Participants:
Series Code: SWJ
Program Code: SWJ000057S
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00:23 (Miss Ruthie) Hello Boys and Girls. Welcome to Starting with
00:28 Jesus where we want to encourage you to start everything you do 00:30 with Jesus. Today Miss Michelle is going to be telling us some 00:35 of the signs that Jesus gave us so that we can be ready when he 00:40 comes. We also want to remind you that we have a Storytime 00:46 that's going on right now and you can check it out at 00:49 startingwithjesus.com/stories Miss Kara is telling us a story 00:53 about a little boy named Satu who has some strange visitors on 00:57 his island. So check it out. But before we get to any of our 01:01 program let's start with some singing and our first song this 01:05 week is going to be called Look for the Waymarks which is 01:08 something we should be doing. Right? Looking for those 01:12 waymarks of Jesus's coming. A waymark is a sign so that's what 01:17 our stories about so we're going to sing about the signs of 01:20 Jesus' coming. 01:21 ♪ ♪ 03:35 ♪ ♪ 04:57 ♪ ♪ 06:24 ♪ ♪ 06:28 (Mr. Prewitt) Welcome back boys and girls to our nature lessons 06:31 I want to have a prayer with you and then talk. Let's pray. 06:33 Father in heaven, bless us as we look at the lesson you've put 06:38 into the trees and into the bark I ask for that gift in the name 06:42 of Jesus, Amen. 06:43 Isn't bark amazing? Have you ever looked at it? What you may 06:49 or may not know is that bark has two important layers. There is 06:53 the outer layer which is dead. This dead bark plays an 06:57 important role; it keeps the beetles out. It keeps the bugs 07:03 out. It keeps the ants out. It stops the animals from digging 07:07 holes. That's what it's for. It prevents the toxins and the 07:12 dangers. Like this dead part does something for the tree. 07:16 But underneath the dead part which you can't see here because 07:19 I got this from a dead tree, there's a living part of the 07:23 bark that is just inside the bark that allows the juice of 07:29 the tree, the blood of the tree, to climb up and give life to the 07:33 whole organism. You know when I think about the dead part of the 07:37 dead part of the tree and the living part, trees need them 07:41 both. It's a lot like the 10 commandments. The 10 07:44 commandments, there's a dead part. That's the letter, that's 07:48 the part that's like written in the Bible, the thou shalt not, 07:51 one, two, three, four, five. That dead part is real. And then 07:55 there's a living part. That's the part that's written in your 07:59 heart. The part that says love your parents and respect them. 08:03 Be faithful to your promises. Love and honor the Sabbath. 08:06 There's a part of the law that's dead but let's not mock that 08:11 part. You know even the dead part of the law, those 10 08:14 commandments, make life better for people that aren't converted 08:18 I mean the unconverted man that's faithful to his wife has 08:21 a better life than the one that commits adultery. The man that's 08:24 not a Christian that steals has a worse life than the 08:27 Nonchristian who doesn't steal. I mean that the man who doesn't 08:31 follow God, his life is still better if he doesn't murder. 08:34 What I'm saying to you is just like the bark goes all the way 08:38 around the tree the dead part of the 10 commandments they 08:42 protect us in every direction. But what about that living part? 08:46 There's not much value in protecting a dead tree. That 08:51 living part of the law is the part that goes in your heart. 08:54 And when we accept God's law into our heart and let Him write 08:58 it there by accepting it, by me not just saying okay I'll 09:02 obey it but saying thank you God for that instruction. I see it's 09:05 a better way of life. I choose that. That's how we invite Him 09:09 to write the law and when we follow the law that way we're 09:12 like the tree that has that living sap moving up. It's 09:16 causing our leaves to grow and our branches to expand. Do we 09:19 need the 10 commandments? Yes, we need the dead part. That part 09:24 stops everybody from going the wrong way if they'll listen and 09:27 we want the living part, the part that's in our hearts and 09:30 when we have both of those we're well protected from the dangers 