, keep your minds on whatever is true, pure, right, holy, friendly, and proper. Don't ever stop thinking about what is truly worthwhile and worthy of praise.

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Bible Passage: Colossians 3:1-2

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

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You might have heard the advice, don’t worry, be happy. This comes from the Bible, but we are to have a better, deeper happiness that is centred in the Lord! How can we ditch the worries and be happy? Tune in to this episode to find out!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Always be gentle with others. The Lord will soon be here. Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel.

Bible Passage: Philippians 3:1

My brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you.

Today's Questions:

What are some things that you worry about now and what are some things that might worry you in the future?
Pray together now, asking God to take away all your worries on him.

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Completing a goal like a running race for a prize is just like living life with a faith in Jesus - you’ve got to make sure you finish with your faith in order to get the prize of heaven. In this episode, be encouraged to keep on going, to not quit or give up so that you succeed in getting to the finishing line of heaven!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 3:12-14

I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize. My friends, I don't feel I have already arrived. But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. I run toward the goal, so I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done.

Bible Passage: Luke 23:39-43

One of the criminals hanging there also insulted Jesus by saying, “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and save us!”

But the other criminal told the first one off, “Don't you fear God? Aren't you getting the same punishment as this man?We got what was coming to us, but he didn't do anything wrong.” Then he said to Jesus, “Remember me when you come into power!”

Jesus replied, “I promise that today you will be with me in paradise.”

Bible Passage: Hebrews 12:1-3

So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won't let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us. We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God's throne! So keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners. Then you won't get discouraged and give up.

Today's Questions:

Do you find it hard or easy to keep your mind on Jesus? Why?
What things can we do to keep our eyes on Jesus more?

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Getting excited about our skills, our achievements or our possessions is a thing we all do, but is it good to? This episode challenges this norm and encourages you to boast in Jesus instead!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 3:3-8

But we serve God by his Spirit, and we can boast in Christ Jesus. We don't brag about what we have done, although I could. Others may brag about themselves, but I have more reason to brag than anyone else. I was circumcised when I was eight days old, and I am from the nation of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a true Hebrew. As a Pharisee, I strictly obeyed the Law of Moses. And I was so eager I even made trouble for the church. I did everything the Law demands in order to please God.

But Christ has shown me that what I once thought was valuable is worthless. Nothing is as wonderful as knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have given up everything else and count it all as garbage.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 2:8-9

You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God's gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.It isn't something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.

Today's Questions:

Do you have a skill or achievement that God has given you that you might be guilty of bragging about?
What is a sentence that you could say that would be bragging in Christ Jesus?

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Christians are called to be different, but in a good way, and to shine like stars in the dark world. Tune into this episode to get encouraged to keep on being different for Jesus!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 2:15b-16

You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything they can say is wrong. Try to shine as stars in the world, as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. Then on the day when Christ returns, I can take pride in you. I can also know that my work and efforts were not useless.

Today's Questions:

What is it that you might do to show God that you are shining like a star in the world for him?
What things might make it hard to shine like stars?

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In this episode we dive into the first chapter of Philippians where Paul encourages his readers to continue helping him in the work of spreading the good news. What a fantastic goal for anyone who follows Jesus!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Philippians 1:3-7

Every time I think of you, I thank my God.And whenever I mention you in my prayers, it makes me happy. This is because you have taken part with me in spreading the good news from the first day you heard about it. God is the one who began this good work in you, and I am certain that he won't stop before it is complete on the day that Christ Jesus returns.

Bible Passage: Philippians 1:17-21

Some are preaching about Christ because they are jealous and envious of us. Others are preaching because they want to help.They love Christ and know I am here to defend the good news about him. But the ones who are jealous of us are not sincere. They just want to cause trouble for me while I am in jail.But that doesn't matter. All that matters is that people are telling about Christ, whether they are sincere or not. This is what makes me glad.

I will keep on being glad, because I know that your prayers and the help that comes from the Spirit of Christ Jesus will keep me safe.I honestly expect and hope I will never do anything to be ashamed of. Whether I live or die, I always want to be as brave as I am now and bring honor to Christ.

If I live, it will be for Christ, and if I die, I will gain even more.

Today's Questions:

Why might a Christian have spreading the gospel as one of their goals in life?
If you had a friend who asked, “What you have to believe if you want to be a Christian?” what would you say? And if you want to, do a role play now, taking turns to be the friend.

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Mark wrote his gospel so that he could share about who Jesus is. All the stories so far have given us clues but now, in this episode, we can hear Jesus explain who he is very clearly, and he also explains all about what he is going to do.

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Psalm 110:1-2

The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right side,

until I make your enemies
into a footstool for you.”

The Lord will let your power
reach out from Zion,

and you will rule
over your enemies.

Bible Passage: Isaiah 53:4-5

He suffered and endured

great pain for us,

but we thought his suffering

was punishment from God.

He was wounded and crushed

because of our sins;

by taking our punishment,

he made us completely well.

Bible Passage: Mark 8:27-33

Jesus and his disciples went to the villages near the town of Caesarea Philippi. As they were walking along, he asked them, “What do people say about me?”

The disciples answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist or maybe Elijah. Others say you are one of the prophets.”

Then Jesus asked, “But who do you say I am?”

“You are the Messiah!” Peter replied.

Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anyone about him.

Today's Questions:

Do you remember what the 2 parts of the Messiah are and how do you think they go together?
The suffering servant and the Mighty Warrior (or conquering king) are 2 ways to describe Jesus. What other words would you use to describe Jesus?
If you were one of the disciples and you heard Jesus tell you all about how he was going to die, would you believe him or would you think he was lying and then be surprised when it actually happened?

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Jesus healed people, performed amazing miracles and told wonderful stories, but he sometimes spoke plainly and told of new things that no one had heard before. Some people loved the new teaching but others didn’t. Find out more about the controversial things Jesus said in this episode!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 7:1-23

Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus.They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.

The Pharisees and many others obey the teachings of their ancestors. They always wash their hands in the proper way before eating.None of them will eat anything they buy in the market until it is washed. They also follow a lot of other teachings, such as washing cups, pitchers, and bowls.

The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

“All of you praise me
with your words,

but you never really
think about me.

It is useless for you
to worship me,

when you teach rules
made up by humans.”

You disobey God's commands in order to obey what humans have taught. You are good at rejecting God's commands so that you can follow your own teachings! Didn't Moses command you to respect your father and mother? Didn't he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they own has been offered to God.You won't let those people help their parents.And you ignore God's commands in order to follow your own teaching. You do a lot of other things just as bad.

Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Pay attention and try to understand what I mean.The food that you put into your mouth doesn't make you unclean and unfit to worship God. The bad words that come out of your mouth are what make you unclean.”

After Jesus and his disciples had left the crowd and gone into the house, they asked him what these sayings meant. He answered, “Don't you know what I am talking about by now? You surely know that the food you put into your mouth cannot make you unclean. It doesn't go into your heart, but into your stomach, and then out of your body.” By saying this, Jesus meant that all foods were fit to eat.

Then Jesus said:

What comes from your heart is what makes you unclean. Out of your heart come evil thoughts, vulgar deeds, stealing, murder, unfaithfulness in marriage, greed, meanness, deceit, indecency, envy, insults, pride, and foolishness.All of these come from your heart, and they are what make you unfit to worship God.

Today's Questions:

What unclean things do you remember from Jesus list? Was there anything that you think might be in your heart that you want to get out?
If there was a list of good things in your heart, what might be in that list?
Does doing good things get us eternal life with God? If not, what does?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 7:1-23

Some Pharisees and several teachers of the Law of Moses from Jerusalem came and gathered around Jesus.They noticed that some of his disciples ate without first washing their hands.

The Pharisees and teachers asked Jesus, “Why don't your disciples obey what our ancestors taught us to do? Why do they eat without washing their hands?”

Jesus replied:

You are nothing but show-offs! The prophet Isaiah was right when he wrote that God had said,

“All of you praise me
with your words,
but you never really
think about me.

It is useless for you
to worship me,
when you teach rules
made up by humans.”

Then Jesus said:

Today's Questions:

What unclean things do you remember from Jesus list? Was there anything that you think might be in your heart that you want to get out?
If there was a list of good things in your heart, what might be in that list?
Does doing good things get us eternal life with God? If not, what does?

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For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 16:33

Ahab did more to make the Lord God of Israel angry than any king of Israel before him.

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 17:1

One day Elijah went to King Ahab and said, “I'm a servant of the living Lord, the God of Israel. And I swear in his name that it won't rain until I say so. There won't even be any dew on the ground.”

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 18:1

For three years no rain fell in Samaria, and there was almost nothing to eat anywhere. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go and meet with King Ahab. I will soon make it rain.” So Elijah went to see Ahab.

Bible Passage: Mark 4:35-41

That evening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let's cross to the east side.” So they left the crowd, and his disciples started across the lake with him in the boat. Some other boats followed along. Suddenly a storm struck the lake. Waves started splashing into the boat, and it was about to sink.

Jesus was in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow, and he was asleep. His disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, don't you care that we're about to drown?”

Jesus got up and ordered the wind and the waves to be quiet. The wind stopped, and everything was calm.

Jesus asked his disciples, “Why were you afraid? Don't you have any faith?”

Now they were more afraid than ever and said to each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Bible Passage: Mark 6:45-52

At once, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and start back across to Bethsaida. But he stayed until he had sent the crowds away. Then he told them goodbye and went up on the side of a mountain to pray.

Later in the evening he was still there by himself, and the boat was somewhere in the middle of the lake.He could see that the disciples were struggling hard, because they were rowing against the wind. Not long before morning, Jesus came toward them. He was walking on the water and was about to pass the boat.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost, and they started screaming. All of them saw him and were terrified. But at this same time he said, “Don't worry! I am Jesus. Don't be afraid.”He then got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. The disciples were completely confused. Their minds were closed, and they could not understand the true meaning of the loaves of bread.

Today's Questions:

Why do you think God chooses to make it a drought sometimes - make it so that it doesn’t rain for ages?
How do you feel knowing that God can control the weather? Is it a comfort to you or is it scary? Explain your answer.
Do you have faith that Jesus can do these amazing things even though you haven’t seen it like the disciples did?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 6:30-44

After the apostles returned to Jesus, they told him everything they had done and taught.But so many people were coming and going that Jesus and the apostles did not even have a chance to eat. Then Jesus said, “Let's go to a place where we can be alone and get some rest.” They left in a boat for a place where they could be alone. But many people saw them leave and figured out where they were going. So people from every town ran on ahead and got there first.

When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw the large crowd that was like sheep without a shepherd. He felt sorry for the people and started teaching them many things.

That evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This place is like a desert, and it's already late.Let the crowds leave, so they can go to the farms and villages near here and buy something to eat.”

Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

But they asked him, “Don't you know it would take almost a year's wages to buy all of these people something to eat?”

Then Jesus said, “How much bread do you have? Go and see!”

They found out and answered, “We have five small loaves of bread and two fish.”Jesus told his disciples to tell the people to sit down on the green grass. They sat down in groups of 100 and groups of 50.

Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and handed it to his disciples to give to the people. He also divided the two fish, so everyone could have some.

After everyone had eaten all they wanted, Jesus' disciples picked up twelve large baskets of leftover bread and fish.

There were 5,000 men who ate the food.

Bible Passage: Mark 8:1-9

One day another large crowd gathered around Jesus. They had not brought along anything to eat. So Jesus called his disciples together and said,“I feel sorry for these people. They have been with me for three days, and they don't have anything to eat.Some of them live a long way from here. If I send them away hungry, they might faint on their way home.”

The disciples said, “This place is like a desert. Where can we find enough food to feed such a crowd?”

Jesus asked them how much food they had. They replied, “Seven small loaves of bread.”

After Jesus told the crowd to sit down, he took the seven loaves and gave thanks. He then broke the loaves and handed them to his disciples, who passed them out to the crowd.They also had a few little fish, and after Jesus had blessed these, he told the disciples to pass them around.

The crowd of about 4,000 people ate all they wanted, and the leftovers filled seven large baskets.

Bible Passage: John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the one
who is called the Word.

The Word was with God
and was truly God.

From the very beginning
the Word was with God.

And with this Word,
God created all things.

Nothing was made
without the Word.

Today's Questions:

How do you think Jesus making the bread and fish actually happened?
Why do you think Jesus made more fish and bread than he needed to?
Why did the disciples, the second time there was a hungry crowd, not ask Jesus to feed them again, knowing that he could?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 5:21-24, 36-43

Once again Jesus got into the boat and crossed Lake Galilee. Then as he stood on the shore, a large crowd gathered around him.The person in charge of the synagogue was also there. His name was Jairus, and when he saw Jesus, he went over to him. He knelt at Jesus' feetand started begging him for help. He said, “My little daughter is about to die! Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live.” Jesus went with Jairus. Many people followed along and kept crowding around…

While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from Jairus' home and said, “Your daughter has died! Why bother the teacher anymore?”

Jesus heard what they said, and he said to Jairus, “Don't worry. Just have faith!”

Jesus did not let anyone go with him except Peter and the two brothers, James and John. They went home with Jairus and saw the people crying and making a lot of noise.Then Jesus went inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn't dead. She is just asleep.”But the people laughed at him.

After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl's father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was. He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, “Talitha, koum!” which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got right up and started walking around.

Everyone was greatly surprised.But Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened. Then he said, “Give her something to eat.”

Today's Questions:

Why do you think Jesus chose to bring Jairus’s daughter back to life and not everyone else?
How did Jesus get the power over life and death?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 4:21-23

Jesus also said, “You don't light a lamp and put it under a clay pot or under a bed. Don't you put a lamp on a lampstand? There is nothing hidden that will not be made public. There is no secret that will not be well known. If you have ears, pay attention!

Bible Passage: Mark 4:26-29

Again Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like what happens when a farmer scatters seed in a field. The farmer sleeps at night and is up and around during the day. Yet the seeds keep sprouting and growing, and he doesn't understand how. It is the ground that makes the seeds sprout and grow into plants that produce grain. Then when harvest season comes and the grain is ripe, the farmer cuts it with a sickle.”

Bible Passage: Mark 4:30-32

Finally, Jesus said, “What is God's kingdom like? What story can I use to explain it?It is like what happens when a mustard seed is planted in the ground. It is the smallest seed in all the world.But once it is planted, it grows larger than any garden plant. It even puts out branches that are big enough for birds to nest in its shade.”

Bible Passage: Mark 4:33-34

Jesus used many other stories when he spoke to the people, and he taught them as much as they could understand.He did not tell them anything without using stories. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

Today's Questions:

Can you create a new parable like the one about the mustard seed, but using seeds or trees you are more familiar with?
What do you think of Jesus’ Parables? Do you have a favourite one?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 2:1-12

Jesus went back to Capernaum, and a few days later people heard that he was at home.Then so many of them came to the house that there wasn't even standing room left in front of the door.

Jesus was still teachingwhen four people came up, carrying a man on a mat because he could not walk.But because of the crowd, they could not get him to Jesus. So they made a hole in the roof above him and let the man down in front of everyone.

When Jesus saw how much faith they had, he said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven.”

Some of the teachers of the Law of Moses were sitting there. They started wondering,“Why would he say such a thing? He must think he is God! Only God can forgive sins.”

At once, Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said, “Why are you thinking such things?Is it easier for me to tell this man his sins are forgiven or to tell him to get up and pick up his mat and go on home?I will show you that the Son of Man has the right to forgive sins here on earth.” So Jesus said to the man,“Get up! Pick up your mat and go on home.”

The man got right up. He picked up his mat and went out while everyone watched in amazement. They praised God and said, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Today's Questions:

What are some of the things in your life that you think you need?
How important do you think it is to have your sins “fixed” compared to the other things you need?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Mark 1:15

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

Bible Passage: Mark 1:16-20

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Bible Passage: Mark 1:29-34

As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they immediately told Jesus about her. So he went to her, took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them.

That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

Bible Passage: Mark 1:35-39

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

Bible Passage: Mark 1:40-45

A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.

Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.

Today's Questions:

Jesus can do all kinds of miracles. Why do you think Jesus chose to spend time healing so many people?
What might the people who flocked to Jesus be thinking about who he is and where he gets his power from?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Mark 1:1

“This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (CEV)

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (ESV)

Mark 1:4-11

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;[d] with you I am well pleased.”

Today's Questions:

If you were one of the crowd at the river with John the Baptist when he baptised Jesus, what would you think of the heavens being torn open and the spirit coming down like bird?
What are your thoughts on Jesus getting baptised and why he needed to do that?

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Praying on all occasions can be hard but always worthwhile. In this episode you will find out how easy it is to pray, why we often forget to utilise this amazing offer from God (he is always listening!) and why it is good for us to pray on all occasions.

Today's Questions:

How can you help yourself to get into better praying habits?
When the war is happening, whose team would you like to be on and if you said God’s team, what can you do that might help you to remain in God’s team?

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:14-17

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Bible Passage: Hebrews 12:2-3

We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God's throne! So keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners. Then you won't get discouraged and give up.

Bible Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Never stop praying.

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:6

Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God.

Click on this link for the entire podcast series on WINNING THE BATTLE.

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Here is the 9th episode in the series on Winning the Battle.

Having the Sword of the Spirit with you at all times is like playing sport on a team with a teammate who guarantees wins in every single game they play. How awesome is going into battle with someone like that!

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Check out more episodes on The Word Of God

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:14-17

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 6:19

You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God.

Bible Passage: John 16:7

It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Bible Passage: Acts 2:38

Peter said to them, “Turn to God and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Bible Passage: Acts 2:1-13

On the day of Pentecost all the Lord's followers were together in one place. Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.

Many religious Jews from every country in the world were living in Jerusalem. And when they heard this noise, a crowd gathered. But they were surprised, because they were hearing everything in their own languages. They were excited and amazed, and said:

Don't all these who are speaking come from Galilee? Then why do we hear them speaking our very own languages? Some of us are from Parthia, Media, and Elam. Others are from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya near Cyrene, Rome, 11 Crete, and Arabia. Some of us were born Jews, and others of us have chosen to be Jews. Yet we all hear them using our own languages to tell the wonderful things God has done.

Everyone was excited and confused. Some of them even kept asking each other, “What does all this mean?”

Others made fun of the Lord's followers and said, “They are drunk.”

Bible Passage: Acts 2:38-42

Peter said to them, “Turn to God and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live.”

Peter told them many other things as well. Then he said, “I beg you to save yourselves from what will happen to all these evil people.” On that day about 3,000 believed his message and were baptized. They spent their time learning from the apostles, and they were like family to each other. They also broke bread and prayed together.

Today's Questions:

Do you have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your body and if yes, can you feel him or sense him there? Chat about what you might be feeling or sensing.
The Holy Spirit is a sword to fight off Satan and his evil army, what else can he do?

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What is salvation and how does it protect our minds from the evil one? Wearing it like a helmet! Tune in to find out all about it in this episode.

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:14-17

Bible Passage: Romans 10:9

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Bible Passage: Romans 6:23

Sin pays off with death. But God's gift is eternal life given by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Bible Passage: Acts 9:1-19

Saul kept on threatening to kill the Lord's followers. He even went to the high priest and asked for letters to the leaders of the synagogues in Damascus. He did this because he wanted to arrest and take to Jerusalem any man or woman who had accepted the Lord's Way. When Saul had almost reached Damascus, a bright light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul! Saul! Why are you so cruel to me?”

“Who are you?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus,” the Lord answered. “I am the one you are so cruel to. Now get up and go into the city, where you will be told what to do.”

The men with Saul stood there speechless. They had heard the voice, but they had not seen anyone. Saul got up from the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he could not see a thing. Someone then led him by the hand to Damascus, and for three days he was blind and did not eat or drink.

A follower named Ananias lived in Damascus, and the Lord spoke to him in a vision. Ananias answered, “Lord, here I am.”

The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the house of Judas on Straight Street. When you get there, you will find a man named Saul from the city of Tarsus. Saul is praying, and he has seen a vision. He saw a man named Ananias coming to him and putting his hands on him, so he could see again.”

Ananias replied, “Lord, a lot of people have told me about the terrible things this man has done to your followers in Jerusalem. Now the chief priests have given him the power to come here and arrest anyone who worships in your name.”

The Lord said to Ananias, “Go! I have chosen him to tell foreigners, kings, and the people of Israel about me. I will show him how much he must suffer for worshiping in my name.”

Ananias left and went into the house where Saul was staying. Ananias placed his hands on him and said, “Saul, the Lord Jesus has sent me. He is the same one who appeared to you along the road. He wants you to be able to see and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Suddenly something like fish scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see. He got up and was baptized. Then he ate and felt much better.

Today's Questions:

This question is for an adult listening in. Explain to the child or children you are with about what kind of changes you made in your life after being saved by Jesus.
How can you wear salvation like team colours to identify yourself as a christian to those around you?

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When unforeseen events come flying your way that draw you away from God, maybe they are flaming arrows from the evil one. In order to protect yourself, make sure you carry your faith around with you as it is the best shield there is for such arrows! Tune in to find out more about faith and to hear a story about a disciple who showed a lack of faith (Thomas) and what Jesus says about it.

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Ephesians 6:14-16

Hebrews 11:1

Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.

John 20:19-20, 24-29

The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. He greeted them and showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they became very happy.

Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn't with the others when Jesus appeared to them. So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But Thomas said, “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won't believe unless I do this!”

A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!”

Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!”

Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!”

Today's Questions:

Do you ever have doubts that God is real?
We can’t be like Thomas and actually see Jesus and his scars, so what other way can we get rid of the doubts that creep in and stop us from having faith?
Did you say pray? I think asking for God’s help may be the best option for getting rid of doubts, so for the 3rd point, why not pray together now, for God to give you a strong faith in him.

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We will need to prepare ourselves to be ready for a battle against Satan. In this episode Anna tackles the subject of not being pushed around by Satan, being ready for him and standing your ground. We can do this by believing in the Gospel of Peace because Jesus gets rid of our sin and makes us complete!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Ephesians 6:13-15

“Put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

Today's Questions:

Are you ever tempted to fight using violence? How does God want us to fight?
Do you feel complete and at peace with God, knowing that Jesus has saved you from your sins? How do we get to feel it?

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Being right or righteous, in the Bible, means having a perfect relationship with God. If we have all sinned then how is this possible!? And how does this righteousness help us to protect ourselves against Satan in a battle? Tune in to this episode to find out all about it!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Ephesians 6:13-14

“Put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place."

Romans 10:1-4

“Dear friends, my greatest wish and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. I know they love God, but they don't understand what makes people acceptable/righteous to him. So they refuse to trust God, and they try to be righteous by obeying the Law. But Christ makes the Law no longer necessary for those who become acceptable/righteous to God by faith.”

2 Corinthians 5:21

“Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so Christ could make us righteous to God.”

Today's Questions:

Are you right with God? If no, do you want to be?
How might being righteous help you to win the battle against Satan?

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How important is the truth when battling against the evil one? Very, since Jesus says that he is the truth! Find out about the importance of honesty, about Jesus being the truth and hear the story of Zacchaeus, all this episode!

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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Proverbs 12:22

God can’t stomach liars; he loves the company of those who keep their word.

Proverbs 12:19

Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.

Ephesians 6:10-17

Let the mighty strength of the Lord make you strong. Put on all the armor that God gives, so you can defend yourself against the devil's tricks. We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world. So put on all the armor that God gives. Then when that evil day comes, you will be able to defend yourself. And when the battle is over, you will still be standing firm.

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus was going through Jericho, where a man named Zacchaeus lived. He was in charge of collecting taxes and was very rich. Jesus was heading his way, and Zacchaeus wanted to see what he was like. But Zacchaeus was a short man and could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree.

When Jesus got there, he looked up and said, “Zacchaeus, hurry down! I want to stay with you today.” Zacchaeus hurried down and gladly welcomed Jesus.

Everyone who saw this started grumbling, “This man Zacchaeus is a sinner! And Jesus is going home to eat with him.”

Later that day Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my property to the poor. And I will now pay back four times as much to everyone I have ever cheated.”

Jesus said to Zacchaeus, “Today you and your family have been saved, because you are a true son of Abraham. The Son of Man came to look for and to save people who are lost.”

John 14:6

“I am the way, the truth and the life.” - Jesus

Hebrews 12:2

"We must keep our eyes on Jesus."

Today's Questions:

Do you know someone who is not always honest. How do you see them?
How important is the truth to you? Why?

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Paul talks about the Armour Of God being a way to equip ourselves against the evil one. Some of the questions answered in today's episode include why is it important to be prepared and how does armour work. Listen to this episode to hear the answers to that, as well as a famous story about a boy who refused to wear armour to battle!
WARNING: This episode contains information about Satan. If you do not want your child to know about Satan please don't listen to this episode. If you child is ok to watch villains in Disney movies, then it is likely they will be ok to tune into this episode.
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Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:
Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:10-13
Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:14-17 "Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

Today's Questions:

What is Satan’s goal with you?
How do you think that he will try and achieve that goal?

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ALL PAST EPISODES ON LOVE CAN BE FOUND HERE

Here are some of the Bible Passages directly or indirectly quoted in the episode:

Bible Passage: Colossians 3:13

And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:13

“Faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love.”

Story Time! Bible Passage: Luke 1:28-38

The angel Gabriel greeted Mary and said, “You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was confused by the angel's words and wondered what they meant.Then the angel told Mary, “Don't be afraid! God is pleased with you, and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was.He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Mary asked the angel, “How can this happen? I am not even married!”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God's power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God.Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son. Nothing is impossible for God!”

Mary said, “I am the Lord's servant! Let it happen as you have said.” And the angel left her.

Bible Passage: Matthew 1:18-25

“This is how Jesus Christ was born. A young woman named Mary was engaged to Joseph from King David's family. But before they were married, she learned that she was going to have a baby by God's Holy Spirit. Joseph was a good man and did not want to embarrass Mary in front of everyone. So he decided to quietly call off the wedding.

While Joseph was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, the baby that Mary will have is from the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry her. Then after her baby is born, name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

So the Lord's promise came true, just as the prophet had said, “A virgin will have a baby boy, and he will be called Immanuel,” which means “God is with us.”

After Joseph woke up, he and Mary were soon married, just as the Lord's angel had told him to do. But they did not sleep together before her baby was born. Then Joseph named him Jesus.”

Question Time!

Why is love the most important thing to do?
Can you think of any more wonderful love stories in the Bible?
How can we get better at this loving thing? How can we practise thinking of others rather than ourselves all the time?

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Here are the bible passages from today’s episode:

Bible Passage: Romans 15:13

“I pray that God, who gives hope, will bless you with joy and peace because of your faith.”

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:4

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Rejoice simply means be joyful.

Story Time! Bible Passage: Matthew 2:1-12

“When Jesus was born in the village of Bethlehem in Judea, Herod was king. During this time some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and said, “Where is the child born to be king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard about this, he was worried, and so was everyone else in Jerusalem. Herod brought together the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses and asked them, “Where will the Messiah be born?”

They told him, “He will be born in Bethlehem, just as the prophet wrote,

‘Bethlehem in the land
of Judea,
you are very important
among the towns of Judea.
From your town
will come a leader,
who will be like a shepherd
for my people Israel.’ ”

Herod secretly called in the wise men and asked them when they had first seen the star. He told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, let me know. I also want to go and worship him.”

The wise men listened to what the king said and then left. And the star they had seen in the east went on ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

When the men went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they knelt down and worshiped him. They took out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and gave them to him.Later they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went back home by another road.”

We have hope in Jesus - that he will return and make everything right again and remove sin once and for all.

We have peace with God, having our sins dealt with by Jesus. We can be friends again!

And we have joy through Jesus, because he is everything we need.

Question Time!

What brings you joy?
Do you find it easy or hard to get excited and feel joy about Jesus? Why/why not?

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Once you have listened to this episode and discussed the questions, if you want to learn more about what a Christian is and how to become a Christian, make sure you tune into the episode titled How To Become A Christian.

This episode today is focused on PEACE.
Peace means to be in a situation that is not violent or hostile or full of arguing. It is a situation that is calm, everyone gets along and is full of harmony.

There are many bible passages that mention peace.
Here are the bible passages mentioned in the episode:

Bible Passage: Isaiah 9:6-7

“A child has been born for us.

We have been given a son

who will be our ruler.

His names will be

Wonderful Advisor

and Mighty God,

Eternal Father

and Prince of Peace.

His power will never end;

peace will last forever.”

Story Time! Bible Passage: Luke 2:9-14

“That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened.“Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. This very day in King David's hometown a Saviour was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.”

Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

“Praise God in heaven!Peace on earth to everyone
who pleases God.”

After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay.

When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him.Everyone listened and was surprised.But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.

As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.”

Bible Passage: Galatians 5:22-23

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Question Time!

How do you get peace with God through Jesus?
Do you have peace with God through Jesus? If you said no and this is something you want, there is another episode for you to find out more, the link for it is at the top of the show notes.
Do you know anyone who doesn’t have peace with God? What could you do to help them get that peace?

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This episode is Week 1 of Advent, and the topic is HOPE. The Christian hope.
The Christian HOPE is confidently expecting something good will happen in the future.

Churches that celebrate Advent will often light a purple candle on the first Sunday of Advent as a symbol of hope. The candle is called the Prophecy candle of the Candle of Hope.

Bible Passage: Isaiah 9:6-7

“A child has been born for us.

We have been given a son

who will be our ruler.

His names will be

Wonderful Advisor

and Mighty God,

Eternal Father

and Prince of Peace.

His power will never end;

peace will last forever.”

Story Time! Bible Passage: Luke 2:25-38

“At this time a man named Simeon was living in Jerusalem. Simeon was a good man. He loved God and was waiting for him to save the people of Israel. God's Spirit came to him and told him that he would not die until he had seen Christ the Lord.

When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to do what the Law of Moses says should be done for a new baby, the Spirit told Simeon to go into the temple. Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms and praised God,

“Lord, I am your servant,
and now I can die in peace,
because you have kept
your promise to me.

With my own eyes I have seen
what you have done
to save your people,

and foreign nations
will also see this.

Your mighty power is a light
for all nations,
and it will bring honor
to your people Israel.”

Jesus' parents were surprised at what Simeon had said.Then he blessed them and told Mary, “This child of yours will cause many people in Israel to fall and others to stand. The child will be like a warning sign. Many people will reject him, and you, Mary, will suffer as though you had been stabbed by a dagger. But all this will show what people are really thinking.”

The prophet Anna was also there in the temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. In her youth she had been married for seven years, but her husband died. And now she was 84 years old. Night and day she served God in the temple by praying and often going without eating.

At this time Anna came in and praised God. She spoke about the child Jesus to everyone who hoped for Jerusalem to be set free.”

Bible Passage: Acts 9-11

“After Jesus had said this and while they were watching, he was taken up into a cloud. They could not see him, but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky.

Suddenly two men dressed in white clothes were standing there beside them. They said, “Why are you men from Galilee standing here and looking up into the sky? Jesus has been taken to heaven. But he will come back in the same way you have seen him go.””

Bible Passage: Psalm 42:5

“Put your hope in God.”

Question Time!

Imagine you were Simeon or Anna. How would you feel after seeing Jesus when you have hoped for that moment for so long?
Do you live with the hope that Jesus will return? If yes, how does it make you feel and why?

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Click here to order your own Names of Jesus Advent Cards!(No, this is not an affiliate link, they're just some seriously good resources for your family!)

When my sister Madeline was about 10, she went to a church service with me and my friends and it was for people who didn’t know much about Jesus. Every week we would learn basic things, hoping that all the youth who came who didn’t believe in Jesus might want to start following him. This was so they could go to heaven when they died and live forever!

After a few weeks of coming along with me, Madeline said, “I’ve learnt that church.”

She knew the gospel, she knew about Jesus, she believed and she felt like she didn’t have to hear it over and over again each week.

I remember giving similar feedback on a feedback form - teach us about other things!

But no matter how many other things we learn about and discover about Christianity, we always come back to Jesus. He is the centre of everything and will never be talked about too much!

But, we can get sick of it.

We can grow tired of hearing the same things.

We can get distracted and start focusing our lives on different areas, like our sport, hobbies or friends.

We can stop coming back to Jesus, stop coming to him in prayer, stop celebrating him and all he’s done. We can get out of the habit, we can forget.

This is why the church has traditions ways to keep us focused. Advent is one of those traditions to help keep us focused on Jesus, year after year.

Nowadays most people would say advent means chocolate every day in December until Christmas Day. But that is what the shops tell us.

Advent is a word that actually means arrival or coming.

The tradition of Advent is a time of expectation, waiting patiently and preparing for the celebration of the nativity of Jesus and his second coming.

What do you think?

Do you ever forget to do something that you know is important to do? Or maybe you don’t forget, you just choose not to do it then if you’re caught out you say you “forgot."

Do you ever neglect to:

Brush your teeth?
Clean your room?
Feed your pet?
Do your chores?
Have a shower or a bath?

If we don’t do these things one time and just skip it once, it doesn’t matter so much does it? It isn’t a big deal. But what if we get into the habit of skipping these things? If you forgot to feed your pet every day it would be pretty bad hey.

If you forgot to brush your teeth every day, your teeth would become a disaster!

What about if you never washed? Pongo!

Paul encourages us to keep up the habits, keep believing in Jesus just like you would be in a competition or a running race. Don’t look back, keep on going:

Bible Passage: Philippians 3:13-14, 16

“But I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead. I run toward the goal, so I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done… But we must keep going in the direction that we are now headed.”

When Paul was about to die he wrote a letter to Timothy:

Bible Passage: 2 Timothy 4:7

“Now the time has come for me to die. My life is like a drink offering being poured out on the altar. I have fought well. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful.”

We need to keep remembering Jesus, keep living for Jesus, keep running the race, right up until the day we die.

Story Time!

When I was younger I used to go on camp Ichthus. I loved it so much, it was the highlight of my year! 6 nights away with friends and fun leaders, spending time playing handball, adventures like rock climbing and abseiling.

I thought about camp all year. I remembered the fun times, and looked forward to more. I would look at the photos I took. There was always a group photo, heaps of craft and a screen printed t-shirt. I would listen to the song Jesus Freak over and over as it always reminded me of camp.

To prepare myself for camp when it was coming up, I remember writing a packing lists every year so that I wouldn’t forget anything. I would spend ages getting ready as I anticipated going on camp. And I would get really sad at the end of the camp, knowing that it was a full 365 days until the next one the following year.

Advent is a tradition invented by the church to help keep us focused on Jesus. Lent is a similar thing too. We count down the days until we can celebrate Jesus’ birthday - his arrival as a human on this world.

We don’t know his actual birthday so we celebrate the 25th December.

Some people eat chocolate every day as a way to count down to the day that they can open their presents.

Some people have an advent calendar that they put cards in with different activities or treats.

Other people read a bible verse every day to count down the days to Christmas.

Church’s aren’t on every day, and Advent first came about with the lighting of a candle every day of December, with some candles being big, and others being small.

For the next 5 episodes, we are going to be counting down the weeks (not days) until Christmas in the way that church’s do, with week 1 starting next week focussing on Hope, followed by Joy, Peace, Love and finally Jesus.

Question Time!

Do you take part in Advent? If yes, what do you do?
Why is it important to look forward to Christmas Day?

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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***The story that comes next in the bible is about JOSEPH, and there was an episode on him and the hard times he endured earlier in the year. You can find the episode from the HARD TIMES series here.

Whenever my scary year 5 teacher asked me a question in front of the class, I used to feel scared. My body would tense up and my heart would race. I learned to speak really quietly because I was so scared and that ended up being what the teacher laughed at me for. Are you scared of anyone? Who are you scared of? Does your body ever tense up when someone you are scared of comes near you or talks to you?

It is hard to be brave and have courage when you are around a person you are scared of, and sometimes it is the most wise thing to do to just avoid that person, but sometimes, being brave and courageous and approaching them to sort things out can be a wise thing to do.

What do you think?

What scares you more:

Spiders or snakes?
Rats or possums?
Angry parents or angry teachers?

Or maybe something else? What scares you the most in the world?

Jacob was scared of his brother Esau but he thinks it is time to go home. I he goes home, he will have to face Esau, who wanted to kill him last time he saw him, because Jacob was sneaky and took Esau’s inheritance and blessing. It has been over 14 years. Has Esau forgiven Jacob or does he still want revenge? Is it safe for Jacob to return? He is bringing his family and children back too, plus all his spotted and speckled livestock and servants as well, so Jacob wants to make sure everyone is going to be safe. This is what happens:

Story Time from Genesis
Bible Passage: Genesis 32

As Jacob was on his way back home, some of God's angels came and met him. 2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God's camp.” So he named the place Mahanaim.

3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead to Esau, who lived in the land of Seir, also known as Edom. 4 Jacob told them to say to Esau, “Master, I am your servant! I have lived with Laban all this time, 5 and now I own cattle, donkeys, and sheep, as well as many slaves. Master, I am sending these messengers in the hope that you will be kind to me.”

6 When the messengers returned, they told Jacob, “We went to your brother Esau, and now he is heading this way with 400 men.”

7 Jacob was so frightened that he divided his people, sheep, cattle, and camels into two groups. 8 He thought, “If Esau attacks one group, perhaps the other can escape.”

9 Then Jacob prayed:

You, Lord, are the God who was worshiped by my grandfather Abraham and by my father Isaac. You told me to return home to my family, and you promised to be with me and make me successful. 10 I don't deserve all the good things you have done for me, your servant. When I first crossed the Jordan, I had only my walking stick, but now I have two large groups of people and animals. 11 Please rescue me from my brother. I am afraid he will come and attack not only me, but my wives and children as well. 12 But you have promised that I would be a success and that someday it will be as hard to count my descendants as it is to count the grains of sand along the seashore.

13 After Jacob had spent the night there, he chose some animals as gifts for Esau: 14-15 200 female goats and 20 males, 200 female sheep and 20 males, 30 female camels with their young, 40 cows and 10 bulls, and 20 female donkeys and 10 males.

16 Jacob put servants in charge of each herd and told them, “Go ahead of me and keep a space between each herd.” 17 Then he said to the servant in charge of the first herd, “When Esau meets you, he will ask whose servant you are. He will want to know where you are going and who owns those animals in front of you. 18 So tell him, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob, who is coming this way. He is sending them as a gift to his master Esau.’ ”

19 Jacob also told the men in charge of the second and third herds and those who followed to say the same thing when they met Esau. 20 And Jacob told them to be sure to say that he was right behind them. Jacob hoped the gifts would make Esau friendly, so Esau would be glad to see him when they met. 21 Jacob's men took the gifts on ahead of him, but he spent the night in camp.

22-23 Jacob got up in the middle of the night and took his wives, his eleven children, and everything he owned across to the other side of the Jabbok River for safety. 24 Afterwards, Jacob went back and spent the rest of the night alone.

A man came and fought with Jacob until just before daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not win, he struck Jacob on the hip and threw it out of joint. 26 They kept on wrestling until the man said, “Let go of me! It's almost daylight.”

“You can't go until you bless me,” Jacob replied.

27 Then the man asked, “What is your name?”

“Jacob,” he answered.

28 The man said, “From now on, your name will no longer be Jacob. You will be called Israel,[b] because you have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won.”

29 Jacob said, “Now tell me your name.”

“Don't you know who I am?” he asked. And he blessed Jacob.

30 Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and I am still alive.” So he named the place Peniel.[c] 31 The sun was coming up as Jacob was leaving Peniel. He was limping because he had been struck on the hip, 32 and the muscle on his hip joint had been injured. That's why even today the people of Israel don't eat the hip muscle of any animal.

Bible Passage: Genesis 33

Later that day Jacob met Esau coming with his 400 men. So Jacob told his children to walk with their mothers. 2 The two servant women, Zilpah and Bilhah, together with their children went first, followed by Leah and her children, then by Rachel and Joseph. 3 Jacob himself walked in front of them all, bowing to the ground seven times as he came near his brother.

4 But Esau ran toward Jacob and hugged and kissed him. Then the two brothers started crying.

5 When Esau noticed the women and children he asked, “Whose children are these?”

Jacob answered, “These are the children the Lord has been kind enough to give to me, your servant.”

6 Then the two servant women and their children came and bowed down to Esau. 7 Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down; finally, Joseph and Rachel also came and bowed down.

8 Esau asked Jacob, “Why did you send those herds I met along the road?”

“Master,” Jacob answered, “I sent them so you would be friendly to me.”

9 “But, brother, I already have plenty,” Esau replied. “Keep them for yourself.”

10 “No!” Jacob said. “Please accept them as a sign of your friendship for me. When you welcomed me and I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God. 11 Please accept these as gifts I brought to you. God has been good to me, and I have everything I need.” Jacob kept insisting until Esau agreed.

12 “Let's get ready to travel,” Esau said. “I'll go along with you.”

13 But Jacob answered, “Master, you know traveling is hard on children, and I have to look after the sheep and goats that are nursing their young. If my animals travel too much in one day, they will all die. 14 Why don't you go on ahead and let me travel along slowly with the children, the herds, and the flocks. We can meet again in the country of Edom.”

15 Esau replied, “Let me leave some of my men with you.”

“You don't have to do that,” Jacob answered. “I am happy, simply knowing that you are friendly to me.”

16 So Esau left for Edom. 17 But Jacob went to Succoth,[a] where he built a house for himself and set up shelters for his animals. That's why the place is called Succoth.

18 After leaving northern Syria, Jacob arrived safely at Shechem in Canaan and set up camp outside the city. 19 The land where he camped was owned by the descendants of Hamor, the father of Shechem. So Jacob paid them 100 pieces of silver for the property, 20 then he set up his tents and built an altar there to honor the God of Israel.

Bible Passage: Genesis 35

God told Jacob, “Return to Bethel, where I appeared to you when you were running from your brother Esau. Make your home there and build an altar for me.”

***Bethel is the place where Jacob had a dream while sleeping with his head on a rock like a pillow and then he stood the rock upright.

2 Jacob said to his family and to everyone else who was traveling with him:

Get rid of your foreign gods! Then make yourselves acceptable to worship God and put on clean clothes. 3 Afterwards, we'll go to Bethel. I will build an altar there for God, who answered my prayers when I was in trouble and who has always been at my side.

4 So everyone gave Jacob their idols and their earrings,[a] and he buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

5 While Jacob and his family were traveling through Canaan, God terrified the people in the towns so much that no one dared bother them. 6 Finally, they reached Bethel, also known as Luz. 7 Jacob built an altar there and called it “God of Bethel,” because that was the place where God had appeared to him when he was running from Esau. 8 While they were there, Rebekah's personal servant Deborah[b] died. They buried her under an oak tree and called it “Weeping Oak.”

9-11 After Jacob came back to the land of Canaan, God appeared to him again. This time he gave Jacob a new name and blessed him by saying:

I am God All-Powerful, and from now on your name will be Israel[c] instead of Jacob. You will have many children. Your descendants will become nations, and some of the men in your family will even be kings. 12 I will give you the land that I promised Abraham and Isaac, and it will belong to your family forever.

13 After God had gone, 14 Jacob set up a large rock, so that he would remember what had happened there. Then he poured wine and olive oil on the rock to show that it was dedicated to God, 15 and he named the place Bethel.[d]

16 Jacob and his family had left Bethel and were still a long way from Ephrath, when the time came for Rachel's baby to be born. 17 She was having a rough time, but the woman who was helping her said, “Don't worry! It's a boy.” 18 Rachel was at the point of death, and right before dying, she said, “I'll name him Benoni.”[e] But Jacob called him Benjamin.[f]

19 Rachel was buried beside the road to Ephrath, which is also called Bethlehem. 20 Jacob set up a tombstone over her grave, and it is still there. 21 Jacob, also known as Israel, traveled to the south of Eder Tower, where he set up camp.

23-26 Jacob had twelve sons while living in northern Syria.[h] His first-born Reuben was the son of Leah, who later gave birth to Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. Leah's servant Zilpah had two sons: Gad and Asher.

Jacob and his wife Rachel had Joseph and Benjamin. Rachel's servant woman Bilhah had two more sons: Dan and Naphtali.”

These sons form the 12 tribes of Israel.

God chose Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be the forefathers of his chosen people who lived in his Promised Land for many years. These ancestors are mentioned many times throughout the old and new Testaments in the bible, because they are the beginning of God’s Jewish people.

I love a story where the main character develops and grows into a more mature, more godly character. We find that both sons who hated one another have grown up - Jacob showed courage to come back to Esau and say sorry. Esau showed forgiveness to Jacob and their friendship was mended.

That is the story of us too - we learn and grow through experiences and as time goes on in our lives, our faith can grow stronger and stronger!

Question Time!

What do you think were some of the things that Jacob did that God would have liked?
What do you think were some of the things that Esau did that God would have liked?
Have you gone through some experience and come out at the end more mature, stronger or better than before? What was it?

Want more?

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My birthday is on April Fools Day and I quite liked to fool people when I was a kid. Most of my pranks were just bad jokes. One year, when I was about 10, my brother and sister pulled a prank on me!

What do you think?

Do you like being tricked? Do you like a sneaky prank?

If someone put shaving cream in your bed, would you laugh or be annoyed?
If someone switched out your toothpaste for honey, would you laugh or be annoyed?
If someone moved the furniture around in your room while you were sleeping, would you laugh or be annoyed?

Jacob was a bit of a trickster, but his wasn’t for a joke but for his own selfish gain.

Jacob wanted his family blessing. Jacob wanted to be wealthy.

Story Time!

Isaac sent his son Jacob off to his uncles house in Haran to find a wife because Esau was mad at him and wanted to kill him because he had cheated Esau out of his inheritance and his blessing. So Jacob fled.

10 Jacob left the town of Beersheba and started out for Haran. 11 At sunset he stopped for the night and went to sleep, resting his head on a large rock. 12 In a dream he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, and God's angels were going up and down on it.

13 The Lord was standing beside the ladder and said:

I am the Lord God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. 14 Your descendants will spread over the earth in all directions and will become as numerous as the specks of dust. Your family will be a blessing to all people. 15 Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won't leave you—I will do all I have promised.