09:34 that come our way. Let me pray with you. 09:36 Father in heaven, I thank you for the bark you put on trees 09:40 and for the law you've given us. Please use it. We ask in the 09:45 name of Jesus, Amen. 09:47 ♪ ♪ 09:53 (Miss Michelle) Signs of the times. Have you heard of that 09:56 before? It's a magazine. Right? But it's also signs that are 10:01 happening all around us that show that the time is coming for 10:05 Jesus to come very soon. Our lesson today is called Signs of 10:09 Jesus' Coming. Let's pray. 10:11 Dear heavenly Father, we thank you for loving us. Thank you for 10:15 sending Jesus and thank you that He's going to come back and get 10:18 us really soon. I can't wait for that day. Please send your Holy 10:22 Spirit to fill us with your power and your love and your 10:26 enthusiasm for reaching others for you. In your name, we pray 10:30 Amen. 10:32 Jesus and some of his disciples were sitting, do you remember 10:35 where? On the Mount of Olives. And they came to Him with that 10:40 question, How will we know when the time has come? Do you 10:44 remember that? And Jesus decided that they needed to know these 10:49 things. Now the disciples had a lot of questions like when will 10:53 the temple be destroyed? You said that not one stone will be 10:56 left upon another. And when will the end of the world be? The 11:00 disciples would have to tell others the answers to these 11:02 questions and Jesus decided to show to them, to shine the light 11:08 on these important questions. And it's important for us to 11:14 know today as well. Now we're going to just briefly do an 11:18 overview today. I highly recommend you learn more about 11:21 these topics. You can go to our website startingwithjesus.com 11:26 and go to Explore the Future and learn more about some of these 11:29 things if you find them interesting. I think they're 11:32 really important to learn more about. Today we're just going to 11:36 do an overview. Some of the things that Jesus told the 11:38 disciples pertained to the temple being destroyed and some 11:41 of them talk about the end of the world. Miss Michelle, how do 11:44 we know the difference? I'm glad you asked. How do we know the 11:48 difference? By studying the prophecies; the prophecies in 11:51 the Old Testament and the prophecies in the New Testament 11:54 as well. See Jesus, and the Bible in general, give signs but 11:59 they don't give exact times and dates. We don't know when the 12:02 exact time and date of Jesus' coming is going to be. But why 12:07 would He not tell us that? Wouldn't that be convenient? 12:09 It would be interesting if you went to buy a plane ticket and 12:12 their like it'll be about this time. Wouldn't make sense. Right 12:15 We want to know the time, the date, we want to know what gate 12:18 We want to know which number we are to board. But Jesus' coming 12:23 is not like an airplane flight. He wants us to be ready all the 12:28 time. These signs though are good warnings. Now the first 12:32 warning that Jesus gave we're going to talk about is in 12:34 Matthew 24 verse 45, Matthew 24 verse 45: No it's not in verse 12:48 45, it's in verses 4 and 5: Let's just try that. Yep, that 12:52 makes more sense. Commas are important aren't they? 12:54 And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one 12:57 deceives you, [to deceive you is to trick you] for many will come 13:02 in my name saying I'm the Christ and will deceive many. Now in 13:06 Jesus time there were many false Christs, weren't there? There 13:09 were many false messiahs who came and said, Oh, I'm the 13:12 messiah, follow me. And there were a lot of different people 13:15 who followed them. And they would have uprisings against the 13:19 Romans and the Romans would kill them all or would put them in 13:23 prison and there were those things. Those three things were 13:24 happening when Jesus was here on earth and they're going to 13:27 happen once again at the end. In fact, in 2 Corinthians 11 verse 13:32 14 it says that Satan can actually transform himself into 13:35 an angel of light and we know that at the end of time Satan 13:37 will impersonate Jesus. What does Jesus tell us though? 13:41 Don't worry. Jesus gives us just what they do when this happens. 13:46 That's why it's so important to study these things. Right? 