16 Jacob woke up suddenly and thought, “The Lord is in this place, and I didn't even know it.” 17 Then Jacob became frightened and said, “What a frightening place! It must be the house of God and the gateway to heaven.”

18 When Jacob got up early the next morning, he took the rock that he had used for a pillow and stood it up as a place of worship. Then he poured olive oil on the rock to dedicate it to God, 19 and he named the place Bethel. Before that it had been named Luz.

20 Jacob solemnly promised God, “If you go with me and watch over me as I travel, and if you give me food and clothes 21 and bring me safely home again, you will be my God. 22 This rock will be your house, and I will give back to you a tenth of everything you give me.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 29

As Jacob continued on his way to the east, 2 he looked out in a field and saw a well where shepherds took their sheep for water. Three flocks of sheep were lying around the well, which was covered with a large rock. 3 Shepherds would roll the rock away when all their sheep had gathered there. Then after the sheep had been watered, the shepherds would roll the rock back over the mouth of the well.

4 Jacob asked the shepherds, “Where are you from?”

“We're from Haran,” they answered.

5 Then he asked, “Do you know Nahor's grandson Laban?”

“Yes we do,” they replied.

6 “How is he?” Jacob asked.

“He's fine,” they answered. “And here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”

7 Jacob told them, “Look, the sun is still high up in the sky, and it's too early to bring in the rest of the flocks. Water your sheep and take them back to the pasture.”

8 But they replied, “We can't do that until they all get here, and the rock has been rolled away from the well.”

9 While Jacob was still talking with the men, his cousin Rachel came up with her father's sheep. 10 When Jacob saw her and his uncle's sheep, he rolled the rock away and watered the sheep. 11 He then kissed Rachel and started crying because he was so happy. 12 He told her that he was the son of her aunt Rebekah, and she ran and told her father about him.

13 As soon as Laban heard the news, he ran out to meet Jacob. He hugged and kissed him and brought him to his home, where Jacob told him everything that had happened. 14 Laban said, “You are my nephew, and you are like one of my own family.”

After Jacob had been there for a month, 15 Laban said to him, “You shouldn't have to work without pay, just because you are a relative of mine. What do you want me to give you?”

16-17 Laban had two daughters. Leah was older than Rachel, but her eyes didn't sparkle,[a] while Rachel was beautiful and had a good figure. 18 Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he answered, “If you will let me marry Rachel, I'll work seven years for you.”

19 Laban replied, “It's better for me to let you marry Rachel than for someone else to have her. So stay and work for me.” 20 Jacob worked seven years for Laban, but the time seemed like only a few days, because he loved Rachel so much.

21 Jacob said to Laban, “The time is up, and I want to marry Rachel now!” 22 So Laban gave a big feast and invited all their neighbors. 23 But that evening he brought Leah to Jacob, who married her and spent the night with her. 24 Laban also gave Zilpah to Leah as her servant woman.

25 The next morning Jacob found out that he had married Leah, and he asked Laban, “Why did you do this to me? Didn't I work to get Rachel? Why did you trick me?”

26 Laban replied, “In our country the older daughter must get married first. 27 After you spend this week[b] with Leah, you may also marry Rachel. But you will have to work for me another seven years.”

28-30 At the end of the week of celebration, Laban let Jacob marry Rachel, and he gave her his servant woman Bilhah. Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah, but he had to work another seven years for Laban.

31 The Lord knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah, and so he gave children to Leah, but not to Rachel. 32 Leah gave birth to a son and named him Reuben.”

Leah actually gave birth to many sons and they all received God’s promise handed down to them from Abraham. Rachel ended up having a son called Joseph and later another son called Benjamin.

God blessed Jacob, gave him a lot of wealth and animals.

Bible Passage: Genesis 30

After Joseph was born, Jacob said to Laban, “Release me from our agreement and let me return to my own country. 26 You know how hard I've worked for you, so let me take my wives and children and leave.”

27-28 But Laban told him, “If you really are my friend, stay on, and I'll pay whatever you ask. I'm sure[j] the Lord has blessed me because of you.”

29 Jacob answered:

You've seen how hard I've worked for you, and you know how your flocks and herds have grown under my care. 30 You didn't have much before I came, but the Lord has blessed everything I have ever done for you. Now it's time for me to start looking out for my own family.

31 “How much do you want me to pay you?” Laban asked.

Then Jacob told him:

I don't want you to pay me anything. Just do one thing, and I'll take care of your sheep and goats. 32 Let me go through your flocks and herds and take the sheep and goats that are either spotted or speckled[k] and the black lambs. That's all you need to give me. 33 In the future you can easily find out if I've been honest. Just look and see if my animals are either spotted or speckled, or if the lambs are black. If they aren't, they've been stolen from you.

34 “I agree to that,” was Laban's response. 35 Before the end of the day, Laban had separated his spotted and speckled animals and the black lambs from the others and had put his sons in charge of them. 36 Then Laban made Jacob keep the rest of the sheep and goats at a distance of three days' journey.

37 Jacob cut branches from some poplar trees and from some almond and evergreen trees. He peeled off part of the bark and made the branches look spotted and speckled. 38 Then he put the branches where the sheep and goats would see them[l] while they were drinking from the water trough. The goats mated there 39 in front of the branches, and their young were spotted and speckled.

40 Some of the sheep that Jacob was keeping for Laban were already spotted. And when the others were ready to mate, he made sure that they faced in the direction of the spotted and black ones. In this way, Jacob built up a flock of sheep for himself and did not put them with the other sheep.

41 When the stronger sheep were mating near the drinking place, Jacob made sure that the spotted branches were there. 42 But he would not put out the branches when the weaker animals were mating. So Jacob got all of the healthy animals, and Laban got what was left. 43 Jacob soon became rich and successful. He owned many sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys, as well as a lot of slaves.

Jacob is still pushy and sneaky, getting things for himself in a cunning sort of way. Laban treated Jacob like that, tricking him into marrying both his daughters, and Jacob is like that too.

Do you like being tricked?

After working for Laban for many years and building himself a lot of wealth, Jacob felt like it was time to return home. God confirmed it with an angel telling him to go home too. But he was still worried about his twin brother Esau, who wanted to kill him last time he saw him.

Jacob was a trickster and he tricked Laban after Laban had tricked him.

It isn’t nice to treat others like that.

If you treat people like that, then it is likely that people will start treating you like that.

Bible Passage: Luke 6:31

“Treat others just as you want to be treated.” - Jesus

Question Time!

What were some of the things you noticed that Jacob did that God wouldn’t have liked?
What experiences did he go through that might have helped Jacob develop into a better person?
How do you want to be treated?

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My favourite stories always start with the main character who is lacking in some area - they aren’t good at something or they aren’t nice or their circumstances are poor, and then throughout the story they go on a learning experience and by the end of the story the character has developed into someone who is much wiser or better in some way than before.

Like Lightening McQueen in the movie Cars!

What do you think?

Can you tell who in your family is speaking if you have your eyes closed?

If you’re in the car or together somewhere with a few other people, why not play a game? You can play it now or later - record each of your voices saying the same phrase and then play them back in a random order, trying to guess who is speaking each time. Do you think you can do it?

In my family, we all sound very different except for Sharni and Banjo and I often get their voices mixed up. They sound different but every now and then I just can’t tell!

Do you have twins in your family? Is it harder with twins? If they’re both boys or both girls it can be quite hard, even harder if identical!

Story Time!

Isaac married a woman from Abraham’s hometown, Haran.

Abraham didn’t want them mixing with the locals too much, the Canaanites, and neither did God.

Isaac’s wife was beautiful and was called Rebekah.

So much of this story is from the bible. I aim to make all the details as accurate as possible, and what better way to do that than to have the story told as it was written so many years ago!

Bible Passage: Genesis 25:19-34

Isaac was the son of Abraham, 20 and he was 40 years old when he married Rebekah.

Almost 20 years later, 21 Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac asked the Lord to let her have a child, and the Lord answered his prayer.

22 Before Rebekah gave birth, she knew she was going to have twins, because she could feel them inside her, fighting each other. She thought, “Why is this happening to me?” Finally, she asked the Lord why her twins were fighting, 23 and he told her:

“Your two sons will become
two separate nations.
The younger of the two
will be stronger,
and the older son
will be his servant.”

24 When Rebekah gave birth, 25 the first baby was covered with red hair, so he was named Esau. 26 The second baby grabbed on to his brother's heel, so they named him Jacob.

Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born.

27 As Jacob and Esau grew older, Esau liked the outdoors and became a good hunter, while Jacob lived the quiet life of a shepherd. 28 Esau would take the meat of wild animals to his father Isaac, so Isaac loved him more, but Jacob was his mother's favourite son.

29 One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came home hungry 30 and said, “I'm starving to death! Here and now give me some of that red stew!”

31 Jacob replied, “Sell me your rights as the first-born son.”

32 “I'm about to die,” Esau answered. “What good will those rights do me?”

33 But Jacob said, “Promise me your birthrights, here and now!” And that's what Esau did. 34 Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born.

What is the birthright? It’s the firstborn son who gets to inherit everything - all the land and livestock and the whole estate. Esau was the twin who came out first so he was entitled to it, but Jacob wanted it.

Would you give up your whole inheritance for a bowl of bean stew?

They didn’t sign a contract and witness it in front of a lawyer like you would today. There was no promised agreement. But God heard. God noticed Esau’s attitude. He saw Jacob’s eagerness.

Both sons to me seem very immature. Neither are people who I would look up to. They are fighting just like God predicted.

Bible Passage: Genesis 26:34-35

“When Esau was 40 years old, he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. But these two women brought a lot of grief to Esau's parents Isaac and Rebekah.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 27:1-46

Isaac was old and almost blind, when he called in his first-born son Esau, who asked him, “Father, what can I do for you?”

2 Isaac replied, “I am old and might die at any time. 3 So go hunting with your bow and arrows and kill a wild animal. 4 Cook some of that tasty food that I love so much and bring it to me. I want to eat it once more and give you my blessing before I die.”

5 Rebekah had been listening, and as soon as Esau left to go hunting, 6 she said to Jacob, “I heard your father tell Esau 7 to kill a wild animal and cook some tasty food for him before he dies. Your father said this because he wants to bless your brother with the Lord as his witness. 8 Now, my son, listen carefully to what I want you to do. 9 Go and kill two of your best young goats and bring them to me. I'll cook the tasty food that your father loves so much. 10 Then you can take it to him, so he can eat it and give you his blessing before he dies.”

11 “My brother Esau is a hairy man,” Jacob reminded her. “And I am not. 12 If my father touches me and realizes I am trying to trick him, he will put a curse on me instead of giving me a blessing.”

13 Rebekah insisted, “Let his curse fall on me! Just do what I say and bring me the meat.” 14 So Jacob brought the meat to his mother, and she cooked the tasty food that his father liked. 15 Then she took Esau's best clothes and put them on Jacob. 16 She also covered the smooth part of his hands and neck with goatskins 17 and gave him some bread and the tasty food she had cooked.

18 Jacob went to his father and said, “Father, here I am.”

“Which one of my sons are you?” his father asked.

19 Jacob replied, “I am Esau, your first-born, and I have done what you told me. Please sit up and eat the meat I have brought. Then you can give me your blessing.”

20 Isaac asked, “My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?”

“The Lord your God was kind to me,” Jacob answered.

21 “My son,” Isaac said, “come closer, where I can touch you and find out if you really are Esau.” 22 Jacob went closer. His father touched him and said, “You sound like Jacob, but your hands feel hairy like Esau's.” 23 And so Isaac blessed Jacob, thinking he was Esau.

24 Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

“Yes, I am,” Jacob answered.

25 So Isaac told him, “Serve me the wild meat, and I can give you my blessing.”

Jacob gave him some meat, and he ate it. He also gave him some wine, and he drank it. 26 Then Isaac said, “Son, come over here and kiss me.” 27 While Jacob was kissing him, Isaac caught the smell of his clothes and said:

“The smell of my son
is like a field
the Lord has blessed.

God will bless you, my son,
with dew from heaven
and with fertile fields,
rich with grain and grapes.

Nations will be your servants
and bow down to you.
You will rule over your brothers,
and they will kneel
at your feet.
Anyone who curses you
will be cursed;
anyone who blesses you
will be blessed.”

Does this blessing sound familiar? It’s the blessing God gave to Abraham and promised to all his offspring.

30 Right after Isaac had given Jacob his blessing and Jacob had gone, Esau came back from hunting. 31 He cooked the tasty food, brought it to his father, and said, “Father, please sit up and eat the meat I have brought you, so you can give me your blessing.”

32 “Who are you?” Isaac asked.

“I am Esau, your first-born son.”

33 Isaac started trembling and said, “Then who brought me some wild meat right before you came in? I ate it and gave him a blessing that cannot be taken back.”

34 Esau cried out in great distress, “Father, give me a blessing too!”

35 Isaac answered, “Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing.”

36 Esau replied, “My brother deserves the name Jacob, because he has already cheated me twice. The first time he cheated me out of my rights as the first-born son, and now he has cheated me out of my blessing.” Then Esau asked his father, “Don't you have any blessing left for me?”

37 “My son,” Isaac answered, “I have made Jacob the ruler over you and your brothers, and all of you will be his servants. I have also promised him all the grain and grapes that he needs. There's nothing left that I can do for you.”

38 “Father,” Esau asked, “don't you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!” Then Esau started crying again.

39 So his father said:

“Your home will be far
from that fertile land,
where dew comes down
from the heavens.

You will live by the power
of your sword
and be your brother's slave.
But when you decide to be free,
you will break loose.”

41 Esau hated his brother Jacob because he had stolen the blessing that was supposed to be his. So he said to himself, “Just as soon as my father dies, I'll kill Jacob.”

42 When Rebekah found out what Esau planned to do, she sent for Jacob and told him, “Son, your brother Esau is just waiting for a chance to kill you. 43 Now listen carefully and do what I say. Go to the home of my brother Laban in Haran 44 and stay with him for a while. When Esau stops being angry 45 and forgets what you have done to him, I'll send for you to come home. Why should I lose both of my sons on the same day?”

46 Rebekah later told Isaac, “Those Hittite wives of Esau are making my life miserable! If Jacob marries a Hittite woman, I'd be better off dead.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 28:1-5

Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said:

Don't marry any of those Canaanite women. 2 Go at once to your mother's father Bethuel in northern Syria and choose a wife from one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. 3 I pray that God All-Powerful will bless you with many descendants and let you become a great nation. 4 May he bless you with the land he promised Abraham, so that you will take over this land where we now live as foreigners.

5 Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah's brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean…

Question Time!

What were some of the things you noticed that Jacob did that God wouldn’t have liked?
What were some of the things you do that God doesn’t?

God still loves us anyway!

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

Join The Word On The Street Podcast conversation on our Facebook group here

Like INSTAGRAM?

Follow The Word On The Street Podcast here

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Like Lightening McQueen in the movie Cars!

What do you think?

Can you tell who in your family is speaking if you have your eyes closed?

In my family, we all sound very different except for Sharni and Banjo and I often get their voices mixed up. They sound different but every now and then I just can’t tell!

Do you have twins in your family? Is it harder with twins? If they’re both boys or both girls it can be quite hard, even harder if identical!

Story Time!

Isaac married a woman from Abraham’s hometown, Haran.

Abraham didn’t want them mixing with the locals too much, the Canaanites, and neither did God.

Isaac’s wife was beautiful and was called Rebekah.

So much of this story is from the bible. I aim to make all the details as accurate as possible, and what better way to do that than to have the story told as it was written so many years ago!

Bible Passage: Genesis 25:19-34

Isaac was the son of Abraham, 20 and he was 40 years old when he married Rebekah.

Almost 20 years later, 21 Rebekah still had no children. So Isaac asked the Lord to let her have a child, and the Lord answered his prayer.

“Your two sons will become
two separate nations.
The younger of the two
will be stronger,
and the older son
will be his servant.”

24 When Rebekah gave birth, 25 the first baby was covered with red hair, so he was named Esau. 26 The second baby grabbed on to his brother's heel, so they named him Jacob.

Isaac was 60 years old when the twins were born.

29 One day, when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came home hungry 30 and said, “I'm starving to death! Here and now give me some of that red stew!”

31 Jacob replied, “Sell me your rights as the first-born son.”

32 “I'm about to die,” Esau answered. “What good will those rights do me?”

Would you give up your whole inheritance for a bowl of bean stew?

They didn’t sign a contract and witness it in front of a lawyer like you would today. There was no promised agreement. But God heard. God noticed Esau’s attitude. He saw Jacob’s eagerness.

Both sons to me seem very immature. Neither are people who I would look up to. They are fighting just like God predicted.

Bible Passage: Genesis 26:34-35

Bible Passage: Genesis 27:1-46

Isaac was old and almost blind, when he called in his first-born son Esau, who asked him, “Father, what can I do for you?”

18 Jacob went to his father and said, “Father, here I am.”

“Which one of my sons are you?” his father asked.

19 Jacob replied, “I am Esau, your first-born, and I have done what you told me. Please sit up and eat the meat I have brought. Then you can give me your blessing.”

20 Isaac asked, “My son, how did you find an animal so quickly?”

“The Lord your God was kind to me,” Jacob answered.

24 Isaac asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”

“Yes, I am,” Jacob answered.

25 So Isaac told him, “Serve me the wild meat, and I can give you my blessing.”

“The smell of my son
is like a field
the Lord has blessed.

God will bless you, my son,
with dew from heaven
and with fertile fields,
rich with grain and grapes.

Nations will be your servants
and bow down to you.
You will rule over your brothers,
and they will kneel
at your feet.
Anyone who curses you
will be cursed;
anyone who blesses you
will be blessed.”

Does this blessing sound familiar? It’s the blessing God gave to Abraham and promised to all his offspring.

32 “Who are you?” Isaac asked.

“I am Esau, your first-born son.”

33 Isaac started trembling and said, “Then who brought me some wild meat right before you came in? I ate it and gave him a blessing that cannot be taken back.”

34 Esau cried out in great distress, “Father, give me a blessing too!”

35 Isaac answered, “Your brother tricked me and stole your blessing.”

38 “Father,” Esau asked, “don't you have more than one blessing? You can surely give me a blessing too!” Then Esau started crying again.

39 So his father said:

“Your home will be far
from that fertile land,
where dew comes down
from the heavens.

You will live by the power
of your sword
and be your brother's slave.
But when you decide to be free,
you will break loose.”

41 Esau hated his brother Jacob because he had stolen the blessing that was supposed to be his. So he said to himself, “Just as soon as my father dies, I'll kill Jacob.”

46 Rebekah later told Isaac, “Those Hittite wives of Esau are making my life miserable! If Jacob marries a Hittite woman, I'd be better off dead.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 28:1-5

Isaac called in Jacob, then gave him a blessing, and said:

5 Isaac then sent Jacob to stay with Rebekah's brother Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean…

Question Time!

What were some of the things you noticed that Jacob did that God wouldn’t have liked?
What were some of the things you do that God doesn’t?

God still loves us anyway!

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

Join The Word On The Street Podcast conversation on our Facebook group here

Like INSTAGRAM?

Follow The Word On The Street Podcast here

Follow Anna on Instagram here

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There was a child stranded in the middle of the ocean and was scared so she prayed to God to save her, hoping to see God at work. A man came along with a small row boat and offered to help but she refused to get in, saying, “God will save me.”

A motorboat cruised by and she turned it down too, putting her trust in God to save her.

Finally, a helicopter flew overhead offering assistance, but she turned it away, saying, “God will save me.”

Well, she died and went to heaven and questioned God, saying, “Why didn’t you save me?”

And God answered, “I sent 2 boats and a helicopter!”

We are all in need of saving. We all get ourselves into sticky situations sometimes. We all sin!

Adam and Eve ate forbidden fruit. They had to leave the Garden of Eden.
Cain killed Abel and he had to leave his hometown too.
When Noah was alive, the rest of the population sinned and they were drowned in the big flood. God saved Noah by instructing him to build an ark.
The people in Babel were getting cocky and proud, thinking they could live without God and just rely on themselves. God saved them by splitting them up, causing them to wake up one morning all speaking different languages! Divided, they had to rely on God once more.
Lot was literally saved by angels from the sinful town he lived in - he walked away as fire fell from the sky on the town.

Genesis, like most of the other books of the bible, is full of characters who are sinful and need rescuing. God shows that he can rescue in different ways, that he can choose to rescue or not, and that he is the ultimate rescuer when he send Jesus to deal with the sins once and for all.

What do you think?

Who do you identify with the most from the characters you’ve learned about in Genesis this term? Answer yes or no to these questions:

If you were Adam or Eve and were in the garden for who knows how long, would you have eaten the fruit eventually? Yes or no?
Imagine you had a brother or sister and they were the favourite child in your family and you were ignored and mistreated. Would you try to kill them? Yes or no?
Imagine you were told by God to build a huge boat and then he gave you all the measurements and instructions. Would you do it?
If you were in Babel and a tower was being built so that you could all stay safe and together and look after each other, making sure no one needed to starve or be attacked by wild animals, so you didn’t have to rely on God for safety and food and so you could all be known as a great city in the world, would you think it was a good idea? Yes or no?
If you lived in a town full of people who weren’t very nice and were about to marry a foreigner and they told you that their God was going to rain down fire and you had to leave immediately and flee to safety, would you pack up your life and go? Yes or no?

Did you confess to maybe thinking you might’ve made the wrong decision like those in Genesis did? I’m gonna tell you that I did for sure, to probably way too many of them!

The truth is, we all sin. We all make mistakes. We all reject God by doing what he doesn’t want us to do.

Bible Passage: Isaiah 59:2

“Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.”

God knows this. He understands. He gets it. He doesn’t like it but he likes us. He LOVES us!

He loves us so much that he sent us Jesus to sort it all out.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:7

“Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven.”

Story Time!

Gary Rosheisen was unwell. He had weak bones and had a few mini-strokes and now he was unable to walk. Gary got about in a wheelchair. He lived on his own with a cat named Tommy.

Gary was concerned about his health and living alone so he decided to wear a necklace that could send a medical alert to a hospital and he also thought he could try to teach Tommy to dial 911 for an emergency, because he was living in America. If it was Australia, he would have taught the cat to dial 000. He showed Tommy how to do it but Tommy never had a turn. Do you think he knew what to do?

One day Gary had a seizure and fell out of his wheelchair and onto the floor in his bedroom. He had forgotten to put his special necklace on and he couldn’t reach an emergency cord he had near his bed that would summon an ambulance. All he could do was lie there. Gary was stranded. Gary needed saving.

Meanwhile, the police received a call from Gary’s phone but no one talked. Then it hung up. The police tried calling back but no one answered so they went around to Gary’s house to investigate. When they came into Gary’s house, they found Tommy the cat, sitting by the phone, and Gary, stranded on the floor in the bedroom. The only explanation is that Tommy saved Gary that day by making the emergency call - what a cat!

We might not have an amazing cat like Tommy, but we do have one that is willing to do anything to rescue us. And I mean anything! He didn’t just have to put in a call, he didn’t have to ask someone to build a boat or send someone to evacuate their home. This amazing rescuer actually sent his only son to die for our sins. No one else could’ve done it. And it was not easy.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:7

“Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven.”

Question Time!

Have you ever saved anybody?
Has anybody - any human - ever saved you?
What does being saved from our sins actually mean?

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

Join The Word On The Street Podcast conversation on our Facebook group here

Like INSTAGRAM?

Follow The Word On The Street Podcast here

Follow Anna on Instagram here

View Details

A motorboat cruised by and she turned it down too, putting her trust in God to save her.

Finally, a helicopter flew overhead offering assistance, but she turned it away, saying, “God will save me.”

Well, she died and went to heaven and questioned God, saying, “Why didn’t you save me?”

And God answered, “I sent 2 boats and a helicopter!”

We are all in need of saving. We all get ourselves into sticky situations sometimes. We all sin!

Adam and Eve ate forbidden fruit. They had to leave the Garden of Eden.
Cain killed Abel and he had to leave his hometown too.
When Noah was alive, the rest of the population sinned and they were drowned in the big flood. God saved Noah by instructing him to build an ark.
The people in Babel were getting cocky and proud, thinking they could live without God and just rely on themselves. God saved them by splitting them up, causing them to wake up one morning all speaking different languages! Divided, they had to rely on God once more.
Lot was literally saved by angels from the sinful town he lived in - he walked away as fire fell from the sky on the town.

What do you think?

Who do you identify with the most from the characters you’ve learned about in Genesis this term? Answer yes or no to these questions:

If you were Adam or Eve and were in the garden for who knows how long, would you have eaten the fruit eventually? Yes or no?
Imagine you had a brother or sister and they were the favourite child in your family and you were ignored and mistreated. Would you try to kill them? Yes or no?
Imagine you were told by God to build a huge boat and then he gave you all the measurements and instructions. Would you do it?
If you were in Babel and a tower was being built so that you could all stay safe and together and look after each other, making sure no one needed to starve or be attacked by wild animals, so you didn’t have to rely on God for safety and food and so you could all be known as a great city in the world, would you think it was a good idea? Yes or no?
If you lived in a town full of people who weren’t very nice and were about to marry a foreigner and they told you that their God was going to rain down fire and you had to leave immediately and flee to safety, would you pack up your life and go? Yes or no?

Did you confess to maybe thinking you might’ve made the wrong decision like those in Genesis did? I’m gonna tell you that I did for sure, to probably way too many of them!

The truth is, we all sin. We all make mistakes. We all reject God by doing what he doesn’t want us to do.

Bible Passage: Isaiah 59:2

“Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.”

God knows this. He understands. He gets it. He doesn’t like it but he likes us. He LOVES us!

He loves us so much that he sent us Jesus to sort it all out.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:7

“Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven.”

Story Time!

Gary Rosheisen was unwell. He had weak bones and had a few mini-strokes and now he was unable to walk. Gary got about in a wheelchair. He lived on his own with a cat named Tommy.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:7

“Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven.”

Question Time!

Have you ever saved anybody?
Has anybody - any human - ever saved you?
What does being saved from our sins actually mean?

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As parents, we sacrifice a lot of time and money to look after our children.
Sacrifices are something that you have to give up for some reason or another. Sacrifices cost something - they can’t be with no cost.

You might give up some of your money to give to the church. That is a sacrifice, unless you are giving an amount that doesn’t really make a difference, remember - it has to cost you.

You might sacrifice your spot in the handball game so that you can chat with a friend. This is only a sacrifice if you want that spot in the handball game.

You might sacrifice some of your lunch so that a friend who has none doesn’t go hungry (although that is more of a high school thing.) It is costing you because you don’t have as much food.

Do you think it would be a sacrifice if you had 3 beach towels, your friend didn’t even have one and so you have him one of yours? Not really as it isn’t really costing you anything, you won’t be missing that one towel.

What other things might you sacrifice?

When the Israelites were in Egypt and Pharaoh was making them slaves and they wanted to go free, an angel of death came through the city and passed over every home that had lamb’s blood on the doorframes.

The Israelites had to butcher their lambs to put the blood on the frames in order to protect their firstborn sons from the angel of death. This was a sacrifice.

The Israelites gave up their lambs - food - for their children to live.

They also sacrificed lambs and other animals as gifts to God.

What do you think?

Yes or no:

Would you sacrifice your:

Toys in order to get water?
Your health (being able to move about and live a usual healthy life, for the option to eat unhealthy food all the time?
Your warm bed for the night, sleep outside to raise money for homeless people doing it rough? (If you actually would and are interested, please check out https://roughtober2022.raisely.com/ )

What did God sacrifice? He gave up himself - Jesus on the cross - so that we could have our sins removed. He had a very kind reason for that and it cost him a lot - his life!

Bible Passage: John 1:29

"John saw Jesus coming toward him and said: Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Jesus was often referred to as a lamb, because lambs are sacrifices, plus other reasons.

Story Time!

Bible Passage: Genesis 22

“Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”

6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.

9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

“Here I am,” he replied.

12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

13 Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram[a] caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”

15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time 16 and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, 18 and through your offspring[b] all nations on earth will be blessed,[c] because you have obeyed me.”

19 Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.”

In this story God tested Abraham to check on his heart - how willing he was to follow God no matter what. And he was willing. Abraham was prepared to sacrifice everything he had for God!

God doesn’t ask us to give up everything for him, but the questions is: if he did, would you be willing?

The fact is, the most important thing in your life and in everyone’s life on the whole earth, is the question of where they are spending eternity - where YOU are spending eternity.

God is the creator.

God decides who spends eternity with him.

If you don’t spend it with him you have only one other horrible option.

These facts make God the number one priority in life.

Be willing to sacrifice anything for God.

And the good news? He actually doesn’t want you to sacrifice your child or your food for him. He is a perfect God, worthy of everything and that makes it easier to sacrifice our whole beings to God.

Question Time!

If you were Abraham and were tested like that, what do you think you would have done?
Search your heart and think about how willing you are to sacrifice things for God. Share your thoughts together.

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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For another episode on Sarah and her hardships, listen here.

For more episodes on God doing the impossible, listen here.

I have 2 Christmas lunches! At the one before Christmas Day, the people who are invited are only those who are part of the family or those who have married into the family. Cousins, aunties, uncles, grandparents.

At the Christmas Day family lunch, it is different. We have an open invitation, so that those who aren’t part of the family are welcome, especially if they don’t have anywhere to go on Christmas Day. We invite all kinds of people, some people accept our invitation and other people don’t.

God’s chosen people started off like the first one, with just those who were born into Abraham’s family invited at first, but then the invitation included a few special extras until Jesus came and the invitation was to include anyone who believed in him.

God’s people are those who will go to in heaven when we die.

Jesus calls all of us “The Kingdom of Heaven.”

We don’t know exactly who that includes but God does.

Our names are written in his Book of Life.

Are you one of God’s people?

What do you think?

Not only is this episode about God’s chosen people, but it is also about God’s power - his ability to do what we think are impossible things. Do we ask for the impossible?

Have you ever asked God to move a mountain? Because he could if he wanted to!
Have you ever asked God for money and it has come to you? He does that sometimes!
Have you ever asked God for covid to be gone and all that goes with it? I do and I keep hoping he will answer that one!
What is the craziest request you have made to God and have you gotten it?
What crazy thing could you ask for now that you would like?

*Verses about Abraham's son from his servant Hagar as well as verses about circumcision were left out to make the story simpler - feel free to chat about those aspects of the story with your family!

Story Time!

Bible Passage: Genesis 12:2

“I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 15:1-6

Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don't be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”

2 But Abram answered, “Lord All-Powerful, you have given me everything I could ask for, except children. And when I die, Eliezer of Damascus will get all I own. 3 You have not given me any children, and this servant of mine will inherit everything.”

4 The Lord replied, “No, he won't! You will have a son of your own, and everything you have will be his.” 5 Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.” 6 Abram believed the Lord, so the Lord was pleased with him and accepted him.

Bible Passage: Genesis 17:1-22

When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him again and said, “I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, 2 I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted.” 3 Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said:

4-5 I promise that you will be the father of many nations. So now I'm changing your name from Abram to Abraham.[a] 6 I will give you a lot of descendants, and they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.

7 I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. 9 Abraham, you and all future members of your family must promise to obey me.

15 Abraham, from now on your wife's name will be Sarah instead of Sarai. 16 I will bless her, and you will have a son by her. She will become the mother of nations, and some of her descendants will even be kings.

17 Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, “I am almost 100 years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is 90. How can she have a child?” So he started laughing. 18 Then he asked God, “Why not let Ishmael[b] inherit what you have promised me?”

19 But God answered:

No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac,[c] and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.

. 21 But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.

22 God finished speaking to Abraham and then left.

Bible Passage: Genesis 18:1-15

One hot summer afternoon while Abraham was sitting by the entrance to his tent near the sacred trees of Mamre, the Lord appeared to him. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. He quickly ran to meet them, bowed with his face to the ground, 3 and said, “Please come to my home where I can serve you. 4 I'll have some water brought, so you can wash your feet, then you can rest under a tree. 5 Let me get you some food to give you strength before you leave. I would be honored to serve you.”

“Thank you very much,” they answered. “We accept your offer.”

6 Abraham went quickly to his tent and said to Sarah, “Hurry! Get a large sack of flour and make some bread.” 7 After saying this, he rushed off to his herd of cattle and picked out one of the best calves, which his servant quickly prepared. 8 He then served his guests some yogurt and milk together with the meat.

While they were eating, he stood near them under the tree, 9 and they asked, “Where's your wife Sarah?”

“She is right there in the tent,” Abraham answered.

10 One of the guests was the Lord, and he said, “I'll come back about this time next year, and when I do, Sarah will already have a son.”

Sarah was behind Abraham, listening at the entrance to the tent. 11 Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was well past the age for having children. 12 So she laughed and said to herself, “Now that I am worn out and my husband is old, will I really know such happiness?”[a]

13 The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Does she doubt that she can have a child in her old age? 14 I am the Lord! There is nothing too difficult for me. I'll come back next year at the time I promised, and Sarah will already have a son.”

15 Sarah was so frightened that she lied and said, “I didn't laugh.”

“Yes, you did!” he answered.

Bible Passage: Genesis 21:1-8

The Lord was good to Sarah and kept his promise. 2 Although Abraham was very old, Sarah had a son exactly at the time God had said. 3 Abraham named his son Isaac.

5 Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born, 6 and Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.And now everyone will laugh with me. 7 Who would have dared to tell Abraham that someday I would have a child? But in his old age, I have given him a son.”

8 The time came when Sarah no longer had to nurse Isaac, and on that day Abraham gave a big feast.

God can do anything.

He has no limitations.

He started his chosen people with Abraham.

Jesus extends the kingdom to include those of us who believe who aren’t Abraham’s descendants - you and me.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 3:6

“Because of Christ Jesus, the good news has given the Gentiles a share in the promises God gave to the Jews. God has also let the Gentiles be part of the same body.”

All we have to do is believe and follow him!

Question Time!

Are there any parts of the story that didn’t make sense to you and if yes, what were they?
Do you have any questions after hearing today’s episode?
How do you feel when you find out that you have been invited to be a member of God’s Chosen People, God’s family?

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

Join The Word On The Street Podcast conversation on our Facebook group here

Like INSTAGRAM?

Follow The Word On The Street Podcast here

Follow Anna on Instagram here

View Details

For another episode on Sarah and her hardships, listen here.

For more episodes on God doing the impossible, listen here.

God’s people are those who will go to in heaven when we die.

Jesus calls all of us “The Kingdom of Heaven.”

We don’t know exactly who that includes but God does.

Our names are written in his Book of Life.

Are you one of God’s people?

What do you think?

Not only is this episode about God’s chosen people, but it is also about God’s power - his ability to do what we think are impossible things. Do we ask for the impossible?

Have you ever asked God to move a mountain? Because he could if he wanted to!
Have you ever asked God for money and it has come to you? He does that sometimes!
Have you ever asked God for covid to be gone and all that goes with it? I do and I keep hoping he will answer that one!
What is the craziest request you have made to God and have you gotten it?
What crazy thing could you ask for now that you would like?

*Verses about Abraham's son from his servant Hagar as well as verses about circumcision were left out to make the story simpler - feel free to chat about those aspects of the story with your family!

Story Time!

Bible Passage: Genesis 12:2

“I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 15:1-6

Later the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision, “Abram, don't be afraid! I will protect you and reward you greatly.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 17:1-22

7 I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. 9 Abraham, you and all future members of your family must promise to obey me.

19 But God answered:

No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac,[c] and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.

. 21 But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.

22 God finished speaking to Abraham and then left.

Bible Passage: Genesis 18:1-15

“Thank you very much,” they answered. “We accept your offer.”

While they were eating, he stood near them under the tree, 9 and they asked, “Where's your wife Sarah?”

“She is right there in the tent,” Abraham answered.

10 One of the guests was the Lord, and he said, “I'll come back about this time next year, and when I do, Sarah will already have a son.”

15 Sarah was so frightened that she lied and said, “I didn't laugh.”

“Yes, you did!” he answered.

Bible Passage: Genesis 21:1-8

The Lord was good to Sarah and kept his promise. 2 Although Abraham was very old, Sarah had a son exactly at the time God had said. 3 Abraham named his son Isaac.

8 The time came when Sarah no longer had to nurse Isaac, and on that day Abraham gave a big feast.

God can do anything.

He has no limitations.

He started his chosen people with Abraham.

Jesus extends the kingdom to include those of us who believe who aren’t Abraham’s descendants - you and me.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 3:6

“Because of Christ Jesus, the good news has given the Gentiles a share in the promises God gave to the Jews. God has also let the Gentiles be part of the same body.”

All we have to do is believe and follow him!

Question Time!

Are there any parts of the story that didn’t make sense to you and if yes, what were they?
Do you have any questions after hearing today’s episode?
How do you feel when you find out that you have been invited to be a member of God’s Chosen People, God’s family?

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

Join The Word On The Street Podcast conversation on our Facebook group here

Like INSTAGRAM?

Follow The Word On The Street Podcast here

Follow Anna on Instagram here

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I love camping. I am very blessed to have a camper trailer and it is easy for us to pack up each morning, travel to a new spot, and set up again that night for a new adventure.

I went on a 16 week trip, and while I was away I called the camper trailer “home” and to differentiate it, I referred to my permanent home as “home, home.”

But what about living in a tent?

We camped at a free camp spot in the south coast of NSW and there were lots of people who had pitched a tent and lived in them permanently. Would you like to permanently be camping and call your tent home?

Back in Genesis, a long time ago, there was much more land and much less people, so it seems that everyone could have their own land if they could look after it, build on it and raise livestock. Abram was someone who had plenty of animals, a wife and some workers too! He was able to claim land and develop it.

What do you think?

Do you know what types of houses people can live in?
Guess the name of each type of house from the clues:

What is the type of house that is made out of compacted snow and usually shaped like a dome? An igloo.
Can you guess the name of the wood and straw style huts that Fijians build? A Bure, or some people call it a bungalow.
What is the name of the house built using wooden poles in a cone shape and covered with animal skin, designed by native Americans to be a great shelter and also to be portable? A tipi.

If you could pitch a tent and camp anywhere in the world, where would you choose?

Story Time!

Abram and Lot had families and workers and livestock and lived close by with other locals from the area Canaan.

Bible Passage: Genesis 13:7-9,13-18

“There wasn't enough pastureland left for Abram and Lot with all of their animals. Besides this, the men who took care of Abram's animals and the ones who took care of Lot's animals started quarreling.

“Abram said to Lot, “We are close relatives. We shouldn't argue, and our men shouldn't be fighting one another. 9 There is plenty of land for you to choose from. Let's separate. If you go north, I'll go south; if you go south, I'll go north.”

And when Lot looked around, he saw there was plenty of water in the Jordan Valley. All the way to Zoar the valley was as green as the garden of the Lord or the land of Egypt. 11 So Lot chose the whole Jordan Valley for himself, and as he started out toward the east, he and Abram separated. 12 Abram stayed in the land of Canaan. But Lot settled near the cities of the valley and put up his tents not far from Sodom, 13 where the people were evil and sinned terribly against the Lord.

Lot was able to choose where he wanted to pitch his tent. He chose to live in a very evil place called Sodom. He made a devastating choice.

After Abram and Lot had gone their separate ways, the Lord said to Abram:

Look around to the north, south, east, and west. 15 I will give you and your family all the land you can see. It will be theirs forever! 16 I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and someday it will be easier to count those specks of dust than to count your descendants. 17 Now walk back and forth across the land, because I am going to give it to you.

18 Abram took down his tents and went to live near the sacred trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he built an altar in honor of the Lord.”

Abram chose to continue to follow God.

Some time later, Sodom was actually attacked by a group of kings and the captured Lot plus a lot of other things. Abram heard about it, found out where he was being help, snuck in one night and rescued Lot and a heap of other people too!

God came to Abraham and had a chat with him.

Bible Passage: Genesis 18:20-33

The Lord said, “Abraham, I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are doing all kinds of evil things. 21 Now I am going down to see for myself if those people really are that bad. If they aren't, I would like to know.”

And Abraham asked him, “Lord, when you destroy the evil people, are you also going to destroy those who are good? 24 Wouldn't you spare the city if there are only 50 good people in it? 25 You surely wouldn't let them be killed when you destroy the evil ones. You are the judge of all the earth, and you do what is right.”

26 The Lord replied, “If I find 50 good people in Sodom, I will save the city to keep them from being killed.”

27 Abraham answered, “I am nothing more than the dust of the earth. Please forgive me, Lord, for daring to speak to you like this. 28 But suppose there are only 45 good people in Sodom. Would you still wipe out the whole city?”

“If I find 45 good people,” the Lord replied, “I won't destroy the city.”

29 “Suppose there are just 40 good people?” Abraham asked.

“Even for them,” the Lord replied, “I won't destroy the city.”

30 Abraham said, “Please don't be angry, Lord, if I ask you what you will do if there are only 30 good people in the city.”

“If I find 30,” the Lord replied, “I still won't destroy it.”

31 Then Abraham said, “I don't have any right to ask you, Lord, but what would you do if you find only 20?”

“Because of them, I won't destroy the city,” was the Lord's answer.

32 Finally, Abraham said, “Please don't get angry, Lord, if I speak just once more. Suppose you find only 10 good people there.”

“For the sake of 10 good people,” the Lord told him, “I still won't destroy the city.”

33 After speaking with Abraham, the Lord left, and Abraham went back home.

I wonder if Abraham had asked about one person, whether God would have said he wouldn’t destroy the city. I’m thinking he would save the one person.

Bible Passage:

The two angels said to Lot, “The Lord has heard many terrible things about the people of Sodom, and he has sent us here to destroy the city. Take your family and leave. Take every relative you have in the city, as well as the men your daughters are going to marry.”

14 Lot went to the men who were engaged to his daughters and said, “Hurry up and get out of here! The Lord is going to destroy this city.” But they thought he was joking, and they laughed at him.

15 Early the next morning the two angels tried to make Lot hurry and leave. They said, “Take your wife and your two daughters and get away from here as fast as you can! If you don't, every one of you will be killed when the Lord destroys the city.” 16 At first, Lot just stood there. But the Lord wanted to save him. So the angels took Lot, his wife, and his two daughters by the hand and led them out of the city. 17 When they were outside, one of the angels said, “Run for your lives! Don't even look back. And don't stop in the valley. Run to the hills, where you'll be safe.”

18-19 Lot answered, “You have done us a great favor, sir. You have saved our lives, but please don't make us go to the hills. That's too far away. The city will be destroyed before we can get there, and we will be killed when it happens. 20 There's a town near here. It's only a small place, but my family and I will be safe, if you let us go there.”

21 “All right, go there,” he answered. “I won't destroy that town. 22 Hurry! Run! I can't do anything until you are safely there.”

23 The sun was coming up as Lot reached the town of Zoar, 24 and the Lord sent burning sulfur down like rain on Sodom and Gomorrah. 25 He destroyed those cities and everyone who lived in them, as well as their land and the trees and grass that grew there.

26 On the way, Lot's wife looked back and was turned into a block of salt.

27 That same morning Abraham got up and went to the place where he had stood and spoken with the Lord. 28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and saw smoke rising from all over the land—it was like a flaming furnace.

29 When God destroyed the cities of the valley where Lot lived, he remembered his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the terrible destruction.

God hates sin.

God saves those who are good and who love him.

Lot was good, but chose to live in a sinful, evil city.

It is very hard to find good people to be with when you are with evil - his wife turned back and his daughters’ finances were not “good.”

Surround yourself with people you want to be like, and it will be much easier to become the person you want to be.

Question Time!

Which character in this story do you understand the most? Why?
Which character do you want to be like the most? Why?
How can you become more like them?

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19 years ago I made the biggest promise of my life - to love and to cherish Brad for the rest of my life. And then we were married and I have to live out that promise every day.

Other promises I have made include signing contracts. (A contract is just a promise written down so that it cannot be changed and signed by both people involved, showing that they agree to the promise.) When I got married I signed a marriage certificate too!

When I bought my house I had to borrow money from the bank and I signed a contract to promise that I would pay it off each month while the bank promised to lend me money.

When we get phone plans we promise to pay those bills each month and sign a contract for those. We promise that we will pay the bills and they promise to provide us with phone connectivity and data.

Have you ever made a promise? Have you ever signed a contract?

Arial, the little mermaid, signed a horrible contract with Ursula, the sea witch, promising that Ursula could have her voice and in return she was given legs.

What do you think?Yes OR No?

Would you sign a contract if you were a mermaid to give away your voice in exchange for some legs?
Would you sign a contract and promise to pay $10 per month so that you can watch Netflix?
Would you sign a contract to not go to heaven in exchange for a million dollars?

Lucky we would never have to do that last one! It is interesting to think about though.

God makes a promise to Abram, but it is an usual promise because it is only one sided. Normally both sides have something to offer in a contract, but only God makes the offer. Abram simply receives it. Listen to the bible passage to hear about the first times Abram is mentioned in the Bible:

Bible Passage: Genesis 11:28-32, 12:1-9

“Abram married Sarai, but she was not able to have children… Abram’s father, Terah decided to move from Ur to the land of Canaan. He took along Abram and Sarai and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran. But when they came to the city of Haran, they settled there instead.Terah lived to be 205 years old and died in Haran…”

“The Lord said to Abram:

Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you.

Abram was 75 years old when the Lord told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had acquired while in Haran.

When they came to the land of Canaan,Abram went as far as the sacred tree of Moreh in a place called Shechem. The Canaanites were still living in the land at that time, but the Lord appeared to Abram and promised, “I will give this land to your family forever.” Abram then built an altar there for the Lord.”

Why did they do that?

Abram was faithful to God. He was like Noah, and was happy to have God guide his life. God was so happy with Abram that he chose to make a promise to him.

Not a normal promise, where both sides promise to do things. This promise included Abram doing nothing and God doing everything.

"Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation.

The way I remember the 3 promises God made to Abram is through the acronym LOB - land, offspring, blessings.

Land is the promised land of Israel and is a topic that runs through the whole bible.