13:48 Matthew 24 verses 23-26 tells us what to do when we hear someone 13:55 say... Then if anyone says to you look there's the Christ. 13:59 Or there, over there, he's there look, look, look. Don't believe 14:05 them. 14:06 For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show 14:10 great signs and wonders and deceive, if possible, even the 14:13 elect. 14:15 What does that mean, even the elect? Even the people who are 14:17 really close to Jesus and really following Him carefully and 14:21 maybe they've been Christians for a really long time, or maybe 14:24 they study the Bible every day. Satan will try to even trick 14:29 those people. 14:30 See, I have told you beforehand, [this is what we're to do] 14:33 therefore, if they say look he's in the desert [come on, let's go 14:37 check it out, he's there] Do not go out; or look he's in the 14:41 inner rooms. Do not believe it. [Do not believe it] For as 14:47 lightening comes from the east and flashes all the way across 14:50 the sky to the west, so will the coming of the Son of man be. 14:53 We're going to know when Jesus is here. And we also know that 14:56 His feet won't touch the ground. If he's out in the desert, I 14:59 think his feet are touching the ground. Or in the inner rooms. 15:01 Right? So the Bible says don't even get curious about these 15:07 crazy things that don't line up with what the Bible says. Don't 15:10 even go there because if we put ourselves we're just like asking 15:13 for Satan to tempt us and to deceive us by even going there. 15:17 We know how He's going to come and we don't want to be deceived 15:21 Right? So don't even get curious about that. Keep reading the 15:26 Bible and believing exactly what the Bible says. After warning 15:30 about false prophets and false christs Jesus gives some more 15:32 warnings to His disciples. This one's in Matthew 24: 6, 7 and 8. 15:37 And you will hear [of these following things. Think about if 15:42 you've heard about these things happening recently.] Wars, 15:45 rumors of wars, see that you're not troubled for all these 15:49 things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 15:52 Have there been a lot of wars happening, yes, a lot of wars 15:56 are happening and wars that we might not even know about. Maybe 16:01 we're not having a war right now where you live, but there are 16:04 wars happening other places. Not even just wars, but rumors 16:07 of wars, countries threatening each other about starting a war. 16:11 Right? For nation will rise against nation and kingdom 16:14 against kingdom and there will be famines. 16:17 Do you know what a famine is? When things don't grow well and 16:19 there's not enough food for people. That's happening in a 16:22 lot of places too. Once again, maybe not where you live, but 16:26 even in some places in developed countries grocery stores won't 16:30 be close enough to where people live and so they're not able to 16:33 get enough food. Or maybe money is an issue where they don't 16:36 have enough money to get the food that they need. Right? 16:40 Pestilences. Pestilences are like diseases and things that 16:44 happen. We know that that's been happening, you know a lot this 16:47 last year and just in general as well. And earthquakes in various 16:52 places. Earthquakes are bad enough because they can destroy 16:54 your home and livelihood but then afterwards if you survive 16:56 the earthquake, it can be really difficult as well and those are 17:01 happening in places as well. These things could make us 17:04 really fearful but God says, I'm with you and that means that I'm 17:09 coming soon. Wow! It also talks about the signs of Jesus' coming 17:15 in Luke. Luke chapter 21. Let's go there and see what Dr. Luke 17:21 had to say about the signs of Jesus' coming. Luke 21 verses 17:28 12 and 13: But before all these things happen they will lay 17:35 their hands on you and persecute you and deliver you up to the 17:38 synagogues and prisons and you will be brought before kings and 17:41 rulers for my name's sake. [Sounds scary doesn't it? Let's 17:44 keep reading] But it will turn out for you as an occasion for 17:50 testimony.