Offspring, or descendants are all of Abram and Sarai’s children - family members through the generations and are known today as Jews. So if you are a Jew, you are one of Abram and Sarai’s descendants and part of this promise!

Bible Passage: Genesis 15:5

“The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.”

The blessing is for us all - so even if you aren’t a Jew, you get a blessing. When we read it here, the blessing seems unclear about what it is, but NOW, we know for sure what God is talking about - the blessing of Jesus, (who is also one of Abram’s descendants!)

Jesus actually makes it so that Abram’s descendants are not the only ones to be included as God’s chosen people. Jesus’ death means that we can all be part of God’s family.

Story Time!

When I was in primary school, I knew all the kids. When I got to high school, there were heaps of kids from other schools who I didn’t know.

I kept with those I knew for a while, but slowly got to know the other kids from another school, Lismore Public. They kept to themselves too, and slowly got to know me. After a while, I ended up switching friend groups and I went and joined the Lismore Public group of girls.

God’s people is a bit like that. He started his chosen people with Abraham and his offspring, but Jews are not the only group of God’s chosen people anymore. Over the years, extra people have been welcomed in - people like Rahab and her daughter in law Ruth, who were not Jews but were welcomed in. And those ladies’ (who married Jews) had one particular offspring who opened up God’s chosen people to not just include Jews, but to include all who believe and have had their sins removed. Who was it? Jesus!

Question Time!

Do you remember the 3 promises God made to Abraham? What are they?
Why is it important to know about it so many years later?

For those interested in hearing about Jesus’ being Abraham’s ancestor, this is straight from the bible, and excuse my pronunciations as I read some names!

Bible Passage: Matthew 1:1-17

"Jesus Christ came from the family of King David and also from the family of Abraham. And this is a list of his ancestors. From Abraham to King David, his ancestors were:

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers (Judah's sons were Perez and Zerah, and their mother was Tamar), Hezron;

Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.

From David to the time of the exile in Babylonia, the ancestors of Jesus were:

David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;

Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.

From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:

Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;

Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

There were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were also 14 from David to the exile in Babylonia and 14 more to the birth of the Messiah.”

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19 years ago I made the biggest promise of my life - to love and to cherish Brad for the rest of my life. And then we were married and I have to live out that promise every day.

When I bought my house I had to borrow money from the bank and I signed a contract to promise that I would pay it off each month while the bank promised to lend me money.

When we get phone plans we promise to pay those bills each month and sign a contract for those. We promise that we will pay the bills and they promise to provide us with phone connectivity and data.

Have you ever made a promise? Have you ever signed a contract?

Arial, the little mermaid, signed a horrible contract with Ursula, the sea witch, promising that Ursula could have her voice and in return she was given legs.

What do you think?Yes OR No?

Would you sign a contract if you were a mermaid to give away your voice in exchange for some legs?
Would you sign a contract and promise to pay $10 per month so that you can watch Netflix?
Would you sign a contract to not go to heaven in exchange for a million dollars?

Lucky we would never have to do that last one! It is interesting to think about though.

Bible Passage: Genesis 11:28-32, 12:1-9

“The Lord said to Abram:

Why did they do that?

Abram was faithful to God. He was like Noah, and was happy to have God guide his life. God was so happy with Abram that he chose to make a promise to him.

Not a normal promise, where both sides promise to do things. This promise included Abram doing nothing and God doing everything.

"Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation.

The way I remember the 3 promises God made to Abram is through the acronym LOB - land, offspring, blessings.

Land is the promised land of Israel and is a topic that runs through the whole bible.

Bible Passage: Genesis 15:5

“The Lord took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have.”

Jesus actually makes it so that Abram’s descendants are not the only ones to be included as God’s chosen people. Jesus’ death means that we can all be part of God’s family.

Story Time!

When I was in primary school, I knew all the kids. When I got to high school, there were heaps of kids from other schools who I didn’t know.

Question Time!

Do you remember the 3 promises God made to Abraham? What are they?
Why is it important to know about it so many years later?

For those interested in hearing about Jesus’ being Abraham’s ancestor, this is straight from the bible, and excuse my pronunciations as I read some names!

Bible Passage: Matthew 1:1-17

"Jesus Christ came from the family of King David and also from the family of Abraham. And this is a list of his ancestors. From Abraham to King David, his ancestors were:

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers (Judah's sons were Perez and Zerah, and their mother was Tamar), Hezron;

Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.

From David to the time of the exile in Babylonia, the ancestors of Jesus were:

David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;

Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.

From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:

Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;

Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

There were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were also 14 from David to the exile in Babylonia and 14 more to the birth of the Messiah.”

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I am monolingual. Monolingual means I only speak one language. I learnt a little bit of Italian in school, but not much! I see some really tiny kids chatting away in a different language and am baffled by how quickly they can learn it! And some kids know more than one and are bilingual. Are you?

Have you ever wondered why different countries have different skin colours, look different and speak different languages? Well, our skin colours come from adapting to our environment, with those with the darkest skin living closer to the equator and those with the lightest, living close to the poles. But what is with the different languages?

Language does change over time anyway. New words are added to our dictionary every year. Many English words actually came from Latin, which is a language no one speaks anymore. Ancient Greek is what the New Testament of the bible was written in, and I know a man who is fluent in it, but when he went to Greece he tried to talk with them in Ancient Greek and no one understood it - it had changed so much!

What do you think?

Language and words and accents are funny things sometimes.

Real or made up?

Bumfuzzle, collywobbles, bumbershoot, flibbertigibbet, gardyloo?

All of them!

Bumfuzzle. This is a simple term that refers to being confused, perplexed, or flustered or to cause confusion.

Collywobbles. This refers to a weird feeling in your stomach or an overall bellyache.

Bumbershoot. This is referring to an umbrella.

Flibbertigibbet. This is another fun word! This refers to someone who is silly and who talks incessantly.

Gardyloo. This is actually a Scottish term. This is what people living in Edinburgh shouted out their windows as a warning before dumping their slop buckets out of their windows.

Do you know any words that have been added to the dictionary lately?

4 random new words I learnt when I went searching are:

Awesomesauce: means, “extremely good; excellent.”

Beardo: is “a nickname for a person who has a beard.”

Sharent: is used to describe a parent who frequently uses social media to share photos or other details about their child.

But what about the descendants of Noah. How did they come to have different languages?

Bible Passage:

"At first everyone spoke the same language, but after some of them moved from the east and settled in Babylonia,they said, "Let's build a city with a tower that reaches to the sky! We'll use hard bricks and tar instead of stone and mortar. We'll become famous, and we won't be scattered all over the world."

But when the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower, he said, "These people are working together because they all speak the same language. This is just the beginning. Soon they will be able to do anything they want. Let's go down and confuse them! We'll make them speak different languages, and they won't be able to understand each other."

So the people had to stop building the city, because the Lord confused their language and scattered them all over the earth. That's how the city of Babel got its name.”

What is wrong with building a tower to the sky? It is the thoughts that go with it. They will be as tall and strong as God as they will be united. Being united is great, so long as we don’t grow proud and think we don’t need God, and that is what is happening here. Pride is the problem. It’s the thought, “I can do it without God, I don’t need him.”:

Bible Passage: Romans 12:3

"Do not to think you are better than you really are.”

Bible Passage: Philippians 2:3

“Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves.”

Sometimes we say, “I am so proud of you,” and that’s fine. There are 2 definitions for pride:

feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closely associated. "a proud grandma of three boys”
having or showing a high or excessively high opinion of oneself or one's importance. "he was a proud, arrogant man"

God does not want us to be the last one. He wants us to have pleasure and satisfaction when we reach our goals. He doesn’t want us thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought, better than we really are.

The people in Babel thought they would become famous and won’t be scattered all over the world. Then they would be so fantastic that they wouldn’t need God. They could rely on themselves.

Nowadays, we are like Babel too. Our cities are full of people. In the city, we feel part of a large community. We feel safe and strong and we don’t need to rely on God for our safety or our food or water. This is what God wanted to avoid and so he split up the community by changing their languages.

But why does he let our community continue to do what they did in Babel - being proud and not relying on him?

I think that we don’t need to be divided up, as we have all the information we need in the bible, including this story! The citizens of Babel didn’t have books to learn, but we do! We can learn from history, and other people’s experiences. So let’s not be proud.

Bible Passage: Psalm 118:8-9

“It is better to trust the Lord for protection than to trust anyone else, including strong leaders.”

Story Time!

As someone who lives in a country rich enough to play podcasts, you are likely to have not needed to rely on God as much as those who don’t know where their next meal is coming from or when. As kids, I think it may be easier to rely on God, as you have less control over your activities.

I struggled to think of personal stories of me relying on God because I am not very good at it! But I can tell you about how I’ve been learning to over the last few years, since covid…

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he said:

Bible Passage: Matthew 6:9-11

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread…”

We are to ask God to provide what we need for each day. Rely on him to provide.

Question Time!

Have you ever relied solely on God about something? What happened?
How can we rely on God more?

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A few weeks ago I went to a class with a friend to make a pottery plate, mug and bowl. It was great and my wet clay product looked great! I was so excited about getting the end result back from the kiln (it needs to be fired in a super hot oven to go hard). But when I got them back the plate was missing. It had broken in the kiln. It wasn’t even worth fixing - the company had just chucked it in the bin!

Have you ever made something that didn’t turn out how you wanted it to? Maybe it was made out of lego, or maybe you used playdoh. My kids have done special pottery classes on school excursions to the local art gallery and some have been happy with theirs but others were not such great work. Theirs wasn’t chucked out like mine was though! Do you chuck out your creation? Do you start again? Or do you fix it up?

God created us, and because we sin, we didn’t turn out the way God wanted us to. The sin means that we his created creatures, are faulty. Does he throw us out? Does he give us a chance to try better?

In today’s episode we are looking at the story of Noah and the ark, and how the evil of all the people meant that God chose to wipe them away and start society again with Noah.

We will find out a little about how devastating sin is to God. He doesn’t want that roadblock there. He wants to have a relationship with us!

What do you think?

Some things that have been created weren’t actually that good - would you agree?

I am going to list a few things that people have created and see whether you think they should have been binned or not:

The Baby Shark song
Fortnight
Monopoly
Shoes
A Maths app

Some things should never have been created right?

You may feel like this story is familiar to you because you have read all of the children’s bibles available and they always include this story, but this episode will have all the details! It is coming straight from God’s word and I expect that you will learn even more details that you didn’t know!

Story Time/Bible Passage: Genesis 6-9

More and more people were born, until finally they spread all over the earth. The Lord saw how bad the people on earth were and that everything they thought and planned was evil. 6 He was sorry that he had made them, 7 and he said, “I'm going to destroy every person on earth! I'll even wipe out animals, birds, and reptiles. I'm sorry I ever made them.”

8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah,9 and this is the story about him. Noah was the only person who lived right and obeyed God.10 He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11-12 God knew that everyone was terribly cruel and violent. 13 So he told Noah:

Cruelty and violence have spread everywhere. Now I'm going to destroy the whole earth and all its people. 14 Get some good lumber and build a boat. Put rooms in it and cover it with tar inside and out. 15 Make it 133 meters long, 22 meters wide, and 13 meters high. 16 Build a roof[d] on the boat and leave a space of about 44 centimeters between the roof and the sides.[e] Make the boat three stories high and put a door on one side.

17 I'm going to send a flood that will destroy everything that breathes! Nothing will be left alive. 18 But I solemnly promise that you, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law will be kept safe in the boat.[f] 19-20 Take into the boat with you a male and a female of every kind of animal and bird, as well as a male and a female of every reptile. I don't want them to be destroyed. 21 Store up enough food both for yourself and for them. 22 Noah did everything God told him to do…

Noah was 600 years old when he went into the boat to escape the flood, and he did everything the Lord had told him to do. His wife, his sons, and his daughters-in-law all went inside with him. 8-9 He obeyed God and took a male and a female of each kind of animal and bird into the boat with him. 10 Seven days later a flood began to cover the earth. The water under the earth started gushing out everywhere, the sky opened like windows, and rain poured down for 40 days and nights. On the day that is began, Noah and his wife went into the boat with their three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and their wives. 14 They took along every kind of animal, tame and wild, including the birds. 15 Noah took a male and a female of every living creature with him, 16 just as God had told him to do. And when they were all in the boat, the Lord closed the door.

For 40 days the rain poured down without stopping. And the water became deeper and deeper, until the boat started floating high above the ground. 19-20 Finally, the mighty flood was so deep that even the highest mountain peaks were about seven meters below the surface of the water. 21 Not a bird, animal, reptile, or human was left alive anywhere on earth. 22-23 The Lord destroyed everything that breathed. Nothing was left alive except Noah and the others in the boat. 24 A hundred fifty days later, the water started going down.

God did not forget about Noah and the animals with him in the boat. So God made a wind blow, and the water started going down. 2 God stopped up the places where the water had been gushing out from under the earth. He also closed up the sky, and the rain stopped. 3 For 150 days the water slowly went down. 4 Then on the seventeenth day of the seventh month of the year, the boat came to rest somewhere in the Ararat mountains. 5 The water kept going down, and the mountain tops could be seen on the first day of the tenth month…"

Noah sent out a raven and then a dove who returned, and then later another dove who didn’t return.

"Noah was now 601 years old. And by the first day of that year, almost all the water had gone away. Noah made an opening in the roof of the boat and saw that the ground was getting dry. 14 By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was completely dry.

15 God said to Noah, 16 “You, your wife, your sons, and your daughters-in-law may now leave the boat. 17 Let out the birds, animals, and reptiles, so they can mate and live all over the earth.” 18 After Noah and his family had left the boat, 19 the living creatures left in groups of their own kind.

Noah gave God a sacrifice and then God said, “Never again will I punish the earth for the sinful things its people do. All of them have evil thoughts from the time they are young, but I will never destroy everything that breathes, as I did this time. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat; winter and summer, day and night.”

God said to Noah and his sons:

“I am giving you my blessing. Have a lot of children and grandchildren, so people will live everywhere on this earth. 2 All animals, birds, reptiles, and fish will be afraid of you. I have placed them under your control, 3 and I have given them to you for food. From now on, you may eat them, as well as the green plants that you have always eaten.”

“The rainbow that I have put in the sky will be my sign to you and to every living creature on earth. It will remind you that I will keep this promise forever. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, and a rainbow appears in the sky, 15 I will remember my promise to you and to all other living creatures. Never again will I let floodwaters destroy all life.”

Noah lived 350 years after the flood 29 and died at the age of 950.

Overall, Noah and his family lived in the ark for a total of 370 days, which is 1 year and 5 days!

God did all this so that he could wipe out all the sin and evil that existed in the world. Every single thing that breathes that wasn’t on the ark ended up dying. All those sinful people! Were people one of those things God should not have created? Does he regret it? Should he have just destroyed us and not tried again?

He did try again, with Noah and his family, but we know that earth is any less sinful now than before. But we also know that God doesn’t make mistakes, and so this event happened for a reason. Many reasons actually.

God wants us to know:

He hates sin so much! He loathes it, detests it, can’t stand it!
He is always ready to find a way to save those who love him.

Jesus is the one who ultimately saves us from those sins. The rain removed the sinful people for a time, but sin is most definitely everywhere in this world! Turn on the tv, turn on your device, go to where any people are and you will find sin. Jesus died on the cross to deal with it once and for all - for the people in the past and the people in the future - us!

Question Time!

Was there anything new in this story that you didn’t know before?
Does understanding how much God hates sin help prompt you to try harder to live a godly life? Why/why not?

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In today’s episode we are looking at the story of Noah and the ark, and how the evil of all the people meant that God chose to wipe them away and start society again with Noah.

We will find out a little about how devastating sin is to God. He doesn’t want that roadblock there. He wants to have a relationship with us!

What do you think?

Some things that have been created weren’t actually that good - would you agree?

I am going to list a few things that people have created and see whether you think they should have been binned or not:

The Baby Shark song
Fortnight
Monopoly
Shoes
A Maths app

Some things should never have been created right?

Story Time/Bible Passage: Genesis 6-9

8 But the Lord was pleased with Noah,9 and this is the story about him. Noah was the only person who lived right and obeyed God.10 He had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

11-12 God knew that everyone was terribly cruel and violent. 13 So he told Noah:

Noah sent out a raven and then a dove who returned, and then later another dove who didn’t return.

God said to Noah and his sons:

Noah lived 350 years after the flood 29 and died at the age of 950.

Overall, Noah and his family lived in the ark for a total of 370 days, which is 1 year and 5 days!

God wants us to know:

He hates sin so much! He loathes it, detests it, can’t stand it!
He is always ready to find a way to save those who love him.

Question Time!

Was there anything new in this story that you didn’t know before?
Does understanding how much God hates sin help prompt you to try harder to live a godly life? Why/why not?

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When Peter Pan brings Wendy to Neverland, Tinkerbell is jealous. So jealous that she tries to get the other lost boys to shoot Wendy down. Have you ever felt jealous? Maybe you are jealous of someone who is better at something than you - funnier, faster, more creative? Have you ever wanted them to just go away or disappear?

Sometimes our relationships with others is hard, especially when they’re your family and you can’t escape it when you need to! Friends are people that you can choose to have a relationship with.

Everyone has relationships. Chances are you are a son or a daughter and have a relationship with your mum and dad. If you have a brother or sister you have a relationship with them. If there are 2 parents and 2 kids in your family (4 people) then there are 6 different relationships going on. Some people you will get on better with than others at different points in your life because everyone has different personalities. The biggest relationship blocker - something that prevents people from having a good relationship - is when we sin.

This episode is also all about sin, and runs with a similar theme as last episode:

Bible Passage: Isaiah 59:2

“Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.”

What do you think?

Can you think of any stories or movies in which someone has been killed on purpose - murdered? I’m thinking about Bambi, whose mother was hunted and shot at the beginning of the movie. Or what about The Lion King, where King Mustafa was flung off a cliff by his brother Scar, who also caused many more deaths throughout the movie.

How did you feel about it? Sad, mad, glad, bad? Do you mind watching deaths in movies or do you close your eyes? I like to close my eyes sometimes.

How do you feel when the villain in the story gets punished or killed? Do you think that it is good and that they deserve it? I do sometimes. But is that a good thought?

The very first murder ever is recorded in the bible and it’s what I am going to read today:

Bible Passage: Genesis 4

"Adam and Eve had a son. Then Eve said, “I'll name him Cain because I got[b] him with the help of the Lord.” 2 Later she had another son and named him Abel.

Abel became a sheep farmer, but Cain farmed the land. 3 One day, Cain gave part of his harvest to the Lord, 4 and Abel also gave an offering to the Lord. He killed the first-born lamb from one of his sheep and gave the Lord the best parts of it. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but not with Cain and his offering. This made Cain so angry that he could not hide his feelings.

6 The Lord said to Cain:

What's wrong with you? Why do you look so angry? 7 If you had done the right thing, you would be smiling.[c] But you did the wrong thing, and now sin is waiting to attack you like a lion. Sin wants to destroy you, but don't let it!

8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let's go for a walk.”[d] And when they were out in a field, Cain attacked and killed him.

9 Afterwards the Lord asked Cain, “Where is Abel?”

“How should I know?” he answered. “Am I supposed to look after my brother?”

10 Then the Lord said:

Why have you done this terrible thing? You killed your own brother, and his blood flowed onto the ground. Now his blood is calling out for me to punish you. 11 And so, I'll put you under a curse. Because you killed Abel and made his blood run out on the ground, you will never be able to farm it again. 12 When you try to farm the land, it won't produce anything for you. From now on, you'll be without a home, and you'll spend the rest of your life wandering from place to place.

13 “This punishment is too hard!” Cain said. 14 “You're making me leave my home and live far from you.[e] I will have to wander about without a home, and just anyone could kill me.”

15 “No!”[f] the Lord answered. “Anyone who kills you will be punished seven times worse than I am punishing you.” So the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn everyone not to kill him. 16 But Cain had to go far from the Lord and live in the Land of Wandering,[g] which is east of Eden.

It seems like Cain’s sin was a roadblock between him and God. It got in between them and they couldn’t be friends anymore.

Does God punish us like he punished Cain? No! We will be judged when we die for all the things we have done.

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:21-22

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder,[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sisterwill be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Raca Means empty one or foolish. You may think Cain is so evil for killing, and you are right about the enormity of his sin, but when we are angry and sin in our anger, God is going to judge us for that sin. So whether big or small, whether murder or anger, our sin causes a blockage in our relationship.

Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 5:10

“Christ will judge each of us for the good or the bad that we do while living in these bodies.”

If our names are written in the book of life we will be ok, but you can only have your name written in that book if you believe that Jesus died to take away your sins, and you need to say sorry and try not to do them as much as you can.

Story Time!

My older sister was always exceptional. She was smart and beautiful and creative and was always good company. But whenever we had family friends over, no one wanted to play with me, they always wanted to play with Naomi. I tagged along and played too, but she was always the organiser, always the boss. I was jealous of Naomi. She was just so good!

So what did I do? I would complain to Mum, 'The girl my age wants to play with Naomi and not me,” I would whinge.

But I did not kill her. I did not plot revenge to destroy her. And I learned to tolerate those harder times because when those other people weren’t around, I got to hang out with Naomi and enjoy her company too. I loved her. I still love her!

Question Time!

What is the smallest sin you have ever done?
What is the biggest sin you have ever done?
Why does the size of the sin not matter to God?

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Have you ever come to a roadblock? A tree has fallen across the road and you can’t get through. You have to wait until someone can clear the tree away before you can go on. Or maybe you have to turn around and go back, unable to get to where you wanted to go.

In today’s episode we are going to be looking at how our sins are like a roadblock between us and God.

Bible Passage: Isaiah 59:2

“Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.”

When you act in a way that is peaceful and kind and lovely to others, you end up making friends and people want to be around you. God wants us to live like this, and to be friends with him and with others. There are 10 recent episodes on love!

When you don’t act like that, you are disobeying God and that’s called sin.

When I was younger I used to annoy my older sister and slap her really hard.

Now, I lose my patience and say mean things to my family and I know God doesn’t like that.

Have you ever disobeyed God? What did you do?

What do you think?

WHO AM I?

I am made out of dirt
I may or may not have a belly button
I have one less rib than I started life with
I was never a baby and I didn’t have a childhood
I named all the animals in the world
I didn’t find any suitable to be my helper
I lived in a beautiful garden for a very very long time
My time in the garden was absolutely perfect - delicious fruits, wonderful wife and God - it was full of love and happiness

WHO AM I?

I am Adam

Bible Passage: Genesis 3:1-13, 22-24

The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the Lord God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, “Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”

The woman answered, “God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die.”

No, you won't!” the snake replied. “God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.”

The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too. 7 At once they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

Late in the afternoon, when the breeze began to blow, the man and woman heard the Lord God walking in the garden. So they hid behind some trees.

The Lord God called out to the man and asked, “Where are you?”

The man answered, “I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!”

“How did you know you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?”

“It was the woman you put here with me,” the man said. “She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it.”

The Lord God then asked the woman, “What have you done?”

“The snake tricked me,” she answered, “and I ate some of that fruit.”

Then God cursed the snake, he told Eve she would suffer when giving birth to children and Adam would have to work hard to provide food.

"Then the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife.

The Lord said, “They now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever.” So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made.Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.

Sounds very mythical doesn’t it!

Adam and Eve’s actions of taking the fruit from the wrong tree is the roadblock they have for being able to be with God and stay in the garden.

Story Time!

Friends of mine were camping at a caravan park on the south coast at Bendalong, when the bushfires came along, in January 2020. There is only one road into Bendalong and the fires were burning the trees in the whole area, even along the road, so those at Bendalong were trapped - there was no way in or out.

They had to wait until the fires were under control before being able to drive out of Bendalong to get to where they wanted to go - in this case, home to safety.

Our sins are like the fire, a roadblock, stopping us from getting to God. Just like my friends had to wait until the fire was under control, we need to get our sins under control. We need our sins forgiven by God and to do that we need Jesus to take the sins away.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:7

Christ sacrificed his life's blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven.

This means that the roadblock has been removed. Jesus is like a massive crane, removing whatever is on the road so that we can drive through and get to God!

Jesus is like a massive fire brigade, putting out the fires so that we can get to God.

Question Time!

What sins do you think are causing the biggest roadblock for you in your life, stopping you from getting to God
How can you deal with that roadblock?
Pray now and ask God to deal with it (apologise) and thank Jesus for dying on the cross.

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Did the events in Genesis actually happen the way in which it is written down?

There was a competition between some scientists and God involving the creation of people. God said, “Get your own dirt.” (Didn’t really happen, just a joke!)

Written by Moses, he would have received the information from God.

It includes Creation, beginning of rejecting God, God’s promises and beginning of his chosen people.

Bible Passage: Genesis 2:15-22

15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.”

Bible Passage: Genesis 1:28-2:4

"God gave them his blessing and said:

Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.

29 I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat. 30 And I have given the green plants as food for everything else that breathes, including animals, both wild and tame, and birds. And so it was.

31 God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came, then morning—that was the sixth day.

So the heavens and the earth and everything else were created.

2 By the seventh day God had finished his work, and so he rested. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it special, because on that day he rested from his work.

4 That's how God created the heavens and the earth."

In the beginning God created everything, he rested on the 7th day, and it was all good. It was all very good. Adam and Eve lived in perfect relationship with God for a long time.

What do you think?

We haven’t done a memory verse in a while, and this is a well known verse that is good to remember: Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Which one is right?

a) “In the beginning God created the earth and the heavens.”

b) “In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth.”

c) “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

d) “In the beginning God created a heaven and an earth.”

Which one is right?

If you believe that God didn’t create the world, what does that mean?

It means:

you think that our God is not creator
God is not in charge of things
God is not that powerful
God is at the mercy of nature and the natural order of things

If you believe God did create the world, it also implies:

You think God is powerful and creative and in charge
God is strong and honourable
God is worthy

Because of this passage:

Bible Passage: Rev 4:11

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honour and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they were created

and have their being.”

Story Time!

A good story always has 3 parts:

An introduction - who are the characters and what is happening
A complication - something goes wrong
A Resolution - everything gets sorted out in the end

When I was a kid I knew that my mum loved me, but whenever I was naughty I got punished. It was usually for annoying my older sister Naomi - hitting her or not playing the way she wanted me to.

My regular punishment was a big smack on my thigh, so big that a red hand mark would come up on my skin. I would go to my room and cry about being in trouble, about feeling ashamed and about my leg.

Without fail, every single time, it would conclude with mum coming in. We would chat and I would say sorry and we would hug and she would remind me how much she loved me. I never went a day without knowing that I was loved. Even after going through hard punishments.

There is a similar story:

God loves us. We sin/stuff up/disobey God. He punishes Jesus instead of us. We get to be loved by God.

This is the beginning of the story. God loves us. God made us. This is the introduction. And the story finishes with us being friends with God again.

Question Time!

Have you ever had a friend who you have gotten along with so well that you have never fought and always respected each other and enjoyed one another’s company?
If you’re like me and you haven’t, try to imagine you have, and describe what that kind of relationship would be like.

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It is always good to have a role model in life.

I always looked up to my parents and then to my leaders at church when I was at high school.

Who do I look up to now? Jesus. He is the ultimate role model, the best teacher, the best mentor. He loves perfectly.

What is it that Jesus did on the earth to show this? I’m sure you know.

Jesus cared about people so much that he taught them, he healed them, cast out demons and raised people from death to life.

But the best thing Jesus ever did was die on the cross for our sins.

Bible Passage: John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 2:24

“He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” ”

What do you think?

Try to think now of someone you know who is generous with their time and money.

Think of someone who might continually be giving things to you, buying you things, spending time playing with you, take you special places - a play at the park, for a swim, a bike ride.

Maybe they tidy up your messes with you or for you. They might do it and you might not even notice! (I used to come home from school to a tidy house and didn’t think twice about how it got so clean!)

Maybe they look after you when you’re not feeling well, taking you to the doctor, or dentist or speech therapist, in order to help you improve.

Maybe they ask you to do jobs and teach you how to do things, even things that you don’t really want to learn, but they do it because they love you and they know it’s a skill you are going to need for life.

Can you think of someone?

Do you think that this person would die for you if the need arises?

Bible Passage: John 15:13

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

I’m thinking you might be thinking of your mum or dad, maybe a grandparent.

I know that I would take a bullet for my kids.

Jesus is like that. He cares about us so much that he would die for us and more!

Jesus loved in all kinds of ways. Some may have felt more loved than others. What we do know, is that God fixed their bodies and healed their ailments, only to then go, get old and die eventually.

We know that Jesus’ sacrificing his own life for the sake of us was the ultimate act of love.

Bible Passage: John 15:9-13

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Love like Jesus. Can we actually do this? Can we heal people, teach people, die on the cross for people’s sins? No. But we can have a caring and generous heart like Jesus.

Give up your own life. It is not important. Serve others in life. Put others first. Love. This is the summary of what God wants of us.

Story Time!

Growing up we had to do jobs. Every weekend.

We had to do jobs because we didn’t just help out.

We continued to have mandatory allocated jobs until we moved out and we were well into our 20s.

I thought because I brought the dry washing in every now and then that I was helping out and very generous.

Bible Passage: Philippians 2:3-8

“Consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought:

Christ was truly God.
But he did not try to remain
equal with God.

Instead he gave up everything
and became a slave,
when he became
like one of us.

Christ was humble.
He obeyed God and even died
on a cross.”

Jesus heart is perfect and pure. He is sinless. Let’s live our lives with Jesus as our goal and work towards being like him as much as we can.

Question Time!

What is the most loving thing anyone (other than God) has ever done for you?
How can you love like Jesus in your life?

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Jacob went through a stage of telling lies when he was about 3. He worked out that if he told a lie and it went undetected, then it could get him out of time out and all kinds of lectures! When he was caught out in a lie it didn’t seem to bother him because he didn’t understand about how important trust is, how lying breaks the trust and it takes a long time to rebuild it back again.

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:16

“Do not tell lies about others.”

The first lie in the Bible:

Bible Passage: Genesis 3:2-4

“The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.”

What do you think?

2 TRUTHS AND A LIE

I lived in London for a year, waiting tables in a restaurant
I have a golden retriever named Tilly who is 5 years old
Our whole family hasn’t eaten sugar for over 5 years, including lollies

Which one is the lie?

2 TRUTHS AND A LIE

I came 1st in a snow skiing race with ski-school when I was 9 and beat my older sister.
When I was in primary school I was really shy and hardly talked to anyone but my family and close school friends.
I exercised as much as I could and have played hockey all my life and still do.

Which one is the lie?

Bible Passage: Colossians 3:9

“Stop lying to each other.”

The opposite of being a liar is being honest. Honest people are trustworthy people. You can rely on them to do what they saw they are going to do.

People who lie are untrustworthy. You can’t count on them. You can’t rely on them. You can’t believe what they say ever, because they could be lying, you just can never tell.

Why is being trustworthy so important?

Story Time!

I know a man named Tony who is a carpenter. He is pretty good at building and arrives on time, but sometimes tools go missing when Tony is around. His boss found his drill in Tony's ute and asked him about it. “Oh not sure how that got there!” Tony said. Do you believe him? Why not? His boss gives him the benefit of the doubt as he’s never done anything like that before, but he stores the information away in the back of his brain.

Tony called in sick for work the next Monday, but then his boss drove past him and saw that he was out for lunch with friends. This was not the actions of someone too sick to work. He was caught out! The trust was broken.

When another lost tool of the bosses was found in Tony's ute, the boss did not believe it was an accident. Tony had shown himself to be a liar and untrustworthy.

Every time Tony said something, the boss wasn’t sure if it was accurate or not. As a carpenter, he was often working alone on building sites. This means he needed to be trustworthy.

He told the boss that he had worked on hanging the door all day, but was that true? Did he leave early? Did he work slowly? Did he start late? If his boss can’t trust him, then he will need to be always checking, always doubting, always watching. This is not the kind of person any boss wants on their team!

Bible Passage: Proverbs 12:19, 22

“Truth will last forever;

lies are soon found out.

The Lord hates every liar,

but he is the friend of all

who can be trusted.”

Hate is a very strong word and I try to make sure my family only use the word when it necessitates it, when you really do actually loath something. God HATES it when we lie. Remember that it is not just the one instance of lying that he hates, but the sneaky, tricky behaviour that comes with it.

Be honest. It is the loving thing to do.

Question Time!

Why is it important to be honest?
Are you an honest and trustworthy person? Why/why not?

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We began the series with quite a few episodes talking about God’s commandments but haven’t spoken about them for a while.

Today’s episode brings us back to some of the commandments as we talk about prioritising others as much as ourselves.

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:13-17

“Do not murder.

Be faithful in marriage.

Do not steal.

Do not tell lies about others.

Do not desire to possess anything that belongs to another person—not a house, a wife, a husband, a slave, an ox, a donkey, or anything else.”

Would you murder yourself? NO!

Would you steal from yourself? NO!

Would you lie to yourself? NO!

If the answer is yes, then press stop now because this episode goes on assuming that you love yourself. Most of us do, but there are a few who neglect themselves. (I might need to do an episode on loving ourselves, which is not out of the question, because many people don’t love themselves or hesitate to put themselves down.)

This episode is assuming that you love yourself, much like Jesus does when he says:

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:39

“Love others as much as you love yourself.”

What do you think?

WHO AM I?

I am in the Bible but I am not a Jew
I am a character in one of Jesus’ most famous parables
I helped a sick and beaten Jew on the side of the road
I tended to his wounds, put him on my donkey and took him to an inn for the night
I paid the innkeeper to look after the man because I had to go away
I am from Samaria
I am THE GOOD SAMARITAN

The Good Samaritan loved his neighbour as he would love himself.

Jesus wants us to love others like that. Put ourselves out for others. Let it cost something to us - money or time or energy. We would spend those things on ourselves, let’s spend those things on others too!

Most of us prioritise ourselves, and make sure we get the best seat at the dinner table, make sure we get the biggest helping, make sure we are first in the line, make sure that the teacher picks us for the fun activities or to share in class. It’s our default.

But Jesus wants us to love others just as much as we love ourselves. He wants us to consider others just as much as we consider ourselves. That is to be our default setting too.

We look after ourselves, make sure we are clean and healthy and well dressed, well entertained and we try to give ourselves fun experiences. How can we do that for others as well?

Bible Passage: Philippians 2:3-4

“Consider others more important than yourselves. Care about them as much as you care about yourselves.”

Each of us has a different capacity. Capacity just means the amount that something can produce of contain. If you love yourself a little bit, and look after yourself just a bit, then love others that much. If you have the capacity to dote on yourself and spoil yourself, then do that for others too! If you are a child then it is harder to spoil yourself. It is also harder to love others too, as you are limited by your size and abilities. Get good at loving yourself, and increase the amount you can love others too!

Story Time!

Missionaries, Kate and Rob, gave up 4 years of their lives in order to love others. They moved to the Middle East to share the love of Jesus with the locals.

We try hard to receive love. We go to lengths to get what we need. We want to be looked after, loved. We make sure we get it. Let’s try and make sure others get it too, just as much as we make sure we get it ourselves.

Question Time!

Discuss your capacity for loving yourself and whether you can love others like that.
What do you think is the most loving thing you can do for someone?

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Before I got married I had a kitchen tea and a hens weekend away with my female friends and my sister asked each of my friends to write some words of advice in a special book. My lovely sister in law to be wrote 2 words - Love and tolerance. She said that that had been the secret to her successful marriage for so many years and were 2 words of advice someone else had given to her. Love and Tolerance.

Put up with others.

Bear with one another.

Tolerate others.

Live through it without commenting, complaining, reacting, interfering.

When I chose to marry Brad, I knew I would have to love and tolerate things about him, even though he was the one whom I loved and had chosen to spend my life with. No one is perfect, we all do things that are annoying and we all sin. We will all need to bear with one another sometimes, no matter how fond of each other we are.

I know that when I was a kid, we were not taught about tolerance and it is much more common to talk about. We are told to put up with others who are different to us, who do different things and who act in a different way. We think people are weird and strange if they are different to us but we are actually all different and all have our own strange things we do.

What do you think?

What are some of the strangest things that you do? Here are some of the things I have seen and heard about that I’ve thought of and I wonder if this is you?

Do you:

Bite your nails and spit the little bits on the carpet?
Chant the same line of a chant or song over and over?
Burp or fart really loudly?
Take all your clothes off when going to the toilet to do a number 2 because you didn’t want it to make your clothes smelly.
Eat snails from the garden.
Or are you thinking of something else that happens in your family that is crazy and strange and unique but you just have to bear with it?

God has made us all to be different and we all think differently to one another. This doesn’t mean that some of us are better than others. It doesn’t mean that some of us are worse than others.

Bible Passage: Galatians 3:28

“Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman.”

Because we are different, with different thoughts and opinions, we might struggle to see eye to eye. We might struggle to get along. Paul wants us to put up with each other.

Bible Passage: Colossians 3:12-14

“God loves you and has chosen you as his own special people. So be gentle, kind, humble, meek, and patient. Put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you. Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.”

You can see why I thought a whole term would be a good for the topic of love! Maybe 10 weeks isn’t even enough. Love is more important than anything else. It is what ties everything completely together.

Story Time!

Sharni had a tough time in lockdown in Sydney last year. We were in lockdown and away from school for 17 weeks. We linked Sharni up with her friends online and she spent a few wonderful weeks playing and chatting with her friends on her iPad.

After a few good weeks, Sharni found that her friends weren’t answering her calls and they weren’t calling her. It seemed like they were all chatting and playing together without her. We tried to think of some conclusions. Maybe they were busy. Maybe they were all playing a game without her. Maybe it was an accident.

As she was playing a game, she stumbled across her friends online together and a comment came up “lose her.”

Sharni was devastated. She loved her friends. They were nice and fun. One of them might have convinced them to leave Sharni out. What was the way forward?

How can Sharni put up with her friends when they are treating her so badly?

A few weeks after that, everything went back to normal and Sharni was playing with the girls again. What had happened? How can Sharni go back to them when they were so mean?

I personally encouraged Sharni to find some new friends, but Sharni really liked the ones she had. She forgave them even though they had not confessed or apologised. She put up with them, knowing that we all stuff up in our actions sometimes.

I’m not saying to put up with being constantly abused and bullied. Sharni didn’t have to subject herself to that treatment, and if it was ongoing I would strongly advise her to get out of there!!!

But for things that are a minor bit annoying, we need to do what Paul says and put up with each other, and forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you.

Question Time!

What is something that you do that your family have to put up with?
What is something that your friends and family do that you struggle to put up with?
Do you have any tips or tricks that you use that you can share now that help you to not react to annoyances?

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When I was in high school I noticed that one of my friends was really happy to have enemies. She was always talking about people who she liked and then people who she hated, people she couldn’t stand and who she would go out of her way to be nasty to.

Enemies. These days we think of countries having enemies but not really people. Enemies are people who are actively against us, using their actions to show that they disagree with us as people. Ted’s teacher was actively against him.

Bullies are our enemies because they use their words and actions to oppose us.

Do you actively oppose anyone? Adults might find they are enemies with certain political parties. Are you someone’s enemy?

What do you think?

Multiple choice quiz:

Q1. If your enemy steals your hat at lunch time, what do you do?

Punch her in the guts.
Steal something out of her schoolbag.
Give her your lunch as well.
Let her have the hat.

Q2. If you see your enemy at the park and he is getting beaten in a fight with his brother, what do you do?

Gather a crowd around and get everyone chanting “fight, fight, fight.”
Pull out a phone and video the whole thing.
Try to break up the fight and then help your enemy with his injuries.
Get an adult to help break up the fight and sort it out.

Q3. If your teacher keeps picking on you for things that she lets slide when it is her pet doing it, what do you do?

Leave a pin on her seat and tip a tin of fish into her handbag.
Muck up more because you will be in trouble anyway.
Try your best to do what she asks.
Change schools.

Some of the options are definitely not right but some of the answers could be more than one option. Sometimes the most loving thing to do is not always clear.

What advice does Jesus offer in the Bible?

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:43-48

“You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” 44 But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. 45 Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. 46 If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for this? Even tax collectors[k] love their friends. 47 If you greet only your friends, what's so great about this? Don't even unbelievers do that? 48 But you must always act like your Father in heaven.”

Story Time!

When Ted was in year 5, age 10, his teacher actively opposed him for some reason and was malicious towards him, really mean, for no reason. She was his enemy. I spoke with other mums whose daughters loved this teacher.

Does God want us to love our enemies?

Bible Passage: Romans 12:20, Proverbs 25:22

“If your enemies are hungry,
give them something to eat.
And if they are thirsty,
give them something
to drink.
This will be the same
as piling burning coals
on their heads.”

This is most likely a gift of so many warm coals in a pan that it must be carried on the head. It is an act of making friends, just like sharing food and drink with someone who is thirsty and hungry.

If we love our enemies then you won’t have any enemies much longer!

If you don’t have any enemies at the moment then maybe you’re doing a good job of it already!

Question Time!

Is there someone you know who is extra difficult to love? Why? *If there isn’t someone you know who is extra difficult to love, then think of a type of person, or a personality that you might find difficult. Chat about it together.
What can you do to love people you know who are not so lovely?

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God created some animals to be pack animals, and to live together in groups for survival, like a pack of wolves, a pods of dolphins, a caravan of camels or a tower of giraffes.

Some animals God has made to be happy on their own, and only find others of their kind to have a family. The snow leopard is like this, so is the giant panda. They are known as solitary animals.

God has made us to be relational. He has made humans to enjoy being a part of a “pack” or “mob” or “family.” What collective noun do you like using? Ted likes using “bunch” all the time. I am a bit more boring and use the term “group.” What do you say when referring to a collection of people?

I know some people like being amongst people more than others - Lucy is an extravert and gets recharged by being with others, whereas Ted recharges when he is alone in his room with his computer or a book. But he still needs to be with people for some parts of the day.

Being part of a big group means getting along. It is important to be kind, putting up with others, loving… We need to not be violent or aggressive or dominating. Some people in groups demand control and power and others can be manipulative and sneaky.

Communities/mobs/families/groups work well when everybody shows love to one another. Love your neighbour, as some versions say.

Bible Passage: John 13:34-35

Jesus said, “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

What do you think?

If you aim to love others and accidentally do something that upsets someone, how you think that they will respond?

If you aim to look after yourself and accidentally do something that upsets someone, how do you think they will respond?

For example, you buy your friend a birthday gift they like, but when they open it is broken because you accidentally dropped it. How you think that they will respond?

You buy your friend a birthday gift you know that they won’t like but you will, like tickets to see your favourite band rather than their favourite band. How you think that they will respond?

Our intentions are important and can be seen. When we intend to love, people can see it. Just trying is important.

If you can’t do a job because you are too small, just try. Like doing laundry maybe. It's the effort and the intentions that are important.

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 4:8

"Most important of all, you must sincerely love each other, because love wipes away many sins.”

Bible Passage: Proverbs 10:12

“Hatred stirs up trouble; love overlooks the wrong that others do.”

What God thinks about when he sees us is about our hearts.Many people can see if our hearts and intentions are good too.

Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 16:7

God says, ”People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.”

Do you have a loving heart?

It takes a lot of practise to stop thinking about your own needs all the time and to start thinking about others sometimes, but with practise, you can get into the habit.

What is love?

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

"Love is patient and kind, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn't selfish or quick tempered. It doesn't keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails!”

Love is thinking of others.

Love is forgiving.

Love is being honest.

Love is being good, kind, caring.

In the same situation there could be a number of different loving things you could do. If someone you know is sick, you could do all kinds of things and all would be great.

Story Time!

Ted and Lucy used to fight all the time about everything. Bicker, annoy, irritate, disagree… On our trip around Australia 4 years ago they were nice to each other for just one afternoon and it was amazing.

Now they are nice to each other all the time. They helped each other at the uniform shop just yesterday. They cook for each other, chat about their day, listen to one another, laugh and remind each other of things for school. Like Lucy and Ted, with practise and maturity, we can grow in our love for one another, even our siblings!

Question Time!

When you are in a group of people, or your family, what is one thing that you do that is really loving towards that group?
When you’re with others, what is something that you think you could do better in a way of loving others?

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I have been reading about Israel’s Kings lately - 1 Kings and 2 Kings. Some followed God and let him be the boss, but most were evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping other gods and doing whatever they wanted.
I got to thinking - why would anyone want to follow another god when you have the true God to follow, who can part the sea, feed you, save you from snakes, cause plagues to come and defeat your enemies.

Then I realised why. Many people don’t like to be bossed around, and God was telling the kings what to do.

Are you like that too? Do you want to do whatever you want? Some people don’t mind being bossed around as much as others but most people don’t want others restricting their actions, their decisions. Is that you? Do you like being told what to do?

We are talking a bit about bosses lately, because it is part of life. There are always going to be people and rules that we have to submit to, whether we like it or not.

If you are at school, you need to submit to the rules of the school and the teachers, if you play sport, you need to obey those rules.

In society we have rules too, like don’t walk on the road, don’t steal, don’t drive the car too fast. But really, we don’t have too many rules. We are still able to choose many things for ourselves.

When you are a child, you also have your parent’s rules.

What do you think?

Some times I am baffled by the things I ask my children to do. Has your parents ever asked you:

“Don’t eat the dog food.”
“Stop licking the wall.”
“Is this your poo in the toilet?”

Can you think of any other crazy things your parents may have said to you? Maybe you could think of more during the week as they happen!

The previous 2 episodes were all about loving God and the next ones are going to be about loving others:

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”

Jesus answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”All the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets are based on these two commandments.”

The first 4 commandments are about loving God, and we covered those in the previous 2 episodes. The following 6 are about loving others, and the first of those 6 might not be exactly what you are wanting to hear right now, but it is always for our own benefit. This is what it is:

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:12

God said to the people of Israel:

“Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.”

The chances are that if your parents have put this podcast on for you to listen to, then you have wonderful, loving parents who love God and want you to as well. It might be a lot easier to love parents when they are loving to you. But you might be listening to this with your grandparent, or on your own, or with someone else, and your parents might not be very kind or loving. Either way, God still wants us to respect them.

What does this mean? It means showing them regard or consideration. It means treating someone honourably, although this is a bit of an old fashioned, unused word now (some bible translations actually say “honour your parents.” Teachers often use the word respect when talking about how to behave at school - respect your property and other people.

Respect is another way of loving others, but without emotion and more with an attitude.

We are to respect our parents and love them, no matter what their behaviour and treatment of others is like. We love and respect and obey them because they are our parents.

Most parents absolutely love their kids and want the best for them, so make up rules that are in their children’s best interest. (These rules might be a lot easier to obey and respect than the ones that are not as loving!)

Bible Passage: Ephesians 6:1-3

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Bible Passage: Psalm 1:8

“Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching.”

Bible Passage: Proverbs 23:22

“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.”

Story Time!

When I was 10 years old I regularly stole money from mum and dad to buy snacks at the school canteen.

It is important to obey and respect and honour our parents. But if you have parents who are asking you to not believe in God, what would you do? What if they asked you to do something God didn’t want, like steal or lie or cheat? We need to always be thinking about what the most important thing is. 1 Loving God. 2. Loving others.

Question Time!

What is the hardest thing your parents have asked you to do and why?
How can you love and honour your parents more?
Why do you think God has included this command as one of his top 10?

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I could spend hours reading a novel, but when I pick up the bible I often struggle to focus.

I could spend hours watching TV but when it comes to watching a sermon, I struggle to stay awake.

Why is that? How can we be so interested in things that don’t really matter, but when it comes to important things, we struggle?

It could be that Satan doesn’t want us to do those things and tempts us, distracts us and does anything to get us to spend time with God.

Or it could be that we don’t realise how important it is.

Loving God is extremely important.

Love is central to being a Christian.

Loving God and loving others is the way Jesus sums up the law.

God wants us to put him first. What does this mean? It means spending time with him, acknowledging him as Lord, boss, creator and King.

What else can we do for God? God has listed 2 specific things that he wants us to do and they are the 3rd and 4th commandments.

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:7-11

"Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.

Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns.In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That’s why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me."

Sabbath is a day invented by God. He rested after he made the world.

We are given this gift. Before this, everyone used to work 7 days a week. No rest!

But God wants our rest to be about him. Coming to him. It belongs to God.

What does that mean?

What do you think?

YES or NO?

On your day of rest, is it rest if:

You go to church?
If you feed your pet?
If you play sport (ride your bike, go for a swim, dance)
If you go to the shop for some food?

If you weren’t sure of some of the answers, then you’re not alone. There have been many debates over what is considered rest and what isn’t, and the Jews and Pharisees wanted to make sure they obeyed God perfectly. Jesus clarified it a bit for us, saying that the day of rest was created for people, so don’t get too hung up on it, but just make sure that you have a restful day that is different to all your other days (most people even get 2 over the weekend!) And devote the day to God. That’s the tricky bit.

Story Time!

When I was a teenager I devoured biographies and each one left me pondering about different things.

Suzanna Wesley was the youngest of 25 children.

She was born in 1669 and was married at 19.

Suzanna had 19 babies but 9 died.

Her house burned down twice.

She was always busy - looking after her all kids, cooking and cleaning.

She taught kids church because no one else could do it

She managed the family’s finances because her husband kept getting them into debt, borrowing and not paying back.

Her husband was a minister of a church but went to jail 2 times.

Suzanna loved God so much that she decided it was important to spend time with God - reading his word, thinking and praying. She decided that she would spend just as much time with God as she spent in leisure.

One minister came to look after her husband’s church while he was away and was not teaching her kids properly so she started doing her own scripture lessons.

The more time you put into something, the better you get at it.

The same can be said for the words you say.
Let’s talk about the other part of the passage.

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:7

"Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name."

This simply means to use God’s name respectfully.

An example of not using God’s name respectfully is by calling on God when you don’t really mean it.

“Oh God!” When something bad or surprising happens.

“Jesus!” Is another thing people say.

I can imagine that people used to say these things but really were chatting with God, but now it is habit more than anything, like saying “bless you” after a sneeze. It doesn’t even make sense.

God deserves respect, and an easy way that we can do that is by calling him what he wants to be called - “Jesus, God, Father, Dad,” when we come to him and not saying his name when we aren’t even thinking of him.
I know christians who turned to Christ when they were adults and were in the habit of saying “oh God!” And “Jesus!” And they have really struggled to get out of the habit. Get in good habits while you.re young and say something else.

Question Time!

Is there anything about your language that might be good to change? What words will you stop saying and what will you replace it with?
What can you do on your rest day to devote it to God?

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Love is central to being a Christian.

Loving God and loving others is the way Jesus sums up the law.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”

Today’s episode is focusing on loving God.

Loving God is about putting God first. He is the most important thing in this whole world.

You may think the most important thing in this world might be your parents or food or feeling safe, but it’s not, because God is number 1.

He made you. He looks after you. He provides for you. God has the power to change it all in an instant.

Earth is not important. Once we die, life really starts. Make sure you’re going to the right place.

What do you think?

Imagine you are a toddler. You are 3 years old, your hands are sticky and you can’t see the kitchen sink. You do not have to do any jobs. You have no responsibilities, no homework, no chores, nothing relying on you. If you don’t feed your pet like mum asked, it gets done. Mum or dad do it. If you don’t pack a lunchbox, mum or dad do it. They pack everything you need for wherever you go. You don’t even have to get dressed by yourself or go to the toilet! You are called a “dependant” because you depend on others for everything.

Do you worry about anything? Are you worried about the electricity bill or the car rego running out? You might worry about mum or dad going away. Or about having to go to bed when you don’t want to. You are being totally looked after. You sleep well.

You trust your parents. They feed you, cuddle you and provide for all your needs.

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:2-6

"Do not worship any god except me.

Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. Don’t bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations. But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations."

God wants us to be dependant on him. He want us to have eyes only for him. Nothing else matters, nothing else is anywhere near important! Like a toddler who cares only for her parents, we are to look only to God.

Bible Passage: Matthew 18:1-5

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

Like a kid, need to come to God with nothing. Like a son or daughter, there is nothing we can give God to earn his love. He loves us no matter what. He wants us to come to him with utter trust and devotion, like a toddler to her parents.

Story Time!

When my older sister, Naomi was 3, she liked spending time with Dad, but he was often working. He had his office at home. She would wander into his office, hoping to be able to spend time with him.

One day when Dad was really busy, she came in and Dad offered her some paper and pens so she could do some drawing. She wasn’t interested. He offered her a range of other things to do but she wasn’t interested. So he asked her, “What do you want Naomi?”

She replied, “I want you.”

She just wanted him to stop what he was doing and pay her attention. She wanted him to look at her, talk with her, enjoy her.

This is exactly what God wants. He loves it when we serve him, and love others but he really just wants us.

God wants us to put everything aside and make him our priority. He wants us to stop what we are doing, pay him attention, look to God, talk with him and enjoy him.

Remember that Satan doesn’t want us to spend time with God. He will distract us, cause us to think that it’s boring or make us forget. We need to resist and come to God.

Question Time!

How do you think you can show love to God today?
How can we get into the habit of showing love to God every day?

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I remember being about 10 years old when my parents called all of us kids in for a family meeting to go over the rules. There weren’t many, they had written them all down. I remember thinking how there were way more rules than they had there. There wasn’t a rule written down about eating with your mouth open or talking with food in your mouth and that was just the mealtime rules. Tidying my room was a rule and that wasn’t on the list either. The list just said things like respect each other.

With over 90 episodes now, we have a lot of episodes on love because God is love and it is so central to being a Christian. More than ever in these hard times, we need to be focusing on love and so for the next 10 weeks I am going to be bringing you episode after episode on love!

For an extra overview episode on love from last year, tune into this episode:

https://www.thewordonthestreetpodcast.com/podcast/be-different-be-loving

For all the episodes on love specifically, go here.

What do you think?

Imagine a world with no rules. What do you think it would be like?

No order, just everyone doing whatever they like.

At first everyone you see is happy because they are free to do whatever they like.

But soon everyone just seems scared.

You can see someone hurting someone else. That’s allowed.

You can see someone sneaking into a house and stealing their things. That’s allowed.

You can see that someone is dumping stuff into your drinking water tank. That’s allowed too.

How do you feel now? You see that people are starting to feel like they are in danger and are worried about the future. Their money is not safe. Their food is not safe. Even their homes aren’t safe.

Some of the earliest rules we know of in any civilisation were the rules God gave to Moses on the Mount of Sinai called the Ten Commandments. They were given to us as a gift! They are for our benefit so that we can feel safe in the community that we live in.

Our government creates rules called laws and if the government is good then the rules they make are for our benefit, but if it’s a corrupt government then the laws are not so good. But God’s rules are perfect because God is perfect.

In this intro episode we are going to be looking at Jesus in Matthew 22:36-40, when he was asked, “Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”

We are being commanded to love. Loving God and loving others is a rule God has given us.

Story Time!

Have you ever had someone bite you? When my oldest son, Ted, was nearly 2, he became a biter, I became the helicopter, hovering overhead, just in case.

I felt a bit like God, wanting Ted to love others, asking and trying so hard, but he just kept ignoring me! I tried punishments, time out and things, but it didn’t work. I wanted him to be nice to others, I wanted him to think about what it would feel like to be the person he was biting.

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:36-40

“Teacher, what is the most important commandment in the Law?”

What this means is that the 10 commandments in Exodus can actually be summarised by these 2 Jesus just said. The first 4 are about loving God and the next 6 are about loving others.

Bible Passage: Exodus 20:1-17

God said to the people of Israel:

I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.

Do not worship any god except me.

Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth.Don’t bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations.But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.

Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.

Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns. In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That’s why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.

Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.

Do not murder.

Be faithful in marriage.

Do not steal.

Do not tell lies about others.

Do not want anything that belongs to someone else. Don’t want anyone’s house, wife or husband, slaves, oxen, donkeys or anything else.

God was being so generous giving us these commandments. They are a blessing to us and are for our benefit. Can’t wait to bring you more episodes on love over the next few months!

Question Time!

What is the worst rule you have ever been told to do?
Why do you think God has given the commandment to his people to love?
Try and memorise today’s verse - learn a song if you have to, and get the verse in your head forever, as it is such an important one.

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

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Bible Passage: Hebrews 12:2

“He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew that later on he would be glad he did.”

Hard times are around us all the time. Everyone experiences them. Even the richest person who has life set experiences hard times. We all get sick, our bodies get old and die. The richest person may not have money problems, their hard times are just different.

If you imagine the happiest person in the world, what would their life look like?

Travel agencies make me think of a lying in a hammock with a cocktail by the pool on a tropical island. I went to Fiji for my honeymoon years ago and I realised that it is never as good as the photos - the photos aren’t real! It’s hot, muggy, you need a drink, need to go to the toilet, the hammock is to bendy, it rains, you get bored, you’re getting sunburnt, there is no purpose if it is ongoing in your life. It is good to relax for a time, but not forever.

You might be thinking of Disneyworld or the fun parks on the Gold Coast. These too would get boring after a while. It’s not real. Real life involves work, accomplishment, love, giving and loss too.

What do you think?

Would you rather:

Go on a camping holiday or staying in a 5 star hotel?
Going to a farm for a holiday or a beach?
Going on a cruise for a week or staying at a fun park for a week?

Bible Passage: Hebrews 4:15

“Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are. But he did not sin!”

Story Time!

Jesus is God and he became a human, born as a baby. I can imagine that would be a very humbling thing for the God of the universe to do - to take on the limitations we have to save us.
Do you get hangry and then make poor decisions? Jesus was hungry. One time he went without food and drink for 40 days and nights. Satan came after the 40 days and tried to convince him to sin, but he refused, even though he was so weak.
His friends did not believe what he taught them.
People were disappointed in Jesus. He came late to his friend’s bed but Lazarus was already dead. “If you were here he wouldn’t have died!” Lazarus’s sister told Jesus. Jesus cried.
Jesus had friends reject him and betray him. Judas was one of his 12 friends who gave the authorities a way to arrest Jesus away from the crowds. Jesus asked 3 disciples to pray with him hours before he was arrested but they kept falling asleep. Peter disowned Jesus 3 times before the rooster crowed later that same night.
Jesus was laughed at. A fake crown and robe was put on Jesus and the people mock-worshipped him. Jesus was hated and ridiculed. This was just a week after he had ridden the donkey into Jerusalem on palms and coats, being celebrated.
Jesus’ own father rejected him, leaving him because he bore our sins on the cross. Before that, Jesus asked if he could please not do it. Jesus did it, dying on the cross, bearing our sins, taking them away.

A prophecy that has already come true, but people didn’t realise it was about Jesus until after it had all happened. This is a prophecy about Jesus’ death on the cross and what it was really all about:

Bible Passage: Isaiah 53

He wasn’t some handsome king.
Nothing about the way he looked
made him attractive to us.

He was hated and rejected;
his life was filled with sorrow
and terrible suffering.
No one wanted to look at him.
We despised him and said,
“He is a nobody!”

He suffered and endured
great pain for us,
but we thought his suffering
was punishment from God.

He was wounded and crushed
because of our sins;
by taking our punishment,
he made us completely well.

He was painfully abused,
but he did not complain.
He was silent like a lamb
being led to the butcher,
as quiet as a sheep
having its wool cut off.

He was condemned to death
without a fair trial.
Who could have imagined
what would happen to him?

The Lord decided his servant
would suffer as a sacrifice
to take away the sin
and guilt of others.
He did everything
the Lord had planned.
Although he is innocent,
he will take the punishment
for the sins of others,
so that many of them
will no longer be guilty.

The Lord will reward him
with honor and power
for sacrificing his life.
Others thought he was a sinner,
but he suffered for our sins
and asked God to forgive us.

Question Time!

Why did Jesus go through all of that hardship?
Why do you think Christians talk about this over and over again?
Think about yourself in the future going through a hard time. What words of wisdom do you want to say to adult you? Maybe you could make it into one sentence and write in down on some paper and stick it somewhere where you can remember it (like on a mirror)

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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Do you like being prepared?

Such a tricky episode to prepare for! Prophecies.

Do you like reading? So many books these days are fantasy and involve prophecies.

Learning the prophecies about the end times is important to be prepared.

What do you think?

Think these things through:

Would you like to know what your life will be like before it actually happens? Why/why not?

Would you want to know the exact time and details about your death, would you want to know? Why/why not?

Bible Passage: Matthew 24

Later, as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him in private and asked, “When will this happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?”

Jesus answered:

Don’t let anyone fool you. Many will come and claim to be me. They will say that they are the Messiah, and they will fool many people.

You will soon hear about wars and threats of wars, but don’t be afraid. These things will have to happen first, but that isn’t the end. Nations and kingdoms will go to war against each other. People will starve to death, and in some places there will be earthquakes.But this is just the beginning of troubles.

You will be arrested, punished, and even killed. Because of me, you will be hated by people of all nations.Many will give up and will betray and hate each other.Many false prophets will come and fool a lot of people.Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others. But if you keep on being faithful right to the end, you will be saved. When the good news about the kingdom has been preached all over the world and told to all nations, the end will come.

Someday you will see that “Horrible Thing” in the holy place, just as the prophet Daniel said. Everyone who reads this must try to understand! If you are living in Judea at that time, run to the mountains. If you are on the roof[a] of your house, don’t go inside to get anything. If you are out in the field, don’t go back for your coat. It will be a terrible time for women who are expecting babies or nursing young children. And pray that you won’t have to escape in winter or on a Sabbath. This will be the worst time of suffering since the beginning of the world, and nothing this terrible will ever happen again. If God doesn’t make the time shorter, no one will be left alive. But because of God’s chosen ones, he will make the time shorter.

Someone may say, “Here is the Messiah!” or “There he is!” But don’t believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will come and work great miracles and signs. They will even try to fool God’s chosen ones.But I have warned you ahead of time.If you are told that the Messiah is out in the desert, don’t go there! And if you are told that he is in some secret place, don’t believe it!The coming of the Son of Man will be like lightning that can be seen from east to west.

Story Time!

The apostle John:

John was a fisherman and was part of Jesus’ inner circle
John was there before Jesus died
John had a brother James, and was always mentioned first so we can assume that James was the older brother.
John wrote one of the gospels and referred to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” rather than saying me or I or John.
Jesus entrusted John to care for his mother after he was gone.
John also wrote 3 letters that are part of the bible today, titled 1 John, 2 John and 3 John. All his books are focussed on the topic of love and truth.
It is believed that John was the only apostle to die from old age - all the others were killed for their faith in Jesus. Traditional sources claim that John was the only apostle to live a long life and die of natural causes. That, however, doesn’t mean that he never faced persecution. The same sources claim that the Romans tried to poison John with a cup of wine. When that didn’t work, they threw him into a vat of boiling oil. When he still didn’t die, they exiled him to the island of Patmos. While there he received a huge vision from God and he wrote them down. They are all in the last book of the bible called Revelation.

Bible Passage: Revelation 13:1-8

I looked and saw a beast coming up from the sea. This one had ten horns and seven heads, and a crown was on each of its ten horns. On each of its heads were names that were an insult to God. The beast that I saw had the body of a leopard, the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion. The dragon handed over its own power and throne and great authority to this beast. One of its heads seemed to have been fatally wounded, but now it was well. Everyone on earth marveled at this beast, and they worshiped the dragon who had given its authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast and said, “No one is like this beast! No one can fight against it.”

The beast was allowed to brag and claim to be God, and for forty-two months it was allowed to rule. The beast cursed God, and it cursed the name of God. It even cursed the place where God lives, as well as everyone who lives in heaven with God.It was allowed to fight against God’s people and defeat them. It was also given authority over the people of every tribe, nation, language, and race.The beast was worshiped by everyone whose name wasn’t written before the time of creation in the book of the Lamb who was killed.

Bible Passage: Revelation 13:11:17

I now saw another beast. This one came out of the ground. It had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon.It worked for the beast whose fatal wound had been healed. And it used all its authority to force the earth and its people to worship that beast. It worked mighty miracles, and while people watched, it even made fire come down from the sky.

This second beast fooled people on earth by working miracles for the first one. Then it talked them into making an idol in the form of the beast that did not die after being wounded by a sword.It was allowed to put breath into the idol, so that it could speak. Everyone who refused to worship the idol of the beast was put to death. All people were forced to put a mark on their right hand or forehead. Whether they were powerful or weak, rich or poor, free people or slaves, they all had to have this mark, or else they could not buy or sell anything. This mark stood for the name of the beast and for the number of its name.

Question Time!

Do you want Jesus to come back and to see these things with your own eyes or would you rather live your life and die of old age and not see them?
When you feel scared, what facts can you remind yourself of that will be of comfort to you?

Want more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on her Facebook Page here

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Bullying used to happen in schools way more than it does now. In fact, the biggest bullies in my school were actually the year 5 and 6 teachers! Every time I had to answer a question in front of the class, I spoke very quietly, unsure if it was wrong and the teacher would laugh at me. One time I filled in an English test wrongly because I didn’t know what a brownie was and Mr Anderson had the whole class in stitches laughing at my answers. It was cruel and unfair.

Have you been bullied? What for?

Persecution is being bullied for a specific reason. It is "unfair or cruel treatment over a long period of time because of race, religion, or political beliefs."

Paul experienced a lot of persecution based on his beliefs in Jesus, and the Bible talks about suffering due to our beliefs (persecution) quite a lot.

In Australia we aren’t really persecuted much, and definitely not to the extent Paul was.

But that doesn’t mean that we should not talk about it!

What do you think?

Yes or No?

Your friends laugh at you because you believe in Jesus.
You don’t want to ask a friend to come to church because you are worried that they might say mean things about it.
Your friends love coming along to church with you.
Your friends say they believe in Jesus but they don’t come to church.

Wanting to fit in can feel very important, but more important is sticking up for God when people are putting him down, and letting people know that you are serious about your beliefs.

Bible Passage: 2 Timothy 3:12

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:10

“Blessed are those who are persecuted.”

Story Time!

Paul was blinded by God and then healed by God.
Paul was opposed by other disciples.
Paul travelled around preaching Jesus to every town as no one had heard the gospel at all at this point. He ended up bringing so many people to God that a group of people who didn’t believe or like his message started following him around and turning each crowd against them.
Paul was stoned and left for dead.
Paul was shipwrecked and bitten by a deadly snake.

Bible Passage: Acts 14:19-20

"Some Jewish leaders turned the crowds against Paul. They hit him with stones and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.But when the Lord’s followers gathered around Paul, he stood up and went back into the city.”

Paul was whipped without sentencing and as a Roman citizen and thrown in jail for the night with a man named Silas. They sang songs all night and God opened up the gates of the jail, showing he was with them and happy with their actions.

Paul was in jail for lengthy periods of time, where he was able to tell all the prisoners about Jesus

Paul went to trial and in front of the judge and everyone in the room, he told everyone why they should all believe in Jesus! Paul used every opportunity to convert people to Christianity.

Don’t act in a way that will avoid persecution. Face it with strength like Paul, knowing that when you are weak, God is strong.

Question Time!

Think of the way you handle hard times. What do you normally do and say and how do people see Jesus in your actions?
Have you ever been persecuted because of your faith in Jesus? Talk about what happened together.

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When I began this podcast I didn’t want to just start and then stop again because it was too hard. I listened to a podcast all about creating podcast episodes, I planned and I learned all about success, because that is what I wanted this to be. One of the main keys to success is perseverance.

Perseverance is the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition.

In hard times, we are going to experience difficulties, failures of people opposing us. We need to persevere, keep putting in effort, so that we can get closer to our goal.

I have had difficulties producing some episodes, I have had trouble finding the time to do it, especially during school holidays and the covid lockdowns. I have had trouble finding the motivation to get it done sometimes, and I just want to watch TV and relax. Some days I feel like a failure and like it’s not a good show. I keep going. WHY? Because I am committed to the goal of getting an episode out to you every Monday of school term and I believe it is a priority. I am learning about how to persevere.

Have you ever had a goal that you have worked to despite difficulties, failure or opposition? I’m thinking of Sharni, who is learning the piano, but most days she doesn’t feel like practising, but does anyway. Do you learn a musical instrument? Do you go to training for a sport? Even school can give you skills in perseverance in a way, working towards being able to read and do maths.

In working towards a goal or towards mastery, you are practising perseverance.

What do you think?

Guess this sound. What is it? Are you sure? Listen to the sound again.

What if I offered you a million dollars to change your answer to a donkey. Would you do it?

What if I threatened to hurt you with a sword to get you to change your answer to a mouse. Would that change your answer?

I can understand you wanting to change your answer for those reasons, because it doesn’t really matter in the scheme of things what the sound is. What if you were doing something very important, like feeding the poor or saving someone’s life, and someone offered you millions of dollars to stop doing it.

Or what if you were telling everyone about Jesus but someone kept threatening you with a sword. Would you keep doing it?

Story Time!

Bible Passage: Nehemiah 1

They told me, “Those captives who have come back are having all kinds of troubles. They are terribly disgraced, Jerusalem’s walls are broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

When I heard this, I sat down and cried. Then for several days, I mourned; I went without eating to show my sorrow, and I prayed:

Please remember the promise you made to Moses. You told him that if we were unfaithful, you would scatter us among foreign nations. 9 But you also said that no matter how far away we were, we could turn to you and start obeying your laws. Then you would bring us back to the place where you have chosen to be worshiped.

Our Lord, I am praying for your servants—those you rescued by your great strength and mighty power. 11 Please answer my prayer and the prayer of your other servants who gladly honor your name. When I serve the king his wine today, make him pleased with me and have him do what I ask.

Nehemiah 2

Artaxerxes was king, I served him his wine, as I had done before. But this was the first time I had ever looked depressed. So the king said, “Why do you look so sad? You’re not sick. Something must be bothering you.”

Even though I was frightened,I answered, “Your Majesty, I hope you live forever! I feel sad because the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and its gates have been burned down.”

The king asked, “What do you want me to do?”

I prayed to the God who rules from heaven.Then I told the king, “Sir, if it’s all right with you, please send me back to Judah, so that I can rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.”

The queen was sitting beside the king when he asked me, “How long will it take, and when will you be back?” The king agreed to let me go, and I told him when I would return.

Three days after arriving in Jerusalem,I got up during the night and left my house. I took some men with me, without telling anyone what I thought God wanted me to do for the city. The only animal I took was the donkey I rode on. I went through Valley Gate on the west, then south past Dragon Spring, before coming to Garbage Gate. As I rode along, I took a good look at the crumbled walls of the city and the gates that had been torn down and burned. On the east side of the city, I headed north to Fountain Gate and King’s Pool, but then the trail became too narrow for my donkey. So I went down to Kidron Valley and looked at the wall from there. Then before daylight I returned to the city through Valley Gate.

None of the city officials knew what I had in mind. And I had not even told any of the Jews—not the priests, the leaders, the officials, or any other Jews who would be helping in the work. 17 But when I got back, I said to them, “Jerusalem is truly in a mess! The gates have been torn down and burned, and everything is in ruins. We must rebuild the city wall so that we can again take pride in our city.”

Then I told them how kind God had been and what the king had said.

Immediately, they replied, “Let’s start building now!” So they got everything ready.

When Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab heard about our plans, they started insulting us and saying, “Just look at you! Do you plan to rebuild the walls of the city and rebel against the king?”

I answered, “We are servants of the God who rules from heaven, and he will make our work succeed.

Each family group or clan got to work on a different section of the wall and the priests and levites helped too.

Nehemiah 3
When Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, heard that we were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, he became angry and started insulting our people.In front of his friends and the Samaritan army he said, “What is this feeble bunch of Jews trying to do? Are they going to rebuild the wall and offer sacrifices all in one day? Do they think they can make something out of this pile of scorched stones?”

Tobiah from Ammon was standing beside Sanballat and said, “Look at the wall they are building! Why, even a fox could knock over this pile of stones.”

But I prayed, “Our God, these people hate us and have wished horrible things for us. Please answer our prayers and make their insults fall on them! Let them be the ones to be dragged away as prisoners of war. Don’t forgive the mean and evil way they have insulted the builders.”

The people worked hard, and we built the walls of Jerusalem halfway up again.But Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the people from the city of Ashdod saw the walls going up and the holes being repaired. So they became angryand decided to stir up trouble, and to fight against the people of Jerusalem. But we kept on praying to our God, and we also stationed guards day and night.

Meanwhile, the people of Judah were singing a sorrowful song:

“So much rubble for us to haul!
Worn out and weary,
will we ever finish this wall?”

Our enemies were saying, “Before those Jews know what has happened, we will sneak up and kill them and put an end to their work.”

On at least ten different occasions, the Jews living near our enemies warned us against attacks from every side,and so I sent people to guard the wall at its lowest places and where there were still holes in it. I placed them according to families, and they stood guard with swords and spears and with bows and arrowsThen I looked things over and told the leaders, the officials, and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of your enemies! The Lord is great and fearsome. So think of him and fight for your relatives and children, your wives and homes!”

Our enemies found out that we knew about their plot against us, but God kept them from doing what they had planned. So we went back to work on the wall. From then on, I let half of the young men work while the other half stood guard. They wore armor and had spears and shields, as well as bows and arrows. The leaders helped the workerswho were rebuilding the wall. Everyone who hauled building materials kept one hand free to carry a weapon.Even the workers who were rebuilding the wall strapped on a sword. The worker who was to blow the signal trumpet stayed with me.

I told the people and their officials and leaders, “Our work is so spread out, that we are a long way from one another. If you hear the sound of the trumpet, come quickly and gather around me. Our God will help us fight.”

Every day from dawn to dark, half of the workers rebuilt the walls, while the rest stood guard with their spears.

I asked the men in charge and their workers to stay inside Jerusalem and stand guard at night. So they guarded the city at night and worked during the day. I even slept in my work clothes at night; my children, the workers, and the guards slept in theirs as well. And we always kept our weapons close by.

On the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, the wall was completely rebuilt. It had taken fifty-two days. When our enemies in the surrounding nations learned that the work was finished, they felt helpless, because they knew that our God had helped us rebuild the wall.

They got together and read from the Word of God. Many people had never heard the words in their lifetime, because Israel had wandered far from God and forgotten all the promises God had given to Abraham and the teachings he had given Moses. They wept and began obeying God’s words once more.

In your life you will have goals, some big and some small. Some may be for yourself, some for other people, some for God. Don’t let anyone stand in the way of your missions for God!

Question Time!

Share of times when you have had to persevere. What happened?
Think of some examples of having to persevere as a Christian. Do you think you would be able to do it?

Want more?

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Have you ever read a really sad story? Or watched a really sad movie? Finding Nemo starts off pretty sad.

When I was in high school I read Tess of the D’Urbervilles, and everyone told me what a sad sad story it was. Only I read half way through the book and it wasn’t that sad. I remember thinking that Tess’s life must go all downhill from here. And it did.

Who is in control? Who has ultimate authority? Who allows sin to happen? Why?

These things are answered in the very old book of Job.

What do you think?

Would you rather…
A broken arm or a broken leg?
A bandaid on your ear or a bandaid on your eye?
A sore throat or a snotty nose?
Not being able to see or not being able to hear?
Painful sores all over your body, or not being able to feel anything at all?

Story Time!

Bible Passage: Job 1

Many years ago, a man named Job lived in the land of Uz.[a] He was a truly good person, who respected God and refused to do evil.

2 Job had seven sons and three daughters. 3 He owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred pair of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and a large number of servants. He was the richest person in the East.

4 Job’s sons took turns having feasts in their homes, and they always invited their three sisters to join in the eating and drinking. 5 After each feast, Job would send for his children and perform a ceremony, as a way of asking God to forgive them of any wrongs they may have done. He would get up early the next morning and offer a sacrifice for each of them, just in case they had sinned or silently cursed God.

6 One day, when the angels[b] had gathered around the Lord, and Satan[c] was there with them, 7 the Lord asked, “Satan, where have you been?”

Satan replied, “I have been going all over the earth.”

8 Then the Lord asked, “What do you think of my servant Job? No one on earth is like him—he is a truly good person, who respects me and refuses to do evil.”

9 “Why shouldn’t he respect you?” Satan remarked. 10 “You are like a wall protecting not only him, but his entire family and all his property. You make him successful in whatever he does, and his flocks and herds are everywhere. 11 Try taking away everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face.”

12 The Lord replied, “All right, Satan, do what you want with anything that belongs to him, but don’t harm Job.”

Then Satan left.

13 Job’s sons and daughters were having a feast in the home of his oldest son, 14 when someone rushed up to Job and said, “While your servants were plowing with your oxen, and your donkeys were nearby eating grass, 15 a gang of Sabeans[d] attacked and stole the oxen and donkeys! Your other servants were killed, and I was the only one who escaped to tell you.”

16 That servant was still speaking, when a second one came running up and saying, “God sent down a fire that killed your sheep and your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

17 Before that servant finished speaking, a third one raced up and said, “Three gangs of Chaldeans[e] attacked and stole your camels! All of your other servants were killed, and I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

18 That servant was still speaking, when a fourth one dashed up and said, “Your children were having a feast and drinking wine at the home of your oldest son, 19 when suddenly a windstorm from the desert blew the house down, crushing all of your children. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

20 When Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground, then worshiped God 21 and said:

“We bring nothing at birth;
we take nothing
with us at death.
The Lord alone gives and takes.
Praise the name of the Lord!”

22 In spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God of doing wrong.

Bible Passage: Job 2

When the angels[a] gathered around the Lord again, Satan[b] was there with them, 2 and the Lord asked, “Satan, where have you been?”

Satan replied, “I have been going all over the earth.”

3 Then the Lord asked, “What do you think of my servant Job? No one on earth is like him—he is a truly good person, who respects me and refuses to do evil. And he hasn’t changed, even though you persuaded me to destroy him for no reason.”

4 Satan answered, “There’s no pain like your own.[c] People will do anything to stay alive. 5 Try striking Job’s own body with pain, and he will curse you to your face.”

6 “All right!” the Lord replied. “Make Job suffer as much as you want, but just don’t kill him.” 7 Satan left and caused painful sores to break out all over Job’s body—from head to toe.

8 Then Job sat on the ash-heap to show his sorrow. And while he was scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery, 9 his wife asked, “Why do you still trust God? Why don’t you curse him and die?”

10 Job replied, “Don’t talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well.” In all that happened, Job never once said anything against God.

11 Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuah, and Zophar from Naamah[d] were three of Job’s friends, and they heard about his troubles. So they agreed to visit Job and comfort him. 12 When they came near enough to see Job, they could hardly recognize him. And in their great sorrow, they tore their clothes, then sprinkled dust on their heads and cried bitterly. 13 For seven days and nights, they sat silently on the ground beside him, because they realized what terrible pain he was in.

Those 3 friends and Job’s wife took turns trying to convince Job to curse God and then give up the will to live and just die. But Job refused. He continued to worship God, even though he had nothing left.

God was very proud of Job and he rewarded him for his faithfulness.

Bible Passage: Job 42:10 "After Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made Job twice as rich as he had been before.
Bible Passage: Job 42:23 "The Lord now blessed Job more than ever; he gave him fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pair of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. In addition to seven sons, Job had three daughters."

God is in control and has ultimate authority.

God has his reasons for you enduring hard times.

Trust him.

Question Time!

Do you think experiencing hard times would be something you would want to go through in order to grow in maturity and wisdom and strength? Why/why not?

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Hide and seek is a great game. We play the game at night with the lights off sometimes. So funny when there is someone and you just can’t find them even when you have looked millions of times! Another awesome version is Hide and seek Tip, where you start off hiding.

My favourite spots to hide are usually in a wardrobe behind the clothing so that when someone looks in there, they still can’t find me!

What do you think?

Are you ever tempted to do bad things or break rules when you are in hard situations?

When you are being bullied, are you ever tempted to hit, smack or punch the bully?
When you are super hungry, are you ever tempted to steal food?
When you are not allowed to do something that you really want to do, do you do it anyway?

Today’s story is about David, who faced a really hard time playing a mammoth game of hide and seek but might get killed if found, and he did not get want to do any evil, even when presented with multiple opportunities!

Story Time!

David was the boy who fought Goliath. He was the youngest brother of 8. He was a shepherd, he was faithful to God, he played the harp so well that King Saul requested his music to calm his nerves and he was an amazing soldier, going to battle to protect the promised land from invaders over and over again.

David was so amazing that King Saul got jealous. Everyone said he was the better soldier. People loved David. So Saul tried to kill David and chased him around the countryside. Saul tried to get an army together to hunt David, but everyone loved David, and said that he was so loyal to God and Israel and reminded Saul that David was his son in law (David had married Saul’s daughter. David’s best friend was also Saul’s son Jonathon.)

Some priest protected David, gave him food and weapons, but Saul found out and punished them by death.

Many more people heard about the chase for David and tried to help him. His family went with him because they were in danger too. Some came to David because they were angry or in debt or in trouble. David ended up having over 400 people with him as he tried to hide from King Saul.

David tried to look after everyone. They lived in Adullam Cave for a while, then David worked out for his family to live in safety in Moab, where Ruth was from.

Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 23:14-17

“David stayed in hideouts in the hill country of Ziph Desert. Saul kept searching, but God never let Saul catch him.

One time, David was at Horesh in Ziph Desert. He was afraid becauseSaul had come to the area to kill him.But Jonathan went to see David, and God helped him encourage David. “Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan said. “My father Saul will never get his hands on you. In fact, you’re going to be the next king of Israel, and I’ll be your highest official. Even my father knows it’s true.”

At one point David was hiding on one side of a hill and Saul was on the other. David was nearly cornered, but God was still looking after him. A messenger came with an emergency for Saul and he had to abandon the chase for a while. David was safe.

Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 24

When Saul had dealt with his emergency, “he heard that David was in the desert around En-Gedi.Saul led three thousand of Israel’s best soldiers out to look for David and his men near Wild Goat Rocks at En-Gedi.There were some sheep pens along the side of the road, and one of them was built around the entrance to a cave. Saul went into the cave to relieve himself.

David and his men were hiding at the back of the cave. They whispered to David, “The Lord told you he was going to let you defeat your enemies and do whatever you want with them. This must be the day the Lord was talking about.”

David sneaked over and cut off a small piece[a] of Saul’s robe, but Saul didn’t notice a thing.Afterwards, David was sorry that he had even done that, and he told his men, “Stop talking foolishly. We’re not going to attack Saul. He’s my king, and I pray that the Lord will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.”

Saul left the cave and started down the road. 8 Soon, David also got up and left the cave. “Your Majesty!” he shouted from a distance.

Saul turned around to look. David bowed down very lowand said:

Your Majesty, why do you listen to people who say that I’m trying to harm you? You can see for yourself that the Lord gave me the chance to catch you in the cave today. Some of my men wanted to kill you, but I wouldn’t let them do it. I told them, “I will not harm the Lord’s chosen king!”Your Majesty, look at what I’m holding. You can see that it’s a piece of your robe. If I could cut off a piece of your robe, I could have killed you. But I let you live, and that should prove I’m not trying to harm you or to rebel. I haven’t done anything to you, and yet you keep trying to ambush and kill me.

I’ll let the Lord decide which one of us has done right. I pray that the Lord will punish you for what you’re doing to me, but I won’t do anything to you. An old proverb says, “Only evil people do evil things,” and so I won’t harm you.”

Saul was struck by David’s kindness and went home. David went back to his cave.

But yet another time Saul heard where David was. David sent out some spies when he heard Saul was tracking him.

That same night, David and Abishai crept into the camp. Saul was sleeping, and his spear was stuck in the ground not far from his head. Abner and the soldiers were sound asleep all around him.

Abishai whispered, “This time God has let you get your hands on your enemy! I’ll pin him to the ground with one thrust of his own spear.”

“Don’t kill him!” David whispered back. “The Lord will punish anyone who kills his chosen king. As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord will kill Saul, or Saul will die a natural death or be killed in battle.But I pray that the Lord will keep me from harming his chosen king. Let’s grab his spear and his water jar and get out of here!”

David took the spear and the water jar, then left the camp. None of Saul’s soldiers knew what had happened or even woke up—the Lord had made all of them fall sound asleep.David and Abishai crossed the valley and went to the top of the next hill, where they were at a safe distance.“Abner!” David shouted toward Saul’s army. “Can you hear me?”

Abner shouted back. “Who dares disturb the king?”

“Abner, what kind of a man are you?” David replied. “Aren’t you supposed to be the best soldier in Israel? Then why didn’t you protect your king? Anyone who went into your camp could have killed him tonight.You’re a complete failure! I swear by the living Lord that you and your men deserve to die for not protecting the Lord’s chosen king. Look and see if you can find the king’s spear and the water jar that were near his head.”

Saul could tell it was David’s voice, and he called out, “David, my son! Is that you?”

“Yes it is, Your Majesty.Why are you after me? Have I done something wrong, or have I committed a crime?Please listen to what I have to say. If the Lord has turned you against me, maybe a sacrifice will make him change his mind. But if some people have turned you against me, I hope the Lord will punish them! They have forced me to leave the land that belongs to the Lord and have told me to worship foreign gods.Don’t let me die in a land far away from the Lord. I’m no more important than a flea! Why should the king of Israel hunt me down as if I were a bird in the mountains?”

“David, you had the chance to kill me today. But you didn’t. I was very wrong about you. It was a terrible mistake for me to try to kill you. I’ve acted like a fool, but I’ll never try to harm you again. You’re like a son to me, so please come back.”

“Your Majesty, here’s your spear! Have one of your soldiers come and get it.The Lord put you in my power today, but you are his chosen king and I wouldn’t harm you. The Lord rewards people who are faithful and live right. I saved your life today, and I pray that the Lord will protect me and keep me safe.”

“David, my son, I pray that the Lord will bless you and make you successful!”

Saul continued to hunt David for about 7 years! Once Saul had died, in a battle, David became King.

Bible Passage: Psalm 63:4-8

"As long as I live,
I will pray to you.

I will sing joyful praises
and be filled with excitement
like a guest at a banquet.

I think about you
before I go to sleep,
and my thoughts turn to you
during the night.

You have helped me,
and I sing happy songs
in the shadow of your wings.

I stay close to you,
and your powerful arm
supports me.”

When you are going through hard times, do not sin. Keep on doing good. Do not do evil. I can imagine that it is especially hard when someone is hunting you to kill you, but this is unlikely in your life if you live in Australia. But if you are feeling like you want to repay someone for the evil they have done and get revenge, please pray to God first and see what he wants you to do. Test everything and trust him.

Question Time!

What is it that made David determined to do the right thing no matter what?
Are you determined to do the right thing no matter what? Why/why not?

Want more?

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When I was about 10 years old, I was playing at home after school when Dad arrived home. In the back of his car was our dog Jamba, who was a golden retriever. He had been to the vet and she was very old. The vet had put her down. This means that the vet had helped her die a painless death. Jamba was in the back of the car on a blanket just lying there. She looked asleep but was actually very stiff. We had a burial for her in the backyard and it was very sad.

Death is a hard thing but why is it so hard? Is it the pain that the person goes through when they are dying? No. It is because they have left the earth and never to return. We miss them. We have to keep living, keep going and it is so hard without them.

What do you think?

WHO AM I?

Clues:

I am a woman in the bible
I moved away from my family to a new land
I was beautiful but did not have any children for a long time, even though God promised me offspring
I ended up having my son Isaac when I was about 90 years old

WHO AM I? I am Abraham’s wife, SARAH.

Fun Fact, her name was originally Sarai but God changed it to Sarah. (Abraham was Abram and God changed his name too!)

Story Time!

Naomi suffered the loss of her husband Elimelech after moving from Israel to Moab because of a drought. Women typically didn’t work or own land in those days and had to rely on men to provide for them, and so she was able to rely on her 2 sons to look after her. They got married, but within 10 years, both of her sons also passed away.

Look at Naomi’s situation. She had her sons’ 2 wives - Ruth and Orpah - who could look after her as they were young and could forage for food, but was missing her sons and husband and living in a strange land!

Naomi decided to return home to Israel, as she had heard that the drought was over and there was rain and food there. She told the daughters’-in-law to stay in Moab and remarry and to not worry about her. Orpah bid them goodbye but Ruth insisted she continue to look after Naomi.

When they arrived home, their friends welcomed them but Naomi told them:

“Then she told them, “Don’t call me Naomi any longer! Call me Mara,[e] because God has made my life bitter.I had everything when I left, but the Lord has brought me back with nothing. How can you still call me Naomi, when God has turned against me and made my life so hard?””

Ruth, the Moabite daughter-in-law who came to Israel with Naomi was blessed by God because of her kindness and loyalty to Naomi. God blessed her with a wonderful new husband who was very generous and kind and took care of Naomi also. Ruth had a baby boy.

After his birth, the women said to Naomi:

Praise the Lord! Today he has given you a grandson to take care of you. We pray that the boy will grow up to be famous everywhere in Israel. He will make you happy and take care of you in your old age, because he is the son of your daughter-in-law. And she loves you more than seven sons of your own would love you.

Naomi loved the boy and took good care of him. The neighbourhood women named him Obed, but they called him “Naomi’s Boy.”

When Obed grew up he had a son named Jesse, who later became the father of King David.Here is a list of the ancestors of David: Jesse, Obed, Boaz, Salmon, Nahshon, Amminadab, Ram, Hezron, and Perez.”

This Psalm is most certainly true for Naomi and is true for us also:

Bible Passage: Psalm 34:17,18

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Naomi suffered for a time, but then her life was able to go on and there was blessings in the end. If you are going through hard times now, or whenever, remember that it is usually only for a season and that you can get through it.

Expect hard times to come.

Learn lessons God has to teach us from them.

Trust God to look out for us.

Cry out to God and he hears us.

Question Time!

What kind of hard times might you expect to come in your life?
What reminders can you give yourself to help you get through it?

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When you are afraid or worried or in pain, what do you do? Do you have any strategies that help you feel better? Do you tell yourself to be brave? Do you try your best and not try not to think about failure? Do you ask for help? Or for some panadol? I know when I was in primary school I hated it and felt sick in my stomach every night going to bed and every morning getting ready but just kept going. I learnt at church to ask God for help and I did.

We all feel afraid or worried or in pain at different times of our lives. We all react differently too, when these things come upon us.

What do you think?

Imagine you are needing to move and live in a different country because your life where you are is not good.

You pack up all the things you want that you can carry and you leave. You don’t know where you are going, you just have to leave. You start walking. Then you catch a boat to a new land. Then you walk some more. You worry about food but notice millions of flowers growing around you and they are all edible. You mush them up and fry them like fritters. After a few months of eating those flowers you wish you had never left. It wasn’t so bad. At least you had things to eat other than one type of flower.

Bible Passage: Psalm 56:3-4

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Story Time!

If you are interested in reading this story straight from the Bible, make your way through Exodus!
The Israelites:

Left Egypt hoping for a better life
Left Egypt just to die in the desert
God saved them. Led them with cloud and fire, parted the dead sea, provided manna to eat and water from stones, took them to the promised land.
The Israelites were scared. Large people with big armies lived in their promised land now. They complained, they rejected God’s authority, they doubted him.
God sent them back to the desert to wander around for 40 more years. More manna, more suffering, more doubting God.
God taught them an invaluable lesson during this time and it is a lesson repeated to every Christian and referred to in the bible more than any other event. TRUST GOD. In suffering, in life, in everything. He is powerful and in control. He is worthy of our trust in all situations.

Bible Passage: Psalm 56:3-4

“When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”

Question Time!

Is there a time you can think of where you might doubt that God is in control?
What can you do to show that you trust God in certain situations?

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What does paradise look like to you?

What would life look like if you had no suffering?

There are all kinds of things that we have to suffer through in our day and it is different for everyone. Some things you may not like could include:

School
Chores
Exercise
Reading
Eating vegetables
Having guests over, entertaining or going out
Being alone
Being bored
Getting hurt, breaking bones, falling over

We get used to whatever we have as normal and if we have a pretty good and easy life, having a minor annoying thing happen can feel like a big deal. You should hear some of my kids carrying on about the smallest of things sometimes - like me making them come out on the boat with me! I’m like the meanest parent in the world!