[This is our chance to share Jesus] Therefore settle it 17:53 in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will 17:55 answer for [I love verse 15 here] I will give you a mouth 18:00 and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to 18:04 contradict or resist. You will feel betrayed even by parents, 18:09 brothers, relatives and friends and they will put some of you 18:12 to death and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But 18:17 not a hair of your head shall be lost. By your patience possess 18:23 your souls. 18:26 Wow! Sounds kind of scary doesn't it? Miss Michelle wants 18:29 you to remember a couple of things. God promises to be with 18:31 you, doesn't He? And it does say that even some people may die. 18:35 Didn't it. It said that right there. But what's the next thing 18:39 that they're going to see after they die? Jesus's face coming in 18:43 the clouds of glory. That's the next thing that they're going to 18:46 see. And that doesn't make death seem as scary does it. Wow! 18:52 And Jesus promises that He's going to put those things in our 18:56 mouth that we need to say and that He's going to be with us 18:59 and that He has our best end in mind. He knows what's going to 19:04 happen in the end and He can't wait to take us to heaven with 19:06 him. Now hundreds of years before Jesus was born He had 19:10 told His prophet Joel some signs that would happen before His 19:14 coming and it says those in the Old Testament and it also says 19:19 those in the New Testament. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations. 19:24 Let's see if I can find the book of Joel. Daniel, Hosea, Joel, 19:28 there we go. Joel 2 verse 31 and feel free to pause the video if 19:34 you can pause it to find it too if you want or write it down to 19:37 check it out later. Joel 2 verse 31 says: 19:39 [The signs] The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon 19:43 to blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the 19:45 Lord. 19:47 Wow! Let's see if those things happened. Jesus said they were 19:51 going to again in Matthew 24 when He was talking about all 19:54 the signs of His coming. Matthew 24 verse 29 says: 19:59 Immediately after the tribulation of those days 20:01 the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. 20:04 The stars will fall from heaven and the powers of heaven will be 20:08 shaken. 20:10 Have these things happened, Miss Michelle? Well nearly 2000 years 20:13 since Jesus has told these signs have passed and yes three of 20:19 these have already happened. The first one that's talked about is 20:25 darkness. Right? That it would be dark, a dark day. This 20:31 happened actually in May 19, 1780. Check it out in your history 20:35 book or google it. Right? It was a bright and sunny day when it 20:38 dawned but about noon it became dark and it was dark for the 20:42 rest of the day. Everybody was confused. The school kids went 20:46 home. The animals went back to the barn because they thought it 20:48 was bedtime, but it wasn't. And when night actually fell the 20:53 second sign happened. When the night actually fell the full 20:58 moon rose and it wasn't a bright white light like we normally see 21:02 Right? It was red just like the sign had said in Joel and 21:08 Matthew. And the third sign happened on November 13, 1833 21:13 And that's when the stars fell. People looked out at the night 21:15 sky here in the U.S. and they watched thousands of falling 21:18 stars. Folks these signs are happening all around us and some 21:22 of them have already happened. Wickedness is increasing and the 21:26 hearts of many are becoming either colder towards God or 21:29 warmer towards God. There's not going to be a fence at the end 21:32 everybody. You're going to have choose a side. Jesus' side or 21:36 Satan's side and that's what it boils down to. Jesus told his 21:39 disciples many things about the future. Like to leave Jerusalem 21:42 before it was destroyed. And even after Jesus died people had 21:46 the chance to choose his kingdom The people who chose his kingdom 21:50 were called Christians and just as the Bible had predicted, 21:53 Jesus had predicted, they were persecuted. Some of them were 21:56 killed but God also protected many of them as well. And the 22:00 people who were killed, their stories went out and their blood 22:05 was seed to many people and many people grew up as Christians 22:08 because of the testimony because of the people