When I talk about hard times in this series though, I am talking about extra hard, unusually hard times.

The hard times we are going through at the moment are extra hard because we don’t normally worry about germs from our friends and family and neighbours. We don’t normally isolate from other people, staying at home for a week or more at a time. We don’t normally have face masks on, so we can’t see people’s faces and expressions and love. We don’t normally live in fear. But these days are not normal.

Last year I had to stay home for 17 weeks with the family - no school or friends or fun. It was not normal.

What do you think?

Think about your brother or sister and if you don’t have one, think about a close friend or cousin.

Have they ever:

Cut your hair?
Yelled at you?
Broken one of your things?
Annoyed you on purpose so that you would get in trouble?
Sold you into slavery?
Tried to kill you?

Story Time!

Jacob’s story can be found Genesis 37-46

Bible Passage: Genesis 45:4-5

"Since Joseph could no longer control his feelings in front of his servants, he sent them out of the room. When he was alone with his brothers, he told them, “I am Joseph.” Then he cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and told about it in the king’s palace.

Joseph asked his brothers if his father was still alive, but they were too frightened to answer. Joseph told them to come closer to him, and when they did, he said:

Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt.Don’t worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives.

There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain. But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way. After all, you weren’t really the ones who sent me here—it was God. He made me the highest official in the king’s court and placed me over all Egypt.”

Bible Passage: Romans 5:3-5

“We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure.And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.”

Suffering isn’t nice, but God does have a plan for our lives and our suffering. He wants us to endure (which means to keep on experiencing (pain or suffering) for a long time).

He wants us to build character, which is a term that has many meanings, but here is referring to having moral excellence and firmness.

God also wants us to have hope, which is not referring to the cross your fingers and hope for the best kind of hope, but the hope we have in the future of certain eternal life.

We will get this all by suffering and while having the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Question Time!

What kind of suffering would involve in enduring something for an extended period of time?
How might having to live through something like that build character?

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Happy New Year to you and welcome back!

Term 1, 2022 brings a new season and a new series! These days we are experiencing hard times and that is the focus for the term. Do you think these are hard times? There are many who are sick, passing away, struggling with lockdown or lack of contact with others.

If you are not experiencing hard times please don’t skip this series - it is the perfect time to learn all about troubles and suffering, so that when it comes, you will be prepared, you will be rooted in your faith and you will be able to continue putting your trust in him.

If you are experiencing hard times, then this series is most definitely going to help you to find out all about what God is doing in your life.

So it’s only fitting to talk about hard times. There are heaps of passages in the bible that talk about hard times. It says to expect hard times and be happy about them:

Bible Passage: James 1:2

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”

Bible Passage: Philippians 1:29

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.”

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 4:12

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

What do you think?

Would you rather…

Eat slugs or mice?
Would you rather be extremely allergic to your favourite food or forced to eat your least favourite food once a week?
Would you rather always have bad gas or always have really dry mouth?
Would you rather live in a house with five million cockroaches or a house with five million flies?

Story Time!The story from this episode is all about Sarah's suffering as a barren mother, and can be found in Genesis 18.

God may not rescue everyone in the way we expect, or when we expect. He may be growing you through the circumstances he is letting you live through, or maybe he will rescue you in the end when it is time to come to heaven. We don’t know. The main thing is to stay faithful to him.

Question Time!

Describe a time when you have suffered. What happened?
Was there anything good that happened by you experiencing that?
Was there a reason why God allowed you to have that experience?

Next episode we will be looking at some of the benefits of suffering. Benefits you say? Yes, the bible is full of verses that explain how good suffering is for our character, as well as other things too!

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Today is a special episode as it is the first episode ever of The Word On The Street where we have a special guest! Today I want to introduce you to my daughter, Sharni’s Elf on the Shelf, Snowflake.

Snowflake is an Elf on the Shelf, sent by Santa to spy on all the kids. Each night they have to report back to Santa on what they saw. If the kids are good they get a gift but if they are bad they don't get a present, or they get coal, a potato or no Christmas at all.

God knows everything because he made everything! The bible says that he knows how many hairs you have on your head. Did you know that most people have more than 100,000 hairs on their head, but God knows EXACTLY how many on every single person’s head. There are 7.4 billion people alive on earth and so do you know how many hairs that is altogether? I have no idea - it’s too many!!! Does anyone here know how to work that out??? God also knows when every person gets up each day and goes to bed at night. He even knows when every bird falls down. Did you know that there are possibly 400 billion birds on earth right now? And God knows about all of them!

BIBLE READING - Luke 12:6-7
“Five sparrows are sold for just two pennies, but God doesn’t forget a one of them.Even the hairs on your head are counted. So don’t be afraid! You are worth much more than many sparrows.”

BIBLE READING - Ephesians 2:4-9

“But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you. God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and he has given us a place beside Christ in heaven. God did this so that in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done. You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.”

Jesus actually loves everyone. He took the sins of the whole world - everyone who had already been alive as well as everyone who was alive and all who were not even born yet (that’s us). That’s a lot of people and a lot of sins!

This forgiveness - we call it GRACE - is a gift. What do you do when you are given a gift? YOU RECEIVE IT. Just take it! Accept it! Say thank you. "This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about.”

God loves us very much. That is why we love Christmas so much. It’s because we celebrate Jesus Birthday at Christmas, when he was born in a stable and placed in a manger. Jesus is the best thing about Christmas!

Keep being different for Jesus through the holidays and we will be back with a new season in 2022!

Question time:

Spend some time together now, praying together to God, thanking God for all the blessings he has given you this year, asking him for things you’d like to happen next year, and saying sorry for your sins.

Want more?

For an episode on Jesus Birth, head over here.

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Can you guess which one thing I add to ALL the dinners I cook? SALT!

Jesus wants us to be different, as we have seen through the last 9 episodes, and if you haven’t listened to any of them, press pause now and go and listen to the first one, titled Be Different from 3rd October, or just scroll 9 episodes down, because in that episode we looked at how God wants us to be the odd ones out. He wants it to be obvious that we are different.

Being different. Different to what? Different to how we were before; how you were yesterday. A bit better different. He wants us to be different from non-Christians too.

We might be different from others who don’t believe in Jesus, but often they are loving and kind and humble too. That makes it really hard to shine like stars in the universe as Paul says.

What do you think?

How much have you remembered from this series about being different? Check your memory with this true or false quiz! Please press pause to discuss the answers together if you want to.

God wants us to be different so that we can direct people to him.
We have to give what we have got to others in order to get eternal life.
Humility involves treating yourself as least important.
Learning about God and Jesus is not important.
Christians can be thankful for Jesus saving us from our sins.
Being different is optional as a Christian.

2 incredible things that I take for granted every day are salt and light.

I love adding salt to my food (possibly too much!) and I love the sunlight warming my skin on a cold day.

At night when the sun goes down, I put the light on without thinking. All my lights are up on the ceiling or on a stand so that the light can shine a longer way than if it were on the floor or under my bed or in a cupboard.

In this final episode on being different we are going to be looking a little more at salt and light, as they are 2 things Jesus mentions when he is talking about his followers being different.

Here is some more about what Jesus has to say about being different:

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:13-16

"You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on. You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house.Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven."

SALT + LIGHT

Lets talk about salt first.

Does salt make food different? How? Salty apple example. Salt is a flavour enhancer. Jesus is a person enhancer! Improver. Make life better by being God’s representative.

Story Time!

A few days ago I cooked a really yummy chicken noodle dish, with delicious sauce, garlic, ginger, lemongrass. Brad didn’t like it. He added more sesame oil but it just wasn’t right. I hadn’t put enough salt in. As soon as Brad added the salt the whole flavour changed and it was perfect. Delicious.

We are to be like that salt. We are to be added to any situation and enhance it. Make it better. MORE tasty.

Whether you are at school, sport, a birthday party, or playing with friends after school or in the holidays, you can improve the situation or you can be neutral, or you can even take away and make it worse. You can be like salty salt, or like unsalty salt. If you don’t improve the situation, like if salt doesn’t make the food taste better, then you are useful for what? What is unsalty salt good for? Throwing out and walking on it.

Improve the situation for those around you.

Every time you meet up with someone else, whether it is family or friends or strangers, you can either shine your light, or let them stay in darkness. You do this with your words and actions. You shine your light by being different for Jesus - being loving, being empathetic, being generous, being grateful, being humble, being curious, being fruitful.

Question Time!

How can you be like salt, and improve the situation for those around you? What can you do or say?
How can you be like light on a stand, shining for everyone to see?

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Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

My favourite fruit is mango but I don’t like it getting in between my teeth when I eat it. I love the flavour and juiciness of pineapples but not the spikey bits, and I don’t like cutting them up. I like oranges but they are a pain to peel and very sticky. Cherries. I think they are the best - yummiest plus easiest!

What fruit is your favourite?

What do you think?

Which fruit am I?

I grow on a vine.
I am round and juicy.
I grow in a group of many others, all together on the one bunch.
I am green but sometimes I can grow purple, although the shops call it red.
Which fruit am I?

I am a grape.

Which fruit am I?

I am a tropical fruit.
I have a hard core in the middle and am juicy around the outside.
I have a crown.
My skin is prickly with eyes on it.
I am yellow and green.

I am a pineapple.

What fruit do you like best?

Do you know of any exotic fruits?

Durian? Custard Apple? Dragon Fruit?

Story Time!

I have a veggie patch. I will tell you a few of my failures in there from over the years!

I love herbs and have grown a few herbs well.

We visited a friends holiday house when the kids were really little and they loved collecting the blueberries and cherry tomatoes there every morning, and so I thought it would be a good idea to plant some food they would like.

I bought a couple of strawberry plants and they expanded across the whole patch. They took over my herbs and the kids weren’t very interested in harvesting them. The strawberries would get ripe and then overripe and rot in the garden, hidden underneath the leaves.

I bought a blueberry plant. It grew very slowly over the last 8 years and would give about 20 blueberries each year. Recently I planted a lemon tree next to it and now the blueberry plant has dried up and died.

I planted mint in the patch and it has spread so much and now I can’t get rid of it. The roots are like long snakes under the ground, all connected together. They are everywhere, even where the mint is not growing!

What about a vine? In Jesus day there were a lot of grapevines. Do you have a passionfruit vine?

You need to have a healthy vine if you want fruit. You need to cut off the unhealthy bits off the branch and then more fruit grows there. If a branch doesn’t produce any fruit at all it is a waste on the vine and needs to be cut off entirely.

Jesus talks about us being branches and bearing fruit. We must bear fruit if we are Christians.

Bible Passage: John 15:1-6

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don’t stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.”

What does God call this fruit on the vine? It is called the Fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is the most amazing fruit of all - better than cherries and mangoes and dragon fruit!!!

What is this fruit like? Paul describes what this fruit is like in:

Bible Passage: Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Sometimes we can get see some Fruit of the Spirit, and it is loving, kind and patient, but not faithful or gentle or self controlled.

God wants us to bear this fruit. We WILL, if we have the spirit in us. He will prune us, tend to our needs and help us grow to be healthy and fruitful.

Question Time!

Which part of the fruit of the spirit do you find the easiest to do?
Which part of the fruit of the spirit do you find the hardest to do?
Pray together right now, that you can be fruitful branches in God’s vine.

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When I was in primary school, I did not like learning.

I didn’t like learning maths or spelling or handwriting.

I definitely didn’t like learning sport.

I was happy reading books but didn’t like writing answers to comprehension questions!

Do you like learning?

When I went to lessons in the library, our librarian taught us how to find out information that we might be interested to know. He showed us reference cards and the catalogue system. It was all very confusing.

Information I was after was always to do with schoolwork though. What was I actually interested in?

I loved art and drawing. Playing board games. Cards. No, I wasn’t really curious for information.

I was always working towards mastery.

Studies have shown that highly motivating tasks are done when the person is interested and has chosen the topic.

Studies have also shown that highly motivating tasks are done when the person is working towards mastering a skill.

Mastering something (becoming a master at something) takes 10,000 hours on average.

Studies have also shown that highly motivating tasks are done when the person is working towards a goal with a deeper purpose.

To learn more about God and Jesus and the world he created and to work out the place that God has for you here on earth, is a very deep purpose. There is much to learn and master. But it is easiest to do it if we believe it is important.

Can we work towards mastery of being a disciple of Jesus?

What do you think?

What are you interested in? What are you curious about?

Documentaries (factual tv shows) can be fascinating if you are interested in the topic.
Do you like watching documentaries or reading factual texts?
Maybe ones on animals? Reptiles? Bush survival? How to do different hair styles? Fishing? Boating? How the body works? Sport? Maybe you know all the players and statistics to do with your favourite sport? Music? Do you love listening to one style of music over and over? Do you know all the best artists for that genre?

My brother-in-law is the most curious person I know. His name is Tom and he loves learning things he is interested in, and has mastered so many skills. He spent many years training a dog, he has spent a long time walking a slack line, he completed an ultramarathon, running 100km in a day, he has spent many years at theological college studying the bible. But he generally only learns things that he wants to learn.

Bible Passage: Hebrews 6:1,3

“We must try to become mature and start thinking about more than just the basic things we were taught about Christ. We shouldn’t need to keep talking about why we ought to turn from deeds that bring death and why we ought to have faith in God… Let’s grow up, if God is willing.”

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:1-2

“You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot.”

Growing up is important, and to do that you need to learn more and more about Jesus.

Bible Passage: Psalm 1:1-2

God blesses those people

who refuse evil advice

and won’t follow sinners

or join in sneering at God.

Instead, the Law of the Lord

makes them happy,

and they think about it

day and night.

Story Time!

Bible Passage: 2 Kings 22

Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled thirty-one years from Jerusalem. His mother Jedidah was the daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath. Josiah always obeyed the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done.

After Josiah had been king for eighteen years, he told Shaphan, one of his highest officials:

Go to the Lord’s temple and ask Hilkiah the high priest to collect from the guards all the money that the people have donated. 5 Have Hilkiah give it to the men supervising the repairs to the temple. They can use some of the money to pay 6 the workers, and with the rest of it they can buy wood and stone for the repair work. 7 They are honest, so we won’t ask them to keep track of the money.

While Shaphan was at the temple, Hilkiah handed him a book and said, “Look what I found here in the temple—The Book of God’s Law.”

Shaphan read it,then went back to Josiah and reported, “Your officials collected the money in the temple and gave it to the men supervising the repairs. But there’s something else, Your Majesty. The priest Hilkiah gave me this book.” Then Shaphan read it out loud.

When Josiah heard what was in The Book of God’s Law, he tore his clothes in sorrow.At once he called together Hilkiah, Shaphan, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, and his own servant Asaiah. He said,“The Lord must be furious with me and everyone else in Judah, because our ancestors did not obey the laws written in this book. Go find out what the Lord wants us to do.”

The five men left right away and went to talk with Huldah the prophet. Her husband was Shallum, who was in charge of the king’s clothes. Huldah lived in the northern part of Jerusalem, and when they met in her home,she said:

You were sent here by King Josiah, and this is what the Lord God of Israel says to him: “Josiah, I am the Lord! And I will see to it that this country and everyone living in it will be destroyed. It will happen just as this book says. The people of Judah have rejected me. They have offered sacrifices to foreign gods and have worshiped their own idols. I cannot stand it any longer. I am furious.

"Josiah, listen to what I am going to do.I noticed how sad you were when you read that this country and its people would be completely wiped out. You even tore your clothes in sorrow, and I heard you cry.So I will let you die in peace, before I destroy this place.”

The men left and took Huldah’s answer back to Josiah.”

Bible Passage: Colossians 1:9-10

“We always pray that God will show you everything he wants you to do and that you may have all the wisdom and understanding that his Spirit gives.Then you will live a life that honours the Lord, and you will always please him by doing good deeds. You will come to know God even better.”

Grow in wisdom and understanding. The Holy Spirit can help us.

Let’s want to learn more about God. Let’s desire to dig deep and study and question and discover new things as much as we can!

Question Time!

What is something that you wanted to learn and how did you go about learning it?
Get a notebook and write a list of all the things you want to learn about regarding Christianity. Then go and research it, interview people who may know and write down your findings. This will help you work towards growing in wisdom and knowledge.
If you are not interested in finding out more or discovering new things, pray that God will give you a desire to get to know more about him and everything that he has to teach us.

To keep on learning about God, why not read from his word the Bible every night before bed? Keep listening to The Word On The Street Podcast with your family and going to kids church. Trust him and he will give you a thirst for these things.

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Eternity Podcast Network has added another new podcast to their collection, this time it is one for single people, focusing on a practical Christian approach to the world of online dating. Love Online is hosted by Mel Wade and she ticks off all of the key issues, top questions, and common mistakes associated with pursuing a partner in the online world. If this interests you, or you know of someone who would love to tune into this podcast, you can listen here.

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You are awesome! You are a child of God, you are his amazing creation, you are a human being! I don’t know you personally, but I can imagine that you have many amazing and unique qualities as well. Are you so good that you are better than everyone else in your class? In your school? In your family?

Are you so good that you deserve a servant? Do you deserve fine dining at your favourite restaurant every night? Do you deserve to have extravagant holidays and wonderful experiences? Do others? Do you deserve it more than others?

Being humble is thinking of yourself as least in order of importance. So if you want to rank everyone in your family in order of importance, you might put your parents first because they do all the looking after of everyone and then maybe you or maybe your siblings or you might put all the kids in the same rank next, and then any pets might be at the end, with the cat next the dog after that and the fish last.

Being humble is putting yourself last out of all the humans. It is REALLY hard.

The opposite of humility, or being humble, is arrogance and pride. Thinking you are excellent because of all your own hard work and ability.

Being humble involves not being proud or arrogant, strutting around and putting yourself above those around you. Being humble means not thinking about yourself as better than others.

Bible Passage: James 4:6

“God opposes everyonewho is proud, but he is kind to everyone who is humble.”

Bible Passage: James 4:10

“Be humble in the Lord’s presence, and he will honour you.”

What do you think?Just imagine that you are in fact a genius and exceed in everything you set your mind to. Imagine coming first in every race, speeding through your schoolwork and being really popular too. What are you thinking? What are you feeling?

If you’re not sure what you’re feeling, maybe pick one of these:

Happy
Excited
Lonely
Sad
Proud
Boastful
Invincible
Arrogant
Humble

If you are better at doing things than everyone else, why would you be humble?

If you are better at doing things than everyone else, why does God WANT us to be humble?

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 4:7

“What is so special about you? What do you have that you were not given? And if it was given to you, how can you brag?"

Story Time!

Bible Passage: Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else:

Two men went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed,“God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. I go without eating[d] for two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all I earn.”

The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, “God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner.”

Then Jesus said, “When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honoured.”

Jesus keep mentioning a time when you will be honoured. God will honour you and rank you as you really deserve in his timing.

Bible Passage: Matthew 19:30

“But many who are now first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”

To finish up this episode, I need to say that God does not want us to have a low self esteem. He wants us to think highly of ourselves, after all, he created us and made us wonderfully! What God does want is for us to think of others as even more high.

Question Time!

What are some things that a proud person might do?
What are some things a humble person might do?
Do you know anyone who is humble? What is it about them that makes you think they are humble?

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Be Grateful. Thankful. Appreciative. Glad with what you have. Happy about good things in the world.

Go further - as Christians, we can feel thankful for God for all we have. Jesus died for our sins! God created the world! We have food and shelter and people who love us!

This is not actually something to do, like being generous is something you do. Being grateful is a state of mind. It is in your heart. You can respond by doing something nice for the person you are grateful for, like for God you would pray and tell him all about the things you are grateful for. But today’s episode is really just focussing on the state of your heart when you are grateful.

What do you think?

Go around a circle with the people in your car saying one word of the verse at a time.

“I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart” - Psalm 9:1

Bible Passage: Philippians 4:11-12

“I have learned to be satisfied with whatever I have. I know what it is to be poor or to have plenty, and I have lived under all kinds of conditions.”

Whether you are rich or poor, young or old, sick or healthy, there are always things we can feel grateful for. We can actually be grateful for our situation, whether it is good or bad.

Bible Passage: 1 Thessalonians 5:18

“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Story Time!

Corrie Ten Boom hid Jews from the Nazis in Germany and ended up being arrested and put in a concentration camp. Her sister Betsie (Not Bessie - sorry!) beautifully insisted that they thank God for everything, even the fleas.

Question Time!

What are some of the things that you feel grateful about?
What are some ways that you can remind yourself to feel grateful about these things every day? If you do a search online or on Pinterest on gratitude, it will come up with many helpful tips and tricks and information too, on how helpful it is for your brain!
What is the memory verse? Psalm 9:1, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart” - Psalm 9:1

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At her 4th birthday party, during a game of pass the parcel, Lucy gave her sticker to a friend who didn’t like the one she got.

What do you think?

What would you do in each of this situations? It is more for you to think about rather than to discuss, but you’re welcome to chat about it if you’d like to.

Would you lend your eraser to someone in your class after they had lost your other one just yesterday?
Would you include the annoying kid in your game at lunch when they asked you if they could play?
Would you share your money with a friend so that they could go to the corner shop with you to buy something yummy?
When it is time to choose a bowl of ice cream, which one do you want? The biggest one of course!

Some times you will find yourself in a situation where you are surrounded by selfish people, who are all out to get as much for themselves as possible. Here, it is really hard to be generous. The people around you will take everything you’ve got. You instinctively want to protect your belongings. There is an attitude of scarcity - where everyone is thinking about things running out, of not having enough, of protecting what is yours.

When you are surrounded by people with generous hearts, then you will always be having people offering you things - meals, some help, some company, gifts, even second hand things. Living in a place where there is an attitude of abundance, where everyone is thinking about how much they have been blessed with, and how there is always ample to go around - it is much easier to develop a generous heart.

But what does God say about all of this? What kind of heart does he want us to have?

Bible Passage: Luke 6:38

If you give to others, you will be given a full amount in return. It will be packed down, shaken together, and spilling over into your lap. The way you treat others is the way you will be treated.

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:38-42“You know that you have been taught, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I tell you not to try to get even with a person who has done something to you. When someone slaps your right cheek, turn and let that person slap your other cheek. If someone sues you for your shirt, give up your coat as well. If a soldier forces you to carry his pack one mile, carry it two miles. When people ask you for something, give it to them. When they want to borrow money, lend it to them.”

I believe that this is the hardest thing Jesus asks us to do in the whole bible. This and maybe forgiving those who have caused significant harm to us.

Jesus is not commanding us to act fairly, he is telling us to be generous. He wants us to give and not expect anything in return. Jesus wants us to go above and beyond. He wants us to do EXTRA.

The Israelites had enemies from Rome living in their country, forcing them to do certain things. The roman law said that Roman soldiers could force the Israelites to carry their things from one milestone to another - one mile. Jesus is asking the Israelites to do extra, and to walk an extra mile.

When Jesus commands us to be generous, he is not just talking about with our money. He is talking about being generous with our time, being generous with our love, being generous with our homes, being generous with our friendship, being generous with our hearts. Anything we can give, we can always give extra.

Story Time!

Elisabeth Elliot was a very generous woman. She studied the bible at college with her husband and in the 19560s they moved to a remote area in Ecuador to tell the tribes there about Jesus. These people had had no contact with anyone from the outside world and so when Elisabeth’s husband and a few other men made contact, the villagers killed them.

With Elisabeth’s husband dead, what did she then go and do? She continued in their work, made contact and helped many of the tribe come to know about Jesus.

Elisabeth forgave and gave above and beyond. She actually gave the most precious information of all - the knowledge of Jesus.

Being generous doesn’t have to start big like Elisabeth, by devoting and risking your life. Start small while you are small and grow your generosity as you grow.

Question Time!

What kind of things do you have that you can give away generously?
What is something that you can do today that can show generosity to others? Try and to that today and every day!

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Jesus died on the cross for our sins. If we are thankful for this act, and love God for it, then we will love him in return. One trick that I find helpful to love people when I find it tricky is to empathise.

Empathising is imagining you are them. Imagine you are walking in their shoes. Imagine you are feeling and thinking what they are feeling and thinking. You are going through what they are going through.

You see your dog licking her butt. Why is she doing that? Imagine you are her. You have an itch there but have no hands. Your paws can’t reach. Your taste buds can’t really taste that much and it doesn’t taste so bad, so you lick it. It doesn’t feel itchy anymore!

Some people find empathy easy, some people can do it without thinking, others have to work on it.

Bible Passage: Romans 12:15

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”

What do you think?

If you see someone who is not doing their school work, what do you think they might be feeling or thinking? Maybe they are tired because their family made them go out late last night. Maybe the work is too hard and they don’t understand the instructions but don’t want to look silly by asking for more help. Maybe they can’t see very well and all the letters look like they are floating around the page.

If you see someone who is being really mean and bullying your friend. What do you think they might be thinking or feeling? Maybe they get treated like that at home and feel like they have no power so they are trying to feel better about themselves and that’s the only way they know how. Or maybe they just haven’t been shown how good it is to treat people nicely.

If you see someone who is always eating. What do you think they might be thinking or feeling? Maybe they are hungry and going through a growth spurt. Maybe they don’t eat much at home. Maybe they have worms, who knows! Maybe they take medication that makes them hungry. Maybe they have taste buds that really enjoy all of the wonderful flavours in the world. That is like my Lucy!

Jesus empathised with the very people who nailed him to the cross.

Bible Passage: Luke 23:34

Jesus said, “Father, forgive these people! They don’t know what they’re doing.”

Story Time!

If you empathise and imagine you are walking in their shoes, it gives you a bit more understanding for the situation that they may be in. I do this in the traffic, and imagine what is going on for drivers who are annoying - slow ones and dangerous ones!

If someone is complaining to you about something, often they want you to empathise. To love them in this way, if you’re not sure what to say, just say, “that sucks hey.” Over time you can branch out and say “that is horrible that you went through that,” or “that must’ve felt horrible, sad, devastating etc.”

Doing this one thing can help you to have better connections with others, it can help you to have more patience and kindness towards others and it can help you to be happier in general in life!

Question Time!

Think of something someone has done to you lately. What did they do and what do you think they were thinking or feeling when they were going through that?
How do you think empathising could help you love that person in that situation?

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Episodes always come back to love.

You can find more episodes specifically on love here.

This episode is all about God wanting us to be loving.

WHY do we love?

Bible Passage: John 14:15

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Bible Passage: John 13:34

“But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you.”

Bible Passage: 1 John 4:19

“We love because God loved us first.”

Bible Passage: John 13:34-35

“But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”Nowhere does it say that we will get to Heaven if we love others. We cannot ‘work’ our way into Heaven.

This whole series is not about being good in order for us to get eternal life. It is about behaving in a way that will please God.

WHO do we love?

Bible Passage: Proverbs 17:17

“A friend loves at all times.”

Bible Passage: Ephesians 5:25

“Husbands, love your wives.”

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:39

“Love your neighbour.”

Bible Passage: John 15:12

“Love one another.”

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:44

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

HOW do we love?

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:39

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

What do you think?

When you give someone love, do you find it easier to:

Give them a hug
Write a nice note
Do a job for them
Give them a present
spend time with someone doing something special
Help them with a chore

How do we show love to God? By loving everyone.

How do we love others? As you love yourself.

How do you love yourself?

Story Time!

At my church we all eat dinner together every week.

This is a huge process.

One team cooks for 200 people.

One team washes up for 200 people.

10 teams. Every term. 4 times a year.

I love not having to cook dinner every Saturday night.

I love being able to eat dinner with everyone from church.

I chat with old friends and I meet new ones. I sit with people who are visiting.

If we are all focused on giving love, then we will all end up getting love as well.

I am not part of those teams.

Instead I do different things to love my church.

Question Time!

Who in your life is easy to love? What do you do to love them?
Who is the most difficult person for you to love? Why?
Think of someone you know and do something loving for them this week. If you can’t think of anything, try and choose something from the list below:
Write a list of everyone you know, stick the list next to your bed and pray for them every night before you go to bed
Choose someone who loves you a lot from church, school or anywhere, and send them a card telling them why you think they are so great
Think of someone who is especially needing some love at the moment and make them a video - a performance - song or a dance - or even just a kind message, and send it to them.
Buy or better yet make a present for someone whom you know and deliver it as a surprise!
Google “random act of kindness” to find more ideas and do one of those. You will absolutely make someone’s day!

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You get eternal life by believing in Jesus and that he died and rose again for your sins. As followers of Jesus, we live differently. Living differently is not what gets us to Heaven, it is not what makes us a Christian.

Some people think their deeds are a bit like a seesaw, with good deeds on one side and bad deeds on the other and the good has to outweigh the bad. This is not true! We do good deeds because we love God and are grateful for him saving us. We do them because he asks us to. He wants us to be different.

He asks us to be holy:

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 1:15 -16

“Always live as God’s holy people should, because God is the one who chose you, and he is holy. That’s why the Scriptures say, “I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.”

This topic could have fitted into last term’s ‘God is’ because God is holy. If you sit in with your parents at church, it is likely you have sung songs about God’s holiness. The Psalms are a book of the bible full of poems and songs about God’s holiness. Psalm 99 “Holy is he!”

But what does HOLY mean?

It is quite a complicated word, but to start to understand it, we need to know that it means pure and set apart in a spiritual way.

Clean white snow may be pure and you could set it apart but it isn’t holy as its not spiritual.

God is holy, which means he is pure (sinless) and special (set apart). This is the attribute that makes God so wonderful, so beautiful, so worthy of us following him.

We are holy too if we believe in him, as we are pure and set apart.

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:16-17

“You are God’s temple and that his Spirit lives in you. Together you are God’s holy temple.”

The Holy Spirit makes us holy.

What do you think?

I am going to list some things and I want you to think, what else do you think is holy? Feel free to pause if you want longer to think it through.

Does God make grass holy? Plants?
Is your house holy?
Is your church holy?
Can water be holy?
Are people holy? Which people?

Whatever God chooses to make holy is holy.

God appeared to Moses and chatted with him. He appeared as a burning bush and told Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. The ground was made holy because of God’s presence. It was special ground, set apart for God at the moment in time.

The White episode from the very beginning of The Word On The Street discusses the idea of purity and perfection.

Set apart though. What does that mean?

Story Time!

Jordan plays soccer for a rep team. What does this mean, what is required of him, why was he set apart?

God sets us apart to be pure. He makes us holy and he does it through his son on the cross.

But the command to be holy doesn’t just mean let God make you set apart and pure.

We are to act set apart and pure as well.

Question Time!

1 Peter 1:15 says, “Always live as God’s holy people should.” How should God’s holy people live?
How should God's holy people live?

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In society we are often put into groups:

Boys and girls
Adults and kids
Where you live
Your nationality
People who support the same sports team as you and those who don’t

In the bible times there was:

Jews and Gentiles
Pharisees/teachers of the law etc and Jews

There are 2 groups Jesus talks about too. Jesus is always talking about us and them:

The wheat and the weeds
The sheep and the goats
The wise and foolish builders
Light and darkness
Citizens of Heaven and citizens of Earth

Jesus asks his us to live our lives differently to those who don’t believe in him.

He wants us to be obvious which group we are in.

Either we are on Jesus’ team or we are not. If you aren’t sure if you want to be in his team or not, you don’t go on a waiting list or name is in the team until you decide you don’t want to be there. You are not in the team unless you are sure you want to be.

Bible Passage: Romans 12:2

“Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.”

What do you think?

Have you ever played the game “Odd One Out”?

I will give you a list of things that will all go together, except for one.

In life in Australia and in most other countries, between Christians and non-Christians, Christians are the odd ones out. We are different and that is intentional. God wants us to be.

How God wants us to be different is what this series is all about.

Story Time!

In year 6 I bought a hat.

God wants it to be obvious that we are Christians. And people will laugh at us for it.

When an elderly person walks down the street it is obvious that they are elderly.

When an eshay walks down the street it’s obvious they’re eshay.

I live near the beach and surfers are usually obvious to pick out, with salty hair and surf clothes, thongs.

When I go to country towns I think people look at me and I am clearly a city person in city clothes.

God wants it to be obvious to others that we are Christians.

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:11-12

“God will bless you when people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you because of me. 12 Be happy and excited! You will have a great reward in heaven. People did these same things to the prophets who lived long ago.”

Bible Passage: Philippians 2:12-16

“Try to shine as lights among the people of this world.”

How does God want us to show others that we are Christians?

Not just with what we wear or how we walk or talk, but with our actions. He wants us to be holy.

Stay tuned for next episode as we break that down!

Question Time!

Are you ever shy about people knowing that you believe in Jesus? Why/why not?
What is one thing you can do today, or this week even, to make sure your friends know that you are a Christian? Go and do it!

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Final for the series; we made it through the term!

If you want more about who God is, check out these episodes:

God is THREE, including the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

God is CREATOR

Water is like LIGHT. We have to have water to survive, just like we have to have sunlight to survive.

God likens himself to light, just like he likens himself to water.

God is in charge of water:

God created water
Crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan on dry land
God causes it to pour torrential rain for 40 days straight
God causes it to not rain 3 years - Gideon
Jesus walks on water
Jesus calms a storm
Jesus turns water into wine

Jesus fasted for 40 days and nights - no food or water at all!

Most of the earth’s water is in our oceans - 96.5%

Only 3.5% of the earth’s water is fresh, and most of that water is ice!

Our bodies are mostly water.

What do you think?

What is the difference between NEEDS and WANTS?

What are the things that you NEED to survive here on earth?

Your switch? Your soccer ball? Your toys? Your car or your TV?

Food, water, shelter, clothing, love.

When God says he is the living water, he is saying that he is something that you need. WE NEED JESUS. Many people believe in just God the creator, but not how Jesus came to earth to die for us. This is the thing we NEED.

Think back and remember a time when you were really thirsty. Maybe after exercise. You didn’t have anything to drink. When you finally were able to drink, how great was that feeling of quenching your thirst!?

Story Time!

Do you like drinking water? Sometimes it can taste a bit boring, sometimes its yucky. I love purified water - clean pure water.

Travelling around Australia we had 2 water tanks on our camper. Brad always made sure we had enough. We had a tap that you had to pump because if we left it on then we could be in trouble!

We had a hose and found taps to fill up our water. Caravan parks always have taps. Service stations where you get fuel often have taps but not always. Once near Broome we couldn’t fill up because there were no taps. We asked around and found a place where we could buy water that had been salt water from the ocean but had been cleaned and treated. It tasted like pool water.

The water from the different taps all tasted differently. Some like rust. Some like chlorine. None tasted like pure water!

When we got home, we all agreed that the thing we missed, over the internet and wifi, was our water purifying filter and fresh tasting water.

The woman in this story is a Samaritan, and they do not socialise with other Jews who aren’t Samaritans. Most Jews would travel around Samaria to avoid it, but Jesus led his disciples through Samaria, it was more of a direct route to Galilee.

Bible Passage: John 4:3-15

3 Jesus left Judea and started for Galilee again. 4 This time he had to go through Samaria, 5 and on his way he came to the town of Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph. 6-8 The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus' disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.

Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”

9 “You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?”[a]

10 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God wants to give you, and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”

11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this life-giving water? 12 Our ancestor Jacob dug this well for us, and his family and animals got water from it. Are you greater than Jacob?”

13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again. 14 But no one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again. The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life.”

15 The woman replied, “Sir, please give me a drink of that water! Then I won’t get thirsty and have to come to this well again.”

Jesus isn’t saying that if you believe in him you will never need to drink normal water again on earth. He is saying that you will have everything you need for eternal life.

God is everything we need.

We need light and he is light.

We need water and he is the living water.

We need food and he is the bread of life.

Bible Passage: John 6:35, 48-51, 57-58

Jesus replied, “I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty… I am the bread that gives life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna[j] in the desert, and later they died. 50 But the bread from heaven has come down, so that no one who eats it will ever die. 51 I am that bread from heaven! Everyone who eats it will live forever. My flesh is the life-giving bread that I give to the people of this world… The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. 58 The bread that comes down from heaven isn’t like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

It sounds very strange. Many people stopped following Jesus after this. They thought he was asking them to eat him. He was asking them to believe in him and follow him. If they did this they will get eternal life.

If you drink water and eat food you will get to live another day, even a few days or weeks. If you believe in Jesus and rely on him, you will get life forever.

Question Time!

Do you sometimes say the word ‘need’ instead of ‘want’ and when would you mix up those words?
How is Jesus like living water and like bread of life?

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What is light? What is darkness? How important is light? What are ways people have created light in the darkness over history? If we don’t have light, what do we have? Are you afraid of the dark?

I love camping, but my kids don’t like the dark, well, they didn’t when they were younger. Why not?

We ended up taking glow sticks with us so that they would light up the camper throughout the night, so whenever they woke up, they would not be scared.

Why are we prone to being scared in the dark in the same place that we are fine with in the light? Because we can’t see properly, we can’t be sure it’s safe, sneaky stuff happens at night.

What do you think?

I am constantly impressed by God when I think of him making the sun.

Fun facts about the sun:

Many ancient cultures worshiped the sun as a deity
Its temperature is approximately between 5500 and 6000 degrees Celsius
The sun produces energy that supports all life on earth through a process known as photosynthesis
Its gravity is 28 times stronger than earth’s gravity
Light from the sun takes eight minutes and twenty seconds to reach the earth
You can fit 1.3 million earths into it
The sun is actually a mixture of ALL colours, which appears to the eye as white
The sun is the closest thing to a perfect sphere that has been observed in nature

God is not A light - the sun, a torch, a light bulb, LEDs, a candle, fire. He IS light.

Bible Passage: 1 John 1:5-7

“Jesus told us that God is light and doesn’t have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you. If we say that we share in life with God and keep on living in the dark, we are lying and are not living by the truth. But if we live in the light, as God does, we share in life with each other.”

Light represents what is good, true and holy. Light is exposed. It hides nothing like darkness does.

Bible Passage: Psalm 119:105

“Your word is a lamp that gives light wherever I walk.”

Light helps us not to stumble as we travel along. It shows us the way. God is like that - he shows us how to live our lives without tripping up.

Story Time!

Camp Ichthus Lantern Stalk fun!

It was hard to see the leaders hiding in the dark, but when they shone their torches on the kids they had spotted, it gave away their hiding spot and lit up the area for us all.

It was harder to be sneaky when we were close to the lantern because of the light that it was giving off. This meant it was almost impossible to win. I actually do not remember getting the lantern in all the years that I played.

If we believe in God we have the Holy Spirit living in us, and we are the light too!

Many of the people featured in the stained glass windows in churches around the world show a halo of light around their heads. This shows the light of the holy spirit, showing them to be holy. I think the artists may have been reading Matthew 5, and wanted to draw the light coming out of these people.

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:14-16

"You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lampstand, where it can give light to everyone in the house.Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.”

A light is public, on display for all to see.

Question Time!

In what ways can you see that God is like light?
Do you want to be like light too? How can you make that happen?

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God is THE GOOD SHEPHERD.

Shepherds are people who care for livestock.

Other episodes about sheep and shepherds can be found from the parable series last term:
The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats
The Parable of the Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin

Bible Passage: John 10:1-21

“Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice.The sheep will not follow strangers. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice, and they run away.

Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

Jesus said:

I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don’t own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock.Hired workers run away because they don’t care about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep.

What are the traits that Jesus says makes him the good shepherd? He loves and cares for his sheep and he knows them.

What do you think?

WHO AM I?

I am someone who cares a lot.

I have to do some study at Tafe or university.

I have fun in my job.

Have a friendly and energetic personality.

Is motivated and reliable

Has completed a first aid course

I constantly have paint on my clothes
Part of my job includes wiping noses and cleaning up playdoh

I am good at looking after kids

Can you guess who I am?

I am a childcare worker!

Maybe an equivalent modern day career in our society could be an aged care worker, or a childcare worker, because farmers are able to have many more livestock and the flocks of sheep aren’t actually looked after as intimately as they are these days.

Story Time!

I was allowed a pet when I reached 10 years old. I got a pet rat. It knew me and loved me. No one looked after it like I did.

I leant it to my little sister and she left it in an Ugg boot all day while we were at school. It was still there when I got home!

I knew my pet better than anyone else too. I knew that she liked to eat all kinds of things. She liked to run around in my room. Her paws would get cool if she needed to wee (I did work that out the hard way!) and so I’d put her back in her cage for a few minutes. I knew she liked to wee around the back of her cage to keep the main bit clean.

I looked after her, fed her, played with her, cleaned out her cage and when she died, I was devastated.

I was 10 years old and I knew how to look after my pet rat. How much more does God know how to love, care, protect and look after us!

Bible Passage: Matthew 7:9-11

“Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

Bible Passage: Matthew 6:26

“Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

God is the good shepherd. This means that God is the best carer. He knows what we need better than anyone and he cares and he looks after us perfectly.

Question Time!

Think of a time when God has cared for you. Share your stories together.
Is there a time you can think of when God didn’t care for you the way that you wanted him to. What happened? What do you wish God had done and why do you think he didn’t do it that way?
When God doesn’t care for us in the way we want him to, what do you think is going on?

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God is KING!

Psalm 47:6-7, “Sing praises to God our King, the ruler of all the earth!”

The episode that expains what the Kingdom of God is can be found here.
The episode all about us being Citizens of Heaven can be found here.

What do you think?

What are you the boss of? What do you have power over?

Joash was a king over Jerusalem. He was 7 years old.

Josiah was the king over all Israel from age 8.

Would you want to be a king or queen?

If you were the king or the queen, what would you do?

Many ordinary people want to be kings. Like Prince Hans of the Seven Isles.

Kings need to protect their power. They fear others coming and taking their throne.

Story Time!

Israel’s first ever king was like that. The Israelites wanted a person to be their king like the surrounding countries, so God chose King Saul for the role. Saul ended up loving power too much and turned out not to be a very good king.

What is God the ruler of? Earth?

Bible Passage: John 18:33-36

“Pilate then went back inside. He called Jesus over and asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

Jesus answered, “Are you asking this on your own or did someone tell you about me?”

“You know I’m not a Jew!” Pilate said. “Your own people and the chief priests brought you to me. What have you done?”

Jesus answered, “My kingdom doesn’t belong to this world. If it did, my followers would have fought to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. No, my kingdom doesn’t belong to this world.”

Bible Passage: John 19:19-22

“Pilate ordered the charge against Jesus to be written on a board and put above the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The words were written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

The place where Jesus was taken wasn’t far from the city, and many of the Jewish people read the charge against him. So the chief priests went to Pilate and said, “Why did you write that he is King of the Jews? You should have written, ‘He claimed to be King of the Jews.’”

But Pilate told them, “What is written will not be changed!”

God is the king over his kingdom in Heaven.

Anyone who believes in Jesus will go there when they die and it will be perfect.

WHO IS KING OF THIS EARTH NOW?

Bible Passage: 2 Corinthians 4:4

“The god who rules this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers.”

Our God wouldn’t do that so who is Paul talking about here? Satan.

Bible Passage: 1 John 5:19

“We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

WILL SATAN ALWAYS BE THE RULER?

I’ve read the end of the book and the answer is no!

Revelation 20 talks about how God will have a big war and finish all evil. It will all be destroyed. They will all assemble for battle and the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan who had deceived them will be thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

We have hope that Satan won’t rule forever, and we know that he is only ruling now because God is letting him. But one day he will be finished and God will bring us all into his kingdom in Heaven.

Question Time!

If you didn’t already, chat about what you would do if you were a king or a queen.
Is there anything you heard today that disturbed or upset you?
Is there anything you heard today that was good news?

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Everyone seems knowable these days, with so much information shared on the internet.

God is knowable. Even though it is hard to comprehend and understand his power and him being everywhere all at the same time, we really can get to know him and have a close relationship with him, even though he is invisible and he is always right.

Have you ever read CS Lewis’s Narnia series? The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe? The Lion was written to represent God, and I love the representation so much. CS Lewis illustrates how God (through the lion, Aslan) can be kind, loving, right, omnipotent, omnipresent AND knowable all at the same time.

What do you think?

Some things you can get to know and other things you can’t really know.

Have you ever played “Secret Sound” on the radio?

Some sounds you know and other sounds you just can’t work out and they are hard to know and those ones are the ones that are always chosen as the secret sound and hundreds of people call up to guess the sound but can’t.

Do you know these sounds?

Elephant
Bells
Pen writing
Footsteps
Glass cracking

Some of these you would have known, others might have been a bit tricky.

The thing with God, is that we can get to know him. He doesn’t hide himself from us.

But when I say God is knowable, I don’t just mean we can know all the facts ABOUT him. I mean we can know him, and have a relationship with him.

You might know all about golden retrievers, but you don't know my golden retriever, Tilly.
Imagine going to a restaurant and reading all about the menu but never actually ordering the food and experiencing what it tastes like. That is a bit like knowing about God compared with really knowing God.

Bible Passage: Jeremiah 9:23-24

“This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the Lord.”

Story Time!

My son Ted started school in kindergarten. He came home talking about his friends. They liked soccer. He didn’t know their names.

He came home each day still not knowing their names but slowly learned more and more about them.

They are twins, their names, he eventually found out, were James and Anthony.

They were fun.

As he got to know them over time, he discovered more and more things about them. He discovered that they weren’t kind, they were selfish, and they were happy to leave you out of games.
He quickly found some other people to hang out with and started the process of getting to know them. He learnt their names, Alex and Zach. He learnt that they liked nerf wars and lego and they were fun to hang out with too. He learnt that they were quieter and eventually discovered that they too were selfish and happy to leave you out.

He found some new friends and began the process all over again.

Finally he found some friends who were fun, interested in boating and Minecraft, and after a while, he got to know that these boys were loyal. They were kind and they always included each other in games.

The main ways that God shows himself to us is :

Through the Bible. There are both stories of what God did, and descriptions of what God is like
Through Jesus and all of the stories we can read about
Through his creation, Romans 1:20 says, “God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made.”

Question Time!

What things do you do to get to know someone who you don’t know yet?
How do you go about getting to know God better?

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God is Right. Correct. God is never wrong. He never makes the wrong decision.

Someone who is always right all the time is called righteous. Someone who is righteous will never have to say sorry to anyone, because they’ve never made a mistake or done the wrong thing. Who is righteous? God is righteous, and God makes us righteous by taking away our sins through Jesus on the cross.

But this episode is not about us and our righteousness, it’s about God and his righteousness.

When we were little, my sister always had to be right. She would say to my mum, “You obviously don’t know everything because you don’t know that I know everything!”

I like being right too. When I had arguments, I always liked to be the last person to say something. I had to rebut whatever anyone else said. Now Sharni is like that!

Obviously, we are wrong sometimes. Only God is never wrong.

Not only does God know everything, but he is right about everything too. Not only is his knowledge right, but his actions are right and his choices are right. They are just, fair, right.

Bible Passage: Psalm 145:17

“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.”

What do you think?

Are you ever wrong? I will give you 2 statements, and you work out which statement is right and which statement is wrong:

3+2=4 3+2=5
The capital city in Australia is Sydney. The capital city in Australia is Canberra.
This sound is a donkey. This sound is a cat.
You feel angry when someone wrongs you. You do not feel angry when someone wrongs you.

*With maths, there is always a right and a wrong answer. This is the case with a lot of things. Sometimes there is no wrong option. There is no wrong answer when choosing what career you want to do as an adult. If you ask God to make the weather sunny one day but he was planning on it being rainy but changed it just for you, that doesn’t mean one was wrong and the other right. Both answers can be right.

Being right can be hard though, especially when you are a boss. You have a teacher for a boss, or a parent. If you are a boss, you will know that it is hard!

My sister always wanted everything to be fair.

Have you ever said to your parents, “But it’s not fair!” That could be because your parents are trying to make the “right” decision, but sometimes there are many different right decision, and that one was not “right” for you.

Have you ever been punished for something you didn’t do? The teacher punished you and they were WRONG. It is hard being a boss and getting it wrong is very likely sometimes.

Story Time!

My friend Mel tricked her teacher, bit her hand and blamed it on the boy who always annoyed her. The teacher got the boy in so much trouble and the boy was very upset because he didn't deserve the punishment.

I do not know one person who is 100% right all the time. Parents can’t make everything right. Teachers can always be right. Police and judges and lawyers can’t be right all the time. But God is always right. But God is never wrong, he never makes mistakes and he always judges fairly.

If I ever disagree with God, then I must remember that I must be wrong and God must be right, because God is right!

Bible Passage: Deuteronomy 32:4

“The Lord is a mighty rock,

and he never does wrong.

God can always be trusted

to bring justice.”

God chose to destroy everyone in the world but Noah and his family in a big flood and that was right.

God chose to send plagues to Egypt, and that was right.

If I ever disagree with God, it means that I don’t really understand with my limited human mind, and that I need to just admit that I am not right, I don’t fully understand, and that I’ll try and trust Him because he is right.

Question Time!

Share a story of a time when you were treated wrongly by an authority figure, a boss.
If you are an authority figure or a boss, share a story of a time when you struggled to work out the right thing to do.
How do you feel knowing that God is perfectly right all the time?

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Love. What is it, how do we do it, what is it not?

Definition of love: A strong feeling of affection and concern toward another person, as that arising from kinship or close friendship.

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

“Love is kind and patient,

never jealous, boastful,

proud, or rude.

Love isn’t selfish

or quick tempered.

It doesn’t keep a record

of wrongs that others do.

Love rejoices in the truth,

but not in evil.

Love is always supportive,

loyal, hopeful,

and trusting.

Love never fails!”

We have a God who deserves our respect, deserves us following him, because he is omnipotent, he is omnipresent and today I will be talking all about how God is LOVE.

God doesn’t just love. He isn’t just loving. God IS love!

Which person do you know who loves you the most in the whole entire world? I am going to guess that it is someone whom you spend a lot of time with. Someone who looks after you, cooks for you, cleans up after you, plays with you, cuddles you and keeps you safe. Maybe your mum or dad, but maybe it’s a grandparent or someone like that?

I didn’t realise how much my mum and dad did for me until I became a mum. It is the biggest job with the smallest reward there is (a hug maybe) but yet most parents do the job willingly and love it! There are so many things involved in looking after a small human…

I love my kids and so I am happy to do all of those things for them.

Why am I talking about parents and their relationship with their kids? Because God is just like that.

Bible Passage: Luke 13:34

“Jesus says, ‘I have often wanted to gather you, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.’”

Jesus loves us just like our parents love us only better, more thoroughly, more perfectly.

Bible Passage: Matthew 22:37-39

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like this one. And it is, “Love others as much as you love yourself.”

What do you think?

Do you feel loved when someone cooks you dinner?

Do you feel loved when someone washes your clothes?

Do you feel loved when you are hugged and kissed? When you are given gifts? When you get to watch TV shows together?

Think of a time someone did something for you and you felt really loved; more loved than any other time in your memory.

What did they do? Why did it make you feel so loved and cherished?

Or maybe it wasn’t just one thing, it might be a lot of little things all adding up to feeling loved and cherished.

Bible Passage: 1 John 4:7-12

“My dear friends, we must love each other. Love comes from God, and when we love each other, it shows that we have been given new life. We are now God’s children, and we know him.God is love, and anyone who doesn’t love others has never known him. God showed his love for us when he sent his only Son into the world to give us life. Real love isn’t our love for God, but his love for us. God sent his Son to be the sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven. Dear friends, since God loved us this much, we must love each other.

No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is truly in our hearts. God has given us his Spirit. That is how we know that we are one with him, just as he is one with us. God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We saw his Son and are now telling others about him. God stays one with everyone who openly says that Jesus is the Son of God. That’s how we stay one with God and are sure that God loves us."

Bible Passage: John 15:12-13

Jesus says, “Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you. The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.”

Bible Passage: Romans 5:6-8

“Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person.But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful.”

Story Time!

Has anyone ever died for you? Who do you think might die for you if they were able to choose to? Your parents? Grandparents? Aunt? Someone who loves you most likely.
In today's story Anna shares how her dad risked his life to save hers when she was swept off the rocks at the beach when she was young.

God showed his love for us in dying for our sins.

Question Time!

Try to think of something that is more loving than God sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.
Knowing that God is love, how do you feel about God now?

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Last episode was all about God being omnipresent - omni meaning ALL and present meaning here. God is in all places all of the time.

He is also omnipotent - omni meaning ALL and potent meaning strong and powerful.

I often pronounce it incorrectly - omni potent - because that is how it is spelled.

God is all powerful. He has power of all things, all of the time.

God’s first example of his power in the bible is at the very beginning when he created the world. The very first episode to The Word On The Street is on this!

Bible Passage: Job 42:2

“No one can oppose you, because you have the power to do what you want.”

Bible Passage: Job 38

Now get ready to face me!
Can you answer
the questions I ask?

How did I lay the foundation
for the earth?
Were you there?

Did you ever tell the sun to rise?
And did it obey?

Job, have you ever walked
on the ocean floor?

And how large is the earth?
Tell me, if you know!

Where is the home of light,
and where does darkness live?

Have you been to the places
where I keep snow and hail,

Who carves out a path
for thunderstorms?
Who sends torrents of rain

on empty deserts
where no one lives?

Can You Arrange Stars?

Can you arrange stars in groups

Do you control the stars
or set in place the Big Dipper
and the Little Dipper?

Do you know the laws
that govern the heavens,
and can you make them rule
the earth?

Did you teach birds to know
that rain or floods
are on their way?

Can you count the clouds
or pour out their water

on the dry, lumpy soil?

When lions are hungry,
do you help them hunt?

Do you send an animal
into their den?

And when starving young ravens
cry out to me for food,
do you satisfy their hunger?

God Does!

God can do anything! There is a whole series of episodes from October last year about so many of the miracles that Jesus performed. He really does not have to obey any laws of science at all!

What do you think?

Is there anything that God can’t do?

But can God really do anything?

Can God eat fish and chips?

Can God save the world in Fortnite?

Can God stop the sun from shining?

Can God tell lies?

There are actually quite a few things he won’t do.

God will not act in a sinful way, in a way contrary to his character.

God cannot lie.

Bible Passage: Numbers 23:19

God is no mere human!

He doesn’t tell lies

or change his mind.

God always keeps his promises.

Story Time!Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt - God parted the Red Sea and fed the people manna

Question Time!

Do you find it hard or easy to believe that God is omnipotent? Why/why not?
How might the knowledge of God being all powerful change the things you ask God for?

I know for me that I don’t ask for miracles much, but I most definitely can, and I can expect God to do them too, as he is more than capable!

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God is invisible. So… WHERE IS GOD?

There are so many different verses in the bible that say where God is:

God lives in Heaven.

BIBLE VERSE - Psalm 33:13-14

“The Lord looks at the world

from his throne in heaven,
and he watches us all.

The Lord gave us each a mind,
and nothing we do
can be hidden from him.”

God lived in the Ark of the Covenant.

God lived in the temple.

God lives now in our hearts.

BIBLE VERSE - Ephesians 3:17, “Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith.” AND Jesus promises us in Matthew 28:20, “I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.”

But he is also omnipresent.

What does OMNIPRESENT mean? Omni comes from the Latin word “all”

Present in all places at the same time; everywhere present.

Do you know anything that can exist in all places at the same time? Light/darkness. Sound waves. Energy? Air? Not really, not like this. But it is a start to think like this.

God created science. He does not need to conform to it.

Many people these days, who don’t believe in God, and saying that they believe in a higher power. I read a book calling this higher power Energy Source.

How can anyone be omnipresent?

The Incredibles is one of my favourite kids movies. And I often wonder about Dash, and how it would feel to be so quick. He can run on water he is so fast. Superman is fast too, being so fast that he can travel around the world in seconds.

Are Dash and Superman omnipresent though?

God doesn’t actually have to be fast, because he is literally in every place at every moment.

Can you get your mind around that?

There are some things that our minds can not comprehend.

Can you imagine any colours other than those that you can see? Animals can see extra colours, can you try and imagine any?

Can you imagine a world without the concept of time? Eternity - no beginning and no end are pretty hard concepts to get our minds around.

What do you think?

In this segment I want you to really think deeply. The question I want you to think about is: what would you do if you were omnipresent?

If you could be everywhere at once, what would you do?

Would you become a thief and steal as much money as you can, knowing where everyone is at any time?

Would you enjoy all of the sights from all over the world all at once?

Would you join the police and arrest everyone you know who is doing the wrong thing?

Would you use your knowledge to help people in need?

All over the world, CCTV surveillance is monitoring everyone’s actions. We are being watched - in the shops, in the carpark, on the roads, and pretty much everywhere these days. Somebody can see everything, even though it is only through the lens of a camera. What is happening?

People are being more careful about their behaviour. There is 50% less criminal activity in public carparks.

The main thing CCTV is doing is to help detective solve crimes, and the footage from surveillance cameras is used to help in most cases.

Bible Passage: Psalm 139:7-12

“Where could I go to escape
from your Spirit
or from your sight?

If I were to climb up
to the highest heavens,
you would be there.
If I were to dig down
to the world of the dead
you would also be there.

Suppose I had wings
like the dawning day
and flew across the ocean.

Even then your powerful arm
would guide and protect me.

Or suppose I said, “I’ll hide
in the dark
until night comes
to cover me over.”

But you see in the dark
because daylight and dark
are all the same to you.”

This is absolutely true!

Story Time!

Jonah’s story. God found Jonah when he tried to run away!

Question Time!

Do you ever wish, like Jonah, that God wasn’t everywhere?
What times are you grateful that God is everywhere?

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This term we will be looking at the questions: Who is God?

What is he like?

When I say the word “God” lots of people will have different thoughts come to mind. Some words that people might say that God is:

Creator

Invisible

Judge

Powerful

They are all right, plus there is so much more to him!

Some people think of God as being a super old man, a bit like Dumbledore from Harry Potter.

There is a famous painting by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel Ceiling in Rome showing God the father reaching out to Jesus, which is an image I had of God for quite some time. Click here to see what I mean.

It is hard to picture God because he is invisible.

Bible Passage: John 4:24

“God is Spirit, and those who worship God must be led by the Spirit to worship him according to the truth.”

Bible Passage: Colossians 1:15

“Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen.”

So many things to squeeze into a 10 week block of episodes all about 10 minutes long!

Luckily there are some episodes that already have addressed some of the things.

There is an episode on:

God the Creator
God in the trinity
God who loves us
God our Father (adopting us)
God is everywhere (we are never alone)
God is King (we are citizens of the Kingdom Heaven.

What do you think?

What Am I?

I’m measured on a special type of scale but I don’t weigh anything
I can’t be seen but I’m not the Invisible Man
I can whistle but I have no mouth
I can knock down trees but I’m not a lumberjack
I help you fly a kite but I’m not a piece of string
I blow but I’m not someone playing the trumpet

Answer: THE WIND - You can’t see the wind, but you know that it is there. The same is true of God - you can’t see God but we can tell He is there.

The stories from the Old Testament were a long time ago, but God is still the same God.

God never changes. He is still invisible, he is still holy, he still loves us and he is still active even though he doesn’t speak with people as much as he used to. (We have the bible now and God has already said a lot of what he needs to say for now.)

People mature over time as we learn and grow, but not God. He is always amazing and can’t improve because he’s at the top. He is always the same:

Bible Passage: Numbers 23:19

“God is no mere human! He doesn’t tell lies or change his mind.” God always keeps his promises.”

So what was written in the Old Testament that we can help us get to know God?

God spoke words to Moses and others, like I am speaking to you, and he could hear him clearly.
God asked his people to make a place for him to live, so they made a portable box called the Ark of the Covenant, and then later when they settled down they made God a temple, and inside the temple, they made a very special curtained off bit called the Holy of Holies, where God lived
To help humans understand how special God is, he commanded them to create the Ark of the Covenant and then the Temple and Holy of Holies, to be built in such a specific way. This was to help us understand how important it is to respect God.
To open the ark or to go into the Holy of Holies, one Levite high priest per year had to go through specific cleaning rituals to clean their bodies as well as their hearts from sin (that was symbolically done through sacrifices) and if the chosen priest didn’t show enough respect or they didn’t go through the specified rituals properly, then God would get upset, and the person would die.

Bible Passage: Exodus 33:19-23

God spoke to Moses: “All right. I am the Lord, and I show mercy and kindness to anyone I choose. I will let you see my glory and hear my holy name, but I won’t let you see my face, because anyone who sees my face will die. There is a rock not far from me. Stand beside it,and before I pass by in all of my shining glory, I will put you in a large crack in the rock. I will cover your eyes with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back. You will not see my face.”

Story Time! Bible Passage: 1 Samuel 5:1-5

"The Philistines took the sacred chest from near Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. They brought it into the temple of their god Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon, which they worshiped.

When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, they found the statue lying facedown on the floor in front of the sacred chest. They put the statue back where it belonged. But early the next morning, it had fallen over again and was lying facedown on the floor in front of the chest. The body of the statue was still in one piece, but its head and both hands had broken off and were lying on the stone floor in the doorway. This is the reason the priests and everyone else step over that part of the doorway when they enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod."

1 Samuel 6:19

"Some of the men of Beth-Shemesh looked inside the sacred chest, and the Lord God killed seventy of them."

Respect God because he is worthy of it. Fear God.

Bible Verse - Revelation 22:3-5

“God’s curse will no longer be on the people of that city. He and the Lamb will be seated there on their thrones, and its people will worship God and will see him face to face. God’s name will be written on the foreheads of the people. Never again will night appear, and no one who lives there will ever need a lamp or the sun. The Lord God will be their light, and they will rule forever.”

Question Time!

What are the clues you might see that can show you that God is there?
Do you ever have trouble believing that God exists? Share your thoughts together.

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WHY do you do what you do?

Why do you get up in the morning, why do you go to school, why do you choose the TV shows that you choose or the games that you play?

I can imagine that your answer would be “because mum and dad tell me I have to.” But what about the things that you can choose? After school activities, sport, who your friends are, what you eat.

The answer that almost everyone in the world would say is: because it makes me happy.

And we all want to be happy right?

Today’s parable focuses on what the basis is for all of our decisions in life, all of our actions in life, all of our thoughts and opinions and what happens if you base your decisions on something worthwhile compared to what happens when you base your decisions on something that is unwise.

The parable today may get you to re-think WHY you make the choices that you do, and as you get older and are able to make more and more choices, you will be able to re-think your WHY even more.

What do you think?

When you come to making decisions in your life, what kind of things would be motivating you?

Q. Why do you go to school? Because it’s the law. Because you have to.

Q. When you are at home after school what do you do when you get to choose and why? Watch TV? Play computer games? Read a book? Because it is fun and relaxing.

Q. If you go out after school, where do you go and why? Sport? Music practise? Do you do it because it is fun or because it is good for you?

Q. If you go to church, why do you do that?

Bible Passage: Matthew 7:24-27

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Story Time!

The Leaning Tower Of Pisa is a bell tower in Italy. Construction began on it about 900 years ago.

The foundations could only be about 3m deep because there is water if you dig any deeper.

After the construction of the first storey, the building started to sink on the southern side. So they stopped building.

They had a solution! Build each column and step taller on the south side than the north side!

The Tower of Pisa kept sinking! The builder gave up.

A hundred years later another builder come along and had a go at building another storeys; the 5th storey. He made the southern columns an inch taller again, but it was still sinking and he gave up.

30 years later another builder gave it a go and added the 6th and 7th storeys. Almost a hundred years after that, a final builder constructed the final storey with the bell in it and a spiral staircase, and he made the steps on the staircase higher on the southern side.

Overall it took 200 years to build the Tower Of Pisa, and 14,000 tonnes of marble, and it is still leaning! Many times builders have had to come and look at the foundations and attempt to correct the lean so that it doesn’t collapse altogether.

Your life is like a building. Everything you do is adding to the building of your life. All your actions, all your words, even all of your thoughts are contributing to this building. Is it a strong building? Is it a mansion? Is it a good quality building? A good mansion will be built with godly attributes like good deeds, faith, love, peace, kindness. A weak building will be built with sins like being selfish, being hateful, cheating your way through life, lying or stealing.

But the building isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing about a building is it’s foundations. What are you building your life on? Building your life on Jesus is like building on something solid like concrete or rock. Building your life on being happy or living for money or friends and family is not so sturdy. It is like building your life on sand.

The most important questions: What is the reason for you building your life the way you do? What are you building your life on?

A long time ago it was said:

Bible Passage: Psalm 118:22

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

Bible Passage: Acts 4:11

Paul says that “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”

Bible Passage: 1 Peter 2:4

Peter says: “Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honoured. And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house.” You are the walls of the building!

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15

Paul says: “God was kind and let me become an expert builder. I laid a foundation on which others have built. But we must each be careful how we build, because Christ is the only foundation.Whatever we build on that foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. We will be rewarded if our building is left standing. But if it is destroyed by the fire, we will lose everything. Yet we ourselves will be saved, like someone escaping from flames.”

Even if you build a small building, even if it is dodgy, if it is built on a good foundation, then you’re ok. If you don’t do too much in your life that shows that you follow God, but still have Jesus as your foundation, then you are still much better off than someone who does great things in life but does not build their life on Jesus as a foundation.

Why do I spend half a day every week making these episodes? Because Jesus is my WHY. He is my foundation in life. Jesus is the reason why I produce The Word On The Street, he is the reason I go to church and bible study, he is the reason why I read my bible and pray and want to be as healthy as I can and why I want to teach my kids to follow him too.

Question Time!

How do you get Jesus to be the foundation of your life?
How do you build a solid life on Jesus?

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The shepherd has to sort out the sheep from the goats. God is going to sort out his people from those who are not his people. His people are like sheep and will get eternal life. Will you be one of God’s sheep?

There are a lot of stories about shepherds and sheep in the bible. God is the good shepherd and looks after his sheep. Sheep follow their shepherd just like God wants us to follow him.

Story Time!

Have you ever lost anything? Have your parents ever lost anything? I lost my plate from the orthodontist and my dad looked everywhere for it. We were all super excited when he found it.

What do you think?

I’ll give you a few seconds to discuss together, but if you want longer you might want to push pause.

What would you do/how would you feel, if you lost:

Your phone/tablet/iPad?
Your school jumper?
Your sibling at a fun park?

Did you say you would stress out? Would you panic and drop everything and run around looking for it? Even your school jumper? I know I feel like my kids could not care less about losing their school jumper!

But what about your sibling? What if your parents lost you?

How do you think God would feel if one of his people were lost?

ANOTHER QUESTION:

How do you feel when you find something special you had lost?

What did the father do when the lost son returned in the parable we chatted about a few weeks ago? He threw a party and celebrated!

Bible Passage: Luke 15:1-10

“Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, “This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them this story:

If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won’t you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulderand carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found my lost sheep.”

Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to.”

Jesus told the people another story:

What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won’t she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds itThen she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found the coin I lost.”

Jesus said, “In the same way God’s angels are happy when even one person turns to him.”

We can learn 2 huge things about God from these parables.

God loves his people a lot and will do anything to make sure they are safe with him and not lost.
Sinners are the “sheep” that God is looking for. What does this mean? God is looking for people who are aware that they are sinners, not people who think that they are perfect.

Mark 2:16-17 “Some of the teachers of the Law of Moses were Pharisees, and they saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors. So they asked his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus heard them and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners.”

Question Time!

Which one do you think you are - a sheep in God’s flock, a lost sheep or a goat? If you’re not sure, chat together about what each of them mean.
What do you think God and the angels were doing when you first prayed sorry for your sins?

“There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

I know when I turned to Christ, before I can even remember, that the angels had a huge party in heaven for me and they would have done that for you too if you have turned to Christ.

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Judgement Day. Armageddon. The end of the world.

If you didn't listen to the previous episode, go back and listen to it - The Parable of The Weeds - as this is a kind of sequel, a part 2.

A bit more about Judgement Day:

It is the day that Jesus will come back. People call this bit the Second Coming.
The end times refers to the time between Jesus leaving this earth and the time he returns.
There is going to be a big war, a battle, between God, all his people and angels against Satan and all his demons.
In the last episode I read to you the bit about God winning the war, and all those who aren’t Jesus’s friends ending up in the lake of fire.
Many people have a problem with Judgement Day. God is a loving God. He is so kind and caring. So how can he be so mean as to not let everyone into heaven? There is not a quick answer to this one, but it is something that I answered through The Gospel Story series at the very beginning of the podcast, link to that is in the shownotes.

What do you think?

This is a guessing game and you have to guess which one is a sheep and which one is a goat!

Story Time! Bible Passage: Matthew 25:31-46

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory with all of his angels, he will sit on his royal throne.The people of all nations will be brought before him, and he will separate them, as shepherds separate their sheep from their goats.

He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, “My father has blessed you! Come and receive the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world was created. When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink?When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

Then the king will say to those on his left, “Get away from me! You are under God’s curse. Go into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels!I was hungry, but you did not give me anything to eat, and I was thirsty, but you did not give me anything to drink.I was a stranger, but you did not welcome me, and I was naked, but you did not give me any clothes to wear. I was sick and in jail, but you did not take care of me.”

Then the people will ask, “Lord, when did we fail to help you when you were hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in jail?”

The king will say to them, “Whenever you failed to help any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you failed to do it for me.”

Then Jesus said, “Those people will be punished forever. But the ones who pleased God will have eternal life.”

What is Jesus talking about? Does this mean we have to work to get eternal life? Do we have to love others? Faith vs works.

James 2:14-17 “My friends, what good is it to say you have faith, when you don’t do anything to show that you really do have faith? Can that kind of faith save you? If you know someone who doesn’t have any clothes or food, you shouldn’t just say, “I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat.” What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help? Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is all alone and dead!”

First we need to have faith in Jesus, like the man on the cross next to Jesus who went to heaven. Then we need to show love to others. The man on the cross didn’t get a chance to do that but still got to heaven, but if you get a chance to love others and don’t take it up, then do you have a faith at all? The 2 go together.

It is a bit like growing. If you are a child and you eat food that leads to growing up. You just can’t stop it, it is impossible! Faith that doesn’t lead us to do good deeds is not faith.

Finally, who does this parable specifically talk about loving? It is “my people” that are talked about. We are to love our neighbours, we are to love our enemies, but most importantly we are to love God’s people. They are our sisters and brothers. They are our family.

Question Time!

Share a time when one of God’s people has shown love and care to you when you needed it.
Think of someone you know who is needing help and try and work out a way that you can do something for them.
Chat together about the things you need to do in order to get eternal life.

Want more?

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Today’s parable is Parable of the Weeds. It is about the end times. The end of the earth. Judgement Day.

Have you ever watched any movies about the end of the world?

I have just read Land of Stories, where the whole world was in jeopardy. There are heaps of movies like that.

God said that he is going to destroy this earth. It is part of his plan. It is not going to last forever.

I haven’t spoken about this much at The Word On The Street.

It isn’t a lovely, fun day that we tend to chat with young people about. It is a scary day, its a worrying day. But it doesn’t have to be a scary day for everybody.

Many Christians throughout history, and even today, love to talk about this. They talk about it because they scare people into becoming Christians.

It is my prayer that I don’t scare anyone this episode, but just speak the truth in love, like the apostle Paul did.

I will tell you the facts, I will read you passages from the bible and I will help you understand more about what is going to happen at the end of the earth.

For further listening, if you want to know more about the end of the earth and about the evil one, Satan, I do have a couple of episodes that you can listen to whenever you like.

We know about the future because God has told prophets to tell us what is going to happen. There is a fair bit that is ambiguous and we aren’t exactly sure on, but that doesn’t mean we should be ignorant.

What do you think?

WHO AM I?

I am one of Jesus 12 disciples
My brother James was also Jesus’ disciple until he was killed for following Jesus
I am the only disciple that didn’t get killed for following Jesus
I lived in prison for following Jesus until I died
In prison God showed me what is going to happen in the end times through visions
I wrote all the visions down in a book that is the last book in the Bible, called Revelation
I also wrote one of the Gospels and it is named after me
I called myself “the disciple Jesus loved” in my Gospel
WHO AM I? I am John the apostle

Bible Passage - Revelation 20:12-15

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Story Time!

Bible Passage - Matthew 13:24-30

“Jesus then told them this story:

The kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer scattered good seed in a field. But while everyone was sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and then left.

When the plants came up and began to ripen, the farmer’s servants could see the weeds. The servants came and asked, “Sir, didn’t you scatter good seed in your field? Where did these weeds come from?”

“An enemy did this,” he replied.

His servants then asked, “Do you want us to go out and pull up the weeds?”

“No!” he answered. “You might also pull up the wheat. Leave the weeds alone until harvest time. Then I’ll tell my workers to gather the weeds and tie them up and burn them. But I’ll have them store the wheat in my barn.”

Matthew 13:36-43

“After Jesus left the crowd and went inside,his disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the story about the weeds in the wheat field.”

Jesus answered:

The one who scattered the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seeds are the people who belong to the kingdom. The weed seeds are those who belong to the evil one,and the one who scattered them is the devil. The harvest is the end of time, and angels are the ones who bring in the harvest.

Weeds are gathered and burned. That’s how it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather from his kingdom everyone who does wrong or causes others to sin. Then he will throw them into a flaming furnace, where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain. But everyone who has done right will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. If you have ears, pay attention!”

Judgement Day is the name of the day that John talks about in Revelation, when all of the people who ever lived on earth with gather together and be sorted, like weeds and wheat. There is another parable coming up that talks about this sorting too!

What is going to happen to those whom the angels deem to be weeds?

What is going to happen to those whom the angels deem to be wheat?

Question Time!

What is the difference between God’s wheat and Satan’s weeds?
Is there anything that scares you in today’s episode?
When you hear this parable do you feel motivated to do anything in particular?

I know when I hear this parable I am reminded of all the people I know who are weeds and I want to convince them to follow Jesus so they can shine like the sun in God’s Kingdom.

I also want to say thank you to God for saving me.

Next episode we will look at Judgement Day a little more when we dive into the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.

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Sam Chan's Evangelism in a Post-COVID World is a 'playbook' which considers the pieces which will enable you to share Jesus in a post-COVID world because things aren't going back to the way they were.

Sam also has another podcast titled Evangelism In A Skeptical World, which is a collection of 15 minute evangelism life hacks that will help you give your friends the Gospel in a way they’re prepared to hear it.

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Today we are learning some more about God’s Kingdom. This kingdom is a country or nation where God is the king and his people all love and obey him. The place everyone lives is called Heaven, but the people are not all there yet. The people who are citizens of this country are called Christians! Being part of this kingdom is like trying to get a valuable treasure - you’d do anything to get it!

The parable today is Jesus story about people who can be part of God’s Kingdom; people who are allowed to be Christians. Jesus used the story about a banquet to explain who will be able to enter into God’s Kingdom in Heaven.

A banquet is a word for a party with a fancy sit down meal, which would have been a very special treat, and you would only host a party like that for people you really love and respect. Have you ever had a party? A lot of work goes into making it happen.

I hosted a party on the weekend for my sister in law Richelle who turned 50 during Covid and now that our lockdown laws in Australia have eased, we were able to celebrate. Richelle invited all of her friends and paid for their food and drink. We worked hard for all her friends to have a lovely time, shopping, cooking and getting the house ready and looking nice. We wouldn’t invite anyone, only people who Richelle wanted to come.

What do you think?

When someone holds out a present for you, all wrapped up beautifully, what do you do?

Do you say, “No thanks, I don’t want that present?”

Do you take the present and open it?

Imagine someone hasn’t wrapped their present for you, but is holding a family ticket to Disney World, including flights, hotel and everything you need to this holiday of a lifetime. What do you do, what is your reaction? I can imagine my kids screaming until my ears were ringing, running around the house like lunatics and then talking about it every spare minute until we actually went.

Could you imagine doing that?

Or would you opt for not going? Would you turn down the offer?

Have you ever gotten tickets for something or an invitation to something and then not actually gone? Why didn’t you go? Were you busy when it was on, or did you have something else you’d rather be doing?

My husband Brad got tickets to a comedian and I couldn’t go with him as I couldn’t find a babysitter that night. He asked heaps of people who couldn’t go either. Some were busy, others just didn’t want to go.

Story Time!

Brad had tickets to see a comedian but I couldn't come! He asked a variety of friends but many didn't want to join him.

Bible Passage - Luke 14:15-25

“After Jesus had finished speaking, one of the guests said, “The greatest blessing of all is to be at the banquet in God’s kingdom!”

Jesus told him:

A man once gave a great banquet and invited a lot of guests. When the banquet was ready, he sent a servant to tell the guests, “Everything is ready! Please come.”

One guest after another started making excuses. The first one said, “I bought some land, and I’ve got to look it over. Please excuse me.”

Another guest said, “I bought five teams of oxen, and I need to try them out. Please excuse me.”

Still another guest said, “I have just gotten married, and I can’t be there.”

The servant told his master what happened, and the master became so angry that he said, “Go as fast as you can to every street and alley in town! Bring in everyone who is poor or crippled or blind or lame.”

When the servant returned, he said, “Master, I’ve done what you told me, and there is still plenty of room for more people.”

His master then told him, “Go out along the back roads and fence rows and make people come in, so that my house will be full. Not one of the guests I first invited will get even a bite of my food!”

While there is no explanation for this parabe in the Bible, we can tell that Jesus is the man who gave the banquet. The banquet is Heaven. The people invited are all the people on earth.

Jesus invites us all to come to heaven. But we don’t all want to come. We all need to accept his invitation, like you accept a friends party invitation or when it’s your birthday you accept a gift.

The thing is, this gift of God’s Kingdom is better than any other gift you’re ever going to get! It’s better than a trip to Disney World, better than any party. All you have to do to get this gift is like any other gift - you have to accept it. To accept this gift, you need to repent of your sins and you need to believe that Jesus died on the cross for those sins.

Question Time!

Why is Jesus’ invitation the best invitation that you are ever going to get?
Why do you think some people would not want to accept Jesus’ invitation?
What about you, will you accept Jesus’ invitation?

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What is the most important thing God wants us to do on this earth? It is love others! This episode will be focusing on who we are to love… others!

But first we need to talk a bit about the word love, because the word we use often refers to a strong feeling of affection or concern towards somebody, which means that like the person a lot.

But you cannot make yourself feel affection for someone, you might not like every personality that God created, and that’s ok. Jesus is not asking us to kiss and hug everyone we meet, and tell everyone we meet how much we adore them!

The love that we talk about in the bible is slightly different from feelings. It is more to do with your actions and your attitude towards another person. To love somebody in the way I am speaking about today, and the way we talk about in church and in the bible, we talk are wanting good for the other person. This love is more of a doing word, a verb, than a thing, a noun.

What do you think?

Loving everybody is hard! In this section today I have some yes or no questions for you to think about. Here are the questions.

Could you love somebody if they:

Bullied you every day at school, taunting you and hurting you?
Treated your dog or your cat poorly?
Destroyed ALL of your belongings on purpose?
Bossed you around and didn’t care about your thoughts or your feelings at all? (Parents might be able to relate to this one at work!)

It is easy to love people who are lovely, people who are loveable. What about loving those who are not lovely, those who are much harder to love? The Bishop showed love to Jean Valjean even though he was not lovely. Are we supposed to love unlovely people too? Yes! There are a lot of places in the bible that tells us we are to love unlovely people, including in Luke 10. Luke tells us the answer in the parable that I will read to you now.

Bible Passage: Luke 10:25-37

“An expert in the Law of Moses stood up and asked Jesus a question to see what he would say. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to have eternal life?”

Jesus answered, “What is written in the Scriptures? How do you understand them?”

The man replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.’ They also say, ‘Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.’”

Jesus said, “You have given the right answer. If you do this, you will have eternal life.”

But the man wanted to show that he knew what he was talking about. So he asked Jesus, “Who are my neighbours?”

Jesus replied:

As a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, robbers attacked him and grabbed everything he had. They beat him up and ran off, leaving him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down the same road. But when he saw the man, he walked by on the other side. Later a temple helper[i] came to the same place. But when he saw the man who had been beaten up, he also went by on the other side.

A man from Samaria then came traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he felt sorry for him and went over to him. He treated his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next morning he gave the innkeeper two silver coins and said, “Please take care of the man. If you spend more than this on him, I will pay you when I return.”

Then Jesus asked, “Which one of these three people was a real neighbor to the man who was beaten up by robbers?”

The teacher answered, “The one who showed pity.”

Jesus said, “Go and do the same!””

Samaria is not a place we are familiar with. Do you know what people from Samaria were like? They were not jews, so they were a different people group, and they didn’t have God as their God. While they weren’t warring countries, the Samaritans were rivals to the Jews. A bit like when you compete against another school/team for sport. Your team won’t let you like them; you want to beat them.

Bible Passage: Matthew 5:43-48

“You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both good and bad people. And he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong. If you love only those people who love you, will God reward you for that? Even tax collectors love their friends. If you greet only your friends, what’s so great about that? Don’t even unbelievers do that? But you must always act like your Father in heaven.”

Question Time!

Who are the people God wants you to love? Who are your neighbours?
How can you practically love these people? What can you actually do today or this week that will show them love?
Challenge: Memorise God’s command in Luke 10:27, which says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind’ and love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.’”

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Last episode was about the Lost Son, and I chatted about how God will forgive us if we stray away from him. If we return and repent he will throw a big party!

This episode is all about how God’s forgiveness is to affect us.

God has forgiven all of our sins - every single one - and they were all, each one, so bad they were sentencing us away from heaven. But God forgave them.

So how does that fact affect us? How are we to forgive others?

What do you think?

Imagine your little brother breaks your favourite, most expensive toy or device, and he begs you to forgive him. You see that he is really sorry - devastated - and can’t pay you back and so you forgive him. You tell him that he doesn’t owe you anything.

But the next minute your sister breaks a pencil of your brothers and you see your brother is really cross about it. He carries on about it for ages, and does not forgive your sister.

How do you imagine you would feel? I know I would feel angry at my brother because it shows that he doesn’t really appreciate the forgiveness that I had shown him.

Story:

The story today is Jesus’ story - his parable.

Bible Passage - Matthew 18:23-35

“Peter came up to the Lord and asked, “How many times should I forgive someonewho does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?”

Jesus answered:

Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!This story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like:

One day a king decided to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed him.As he was doing this, one official was brought in who owed him fifty million silver coins.But he didn’t have any money to pay what he owed. The king ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the debt.

The official got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you every cent I owe!” The king felt sorry for him and let him go free. He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the money.

As the official was leaving, he happened to meet another official, who owed him a hundred silver coins. So he grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, “Pay me what you owe!”

The man got down on his knees and began begging, “Have pity on me, and I will pay you back.” But the first official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put in jail until he could pay what he owed.

When some other officials found out what had happened, they felt sorry for the man who had been put in jail. Then they told the king what had happened. The king called the first official back in and said, “You’re an evil man! When you begged for mercy, I said you did not have to pay back a cent.Don’t you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?” The king was so angry that he ordered the official to be tortured until he could pay back everything he owed. That is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don’t forgive each of my followers with all your heart.”

Treat others as you would like to be treated is a good rule of thumb for how we ought to treat people.

Remember back to the story I told earlier. How did you you feel about your brother getting all upset about your sister breaking his pencil? I said that I would feel angry because it shows that he doesn’t really appreciate the forgiveness that you had shown him. God feels angry when we don’t forgive others because it shows that we don’t fully understand just how much God has forgiven us our sins.

He actually goes so far as to say that he will forgive us in the same manner that we forgive others. So if you forgive everyone all the time, whenever they wrong you, then God will forgive you all the time, whenever you wrong God.

BUT, if you only forgive some people some of the time, then God will only forgive you sometimes. ANd if God doesn’t forgive you for all your sins, only some of them, then you will not be able to go to Heaven. You need all your sins forgiven all the time. And this means that you will need to forgive everyone who wrongs you all of the time. It is a big deal.

Question Time!

What is the hardest thing that you have ever had to forgive so far in your life?
What is something that someone might do in the future that you think might be really hard to forgive? Why?
Why does God think forgiving others is so important?

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Today's topic is forgiveness and repenting.

Repenting is saying sorry, showing remorse.

Have you ever done something to someone and needed to say sorry? It isn’t a very pleasant thing to have to do, but it is the best thing to do as acknowledging that you’ve done the wrong thing and admitting that you wished it hadn’t happened helps the other person to be your friend again.

What do you think?

What Feeling Is It? GAME

I am a feeling?

When you feel this you do not feel nice...

You feel this when you have done something mean/unkind to someone and you wish you hadn’t...

You might feel sick in the stomach...

This feeling is not feeling sadness, although often you feel sad as well...

What feeling is it?
The feeling is remorse.

What is Remorse? It is a feeling of sadness and being sorry for something you have done.

What Does Sorry Mean? It is a feeling sadness, sympathy, or disappointment, especially because something unpleasant has happened or been done.

Sometimes it means regret, or a wish that something didn’t happen, as in “sorry for your loss.”

Other times it means that we are at fault and have made a mistake.

That is the sorry I am talking about today - when something bad has happened and it is your fault.

This parable is Jesus way of teaching everyone how to ask for forgiveness.

We teach our kids to say sorry.

I taught my kids to repent - to say sorry.

Ted said “Orries!”

We had to break it down and say he needed a sad voice and a sad face to show that he wished he hadn’t done it. We could teach him how to act but we couldn’t change the feelings in his heart - whether he was repentant or couldn’t care less.

But do we teach others how to forgive? That comes from the heart too.

Why should we forgive, how do you forgive and why is it hard to forgive sometimes? Those are questions that will all be looked at during this episode!

Today's Story:

The story today is Jesus’ story - his parable!

Bible Passage: Luke 15:11-32

“Jesus also told them another story:

Once a man had two sons. The younger son said to his father, “Give me my share of the property.” So the father divided his property between his two sons.

Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living.He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.

He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs.He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating, but no one gave him a thing.

Finally, he came to his senses and said, “My father’s workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’”

The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son and hugged and kissed him.

The son said, “Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son.”

But his father said to the servants, “Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate.This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” And they began to celebrate.

The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near the house, he heard the music and dancing.So he called one of the servants over and asked, “What’s going on here?”

The servant answered, “Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf.”The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house.

His father came out and begged him to go in. But he said to his father, “For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast.”

His father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been found.””

Whenever we say sorry to God, he will ALWAYS forgive us!
Whether we sin against him for a long time or it's a small one off sin, he will ALWAYS forgive us!

Question Time!

Share about a time you have had to apologise and it was really hard. What was it that motivated you to do it even when you didn’t want to?
Do you identify with the older or the younger son the most? Why?

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Many of Jesus’ parables are about the Kingdom of Heaven, so in this episode we spend some time looking into what that actually is, which will help us understand the 2 parables for this episode about treasure - The parable of the Treasure and The Parable of the Valuable Pearl.
195 countries in the world today.

What is a Kingdom anyway? Here are some definitions:

Country: an area of land that has its own government, army, etc.

Nation: a country, especially when thought of as a large group of people living in one area with their own government, language, traditions, etc.

Kingdom: a country ruled by a king or queen

We discussed this a bit in the Citizens of Heaven episode last term.

We are citizens of Heaven if we believe in Jesus. This means that we are part of the Kingdom Of Heaven. We belong to the nation of Heaven.

What do you think?

I want you to think about priorities. Priority means something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things. It is ranking things in order of importance for you and the things at the top of your list is of the highest priority.

Have you ever wanted something so badly that you would do anything to get it?

Have you ever watched Survivor? Or I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here? Or something similar? These people would do any crazy thing to get a reward like something to eat or a warm comfy bed for the night.

What have you ever wanted so badly that you would do anything to get? A toy? A video game? A holiday? Time off school?

If I said you could have it:

if you had to give me all your money first, all your savings, would you do it?
if you had to keep your room tidy for a month, would you do it?
if you had to eat a slug, would you do it?

If you said no to any of these questions, then do you really want this thing that badly? Is this thing really a priority to you?

Story Time!

During the gold rush in Ballarat around 1860, my great great great grandfather wanted to get rich and had heard many stories of people becoming wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. He walked from Sydney to Victoria (965km, 10 hour drive, over 200 hours walking, which would take 25 days if you were walking 8 hours each day. When he got there he mined for gold for about 6 months, got a small piece of gold but realised it was much harder to find now that all the gold had been found from the surface of the earth, so he walked all the way home. He used the gold to fashion a brooch for his fiancé.

Henry wanted the gold so badly he walked so far to get it, but not too badly as he didn’t stay for years like others, risking their lives in deep holes in the ground looking for gold.

Bible Passage - Matthew 13:44-46

“The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.

The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when a shop owner is looking for fine pearls.After finding a very valuable one, the owner goes and sells everything in order to buy that pearl.”

What are these people’s priorities? It is getting the treasure or the pearl. They were prepared to do anything to get this treasure, this pearl. God wants us to make sure that being part of The Kingdom Of Heaven is a priority, just like the pearl was a priority to the shop owner.

Question Time!

How much of a priority is it to you to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven?
How can you change your heart to make the Kingdom of Heaven more of a priority?

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The New Testament In Its World is one of ETN's Bibilical podcasts. Go on a whimsical journey with author Mike Bird as he delves into his authoritative text and places the New Testament in the context of the culture in which it arose.

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To start our new series on the parables that Jesus told, we have an episode on the Parable of the Soils. What does the seed represent, what are the soils and how can you make sure that you are the good soil? Tune in to find out!

To find out what a parable is, why Jesus used parables to teach others and what kind of stories he used to tell, listen to this past episode - JESUS LIFE: His Parables.

Bible Passage: Matthew 13:1-8

“That same day Jesus left the house and went out beside Lake Galilee, where he sat down to teach.Such large crowds gathered around him that he had to sit in a boat, while the people stood on the shore. Then he taught them many things by using stories. He said:

A farmer went out to scatter seed in a field. While the farmer was scattering the seed, some of it fell along the road and was eaten by birds. Other seeds fell on thin, rocky ground and quickly started growing because the soil wasn’t very deep. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched and dried up, because they did not have enough roots. Some other seeds fell where thornbushes grew up and choked the plants. But a few seeds did fall on good ground where the plants produced a hundred or sixty or thirty times as much as was scattered.If you have ears, pay attention!”

Later Jesus’ disciples asked him about the stories, why he used them etc, and Jesus answered their questions and then explained the meaning of the parable.

The seed is the gospel, the word of God, the good news of Jesus dying on the cross for your sins. This parable is about people's reactions when they hear the good news.

Jesus explains the parable to his disciples later:

Bible Passage: Matthew 13:18-23

"Now listen to the meaning of the story about the farmer:

The seeds that fell along the road are the people who hear the message about the kingdom, but don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the message from their hearts.The seeds that fell on rocky ground are the people who gladly hear the message and accept it right away.But they don’t have deep roots, and they don’t last very long. As soon as life gets hard or the message gets them in trouble, they give up.

The seeds that fell among the thornbushes are also people who hear the message. But they start worrying about the needs of this life and are fooled by the desire to get rich. So the message gets choked out, and they never produce anything. The seeds that fell on good ground are the people who hear and understand the message. They produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.”

Story Time!

I was handing out skittles. The colourful fruit flavoured lollies (candy).

I gave some to Jack. He would not even try one. Would hardly even look at it. He was absolutely not interested.

I gave some to Olivia. She thought they were delicious and ate and ate straight away. She said they were the best lolly she had ever tasted. But then her fingers got a bit of colour on them and they got a bit sticky and she didn’t like that, so she decided she didn’t like the skittles anymore.

I gave some to William. Will though that the skittles were yummy, but his friend came along with smarties and he quickly decided that they were the best lollies she’d ever had.

I gave some to Charlotte. Charlotte was interested, happy to learn about them and try them. When she tried it she thought the skittles were so fantastic that she wanted to devote her life to having as many people enjoy those skittles as much as her, so she grew up and became a skittles sales marketer.

What do you think?

I want you to imagine that you see a kid in the park. They are playing an interesting game and you want to play. For some reason you decide to tell them about Jesus dying on the cross for your sins.