who were willing 22:11 to give up their lives for God. The next thing they see is Jesus 22:15 Right? About 40 years after Jesus died, the Roman army 22:19 surrounded Jerusalem just as He had said would happen. And there 22:22 was a sign. You can check it out in Luke 21:20 and Matthew 24: 22:26 16-20. I'm going to tell it to you real quick though. The 22:30 Romans were surrounding the city and nobody was going to get out, 22:33 not even the Christians. And definitely the nonchristians 22:35 weren't going to let the Christians out. The Roman army 22:38 started to leave and the people from the city, from Jerusalem, 22:40 started chasing the Romans. And that was the sign. The 22:43 Christians slipped away quietly. The Romans came back and 22:46 destroyed all the city of Jerusalem and everyone in it but 22:50 not one Christian died. God is with us and He is going to 22:53 always be with His children. He loves you so much. He doesn't 22:57 want you to worry about the end of the world. He wants you to be 22:59 excited for it because it means the beginning of eternal life 23:01 with Him. 23:03 ♪ ♪ 23:08 It's time to review our questions from last week. Let's 23:11 see if you got those questions right. 23:15 ♪ ♪ 23:32 It's time now for our questions. I hope you were listening very 23:36 carefully to today's story because it was a very important 23:41 story. So are you ready? Question #1: 23:56 Question #2: 24:10 And Question #3: 24:21 You can send your answers to us at answers@startingwithjesus.com 24:27 We love to see your answers and you can get a shout out in our 24:32 weekly program at startingwithjesus.com. 24:35 ♪ ♪ 24:39 Today's memory verse is found in Luke 21 verse 31: When you see 24:42 these things happening know that the kingdom of God is near. 24:45 ♪ ♪ 24:57 Hello welcome to activity time. My name's Amy and I'm Michael 25:01 and this is JJ. We're going to need in this activity scissors, 25:08 crayons and colored pencils or markers, a Bible and templates 25:17 You can print out as many as you need at: 25:18 startingwithjesus.com/activities Let's get started. Read the 25:23 signs of Jesus' coming in Matthew chapter 24. Write one 25:28 sign of Jesus' coming on each template. I'm going to write 25:31 stars falling. Next, you can color them in. 25:37 ♪ ♪ 25:46 For the next part you'll probably need help from an adult 25:49 so Auntie Ruthie can you come help us? 25:52 All right, I'll come help you. What would you like on here? 25:56 Cutting it out. Okay sure I'll help you. She's going to 26:00 going to cut it out. 26:01 ♪ ♪ 26:11 Thanks Auntie Ruthie. Great job coloring. Now find a place you 26:16 walk around your yard or in your house and hide them or place 26:20 them and have another person in your family go find them. And 26:23 you can tell them all about the signs you colored. Have fun. 26:27 ♪ ♪ 26:46 Thank you for joining us today. I hope that you enjoyed it and I 26:52 hope that you are sharing what you've learned with your friends 26:55 Now don't forget to check out our storytime with Miss Kara 26:59 every Sunday. You can go to startingwithjesus.com/stories 27:03 and see what's happening with that too, any strange visitors 27:06 on his island. I think Miss Kara left us on a bit of a cliff 27:10 hanger last week. So got to check out what's happening next. 27:13 Don't forget also we have our VBS program at: 27:18 startingwithjesus.com/ongard and you'll be able to see 27:21 different ways that you can participate in that program and 27:24 actually, be part of that program So check it out and we're going 27:29 be doing some really fun things. So let's ask Jesus to be with us 27:35 and thank Him for being with us today. 27:37 Our Father in heaven, thank you so much for everything you do. 27:43 I pray that you will be with us. Help us to be like you. Help us 27:47 to remember these lessons we've learned in Sabbath School and 27:50 help us to share them with others. Help us to be ready when 27:53 you come. I pray that you'll forgive us for our sins and help 27:57 us to be like you. Help us to be missionaries wherever we go. 28:00 We love you Jesus and we thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen. 28:04 Thanks for watching. Have a blessed week. And keep in touch. 28:07 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2021-12-15