This person doesn’t want to hear it at all and just wants to keep playing. They tell you so. This is like the first soil where it lands on the road. It doesn’t sink in and the birds take it away.

Imagine that you are at the park another day and meet a similar person playing a similarly fun game. You tell them about Jesus. They love that story! They believe you straight away and come along to church when you invite them. All of a sudden they are talking about Jesus, going to everything that they can and inviting all their friends. But then something in life gets hard - someone passes away or someone gets sick - and all of a sudden they don’t believe in Jesus anymore. This is the soil where there are rocks and the plant doesn’t have deep roots. Roots in plants are important for longevity.

Imagine the same scenario, back at the park. This time your new friend listens to you, wants to know more, like your other friend, but as they get older, so do problems in their lives. Their faith grows, but so does their worries and life goals, and they have no time left for being a Christian and following Jesus. Their problems are the weeds that grow up with their faith-plant.

Your last friend that you meet at the park is someone who listens to you, wants to know more, and grows without the presence of rocks (worries) or weeds (problems/life goals), and so their faith is able to grow up healthy and strong!

Question Time!

Do you remember how you reacted the first time you heard about Jesus saving you from your sins? If you did, which soil do you think you might have had when that seed landed on you?
What can you do to ensure that you are the good soil?
What might Jesus be talking about when he says that "they produce as much as a hundred or sixty or thirty times what was planted.” Matthew 13:23

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Have you ever worked on something that has taken a really long time? A big lego build, or a school project? Think of something that might have a few tricky things to do, as that’s normally where we get stuck and give up.

Today’s episode is about being unfinished. It is the last one from our IDENTITY IN CHRIST series.

Is there anything that you have made that you never finished? I had an unfinished bag in pieces under my bed for about a year!

What do you think?

Choose one, A or B:

Has God A) redeemed you already and taken away all your sins now, or B) will you be redeemed when you die and get to Heaven?
Has God A) adopted you already or B) will you be adopted as his child when you die?
Are we A) citizens of Heaven already/Does the Kingdom of Heaven exist already or B) will the Kingdom be established in the end times/will we be citizens of Heaven in the end? (There’s an episode about the end times here.)

If you said A then you are correct, because each episode I have explained these things.

But it is also B. It is both!

We are:

already adopted in Christ (Romans 8:15), but not yet adopted (Romans 8:23 - The Spirit makes us sure about what we will be in the future. But now we groan silently, while we wait for God to show that we are his children.);
already redeemed in Christ (Ephesians 1:7), but not yet redeemed (Ephesians 4:30 - Don’t make God’s Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins.);
Already a citizen of heaven, But not yet, as The Kingdom of heaven is not yet here, “The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.” Matthew 3:2)

Story Time!

Lucy is 11 and she loves Netflix. She has a set amount of time she is allowed to watch it and she really wants to respect my boundaries but she gets wrapped up in the show she is watching and it draws her to her iPad when she isn’t allowed to use it. Every time I catch her watching Netflix and chat with her about it she is repentance. She is genuinely devastated that she has done it.

It is hard. We all have an internal battle going on in our minds. Even Paul says in Romans 7:19 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."

God has finished the work in us, getting us ready for Heaven, by having Jesus die on the cross for our sins. So why are we still unfinished? Why hasn’t it all happened yet?

We are living in the in between times. It’s the beginning of the end times. Jesus has come but we haven’t all gone up to Heaven yet. God’s Kingdom

Any expert will never say they are finished. Their skills can always be honed and improved, no matter how good they are. They will never say that they are perfect.

God WILL say that we are perfect. Right now we are Being Perfected. We are in the process of getting perfect. But we are also, right now Perfect. We are complete. We are both finished and unfinished at the same time.

Question Time!

Was there anything that I said in today’s episode that doesn’t make sense or you struggle to understand? What was it?
How do you feel when you hear that you are both finished and complete but also unfinished?
Do you remember the memory verse from last episode? It's Ephesians 3:17 "Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith."

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Do you like being alone? Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

God made us for relationships, whether we are introverted or extroverted and studies have shown that the happiest people on earth are those who have deep connections with others.

What do you think?

Memory Verse - Ephesians 3:17 “Christ will live in your hearts because of your faith.”

If you want to listen to another episode about God being everywhere, tune into this episode from July 2020: What’s So Good About The Holy Spirit?

Bible Verse - Psalm 139:7-12

Where could I go to escape
from your Spirit
or from your sight?

If I were to climb up
to the highest heavens,
you would be there.
If I were to dig down
to the world of the dead
you would also be there.

Suppose I had wings
like the dawning day
and flew across the ocean.

Even then your powerful arm
would guide and protect me.

Or suppose I said, “I’ll hide
in the dark
until night comes
to cover me over.”

But you see in the dark
because daylight and dark
are all the same to you.

Have you been somewhere really remote before? I’ve been to places where I think no one has been, wilderness in Tasmania, outback Australia, scuba diving in the bottom of the ocean. It feels like no one has ever been there and like I am so far away. But God is with me.

Sharni and Banjo go to primary school and whenever they’re worried about leaving me and going in the gate, I remind them that they are never alone and that God is with them and they find comfort in that.

Have you ever found comfort in knowing that God is with you?

I caught the train without a ticket and got caught. I kinda wish God didn’t have to see that. It is a bit like police - when you’re naughty you don’t want them around but when you’re in trouble you want their help.

Have you ever felt like you wish God wasn’t there?

Overall, how do you feel knowing that you are never alone?

Pray, thanking God that he is always with us.

Story Time!

I took a cave tour and when we were deep in the cave the lights were turned off. I felt so remote. It was so dark. But God was there.

Discussion Questions:

How important is it to you that God is with you? How important do you think it should be? Why?
Do you act differently knowing that God is with you? If yes, how?
Can you remember the memory verse from Ephesians 3:17?

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Kid's Bible study leader Anna Ware takes you and your family on another journey into our identity in Christ.

Are you free? Do you live in The Land of The Free?

What does freedom mean? “The condition of not being in prison or captivity, or the condition of being free of restraints, especially the ability to act without control or interference by another or by circumstance.”

Does anyone control you? If you are a child and have parents and teachers telling you what to do all the time, are you free?

What is so good about being free?

What do you think?

Join in the guessing game! I am thinking of a word, it is a word that describes a type of person. Guess the person who I am talking about.

What is a slave? A slave is “One who is owned as the property of someone else, especially in involuntary servitude, or one who is controlled by another.”

It is different to a servant because servants are paid and choose to be there. A slave is someone who is made to do things because they are owned by someone. They are not their own.
Bible Passage: Galatians 4:7
“You are no longer slaves. You are God’s children, and you will be given what he has promised.”

This bible verse is one I have read out before - it talks about how we are:

No longer slaves
God’s children
Heirs

Story TimeToday's story is about how I used to be a slave to sugar. Addictions are similar to being a slave! I would go to church and to bible study and to parties and anywhere, and would always been needing to eat the sweet sugary treats.

Bible Passage: Romans 6:12-14
“Don’t let sin rule your body. After all, your body is bound to die, so don’t obey its desires or let any part of it become a slave of evil. Give yourselves to God, as people who have been raised from death to life. Make every part of your body a slave that pleases God. Don’t let sin keep ruling your lives. You are ruled by God’s kindness and not by the Law.”

Discussion

Are you a slave to anything/does anything control you?
Do you sometimes feel like you are a slave to obeying God, or do you feel like you choose to obey him? Chat about the difference between these 2 things.

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With All Due Respect is an Eternity Podcast Network podcast, where Michael Jensen and Megan Powell du Toit engage in deep discussion about a variety of difficult topics without it descending into chaos.

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We are heirs because we are God's children.

As God's children we get to be part of his family, with brothers and sisters in Christ (click here for an episode on God’s church), but that's not the only awesome thing we get as his children. We also are heirs and get an inheritance!

“Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. 4 God has something stored up for you in heaven, where it will never decay or be ruined or disappear.” 1 Peter 1:3-4 CEV

Imagine… What were you like a few years ago? Maybe 5 years ago if you’re old enough to remember that far ago. What is a toy you had that was really important to you? What did you do with it? What did you love about it? Where is it now? Is it still important?

What is a toy you have now that is really important to you?

Imagine yourself in 5 years time. How old are you? What year will you be in at school?

Will that possession still be important to you? Can you picture yourself with it now? Where is it? In the cupboard? Broken? Has it been binned or sold on eBay?

When I was a baby I loved a sheepskin. I took it to bed, in my pram, everywhere. I called it my shoosh-oosh. My girls love their blanks like I loved my shoosh-oosh.

I outgrew that shoosh-oosh and don’t have many memories of it. But my mother kept it and gave it to me when I was an adult. It was a dirty old sheepskin of no value to me. I had no memories of it and I chucked it!

Heaven will not be like that - it will not perish (die), spoil or fade.

“God’s Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.” Romans 8:15-17

We get an inheritance! Normally you have to wait until someone died and doesn’t need it anymore, but in this case you must die to get it.

What is it? Heaven. To find out more about what Heaven is like, there is a whole episode for you to listen to here.

Discussion Questions

Have any of you ever received an inheritance? What did you get, how did you feel, do you still have it?
How will God’s inheritance compare to an earthly inheritance?
How might being a co-heir with Christ change your attitude towards everyday possessions?

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Join Anna Ware as she takes you and your family through a ten minute go-anywhere Bible study on what it means to be part of the family of God.

God adopts us - it's such a strange concept!

So are we orphans? Sort of… Sin separates us from God.

But when we have that sin taken away (justified) then God can adopt us back as his children again. We become members of his family.

What do you think?

I’d like you to think about your family. Do you have 2 parents or just 1 or none? Do you live with your grandparents? Do you have siblings or pets? A foster family maybe?

Imagine what life would be like if you had no siblings at all. Now imagine what it would be like with 4 big brothers. Imagine what life would be like for you if you had baby twin sisters.

What can you smell? What can you see? Mess? What can you hear? Does it sound something like this? Or this?

Now I want you to imagine that you are adopted. Your parents are not your real parents but they love you just the same. For some that might mean they love you more. It does feel strange though.

Families can be all different types.
Why do we need to be adopted by God?
Read Galatians to find out!

Bible Passage: Galatians 4:4-7

"But when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law, 5 so he could set us free from the Law, and we could become God’s children. 6 Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. And his Spirit tells us that God is our Father. 7 You are no longer slaves. You are God’s children, and you will be given what he has promised."

We were slaves because we were sinners. We were not friends with God. Being justified means peace with God. It also means being God’s adopted children.

Story Time!
We celebrate Christmas Day with a big family lunch. Every year the grandparents come over, the cousins and aunties and uncles come and we have a big feast. We eat, we swim, we give presents and we enjoy one another’s company. This is a big family get together. Throwing wrapping paper. Eating really special, expensive food like turkey and ham off the bone, prawns.

Sometimes someone will invite someone else to our family lunch. We have had a mum and daughter come over. They didn’t have any family to celebrate with and so they came and took part in Christmas with us. They got presents, they were part of the family for the day. They loved it so much that the following December they asked if they could come again.

Bible Passage: Ephesians 1:5

“God was kind and decided that Christ would choose us to be God’s own adopted children.”

Do you go to dancing or soccer or gymnastics during the week? Do those adults who look after you love you as much as your parents? Do they love you at all? Do you feel safe with them? God is not like them. God loves us more than our parents.

If you want to listen to the previous episode on God's love, click here.

Do you see your extended family much? Church is our extended family in Christ. We have family gatherings like BBQs and picnics, and we have our Christian family gatherings at church. Each family looks different - some have lots of people, others only a few, just like church!. When we get to Heaven we will meet all the members of our Christian family - all the other people God has adopted as his children too!

More about Heaven next week!

Discussion Questions

How do you feel when you think about being God’s child?
How do you feel when you think about being a member in God’s big family?

WANT MORE?

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Join in for a game of true or false:

Your parents would stop loving you if you got cancer.
Your parents would stop loving you if you let the dog out and it got lost.
Your parents would stop loving you if you pushed your brother or sister off a bridge.
You went to jail.

So what is it that would stop your parents from loving you? Why do you parents love you? Why does Anna love her kids?
Ultimately, why does God love you?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

God loves us because we are his and he made us.

"I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not life or death, not angels or spirits, not the present or the future, and not powers above or powers below. Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus our Lord!” “Romans 8:28-29

A lot of people get this bit wrong and think they’ve done too many bad things to deserve God’s love. This is not right! NOTHING can separate us from God's love.

Think of a really bad person. Apostle Paul? Hitler? Does God love them?

Here are 4 awesome truths:

God’s love is unconditional.
We will never not be loved by God.
We can relax, knowing that there is nothing we can do to work our way into God’s favour.
We can feel secure, knowing that we will always have peace with God, no matter what we do in our lives.

Discussion Questions:

Is being loved by others important to you? Why/why not?
What is helpful about knowing that you are loved by God?

Before we go I'd love to ask a favour:
Think of one person you know who might enjoy this podcast. Invite them to listen to an episode and see if it's something they'd like to do as a family on a car trip one day!

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Today’s episode is about how we are justified.

Q. What does Justified mean? (easy way to remember: Just-If-I’d never sinned)

It is similar to being righteous, made right with God. It is about the sin being taken away. Have your sins been taken away?

If you’re not sure, go back and listen to the Gospel Story (Jesus Colours) episodes for more detail on this!

People who don’t believe in God often mistakenly think Christians are perfect. This is NOT TRUE! Christians are sinners just like everyone else in the world. Sin is our thoughts, actions or lack of actions (not doing something) that is disobeying God. We all do it. We try not to, but we all do it.

What do you think?

Imagine you have shoplifted. SENSES

You stole a packet of lollies from the corner shop.

The shop keeper sees you and takes you to the local police station.

You are feeling really guilty. You know you’ve done the wrong thing.

You are repentant. You repent and say “sorry you won’t do it again.”

But someone has to pay the punishment for the wrong thing that you did.

You get a fine. $200! But you don’t have that money! Your parents pay for it for you.

They look after you and sort out the problem.

Bible Passage:

Psalm 103:12

“How far has the Lord taken

our sins from us?

Farther than the distance

from east to west!”

Today’s Story:

A similar thing happened to me when I was in year 10 at school. I caught the train to the local shops without a ticket. I got caught and I was given a fine that my parents paid for. They loved me and forgave me.

It was JUST if I’d never done it.

Bible Passage: Romans 5:1-2

“By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peacewith God. 2 Christ has also introduced us to God’s undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God.”

Q. What does this verse mean? Do you understand it? Are there any tricky words?

Q. How do we get justified?

Q. What do we get when we become justified/our sins taken away? “Peace with God”

Q. What does Peace with God mean? It means a friendship where sin isn’t in the way. We can pray and come in God’s presence and we can go to Heaven when we die.

Have you ever have had a fight with your friends? I used to fight with my big sister all the time. I would hit her and annoy her. Naomi always forgave me. God is the best friend anyone could ever have, because he will always forgive you and be your friend again if you want Him to.

THE BEST BIT:

How does being justified (having our sins taken away) and getting peace with God affect your identity, who you are?

We don’t have to worry about accidentally sinning, as we know God makes us just again!
We don’t have to worry about God being far away, we have peace with him!
We can live our lives relaxed, knowing that God is our friend, because there is no sin getting in the way.
Because God is our friend, we know we have an amazing power taking care of us, listening to our prayers, loving us and helping us in our lives!!!

Discussion Questions:

If you are justified, chat about how that affects your identity, who you are.
If you have peace with God, how does that change how you live your life?
If you have not been justified, chat about what has led you to come to the decision to not make peace with God.

Want more?

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How does where you are from affect your identity?

Think about it.

What country are you from? Do you have a passport - which country is that from?

This makes a big difference to who you are!

I am Australian. This means I am different to those from other countries. I celebrate Christmas in the summer. I speak English and also use different words like thongs for flip flops, I call trousers pants, I call a sweater a jumper, I say biscuit instead of cookie.

What Do You Think?

Guess where I am:

I can smell amazing food and they are using chop sticks. Most people I see have dark brown hair and brown eyes. If I want to see something amazing in this country I will go and see a really long wall made from rocks. Which country am I in?
I am in a city with a lot of old buildings, bridges, a lot of art and a lot of cafes. The bakery here are amazing - yummy croissants and baguettes! If I look up I can see and really tall tower made from steel. Which country am I in?
I am in the desert, there is bright red dust everywhere and small green grasses and bushes. It is really hot. I can see a kangaroo and a huge red rock emerging out of the dust with nothing else in sight. Which country am I in?

God has made us Humans. We are all people. BUT some of us are Earthlings. Others of us are Heavenians. Our passports should actually say we are citizens of Heaven, not citizens of Australia.

Bible Time!

Philippians 3:20 “But we are citizens of heaven and are eagerly waiting for our Savior to come from there. Our Lord Jesus Christ has power over everything, and he will make these poor bodies of ours like his own glorious body.”

We are not our bodies. God gave each of us bodies to use and to look after. These will decay and break.

When we get to Heaven we will have eternal bodies that will never break.

Are you a citizen of Earth? Yes.

If you believe in Jesus you are a citizen of Heaven as well!

This means that you are not the same as everyone else here on earth.

Your identity is DIFFERENT.

Story Time!

Today’s story is about camping.

I love camping. I have a portable camper trailer. I can set it up and pack it up quickly, so I can move about and explore a lot of places.

In 2018 I went on a big holiday and drove around Australia with my family. We would camp in a few different places each week. It meant that we got to explore a lot of things we wouldn’t otherwise be able to see.

After about 14 weeks, my family were starting to miss home. They wanted something that was more permanent. Less living out of bags and in the bush. They got sick of it. We came home after spending 16 weeks away.

Camping are fun for holidays but not for always.

If you lived in a tent forever you would get sick of it.

Camping is a temporary home.

Another Bible Verse!

2 Corinthians 5:1 ”Our bodies are like tents that we live in here on earth. But when these tents are destroyed, we know that God will give each of us a place to live. These homes will not be buildings that someone has made, but they are in heaven and will last forever. While we are here on earth, we sigh because we want to live in that heavenly home. We want to put it on like clothes and not be naked.”

Have you been camping for too long before and you just want to get home? Did you get sick of sleeping on an uncomfortable camping bed and being constantly eaten by bugs and always a little bit dirty?

How did you feel when you finally got home?

Getting to heaven will be like that - you will be home after being on earth for so long and you will finally be in the place where you can relax.

Discussion Questions:

Are you a citizen of Heaven, or of earth? Chat about what it means for how you live your life.
Do you feel sad or excited when you think about your body being like a temporary tent?

Want more?

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Welcome to the first episode of Season 2!

This is the show where Anna introduces the theme of the season - what is your identity and how does having a Christian identity affect your life.

As Christians, we can let Jesus influence our identity a tiny bit or we can let Him have an influence over everything.

Want to see the Venn diagram, showing how Anna wants her identity as being a Christian to influence all the other parts of her identity too?

Click here.

And because we have now teamed up with Eternity Podcast Network, we have some new sounds and some new segments!

What do you think? is a segment where you are invited to participate in some kind of game or activity. Listen to some people make some sounds and guess what their identity is.

Story Time! will include a story (true or made up or from the Bible) from Anna

There is, as usual, a section for a Bible Reading. Today we read about how special we are in God’s sight:

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are God’s chosen and special people. You are a group of royal priests and a holy nation. God has brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

As always we will finish with some Discussion Questions, so that you can bond with your kids at a deeper level, chatting about important things that have potential to make a difference for eternity.

Discussion Questions:

What is your identity?
How does being a Christian affect your identity in other areas of your life?

Keen for more?

For all other episodes and more, check out our website at thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

Follow Anna on Facebook here

Join The Word On The Street Podcast conversation on our Facebook group here

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Eternity Podcast Network is a collection of carefully considered, Biblically informed, creative productions that aim to fill your ears with seriously good sounds. Head to the Eternity Podcast Network website to browse their range of quality podcasts.

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This is the last episode of The Word On The Street Podcast for the year. We have over 4o episodes!!!

And some news for next year…

The Word On The Street Podcast is joining Eternity Podcast Network! I am really excited to be working with Eternity News! I can’t wait to bring you more shows in the new year.

What is your favourite way of celebrating Christmas?

My favourite way to celebrate is the amazing feast with my family.

We also like going to carols in the park, looking at fairy lights, decorating the house with gorgeous decorations, doing lots of craft.

My kids would say their absolute favourite part are the presents.

Gifts are a huge part of Christmas.

Do you like giving or receiving the most?

QUICK QUESTIONS:

What is the best gift you have ever been given?
What is the best gift you have ever given anyone?
Who gave Jesus gifts when he was born?
Would you have been happy with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh?

In our family my kids don’t have a lot of money and so they give presents to their siblings on their birthdays or at Christmas from things that they already have. It could be a toy, or some food they’ve made or a voucher for them to give me a massage.

It is hard to give presents to people when you don’t have much money.

We can be generous with things other than our money.

I can be generous with my time, and I can spend it (spend!) doing all kinds of things - things for myself - watch TV - or things for other people (cook something special, do some chores, say something nice to someone or play the game that they want to play.

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 17:8-16

How was this woman generous to Elijah? She gave her last bit of food to him, even if that meant starving herself.

Sometimes it is really hard to give. I have bought presents for people that my kids have wanted to keep. It was really hard for them to give them away.

How hard would it be to give your last bit of food away! Imagine giving away all of your favourite toys. Would you do it?

Being generous is sometimes easy. It is easy if we have plenty and what we give is only a small amount.

Sharni has about 100 Beanie Boos. To give away one that she doesn’t really like is fairly easy for her. She has only 1x keyboard that she plays every day. This is much harder for her to give away.

Bible Passage: Mark 12:41-44

You don’t have to be rich or have a lot to be generous. Jesus is saying that it isn’t the amount that you give that is important. He is saying that anyone can be generous, even poor widows. And even kids.

Discussion Questions:

Do you find it hard or easy to give things away? Why/why not?
Think of something that you have that someone really loves. Do you think that you could give that away? Discuss your thoughts together.

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People celebrate all kinds of things for different reasons and in different ways, but most of the time, people celebrate with people they love.

In this episode Anna dives into looking at what Jesus says about loving others while we celebrate - while we feast and dine together.

Guess what am I celebrating:

I’m putting up fairy lights on my roof
I’m looking for eggs in the garden
I am blowing out candles on a cake
I am eating a delicious feast

When I turned 12, I organised my birthday party in the Easter holidays and invited 12 friends but and only 2 of my friends could come. It was really hard not to take it personally. I cried. I was devastated. I felt like no one liked me, I had no friends, I was not popular (this was really important to me). I rescheduled it and everyone could come, but the feeling was horrible. I will never forget feeling like I was left out like that.

Luke 14:12-14 “When you give a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbours. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.”

Inviting people to a celebration, dinner or banquet who are not going to give something back, something like love, good company, presents, entertainment?! That’s crazy! Unheard of! But amazingly loving!

Do you know anyone who is poor, crippled, lame or blind? Jesus is listing people in his day who didn’t have any friends. Who is it today who has no friends? People who are bossy, mean, annoying? Can we invite them to our parties?

It is much easier to stay where we feel comfortable - with people we get along with, people who are fun, easy to chat with, people who aren’t strange or different from us.

There was once a little girl in Kindergarten who was turning 5 and she was allowed 5 friends to celebrate with her. She thought of 4 girls and there was space for one more. There was a boy in her class who was often absent, wore an older style uniform that was different to everyone else’s uniform and was always sad and alone at school, so she invited him. He didn’t come, but she wanted him to feel included. Who was that girl? Yep, that was me.

Why would Jesus ask us to include different kinds of people in our celebrations?

John 13:34-35 “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.”

Including people who are lonely and who don’t have many friends is a really beautiful way to show them love in the way Jesus has commanded us to.

Discussion Questions:

Is there someone you know who does not like Christmas? Why don’t they like it?
What is something loving that you could do for them this Christmas so that they might not feel so sad at Christma?

Contact…

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Jesus showed his power over nature by calming the storm while he was on the boat, by feeding 5000 people, by helping fishermen catch a ridiculous amount of fish and by walking on water. He showed his power over Satan by casting out demons. He showed his power of sickness by healing people.

In this episode you will find out that his power doesn’t stop there! He has even more power than that.

Think of a good friend - Someone you enjoy being with, someone whom you’re really familiar with? You go to their house, you know their family, you have spent a lot of time with them?

Imagine they get sick, really sick.

What would you do? Would you:

take them to the hospital
Pray for them
Make them stay in bed
All of the above?

Did you choose D) all of the above?

Say you tried to all of those things but the doctor that you needed at the hospital was on away and didn’t get back in time and your friend ends up dying.

How would you feel? Sad? Angry? Disappointed?

I think I would feel really angry at the doctor for being away.

Bible Reading: John 11:1-48

Jesus has power over death.

Jesus cares about us very deeply. He cried for his friends.

Jesus can raise people back to life again on earth. Why doesn’t he raise everyone to life again? Why do we have to die at all? Why can’t we all die when we are old and ready to pass on?

Jesus can raise everyone to life again but not here on this sinful earth where Satan is wreaking havoc.

In verse Jesus spoke to Martha and said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”

Discussion Questions:

Mary and Martha saw that their brother was sick and they sent a message to Jesus to let him know. When something bad happens what is it that you do first?
How do you feel, knowing that God, who has so much power that He can bring people back to life again, love YOU, cares about YOU and can take YOU to his Father’s House?
Are you going to go to The Father’s House? How will you get there?

Contact…

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Jesus was well known by now for healing people. He had healed Peter’s mum who was in bed with a temperature, he had healed many blind people, and he was quite famous. In this episode we look at the time Jesus healed 10 people with leprosy and how important it is to be grateful to God for everything he has given us.

Bible Verse: Luke 17:11-19

Gratitude is so important.

I was shocked when I had my first baby that when he was learning to talk, many of the mums insisted their babies use their manners - please and thank you - when they couldn’t hardly even say anything.

God isn’t worried about manners and doing right by societies rules. Being polite.

He wants us to genuinely be grateful.

It has been proven to change the way our brain works.

You breathe without thinking about air going in and out. You walk without thinking about one leg moving forward and then the other one.

You can feel how fortunate you are and appreciate good things that happen to you during the day without having to force your mind to think about it. This is called a habit.

The average person thinks negatively 80% of the time and only 20% of their thoughts are positive.

I spent last Saturday finding lego pieces for Banjo who is 6. There was one piece that took me ages and when I found it he exclaimed, “Finally!” I was expecting, “Thank you!” The same situation can have 2 different thoughts.

Glass half full vs glass half empty.

Get into the habit of being grateful.

A good way to do this is to pray to God every night thanking him for at least 3 things that you’re grateful for that day. Writing them down helps even more too.

Bible Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:18“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Who are we to thank? Who is the one who provides? .

Bible Verse: James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father who created all the lights in the heavens.

Discussion Questions:

Are you in the habit of thinking grateful thoughts or do you think ungrateful thoughts more naturally?
What are you going to start doing that might help you have a more grateful heart?
Who are we to be thankful to? Why is it important to remember who we are to be thankful to?

Contact…

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Have you had swimming lessons before?

Is swimming something you enjoy doing?

In Australia we swim a lot because it is hot here.

There are over 10 million swimming pools wold wide with Australian’s building more domestic swimming pools (per capita) than any other country.

Jesus didn't swim in this story, although he could have if he had wanted to!

Bible Verse: Matthew 14:22-32

Do we doubt? Doubting is the opposite of having faith.

Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus and started walking on water.

He started doubting when he looked away from Jesus. He looked at how strong the wind was and got scared and started sinking.

But he called out to Jesus. Let's call out to Jesus when we need help. Jesus came to Peter, stretched out his arm and pulled him up.

What about the other disciples? Did they have a go, too? It is better to give it a go than stay in the boat.

The disciples saw Jesus feed 5000 men and then went on a boat, rowing hard against the wind all night, and then they saw Jesus walking on the water towards them as if he was walking on hard ground and they didn’t know who Jesus was. The men saw all this and believed, saying, "Jesus is the son of God!"

Not everyone who saw the miracles of Jesus believed.

The Pharisees saw many amazing miracles too, and yet they wanted to believe Jesus was sent from Satan.

Judas saw all of these amazing things first hand, and still chose to reject Jesus as the saviour.

Who is Jesus? Jesus is God the Son. He was sent to earth by the Father to save us from our sins and these miracles prove that Jesus is not someone to ignore. We need to pay attention to these true stories and let them alter our lives.

Discussion Questions:

If you were one of the disciples, and saw Jesus feed 5000 men and then went on a boat, rowing hard against the wind all night, and then saw Jesus walking on the water towards you as if he was walking on hard ground, who would you think Jesus is?
How does that effect your life?

Contact…

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Join Anna in this episode as she retells the story of one of the most amazing days in history - the day Jesus, with just 5 small loaves and 2 fish, fed 5000 men, not counting women and children, and had plenty of food left over as well!

Jesus provided for the people that day, and he cares for them and their needs.

He cares for you and your needs. He cares about all the things you care about.

Bible Verse: John 6:1-15

Discussion Questions:

What would you say to Jesus if you were Phillip and were asked about feeding the people?
What is it that you need? Pray to God now and ask him for it.
Do you think he will give it to you? Why/why not?

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Join Anna as she discusses the bible passage about Jesus calming the storm. Jesus insists that his disciples put their faith in him. Discuss the episode together using the questions at the end, and as a family get you thinking and relating at a deeper level.

There is always something to learn when Jesus performs a miracle and this story is no different!

Bible Reading: Mark 4:35-41

What is faith?

Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.

Do you have faith that the sun will come up in the morning? Easy!

Do you have faith that you will have enough water to drink? In Australia - easy!

Having faith can be easy, but it is hard when you can’t see it.

Have you ever put your faith in something?

Every day when you get in the car!

When you sit on a chair that you have never sat on before, you are having faith that it will hold you up. Why?

We have faith that the sun will come up every morning.

What did Jesus want the disciples to have faith in?

They have seen Jesus heal the paralytic man, what else can he do?

Jesus is capable of anything.

Luke 1:37 “Nothing is impossible for God!”

Jesus is God but the disciples are still working that out.

We know that Jesus is God so we can have faith that he is capable of anything.

Discussion Questions:

Imagine you were one of the disciples in the boat in the storm, what do you think you would be thinking and feeling?
When you are feeling afraid, what is happening and how could having faith in Jesus make it better?
Do you find it easy to have faith in Jesus? Why/why not?

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Tune in to this episode to find out the basics about Satan, his demons and who is more powerful than them!

In many stories and movies there is a goodie and a baddie. The main character is usually good and there is a villain who is a bully, mean and nasty and we always hope that the main character beats the villain by the end of the narrative.

Good vs evil. It is like a big fight. A war.

The bible has a similar story.

The goodie is God. He is loving, kind, caring and all things pleasant. God’s side has the Father, the Son Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Angels and any humans who want to believe in Him.

The baddie we meet very early on, Satan. Sometimes he is referred to as the Evil One, or Lucifer. He isn’t like the cartoons with a pitchfork, horn and a goatie. He is mean and nasty and wants everyone to join his side, and not follow God. On Satan’s side there is the devil, named Satan, and his group of evil spirits. Because their aim is to encourage people to follow them instead of God, they will try any trick to do it.

Satan’s trick at the moment in Australia is to convince people that there is no such war going on at all. That there is no spiritual world. Many people do not believe in spirits.

Spirits are real but we do not have to be scared if we trust in God.

Bible Verse: James 4:7

Bible Verse: 1 John 4:4

He uses different tricks all around the world, in different areas and in different times, to achieve his goal. In Israel, when Jesus was alive, Satan got his evil spirits to take over different people’s bodies.

Bible Verse: Mark 5:1-20

How did Jesus cast the evil spirits out of that man? Because God has more power than Satan.

Bible Verse: Mark 3:22-25

We do not need to worry about Satan. We need to believe that he exists and that he is very bad but we don’t need to worry about him.

God is stronger than Satan.

God has a plan to win the war against Satan.

If we believe in God and that Jesus has taken our sins away on the cross, then we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. This means that there is no way that the evil one can come in.

Discussion Questions:

How do you feel when you hear about Satan?
As this is the first episode that has really addressed Satan specifically, I am sure you have heaps of questions. Share any questions that you might have.
Pray to God together now, asking God to protect you against Satan.

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Tune in to find out how much power Jesus has - power over sickness! Yes, even Covid-19!

Have you ever been sick? Have you had to go to hospital?

If you were really ill, but didn’t know how to get better, wouldn’t you want to try everything?

Some people do not like that Jesus has this power! They think he is an ordinary man.

Jesus is God. He is proving this by performing miracles. God can forgive sins and people can’t. We can forgive other when they wrong us but not sins because they are things people do that wrong God.

Jesus can forgive sins because he is God.

Bible Reading: Mark 2:1-12

Why did Jesus tell the man that his sins were forgiven? He was clearly there to be healed?

Jesus saw that the man’s biggest problem was his sins.

Your biggest problem are your sins too.

What do you worry about? People being mean to you at school, where you are going to sit in class, who you will play with? Your sins are a bigger problem than those things.

Maybe you have even bigger problems than that - you might have cancer, you might be paralysed too, you might not have anywhere to live or maybe you have no food. Your sins are still your biggest problem.

Discussion Questions:

Why are our sins a bigger problem than not being able to walk, than cancer or any other disease?

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Today’s episode is about fish.

Do you like fishing?

Jesus is teaching crowds at Lake Galilee.

Jesus uses Simon’s boat as a stage for teaching.

Then they row out to the deep water and catch fish.

Then something amazing happens!

Luke 5:1-11 “Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret,[a] teaching the people as they crowded around him to hear God’s message. 2 Near the shore he saw two boats left there by some fishermen who had gone to wash their nets. 3 Jesus got into the boat that belonged to Simon and asked him to row it out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down[b] in the boat to teach the crowd.

4 When Jesus had finished speaking, he told Simon, “Row the boat out into the deep water and let your nets down to catch some fish.”

5 “Master,” Simon answered, “we have worked hard all night long and have not caught a thing. But if you tell me to, I will let the nets down.” 6 They did it and caught so many fish that their nets began ripping apart. 7 Then they signalled for their partners in the other boat to come and help them. The men came, and together they filled the two boats so full that they both began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw this happen, he knelt down in front of Jesus and said, “Lord, don’t come near me! I am a sinner.” 9 Peter and everyone with him were completely surprised at all the fish they had caught. 10 His partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were surprised too.

Jesus told Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you will bring in people instead of fish.” 11 The men pulled their boats up on the shore. Then they left everything and went with Jesus.”

Have you ever tried to tame an animal? Or teach your pet to do a trick? Jesus can tell all the fish to go to a certain area of a lake and they do!

Why did Jesus help Simon, James and John? He proved who he is - someone who gets power from God.

They weren’t exactly sure who he was at that point but were sure enough of Jesus that they left everything to follow Jesus. They dropped their nets on the beach and left everything.

Following Jesus means being Jesus’ student. The disciples lived with Jesus and travelled with Jesus, listened to him teach the crowd and were also taught privately by Jesus. They left their families and their homes to be Jesus’ students.

Discussion Questions:

If you were fishing all day with a professional fisherman and caught nothing, and then a stranger who had never fished before came into the boat and told you how to catch more fish than you’d even seen before, what would you think?
If Jesus asked you to follow him in the same way he asked Simon Peter, what would you do?
How does Jesus want us to follow him in 2020?

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Miracles are supernatural events that occur because of God’s power.

If you haven't listened to it already, I recommend you check out this episode on Jesus' miracles from May 2020 as an introduction to this series on miracles!

Jesus performed miracles to show that he had the power of God.

Today’s episode tells the story about the first miracle. Jesus has already been baptised by John and he has chosen some disciples but he hasn’t shown who he is and what he can do.

Bible Reading: John 2:1-12

How much wine did Jesus make? 6 stone jars. Apparently each stone jar could fit 80L of liquid or 20-30 gallons. That is so much that I couldn’t even hold it! Jesus didn’t just make a little bit of wine - he made a crazy amount.

Why would he make so much? Maybe to prove that this wasn’t just a little bit in the water jars that was forgotten about. Maybe to show that he can. Maybe so that people would start talking about him?

Have you ever been embarrassed? I have never felt more embarrassed than when I swam the 50m freestyle race doing breaststroke.

Jesus saved this couple from embarrassment.

He cares about our feelings even if they’re silly, like my swimming race.

As a mum, I think lots of things my kids get upset about are silly, but it means a lot to my kids so I make it mean something to me because I love them. My daughter Lucy cares a lot about her hair and getting it just right but I think it looks great however it is done but I try to care because I know it is important to her.

God cares about us and our feelings, our embarrassments, because he loves us.

Discussion Questions:

Have you ever felt embarrassed? Share your most embarrassing story.
How do you think Jesus turned the water into wine?
If you had known Jesus when he was a boy and had thought he was just a regular guy and then saw him do this miracle, what do you think you’d be thinking?

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How did I come to know Jesus?

This episode is a personal one!

The story about how someone becomes a Christian is called a testimony and today I am going to share mine with you.

Some people’s testimony’s involve a dramatic change - one day they do not believe in God and then something drastic happens in their life and they just have to believe in God.

Other people come to know Jesus gradually, slowly putting their trust in him bit by bit until they look back to some time in the past and remember that they used to not believe in God at all but now they are very strong in their faith.

That is the case for me. There wasn’t a date I could give you where I prayed a prayer to become a Christian, but a series of events that built up my faith over time.

In this episode I am going to tell you about some of those events that shaped what I believe today.

Bible Verse: Philippians 1:27

My life is not like a pizza, divided up into segments like sport, church, school etc.

The whole of my life is defined by me being a Christian.

Tune in to hear the whole story!

Discussion Questions:

If you are sitting in the car with a Christian adult - a parent or grandparent I am guessing, ask them the same question that I just answered: Ask them - how did you come to know Jesus?
For the kids - Share an experience or 2 that you think has helped you get to know Jesus.
How much do you know Jesus? A little bit or a lot? And are you keen to get to know him more? Chat about how you will do it.

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Listen first to the episode “Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?”

God didn’t want us to be his toys, but his friend.

God doesn’t MAKE bad things happen but he does let them happen.

God could stop it. He has the power to do anything.

Bible Verse: Luke 1:37 “Nothing is impossible for God!”

God has power over sicknesses.

But God chooses not to do some things.

eg God chooses not to sin.

He chooses not to hate people when they hate him.

People were wondering similar things in Jesus’ time regarding why people were born with ailments. It was generally assumed in society at the time that it was sin that caused certain people to have bad things happen to them in their lives.

Bible Verse: John 9:1-12

So many people in life think that it is about having a fun time and doing things that make you laugh; being happy.

This is not true.

Life is about getting your enjoyment from God no matter what the circumstances. (Listen to this episode on What Is The Meaning Of Life? from last week if you haven't already!)

God says that many bad things will happen in life. Expect it. In the world you will have tribulation (troubles).

Bible Verse: John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

This is a sad verse and a happy one. We will have troubles but it will end up good in the end. God wrote the beginning and the end of the world.

Do you ever sneak to the last few pages of a book to find out how it ends?

I’ve read the back of the book and it all works out in the end!

Discussion Questions:

Why do you think God let Covid-19 happen?
If you knew someone who was doubting that God is a loving and kind God because of all the horrible things that have been happening this year, what is one thing you might say to them that would encourage them to keep on having faith in God?

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In today's episode Anna tackles the biggest question of all - What Is The Meaning of Life?

This question springs from other questions:

Why Did God Make People?
What is God’s purpose for us being here?
What is the purpose of life?
What is the Meaning Of Life?
Why Did your parents want kids?
Why Did I want kids?

People are different from all the rest of God’s creation because we have been made in God’s image.

Genesis 1:26-27 “God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures.” So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women.”

What is God’s image like? This verse says that God’s image is just like us. I think that refers to our spiritual nature rather than our earthly bodies. We have a higher level of thinking.

An old quote about the meaning of life is this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” CS LEWIS

TO GLORIFY means to acknowledge and reveal the majesty and splendour of God by your actions. We can do that by praising him or by living in a way that is pleasing to him.

Enjoying is a word that comes from JOY or Happy or Content and is enjoying something is to take delight or pleasure in it.

So our reason for being here on earth is to take delight and pleasure and happiness in God. A very pleasant instruction to do!

Bible Verses about glorifying God by enjoying Him forever:

Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart. (Psalm 32:11)
Sing for joy in the Lord, O you righteous ones; Praise is becoming to the upright. (Psalm 33:1)
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth. (Psalm 67:4)
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. (Psalm 100:1–2)
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4)

If we remember these things and glorify God by enjoying him, then we will be content.

Discussion Questions:

Parents: why did you have kids
Think about people you know. What do you think they would say if you asked them “What is the meaning of life?”
Because of the more complicated language used in this episode I want you to discuss the meaning of the quote - The purpose of life is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. What do you think this means?
What is one thing you could start doing today that can help you enjoy God?

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Today’s question is Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen?

This is something that many people struggle with and if you can’t get your head around it now that’s fine - some things become clearer over time and when we get to Heaven we will understand everything.

I found this verse today that I think is helpful to keep in mind when learning about things that we struggle to understand:

1 Corinthians 13:12:

“Now all we can see of God

is like a cloudy picture

in a mirror.

Later we will see him

face to face.

We don’t know everything,

but then we will,

just as God completely

understands us.”

We will understand why God does things the way he does as we dig deeper and deeper into our learning about Him and as we read and learn more and more about what he has already done here on earth.

Huge questions that many people cannot understand and then often stop trusting in God

Some people think:

God can’t be a caring God to let someone I love go through cancer
God can’t be a caring God to stop people from going to Heaven when they die
God can’t be a loving God to allow famines and starvation on the earth

Why do bad things happen? Sin.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. God planned earth to be full of all things good.

In the first episode titled GREEN I talk about how perfect God’s creation was - there was nothing wrong with it at all - it was GOOD!

What happened?

Adam and Eve ate the fruit and that was the beginning of sin. Every single person got sin because they were born from someone sinful - just like you get your genes from your parents, you get sin from your parents. This sin is called “original sin.”

Q. Why does God Let Bad Things Happen?

This question leads to many other questions:

Why Did he allow sin to enter the world?
Why did God put the tree in the garden in the first place?
Why was the snake/Satan allowed to enter into the garden?

It was God’s way of giving Adam and Eve a choice to obey him or not.

God doesn’t want to control us - he wants us to be able to choose whether we obey Him or not, because loving him would not be real if he forced us to do it. Harry Potter Fans may remember Tom Riddle’s mum forcing a man to love her. It isn’t real if it’s forced.

But we know now, that God will not let anyone into Heaven. If somebody keeps saying in their lives that Jesus is not real, that he is made up or is just a regular man that someone made stories up about, they will not be allowed to enter into eternal life. This is because they have not had their sins removed from them through having faith in Jesus.

Everyone has a chance but some people waste their chance.

Discussion Questions:

Do you like playing imaginative games alone or do you prefer to spend time with other people who have their own opinions and thoughts?
Why do you think God doesn’t want to control you?
How do you feel about being able to have choices in life rather than being controlled?

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Baptism. It is a strange thing Christians do with water.

Why Do People Get Baptised?

What is Baptism? It is an outward sign of something happening inside.

Some people think they won’t go to Heaven if they are not baptised with water, but that’s not true. Remember the man next to Jesus on the cross? Luke 23:39-42

What does the bible say about baptisms?

Phillip baptized a man in the Jordan River -Acts 8:26-40

Many people think that this means that young and old can get baptised. What do you think? A whole household got baptized - Acts 16:30-34

Jesus was baptised - Matthew 3:13-17

Jesus commanded the disciples to baptise people in Matthew 28:19-20

Pastors say special things before and during the baptism:

Welcoming you into the church
Baptising you in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit
Usually there are specific things church leaders say and ask the church to support the person in their Christian walk eg. “Do you turn to Christ as Saviour? I turn to Christ” and “ I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Why Do People Get Baptised?

To announce to everyone they know that their sins have been washed away.

Discussion Questions:

Have you been baptised or have you seen anyone get baptised? If yes, tell all about what happened.
What rules and policies does your church have around baptisms - ie sprinkling, full emersion, babies baptised or dedicated, teens confirmed or baptised?
If you haven’t been baptised, would you like to be? Why/why not?

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Why Did Jesus Give Us Communion?

What is communion? What is the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, Breaking of bread?

Matthew 26:26-30

This wine is my blood and this bread is my body is not literally that, but is a symbol.

Some people think that the wine and the bread literally changes to become Jesus body and blood.

What do you think?

My experiences taking communion

Communal cup and plate
walk up the front of church and kneel
small cups and bread passed around
Some churches let children take communion
some churches just pray for the children
some wait until a child has chosen to be baptised
some churches require you to be a member of their gathering

After Jesus died, people believed and started calling themselves Christians. Instead of going to the temple to worship God they began meeting together and called these meetings ‘church’ which means assemble.

In these meetings, they began taking part in communion, or the Lords Supper, and we still do it today.

Paul noticed some problems with the way the Corinthian church were doing it and wrote them a letter with some better ways to have communion:

1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Why Did Jesus Give Us Communion? To remember him. As an outward sign of something happening inside of us - we are accepting the wine and the bread outwardly and inwardly, we are accepting Jesus body broken and his blood shed for our sins.

How Should We Take Communion?

Only if we believe in Jesus and have become a Christian.
With respect for Jesus and what he did for us on the cross.
Reverently

Discussion Questions:

Do you think Jesus was saying a metaphor when he said the wine was his blood and the bread was his body, or do you think it really was and is during communion?
Talk about your church - How does your church do communion? When does your church allow people to start taking communion? What rules does your church have around communion?
Is taking communion something that you would be interested in doing? Why/why not?

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Join Anna in this episode to discover what the 10 Commandments are for, whether you have to obey them to be a Christian, whether it is good to obey them and what they tell us about the nature of God.

If you believe in Jesus and have repented for your sins then you are a Christian and we Christians want to live our lives pleasing God because we are thankful that he saved us.

Many people think being a Christian means obeying heaps of rules.

Long ago, God told Moses 10 rules, called the Ten Commandments, and wrote them on 2 stone tablets for him and told everyone to obey them.

Bible Reading: Exodus 20:1-17

Last episode I talked about other religions and how they have to do good things to get to their version of heaven.

Do we have to do good words to get to Heaven?

Isn’t that what the 10 commandments are all about?

This episode is about why God gave his people these rules and what it means for us.

These rules show us that we fall short and are sinful.

If there were no rules at school then you would never know if you were doing anything wrong.

God knew that no one could keep all these rules perfectly

It brings us to repentance once we realise we need saving from our sins

So Do You Have To Obey the 10 Commandments to Be A Christian?

No, it is impossible.

What does Jesus say about the 10 Commandments?

Bible Reading: Mark 12:28-34

Jesus summarises the 10 Commandments by saying we are to LOVE GOD and we are to LOVE OTHERS.

Bible Reading; John 14:15

Jesus says that if you love him and do what he commands and what he commands is The Ten Commandments. We only need to try to obey these if we love Jesus.

So should we still try to obey the 10 Commandments today, 3000 years later?

Yes.

But remember that you will fail and God will forgive you. He know that and just wants us to do our best to show him that we love him, to show him we are thankful for his salvation.

Discussion Questions:

How do you feel about rules? Are they necessary or could you live without them? Why/why not?
What do you think about God’s 10 Commandments?
What would you say to someone who said to you that being a Christian is just about following commandments?

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In this episode Anna discusses the difference between Christianity and other religions and talks about how you can decide on which one you think is right (because you want to choose the right one, not just the one that you like the sound of). There are nearly 8 billion people on earth, in 195 different countries, and so there are a range of different beliefs. What does the word “religion” mean? The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. 30% of Australians do not believe in any superhuman power at all, and 18% of Americans do not believe in any religion at all. A few hundred years ago this would have been considered foolishness, as the spiritual realm was so obvious in their society. What is similar about Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism? Working in this life by doing good things to get eternal life after death. Christianity and Islam both believe in a creator God who we can pray to. How is Christianity different from the other religions? Christian God is knowable, loves and cares for us and doesn’t want us to work to get to heaven, as we couldn’t work enough! Grace/Works So how do we know which religion is the ‘right’ one?

Learn about them Pray to God to show himself to you Have faith

After Jesus fed 5000 people and walked on the water he got quite a lot of people following him around, wanting to know more. Jesus preached to all the people who were following him but some found it hard to understand. Many turned away and stopped following and listening to Jesus. “Jesus then asked his twelve disciples if they were going to leave him. Simon Peter answered, “Lord, there is no one else that we can go to! Your words give eternal life. We have faith in you, and we are sure that you are God’s Holy One.” John 6:67-69 One thing all these religions have in common is they all say that you have a decision to make in your life - what to believe. You have your life to choose and then you have no more time left. Discussion Questions:

Share your thoughts or questions about the other religions you know about or have heard about today. Is there anything that makes sense or sounds good to you? Is there anything that sounds crazy? Why/why not? Talk about faith. Do you find it hard or easy? Have you had any times where your faith has been tested?

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This episode answers a common question many Christians ask about church - DO I HAVE TO GO?

To properly answer this question, we also need to know why churches exist, what they're for and what the bible says about it all.

Church is not a building, although people often refer to the building where the meeting is as ‘church’.

The word actually means assembly. Not school - getting together!

In our modern English Bibles, the word “church” is supposedly translated from the Greek word “ekklesia” which simply means: people assembled.

Why is it good to get together?

What does the bible say about church:

Hebrews 10:24-25Be regular at meeting together. It is for your benefit - to love others (encourage others and be encouraged).

1 Corinthians 14:26What would be good things to do together as Christians?

1 John 1:6-7 It is a given that if we become Christians and live in the light then we will share our lives with one another. Other versions say that we will have fellowship with one another, which means spend time together as friends.

God commands us to love him and to love our neighbours - everyone we come in contact with.

He especially wants us to love other Christians. The bible often says, “love one another” and is talking to believers.

What influences you? School friends, TV shows, family? God wants us to influence one another. This is WHY anyone would want to go to church.

Bible Verses about Influence:

1 Corinthians 15:33
Proverbs 13:20
Romans 12:2
Proverbs 12:26

So do you have to go to church to be a Christian?

The prisoner on the cross next to Jesus never did and he went to heaven.

If there’s no church where you live you can’t go.

If you can’t physically get to church that makes it hard too doesn’t it?

No, you do not have to go to church to be a Christian, but God wants us to be a part of a church for our benefit - because it is good for us.

Discussion Questions:

What are the main things or people who have influenced you in your life so far?
If you don’t go to church, why/why not?
If you do go to church, what do you like and dislike about church?
What things can you do at your local church that can encourage others?

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I quote the bible in every episode because it’s so important!

The bible is the most important book to every Christian.

Why is it so important?

The Bible is important because it is God’s Word.

The Bible is the way God communicates with us and tells us things - 2 Timothy 3:16

Each author who wrote part of the bible was inspired by God.

The bible is a living book - Hebrews 4:12

The Holy Spirit is working in us when we read the Bible. Satan does not want us to read this book. Often I don’t want to read it, but I will happily read any other novel. There is a spiritual battle going on about reading this book.

The bible teaches us things - Romans 15:4

If we read the bible, it will make us grow stronger and it will improve us.

What proof is there that the bible is true?

It was written down by different people who didn’t know one another or read each other’s writings, but still wrote down the same things
Things that were written down by believers were also written down by a journalist, Josephus, who did not even believe in God
If someone were to make this up, the story would have been different eg. Women would not have been the first to Jesus’ tomb, because they were not considered reliable witnesses in those days. If someone made it up, they would have said that the men were the first to the tomb.

After Jesus died people didn’t read much, and so stories were passed down the generations by word of mouth.

There was a few pieces of writing that were not genuine. They were written at a later date by authors pretending to be Jesus’ disciples.

One book that was said to be written by the disciple Thomas was excluded because there were things written in there and in a language that showed that Thomas hadn’t actually written the book at all.

Do not add or take away anything from the bible - Revelation 22:18-19

Discussion Questions:

Do you like reading the bible? Why/why not?
What things to you think you might learn by reading the bible?
Pray to God, asking him to help you to read The Word more.
Is there anything that you have read in the bible that you don’t understand? Maybe you can ask your parents about it now, or if there’s heaps you could write a list, or you could email me and ask.

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We begin a new series focusing on answering important questions about God, the Bible, the Holy Spirit and other things you may have wondered about before!

This episode answers the questions What's So Good About The Holy Spirit?

There are 7 main things that make the Holy Spirit such an awesome gift from Jesus:

1. The Holy Spirit opens our minds to understand God - and helps us become Christians, is involved in cleaning us from our sin and helps us be born again - John 16:7-11

2. The Holy Spirit is always with us - 1 Corinthians 3:16, Psalm 139

3. The Holy Spirit helps us pray if we don’t know what to say - Romans 8:26-27

4. The Holy Spirit helps us and comforts us - John 14:16-17

5. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts - 1 Corinthians 12:1-11

6. The Holy Spirit produces fruit in every person he lives in - Galatians 5:22-26

7. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom - 1 Corinthians 2:7-13

Discussion Questions:

Which part about the Holy Spirit appeals to you the most?
Think about a time when you were aware that the Holy Spirit was there for you. Share your experiences together. Maybe the parents might have more stories to share for this one!
How do you get the Holy Spirit to live in you?

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BONUS EPISODE:

BLACK LIVES MATTER!

This BONUS episode explains from a Christian perspective RACISM, in a simple and clear way for kids to understand, especially white kids who have no idea of what black people have to endure.

Over the last month there have been a lot of people talking about how Black Lives Matter and I thought it would be helpful to spend an episode talking about that.

They are not saying that black lives matter more than others, they are saying that people need to care about black lives as much as people care about white lives.

What do people mean when they say Black Lives Matter? They are asking to be treated respectfully, in the same way white people treat other white people. Is this a fair ask? Yes.

They have treated poorly for hundreds of years and are slowly, bit by bit, being treated better but still not equal to white people.

African Americans were brought to America from Africa as slaves just as indigenous Australians were captured and forced to do slave work. They weren’t allowed to be a part of normal society, go into shops or restaurants or allowed to vote. Things are getting better but there is still a way to go before they get equality.

What happened to start off these event? What happened to George Floyd?

Bullying definition - Bullying is ongoing, deliberate intentions to cause harm to somebody.

Black people experience bullying from white people every day.

Research has shown that people who watch bullying are encouraging the bully and those who stand up to the bullying get change to happen.

What can we do?

What did Jesus do?

When Jesus was alive, it was the poor, the sick, those who couldn’t walk or see as well as tax collectors who were bullied. Jesus loved them. He ate with them, he cared for them and he told them about how they could have eternal life, the best way to love someone ever.

What does the bible say?

Galatians 3:28
Romans 2:11
Leviticus 19:33-34

The Bible says that all lives matter.

Which lives need our love and care the most? Those who are suffering, those who are bullied, those who are asking for it, those who God puts in our paths.

What can we do?

Do not be a bystander. Stand up for those who are being mistreated. Look for those who are suffering and asking for help and love them.

Pray for courage to take a stand.

Because Black Lives Matter to God and so black lives need to matter to us too.

Discussion Questions:

What does God think about racism and what do you think about racism?
Have you experienced racism before? Share your stories.
What is something you can do to show that you support the black lives matter movement?

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Have you ever had to say goodbye to someone you loved, and knew that you weren’t going to see them again for a very long time? Did they leave something with you - a gift or a letter maybe - as something to remember them by?

In today’s episode we are going to look at what Jesus left behind when he left the earth and went up to Heaven. It was the Holy Spirit, which is the most amazing and generous gift to us that we could ever ask for. But what is it? Well, it is actually not an it! It’s a HE. The Holy Spirit is actually God is spirit form - without a human body, free to live with any person who welcomes Him.

Would you think having God living with you all the time would be awesome? I know I do! I have welcomed Him into my heart and not only am I now never alone, but I have the God of the universe looking after me every minute of every day!

That Day the Holy Spirit came like tongues of fire is called The Day of Pentecost. Since then we have had the Holy Spirit living in us if we are Christians. Read along with me in Acts 2.

Have you ever received a gift that you had never seen before? You have no idea what it does, how to use it and whether it will even be useful or fun, or maybe it will just be something that you don’t even want or need! You couldn’t be bothered to read the instructions and work out what it does and end up putting it on the shelf and never use it. But the person who gave it to you was so excited about it - all the features! They think you are absolutely going to love it because they have one too and they use it all the time! Imagine if you did that when you were given an iPad or a playstation. That would be crazy!

I reckon the Holy Spirit can be a bit like that. He is an amazing gift from God, so incredibly valuable and useful, sent to us to look after us. Some people bother to get to know him. They take the time to work out what He is here for and what we can do in order to appreciate and utilise the gift and it is awesome!!!

But other people who become Christians don’t fully understand what the Holy Spirit is, and they don’t bother trying to learn about it. They live their lives ignoring him and don’t get all the benefits of having the God of the Universe present in their lives.

Discussion Questions:

What do you think makes the Holy Spirit the best gift Jesus could ever have given us?
What can you do to get to know the Holy Spirit?

Contact…

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Jesus died and went to heaven but he is coming back in the same way he left - coming through the clouds! But when is this happening, how is it happening and WHY?

There are a lot of prophecies that give us clues to all these answers, although we will not know all the details until the time comes.

The second coming is the beginning of the end. Jesus will come back, those who have had their sins washed away will go to heaven and for those who don’t its going to be sad.

It is good to know these details as it helps us to be prepared. Jesus wants us to be prepared for his Second Coming like house owner’s are prepared for a thief in the night.

Matthew 24 has so many details about what Jesus’ Return will be like!

No one will know when exactly, but there will be wars, famines and earthquakes.

It will be like the times of Noah, when the people were living their lives normally before the flood, and then the rains came and surprised everyone.

Jesus will bring Christians together from all over earth and bring them to Heaven. I know I'm going, are you?

If you aren't sure if you are a Christian and want to know how to become a Christian, make sure you listen to the episode on Becoming A Christian.

For any parents wanting some direction in how to help your kids get to know Jesus, I have created a document that you can download for free. In it, you will discover 7 things that you can implement today that you can do to help your kids get to know Jesus. You can find this document at: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com/helpyourkids

Discussion Questions:

Chat about what you think the end of the world is going to be like when Jesus comes back.
Talk about whether you want Jesus to come back, giving your reasons for and against.
Jesus could come back any moment. What do you need to do to get ready for his return?

Give me Your Questions

If you have any questions about anything that you hear on the podcast or want me to chat about something in particular, please let me know!

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In this episode Anna talks about all of the things to do with Jesus leaving the earth and going back to Heaven.

Jesus Ascension refers to Jesus going up to heaven and the definition of ‘ascend’ go up or climb OR rise or move up through the air.

What were Jesus’ last words here on earth and why were they so important?

Matthew 28:16-20 Jesus' eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. 17 They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted. Jesus came to them and said: “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! 19 Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.”

Read Acts 1:3-11 This awesome passage explains exactly how Jesus went to Heaven.

Discussion Questions:

How would you feel if you were one of the disciples watching Jesus float up into the sky?
If you knew that you were going to die soon, what would be the last thing that you would say and to whom?
Do you remember what Jesus’ last words were? Why would Jesus choose those things as his final words?

Do you have any questions that you would like answered in an upcoming episode? Please ask away, contact details below!

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This episode we continue on our journey exploring the key parts of Jesus' time here on earth and we finally reach the climax - Jesus' Resurrection!

Our sins have been dealt with and Jesus got punished for them instead of you and me. Was that it? Is that all? No Way!

Jesus died and took away our sins on the cross but he didn’t have to stay that way! Because he was sinless and because he was God, he was resurrected. This is a word that means to bring something that is dead back to life again. Jesus was dead but was brought back to life again, only this time it was not to live a normal life and die again at a ripe old age. This time Jesus was alive again but a bit magical. Not like magicians playing tricks but truly miraculous.

In this episode join Anna as she reads through the bible passages that tell all about what happened over the 40 days after Jesus died. Read along at the following locations in the Gospels:

Matthew 28:1-7
Luke 24:9-44
Acts 1:3
John 21:1-14
John 11:23-26

Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him will never die? Really? Well, our bodies will die, but our spirits will not - we will get new, heavenly bodies and we will live forever, without dying! How awesome is that?!

To listen to the episode on Eternal Life, head on over to THE GOSPEL STORY: Yellow Episode

Discussion Questions:

What are your thoughts about Jesus’ resurrection? Is there anything that you find hard to believe?
What do you have to do to make sure you can be resurrected to heaven too? Is that something that you want? Is there anything that worries you or scares you?

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In this episode we delve right into the bible to find out exactly what happened on the day Jesus died, as written down by Jesus' disciples in the Gospels.

To hear all about WHY Jesus died, listen to the episode on THE GOSPEL STORY: Red from 30th March 2020.

In this episode we hear the details written in the Scriptures by John, Luke and a little from Matthew. The story covers EVERYTHING and is a little longer than normal, but sooo comprehensive. I hope you enjoy!

John 19:19 "Pilate ordered the charge against Jesus to be written on a board and put above the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” 20 The words were written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. The place where Jesus was taken wasn’t far from the city, and many of the Jewish people read the charge against him. 21 So the chief priests went to Pilate and said, “Why did you write that he is King of the Jews? You should have written, ‘He claimed to be King of the Jews.’” 22 But Pilate told them, “What is written will not be changed!”"

Luke 23:26-27 “As Jesus was being led away, some soldiers grabbed hold of a man from Cyrene named Simon. He was coming in from the fields, but they put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. A large crowd was following Jesus, and in the crowd a lot of women were crying and weeping for him.

John 19:23 “After the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, they divided up his clothes into four parts, one for each of them. But his outer garment was made from a single piece of cloth, and it did not have any seams. 24 The soldiers said to each other, “Let’s not rip it apart. We will gamble to see who gets it.” This happened so that the Scriptures would come true, which say,

“They divided up my clothes
and gambled
for my garments.”

The soldiers then did what they had decided."

Luke 23:32 “Two criminals were led out to be put to death with Jesus. 33 When the soldiers came to the place called “The Skull,”[d] they nailed Jesus to a cross. They also nailed the two criminals to crosses, one on each side of Jesus.

Dying on the cross was a common death in those days. What makes Jesus' death different? What makes is so amazing that it was written about by even non-believers? We talk about it lots because it was different in that:

Jesus didn’t deserve it
He is God’s son
God deserted his only son on the cross
He took our sins with him on the cross

Discussion Questions:

Do you have any questions?
What are your thoughts about all this?

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In this episode I want you to understand how Jesus chose his friends. He related to a lot of people and was pretty popular with many of them, because he was miraculous. But heaps of people didn’t like him, because he was popular but also because he was changing God’s laws a bit. We know that he IS God, and so could do that, but some of the people felt like he was disrespecting God. I can kind of relate a bit to that.

If you were Jesus and had to choose some people to be your disciples, which kind of person would you choose?

Someone who is funny and does crazy stuff to make you laugh?

Would you choose the educated scholar who has been to university and spent years studying the bible?

Would you choose a priest? Or a doctor? or someone else who has proven that they are educated?

Or would you choose someone who is well loved by the community? Someone who is generous with their belonging, who gives to the poor and looks after those in need?

What about someone with power? Someone who has lots of servants or soldiers to boss around? Or someone with lots of money?

Jesus did not choose any of these types of people to become his disciples. He chose 12 men who would tour around Israel with him, listen to him teach and who would be trained by Jesus for approximately 3 years.

We aren’t told the occupation of all of the disciples Jesus chose, but we do know that he chose at least 4 fishermen. We also know that he chose a tax collector (which was the career of a scam artist in those days, collecting money for the government and then collecting heaps extra for themselves!) He also chose zealot, which was the term used in those days to refer to a political activist.

Here’s the story of Jesus asking Peter, Andrew, James and John to be his disciples from Matthew 4:18-22:

“While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him. Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too. Right away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.”

Jesus also spent a lot of time with people who were not popular!

Matthew 9:10-17 says “Later, Jesus and his disciples were having dinner at Matthew’s house. Many tax collectors and other sinners were also there. 11 Some Pharisees asked Jesus' disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and other sinners?” Jesus heard them and answered, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and learn what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘Instead of offering sacrifices to me, I want you to be merciful to others.’ I didn’t come to invite good people to be my followers. I came to invite sinners.”

Discussion Questions:

Would you say you are more like a Pharisee or a tax collector? Why/Why not?
What are the character traits that you look for in a friend?
Are you a good friend and what can you do to be a better friend?

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When Jesus taught the crowds he often told them stories about every day life. These stories had a deeper, heavenly, spiritual meaning and are called Parables. This episode is a great introduction to what parables are and why Jesus used them in his teaching.

And hundreds of year before Jesus was even born, Matthew remembers that a prophet wrote about parables:

Jesus used stories when he spoke to the people. In fact, he did not tell them anything without using stories.

35 So God’s promise came true, just as the prophet[b] had said,

“I will use stories
to speak my message
and to explain things
that have been hidden
since the creation
of the world.”

Matthew 13:34-35

And it came true! Jesus did use stories to explain his messages and he had a very good reason for it too!

Jesus told parables so that those with the right heart could hear and understand but those with the wrong heart - those who don’t like to hear new things - would not understand and might leave Jesus alone.

We know this because Jesus’ disciples actually asked why Jesus often used stories to speak to the people. Jesus’ reply was written down in the bible in Matthew 13:13-17

"Jesus said, “I use stories when I speak to them because when they look, they cannot see, and when they listen, they cannot hear or understand. 14 So God’s promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,

“These people will listen
and listen,
but never understand.
They will look and look,
but never see.

All of them have
stubborn minds!
Their ears are stopped up,
and their eyes are covered.
They cannot see or hear
or understand.
If they could,
they would turn to me,
and I would heal them.”

16 But God has blessed you, because your eyes can see and your ears can hear!Many prophets and good people were eager to see what you see and to hear what you hear. But I tell you that they did not see or hear.”

If you want to understand Jesus’ parables, you can ask God to give you a brain for understanding!

We are also super blessed to be living in a time where we actually have the answers! Sometimes Jesus would tell the crowds the stories and even the disciples were confused. They knew that Jesus would explain the parable to them later, so they wait until they are in safe company and ask for an explanation. These explanations were written down for us so that we don’t have to guess what each story is about! It is like having a maths text book with the answers in the back and you’re allowed to look! How awesome is that!?

Later on in the year I will create some episodes for you - telling you some more of Jesus’ parables and what message Jesus wanted us to get from them!

Discussion Questions:

If you were listening to Jesus tell the parables 2000 years ago, do you think that you would have understood what he was talking about?
How do you think the people who didn’t understand the parables felt? What would you do if you were there and didn’t understand the parables?
Pray and ask God for an open mind that can understand the parables and Jesus’ teachings.

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Jesus was a teacher. 2000 years ago they didn’t have schools like we have, or even universities or churches. It was all very different. I love learning how to do new things by watching Youtube videos and by listening to podcasts. That’s how I learnt how to make this podcast!

In Jesus’ day, there was no Youtube or podcasts. There were no TVs or radios or even electricity or microphones. People would stand up on street corners and speak what they wanted to teach in a really loud voice, and if you were walking past and thought that what they were saying was interesting then you’d stop and listen.

I have hung out with some indigenous christians and they do something similar. The Christians will meet together in a park with chairs and microphones and will speak really loudly about Jesus. They hope that some of the people in the nearby homes might hear the gospel and come out and ask if they can become Christians.

Anyway, Jesus had been doing lots of miracles and so everyone was talking about Jesus. He was big news! So not only did sick people want to come and be healed, but other people wanted to come and see sick people being healed. Even though there was no tv or newspapers, the news spread quickly and soon crowds began following Jesus wherever he went. Not just people from the town he was in, but people from the nearby towns as well!

He thought going out of town, into the desert and lonely places would be better - more space and only those who were really keen would come out to hear him. There were no microphones back then either so I am not sure how the thousands and thousands of people could hear him, but they must have!

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21

If I lived back then when Jesus was alive and wanted to teach these things people would probably have laughed at me. They definitely wouldn’t have believed me. They might have even taken me to jail because I was saying things that weren’t the same as what God had taught Moses. That would be saying that their hero Moses was wrong. But because Jesus was teaching these different teachings - the man who did all the miracles - the people listened. Many found themselves understanding, agreeing and wanting to follow Jesus.

Not all of them though. Some of the people listening realised that Jesus was changing the laws Moses had given them and they didn’t like that. They didn’t recognise Jesus as being the Messiah even though all the clues from the prophets were there. Those people did not like that Jesus was popular and they plotted to get rid of Jesus. Jesus knew what was happening and had to be very careful with what he did and what he said.

Sometimes these people would ask Jesus a question, hoping to trick him into saying something that might mean they could take him to jail, but Jesus was not tricked. He spoke very carefully and often asked them questions in return, stumping them at their own game.

Jesus taught so many things and the disciples (plus others!) wrote it down even though writing was really hard back then, because they thought this stuff was important. Since then the letters and writings had been written and rewritten so they wouldn’t perish, and later they were translated into our own language so we can read it. To have these books about Jesus - the gospels - to have access to any time we like is such an amazing blessing.

Discussion Questions:

Do you like learning new things? Why/why not? Talk together about how you like learning - do you like watching YouTube like I do, or reading books or do you like people explaining things to you?
Mum/Dad, what is one thing you have learned from Jesus’ teaching that really struck you as being really memorable and why?

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In today’s episode we are going to be looking at Jesus’ miracles. Why did he do them and what did he do?

Being a human meant that he would’ve needed to go to the toilet, he ate and slept like any other human, but he actually didn’t have to. He could’ve chosen to create all his meals out of thin air, he could’ve magicked a flying carpet to transport him around and he could’ve prevented himself from dying - forever!

Remember John 1:2, which says that “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Jesus is above the laws of science. He created science! And while Jesus was on the earth he did some amazing things!

Being one of Jesus’ disciples must’ve been amazing. Every day they were witnessing incredible events like this! And any time one of them would get a sniffle or a sore throat they’d probably go and ask Jesus to heal them and he would!

Why would Jesus do these miracles?

It was another way that Jesus showed the people who he was. Only the creator of the world could do the things that Jesus was doing.

If Jesus had said “I am the messiah. I am God’s son.” If Jesus had said that he would have gotten arrested. So he had to show them that it was true. He showed the people that he was God’s son by performing miracles. The miracles also meant that the people gave Jesus respect. They listened to his teachings and were curious, asking themselves questions like - Who is this man? Where did he get his power from? How does what he say fit in with what God has said in the past? Should we believe what he says and follow him?

There is another reason why Jesus did these miraculous things - to fulfil another prophecy about him.

Long before this time, the prophet Isaiah in 35:3-6 said,

"Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy.

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.”

We don’t see many miracles these days. Often we use science to try and work out a reason why it wasn’t a miracle. I think that God doesn’t need to use miracles. Jesus used them to let everyone know that he was God. What do we need them for now?

When I was a kid I was taught that Jesus could do amazing miracles. I was also taught that if you ask, seek and knock the door will be opened to you, meaning if you ask for something from God then he will answer your prayers. But you have to have faith the size of a mustard seed… so one night before bed I prayed for a packet of Minties, which were the best chewy mint lollies in the world in the 90s. I believed with all my heart and when I woke up in the morning I ran to my shelf where I fully expected the lollies to be, and to my disappointment, they were not there! I was devastated! I didn’t understand! Did God not hear me? Of course he did, he’s God. “Why didn’t you answer my prayer?” I prayed, over and over.

I didn’t understand straight away, and it was a long time before I understood, but there has to be a good reason for God to do things. We may not always know the reason, but he is God and he is perfect and has the best reasons for doing everything he does.

All Jesus’ miracles were spectacular and were done to show the people, and us today even, that He really is God. He is powerful, he is awesome and he is God.

Discussion Questions:

If you were there and saw Jesus doing some of the miracles, what would you think about him?
If you could ask Jesus to perform a miracle today what would it be?
Pray for your miracle, you never know, he may want to say yes and give you what you want.

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We are beginning a new series today on Jesus and a heads up - I try and explain the Virgin Birth! I use the term 'mating' instead of saying 'sex' and speak in very general terms. I want you to know this because there may be questions about the birds and the bees, although I can imagine that many children will find my explanation sufficient. I do hope I haven't thrown anyone in the deep end but this is one part of the story of Jesus' birth that I just couldn't skip over!

After looking at the gospel over the previous episodes I am sure that you have realised that I think Jesus is pretty awesome. He is the most important part of what Christians believe and is what differentiates us from other religions.

Jesus is so awesome and he did so many things while he was here on this earth and the bible has 4 whole books dedicated to all the things he did and said, and so with this series, my hope is to give you an overview. What I hope we can chat about together will be to really discover who he is and what he came for.

I’ll tell you stories about his miracles, things he did with the disciples, I will share stories about his teaching, his parables and about what life was like when he lived, because it was over 2000 years ago and the world was very different back then.

We are going to start today by looking at his arrival, which was certainly spectacular! We celebrate Jesus’ arrival at Christmas every year, and you might know lots about the nativity story already, but let me tell it again. I don’t think even parents get sick of hearing this! This story is taken from the beginning chapters of both Matthew’s gospel and Luke’s.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem after travelling for 4-5 days to get there to be counted. He had some fantastic visitors while he was there - shepherds and wise men, and was given expensive but unusual gifts for a baby.

Angels communicated with Mary, Joseph and the wise men and saved Jesus from coming to harm from the jealous King Herod. After they were counted, Joseph, Mary and little baby Jesus didn’t end up going home to Nazareth for quite some time. They travelled to Egypt, leaving sneakily in the middle of the night, and they stayed there until it was safe and the jealous King Herod passed away.

There was no newspaper or internet to find out news in those days, but there were angels! An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that they could go home because King Herod was dead and no longer a threat. So finally the little family got to go back home to Nazareth to live.

Discussion Questions:

What do you think the job of an angel is? Are they around anymore? Do they like earth? Do they eat, drink and sleep?
There was one big boss in this whole story, in control of every single thing that happened. Who do you think that was?
So if God was in control, why would he have worked out the story to be like this - with Jesus being born in a manger and visitors not being family members but wise men and shepherds?

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God created us to have a relationship with him, but ever since sin came along we have not really been able to do it properly. God wanted us to relate with him perfectly but we can’t because of sin!

This is the first time I have recorded an episode since my Granny died.

She knew Jesus and lived her life trying to please him.

She read her bible, prayed and sang songs to God and about God. She loved to sing hymns (songs with heaps of verses written a long time ago.)

Why did God create us? To have a relationship with him - a strong friendship, for us to be his BFF!

Can we still do that while we are sinful? Yes, kind of. That is what we are going to look at today!

What can we do to show God we love him while we are here on earth? We can love him in a few different ways.

The 5 Love Languages are:

Physical touch (can’t hug God so can’t do this one)
Gift Giving (we can spend our money on things God would like, such as gifts to the poor or to the church)
Words of Affirmation (we can chat with God and tell him how good he is!0
Acts of Service (we can spend our time doing things for God)
Quality time (he is always with us and can come with us wherever we go!)

Devoting yourself to prayer and bible reading is essential in communicating with God!

Psalm 139:7-10 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

We won’t be perfect at loving God while we are here on earth, but we must try our best. If we fail God will forgive us. In Heaven we will be able to do this perfectly!

Discussion Questions:

Think of someone who is your friend. What do you like about them?
Do you want to have a relationship with God? If yes, what do you want to do more of to make that relationship better?
One for the parents: Share what things you do in the day to build a relationship with God, and are there any things you wish you were better at doing?

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Did you decide you wanted to become a Christian at the end of the last episode?

If YES - welcome to the universal church, your name has been written in the book of life and whenever you do end up dying, you get to spend eternity with God and with me!

I’ll be praying for you because living as a Christian, trying to please God, love others and not sin is hard, although it is very rewarding.

If you said NO, you didn’t want to become a Christian - that’s totally fine - keep listening and learning and thinking, there is no rush. Just remember, if you don’t accept Jesus you reject him.

As a Christian, living for God, one of the most important jobs he gives us is telling other people about the gospel. Evangelism

Why? So they can go to heaven too!

Imagine what it will be like when you get to heaven.

Your friends aren’t there because you didn’t tell them.

Why wouldn’t you tell your friends? You were too shy to invite them to church. You enjoyed going to kids groups at church with the kids there and didn’t need any more friends at church, so you decided to not invite them. You had told yourself that they would have been too busy to come anyway - playing soccer and dancing and learning musical instruments.

Bible verse: How are your friends going to become Christians? In the bible, in Romans 10:13,14 Paul wrote, “All who call out to the Lord will be saved. How can people have faith in the Lord and ask him to save them, if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear, unless someone tells them?”

Why don’t I like sharing the gospel - I avoid arguments

3 Things You Can Do to Share The Gospel:

Memorise the gospel story by heart and tell them
Invite them to a church event
Pray

One final thing you could do is tell them about this podcast! If your friend hears the gospel in these episodes then they might be able to call out to the Lord and be saved!

Also write an apple podcasts review. You could actually help lots of other people - kids and parents who don’t know you - to hear the gospel and become Christians by sharing this podcast, by leaving a review, by subscribing and following us on social media. All these things help the rankings of the show and enable the algorithms to rank us more highly, boosting our downloads, which means even more people may come to know Jesus. Just imagine how cool that is - to help people you don’t even know! I can imagine you getting to heaven and finding out heaps of people are there because of a review you wrote out in 2020 on itunes!

Discussion Questions:

What things make you hesitant to share the gospel?
Who do you want to share the gospel with?
Kind of like a role play - can you practise saying out loud what you would say to the person you just mentioned in the second question.
I have an additional challenge, and if you’re listening to this a month or a year or even several years after I have posted this, I would love you to still do this challenge: Make a short video of yourself explaining the 5 parts of the gospel story and upload it to our facebook group. It can be as elaborate or as amateur as you like - we are not professionals here and there will be no mark. By doing this, we can get encouraged by you and you can get some practise!

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If you believe all of the parts of The Gospel Story, (there's an eBook about it here if you want to read about it) then you have a decision to make. You can choose to become a Christian or you can choose to ignore God and not be a Christian.

Just because you believe the story doesn’t make you a Christian

There are 2 parts to being a Christian.

Becoming a Christian
Living like a Christian

BECOMING A CHRISTIAN

Believing in The Gospel Story
Repenting - Saying Sorry for your sins and really being sorry. 180 degrees turn-around
Bible Verse: 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Accept the Holy Spirit
Bible Verse: ACTS 2:38 “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

LIVING LIKE A CHRISTIAN

Everyone who becomes a Christian must change the way they live.

We love God and want to please him so we will want to stop sinning as much as possible, as a way of thanking Him.

Paul saw some people keep on sinning because they thought Jesus death could just clear away their sin anyway and it didn’t matter, so he wrote to them and said, “Should we keep on sinning, so that God’s wonderful kindness will show up even better? No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?” Romans 6:1-2

If we stuff up and sin, and keep on sinning, but we are trying our best, God knows our hearts and forgives us. We can come to him and repent again and again, and he will keep forgiving us.

Bible verse: It is hard. Even Paul says in Romans 7:19 “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing."

MOVING HOUSE ILLUSTRATION

Have you ever moved house? Becoming a Christian is a bit like moving house. There are 2 parts: actual moving day and then decorating

Part 1 is easy, and I know heaps of people who have done part 1 and moved house, but part 2 takes a lot more time and effort.

Why is part 2 harder? We have sin in us

We will never be perfect but will keep working towards it, bit by bit, because we love God and are grateful for all he has done for us.

We will be perfect at part 2 when we get to heaven!

Discussion Questions:

Do you believe in everything from the Gospel Story? (quick summary)
Do you want to change your life, stop sinning as much as you can and start living for God?
If you said yes to both of those questions, and if you haven’t done this already, you might like to pray a prayer, asking God to forgive you for your sins and to give you the Holy Spirit. Doing this will make you a Christian. Your mum or dad would probably be pretty keen to do this with you if you wanted to.

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Nobody really likes to talk about death. There is nothing good about dying. Or maybe there is? In this episode I am going to talk about it. Why? Because even though it isn’t a super-fun topic, it is actually a really important one.

When you die and you believe Jesus took your sins, then you get to be with God and you will have nothing to fear. Here’s why:

You will not be alone - God will be there and he loves you to infinity and beyond
There is no sin there - no other people will be mean, hurtful or bullying you at all
You know what it is not like - not sad, painful, lonely, depressing
You know what you will feel - happy, joyful, content, bliss
You know a bit about where you will be - A new Earth - Paradise
Eternal life with God! That is what God created us all along for! I still have heaps of trouble imagining what it is ultimately going to look like, but know that it is going to be excellent and very worthwhile, because we are promised that it will be in the bible.

How do I know all of this? The bible of course! Here is an awesome bible passage for you from the last book of the bible, Revelation 21:1-4, written by Jesus’ disciple John who saw heaps of things that are to come in the future. He says:

"I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared, and so had the sea. Then I saw New Jerusalem, that holy city, coming down from God in heaven. It was like a bride dressed in her wedding gown and ready to meet her husband. I heard a loud voice shout from the throne:

God’s home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.”

Now there is one more sad thing to mention before the end of this episode and I would rather not talk about it because it is not a good thing. I am referring to the question about what happens to the people who don’t believe in Jesus and that Jesus was able to take away our sins on the cross. What happens to those people when they die?

If you don’t believe in Jesus and don’t think you need your sins to be taken away then you will not be allowed to enter into eternal life with God. He has reserved places especially for people who believe in Him. If you don’t believe in him then you will not be let in.

The other place people go when they die is usually referred to as Hell, but is really just a place where God is not. If God is loving and free of sin, then I can imagine a place without God would be horrible. The bible refers to it as ‘eternal destruction’ in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. So for those people this earth right now is the best existence they are ever going to get, but for us we are blessed with a perfect Eternal Life with God to look forward to!

But we don’t have to be worried, because Jesus said some comforting words to his disciples that we can take comfort in too.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together.” John 14:1-3

Discussion Questions:

Share any concerns you may have about dying.
Are there any things that you heard today that make you excited?
What 3 words would you use to describe God to someone who has never heard of him?

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Jesus. This is what this episode is about.

He is God. He is also God's Son.

It sounds complicated, let me explain...

God has 3 parts that are all God, 3 different roles. God The Father, God The Son, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit.

The Father sent Jesus to be born, and we celebrate God the Son becoming a human at Christmas. Jesus grew up, proved he was God by doing amazing, miraculous things and teaching amazing things as well, and then he died on the cross, pinning all of the world’s sins there with him. Jesus had no sins, which meant he could take the punishment we should have got because we had sinned, and he did it. Remember how there are consequences for disobeying God? This was the consequence, and Jesus did it so we won’t have to. The reason why God chose to do it like that was because when Jesus did it, he could come back alive again and go to heaven because he is God and perfect and holy!

So our sins have been paid for. The sins of the whole world! It doesn’t matter how bad your sins are or how many you have done! Remember back to the beginning, when God created everything? He loves his creation and thought it was worth going through all that terrible suffering in order to get rid of the sin and make us his friends again.

Amazing hey!!!

We know this because a verse in the bible, John 3:16 says “16 God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and have eternal life.”

Remember in the White Episode (Episode number 2) when I talked about clean, white paper with no smudges on it? Imagine every time I sin is like I get out a big black marker and scribble all over the clean, crisp paper. Sometimes my sin is just one little smudgy scribble, sometimes it is a huge dark blot. Whatever the sin is that’s on our lives it needs to come out to get to heaven right?

Imagine that Jesus is the AMAZING MIRACULOUS ERASER, which not only erases out the small smudges and lead pencil marks but can rub out all of the massive black blobs that are there. There is actually no sin that Jesus can’t rub out and get rid of. Through his death, Jesus got rid of them all!!! How absolutely excellent is that?!??

2 Corinthians 5:21 says that “God put the wrong on him, Jesus, who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.”

1 Peter 3:18 says that “Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.”

Believing in Jesus, the amazing and miraculous eraser, is what makes me a Christian. Jesus is the reason why I get up in the morning, why I know that I am going to get eternal life after I die from this earth, and he is the reason why I am making this podcast. I believe in the fact that Jesus died for me and it has changed everything about my life!

Discussion Questions:

Imagine getting into trouble at school and being given a detention but one of your friends works out a way for you to play and says that they would like to do your detention for you. How would you feel?
Chat about the worst sins you can think of and talk about whether you think God is capable of forgiving them.

Contact…

Facebook: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

Instagram: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

website: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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This episode is called Black, and I think you will know what I am talking about with this one. SIN.

Sin is the thoughts and actions and not doing things too, that goes against what God wants us to do. It is kind of like being naughty, but when you are at home and you’re naughty and get into trouble that is because you are doing thinks your parents don’t want you to do. Sin is doing things God doesn’t want you to do, whether it is on purpose or even if it is an accident.

Adam and Eve did this in the Garden of Eden and we do it all the time. We all sin, every single person in the world, I know because it says so in the bible, in Romans 3:23 it says, “ALL HAVE SINNED.”

The sin is a bit like drawing on paper. Think about a fresh, clean sheet of white paper, without any smudges or wrinkles or drawing on it. It is perfect, a bit like people when God first created them. Now imagine a big black marker drawing all over it, creasing it and putting holes in it. That marker is the sin. The paper is no longer perfect, just like when people sin, we are no longer perfect and holy either. Even if the marker only did one small dot, it still wouldn’t be perfect. Some people do heaps of sinning and other people do only a bit, but just one tiny sin is enough to stop us from being perfect and holy for God. Sin is not just like a little hiccup - it is a MASSIVE problem.

It is ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT that God does not have any sin in Heaven or in Him.

In the Bible Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 59:2, “Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.”

Adam and Eve just did one small thing and no longer could they hang out with God in the Garden of Eden. They actually had to leave the garden and go and find their own food and water and shelter. God made them clothes from animal fur and was really sad to have to punish them.

When God hears that his people have disobeyed him, he does the same as what any parent does when their kids do the wrong thing - he gives them a punishment. For example, the snake gets his legs taken off him, Adam and all men will have to work hard to get food and women will have to go through pain in childbirth.

What happens when you do the wrong thing?

What happens when we sin against God? We can't spend eternal life with God in Heaven when we die! We will have to go to a place without God, a place we often call Hell.

After sin came into the world it meant that life can never go back to how it was in the Garden of Eden, into that perfect, holy life with God. Sin is a BIG DEAL. It is a huge problem for God and for all of us, his creation, his creatures. It is such a massive problem that it is needed to be talked about.

I can't just leave it there on such a negative note, so I will let you know that there is good news - God has already worked out a way to get rid of this sin that separates us from him!

Discussion Questions:

How do you think Adam and Eve felt when God turned up after they had sinned and eaten the fruit?
Do you think you would have eaten the fruit if you were there?
Is there something you do that makes God sad that you find really hard not to do? If you want to you can pray about that now and ask him to help you!

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One thing that happened at the end of each day of creating was, “God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good.” At the end of all of his creating, at the end of the 6th day Genesis 1:31 says, “God looked at what he had done. All of it was VERY good!”

When someone asks you how you are, or how was your day, what do you say? GOOD! Sometimes we say it so often that we don’t even think about the real answer and we don’t even mean it. But when God looked at what he had done and saw that it was good, he wasn’t talking about GOOD in the same way we talk about Good. He was referring to his creation being perfect. As being untainted. His creation could not get any better!

Have you worked out why this episode is called “White”? It is because fresh snow, or clean white paper is a bit like what it was like in the beginning - perfectly clean and holy, everything was good, just as God wanted it to be. God especially wanted a perfect friendship with people, with us, and it was in the Garden of Eden that the friendship was perfect.

When I try to explain to my kids how much God loves them, I really struggle, because it is just so so so much!!! And when I say that he loves them even more than I do, I don’t want them to think that I mustn’t love them very much. But God actually loves you more than your parents. In fact, it was God who decided he was going to make you before he even created the world, and it was God who decided who your parents were going to be! Crazy huh?! I know that it is hard to believe, especially when your parents tell you that they love you to infinity, or as far as the moon and around the stars. But remember, God made those stars, and he is massive so that means that he is able to love in a MASSIVE way!

So why would God create you and love you so much? Because he wants to have a friendship with you. One where he can hang out with you all day every day and you will never have to be lonely. He wants to hang out with you in the same way that he hung out with Adam and Eve in the garden - perfectly and without sin.

Tune in to hear more about why God thought his creation was GOOD!

Discussion Questions:

What is God like? Discuss all of God’s attributes that you can think of with your family.
God doesn’t love you because you are good at soccer or swimming, or because you are kind. Talk together about the reason why God loves you.
What do you think you could do that would stop God from loving you?

About me…

My name is Anna Ware and I am a mother, wife and teacher and I have a passion for explaining biblical concepts to children. I love camping, swimming, running, reading and chocolate and I pray that I can help parents to have the courage to engage with their kids in the big conversations.

Contact…

Facebook: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

Instagram: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

website: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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Hello and welcome!

We are going to cover the gospel first, and I have always understood the gospel easily using the Jesus Colours, or the Colours of Life - Green, white, black, red and yellow. I find it is easier to remember what I believe and easier to explain by using these colours, and I am hoping that you will find it all easier to remember by using these colours too!

Have you ever created something AWESOME?

Every single kids bible I have ever read starts with God’s creation, and goes through each of the days and what God created and when. If you’ve ever read it, you will know that the world was created in 7 days, although on the last day technically he rested. On the other days he created the land, the water, the plants, the planets and all the animals in the water, the sky and on the land. And finally he created us - people!

The first 7 verses of the whole Bible go like this:

Genesis 1:1-7

*In the beginning God

created the heavens

and the earth.*

*The earth was barren,

with no form of life;

it was under a roaring ocean

covered with darkness.

But the Spirit of God

was moving over the water.*

God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness and named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening came and then morning—that was the first day. God said, “I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it.” And that’s what happened. God made the dome and named it “Sky.” Evening came and then morning—that was the second day.”

And it keeps going like this until he had created everything!!! How powerful is God?! He created all these things with just his voice! AMAZING!

God designed the whole world intricately, down to every detail! He is super powerful and he is awesomely creative! We know that because we can read it later on in the bible, in Romans 1:20, where the apostle Paul says,

"God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made.”

Have you worked out why this first part of the gospel is green? Yes, because a lot of what God created is green - the leaves, grass, bushes. When we think of nature, we typically think green, and so that is the colour that can help us remember this section!

In every episode, I am going to finish up with some questions.

It’d be awesome to hear some of your answers, so if you’re keen to share what you come up with, pop on over to our facebook group or Instagram to join in the conversation!

So here are the questions, I won't play thinking music for you, you can remember them or you can pause me after I’ve asked each one then hit play again when you're ready for the next one!

Discussion Questions:

Have you ever created anything that you were so proud of and loved so much?
What is one of your favourite things that God created?
Why is important to believe that God is the creator?

Contact…

Facebook: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

Instagram: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

Website: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

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Welcome to The Word On the Street Podcast!

I aim to help Christian parents talk about God with their families. I so want to help you bring God Conversations with your family into your every day! Join the conversation with your family as you listen to the bible introduced in a simple yet unique way, straight from the heart. In every episode I will share something from the bible, God’s Word, give a brief explanation, make relevant connections to the way we live now and leave you with some thought provoking questions to discuss with your loved ones, all in around 10 minutes.

My goal is to help parents pass on the gospel to their children. I want the topic of Christianity to come naturally to us, and so am helping out by providing the conversation starter. For more help passing on the gospel and for your free guide "7 Ways You Can Help Your Kids Get To Know Jesus," click here.

About me…

Contact…

Facebook: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

Instagram: @thewordonthestreetpodcast

website: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com

The Word On The Street: Recent Episodes

Anna Ware