Participants:
Series Code: SWJ
Program Code: SWJ000049S
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00:01 Hey kids, it's time for Sabbath School. So grab your Bibles and
00:03 let's go. 00:04 ♪ ♪ 00:31 (Miss Ruthie) Hello boys and girls. Welcome to Starting With 00:33 Jesus where we want to encourage you to start everything you do 00:36 with Jesus. We have some really fun things planned for you today 00:40 an exciting nature story that you won't want to miss, and our 00:44 Bible story today talks about you. So you won't want to miss 00:50 that. Let's start our program though with some singing. 00:53 ♪ ♪ God sees the little sparrow fall 02:04 ♪ ♪ 02:40 ♪ ♪ 04:04 ♪ ♪ 04:49 ♪ ♪ 04:53 (Miss Gloria) Hello boys and girls. I'm so glad you're here 04:56 today to dive into God's great book of nature with me. As you 04:59 look around you'll notice there are so many types of trees. 05:04 There are types of trees called deciduous or hardwood trees also 05:08 knows as broad leaf trees because their leaves are big and 05:12 broad. Get it? Broadleaf with broad leaves. Well these kind of 05:18 trees lose their leaves in the fall and winter. But don't 05:22 worry. They grow new leaves in the spring and summer. But what 05:26 do you think would happen to this tree if the leaves didn't 05:29 fall in the winter when it was cold and snowy. Well those broad 05:34 leaves would hold onto so much snow that the tree branches 05:38 would be too heavy and it would break. That would not be good 05:42 would it? There are other types of trees in the forest called 05:45 conifers also known as evergreens They stay green all year long. 05:50 Get it? Evergreen, always green. They do not lose their leaves in 05:55 the cold. Their leaves are skinny like needles and God made 05:59 them that way on purpose so that the snow can fall around or 06:02 between the needles and not weigh the tree branches down. 06:06 You know what this tells me? It tells me that God is so merciful 06:09 and has made provision, like ways around, to protect the 06:15 trees after sin came into this world and brought different 06:17 weather conditions like cold and snow. Philippians 4:19 says: 06:29 Doesn't that make you feel great that God takes care of all the 06:32 needs of the trees and he takes care of your needs too. Our 06:36 God's a pretty awesome God isn't he? Here's an idea. Why don't 06:40 you take a walk with a grownup and try and try to find as many 06:43 broad leaves and evergreens as you can. Don't tear them down, 06:47 just count them and let us know how many of each you find. 06:51 You can even send pictures if you want. Doesn't that make you 06:54 feel great to know that God takes care of the needs of all 06:56 the trees and he takes care of your needs too. Isn't our God a 07:00 great, awesome God? I hope you have enjoyed this page in God's 07:04 great book of nature. See you next time. 07:06 ♪ ♪ 07:24 (Miss Michelle) Hmm. Oh, pardon me. I was just replaying some 07:31 memories in my mind. Do you see this cute little bear. He's 07:35 playing a song for us. Have you heard that song before? You 07:40 probably have. It's one of the most popular children's sacred 07:45 songs of all time. Jesus Loves Me. You see some close friends 07:49 of ours gave my son this little bear the day he was dedicated. 07:52 And it's super special because it's a reminder of how much 07:56 Jesus loves him. Today's story is about how much Jesus loves 08:00 kids. Let's pray. 08:02 Dear heavenly Father, we thank you so very much for your love 08:05 for us. Please bless us now as we enter into our special story 08:09 time, our special Bible story time. Send your Spirit to be 08:12 here and open our eyes and ears to your love. In your name we 08:16 pray, Amen. 08:18 I can just imagine one morning a mother waking up and thinking 08:22 wow, I'd sure love for my little boy to be blessed by Jesus. 08:27 Wouldn't that be awesome? You see when my son was dedicated or 08:33 blessed he was blessed by some pastors who were representing 08:35 Jesus. Right? We felt his presence there but Jesus wasn't 08:39 actually physically there in the room. Right? But back in Bible 08:42 times they actually could go and see Jesus. So it was a long ways 08:46 away but she thought, It'll be worth it. If you've walked 08:49 anywhere with a young toddler you know that it can sometimes 08:52 take a very long time. But she thought it would be worth it in 08:55 the end and along the way a neighbor was like, Where are you 08:58 headed today? Oh, we're going to Jesus to have him bless my 09:01 son. I want to come too. I'm going to bring my daughter and 09:05 son. And pretty soon there was a whole little group of mothers 09:07 and their kids headed to see Jesus. What a special time that 09:12 would be. Right? Jesus loves kids. In fact, whenever He saw 09:17 them He'd have a special smile that would spread across his 09:19 face and the look in his eyes just showed how much he cared 09:23 for them. And I'm sure that He gave really special hugs too. 09:28 And kids loved Jesus too. They weren't scared of Jesus and they 09:32 just wanted to be close to Him. So they skipped along the path 09:39 going to see Jesus. Now Jesus saw them coming from afar off 09:43 and he was happy to see kids because he was always happy to 09:47 see kids. But He also wanted to see how His disciples would 09:51 react to the youngest members of God's family and let's see what 09:56 they did. Any guesses. Maybe you've heard the story before. 10:01 In Mark chapter 10 is where we have this story found. 10:06 Then they brought little children to Him that He might 10:10 touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 10:14 Rebuked, what does that mean? Rebuke says no, don't do it. 10:20 If someone rebukes you they may say, No don't touch that stove, 10:23 it's hot. Or they may say, No stop. Don't run into the street. 10:27 There might be a car coming. Those are good types of rebukes. 10:30 Right? But this didn't make sense to the mothers and 10:32 children. You see, the disciples didn't want Jesus to be 10:37 interrupted. They thought that His work with the adults was 10:40 more important than Him seeing a bunch of little kids. But when 10:45 Jesus saw it, in verse 14 it says: 10:48 He was greatly displeased with them. [Them the children, No 10:55 them the disciples] and he said to them: Let the little children 10:59 come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom 11:05 of God. Assuredly I say to you, Whoever does not receive the 11:10 kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter in. And 11:16 He took them up in his arms and laid his hands on them and 11:18 blessed them. 11:19 You can imagine the relief that spread over the mothers' faces 11:24 because they had traveled so far to see Jesus. And the excitement 11:26 for the kids, bouncing up and down right up onto his lap and 11:30 probably still bouncing once they were up there. You can 11:33 imagine Jesus giving them hugs. Maybe some of them fell asleep 11:36 in His arms. I bet he told them some really cool stories. 11:40 And so special. Such a 11:44 special time they had with Jesus Through this story Jesus showed 11:48 everyone, His disciples and everyone there that children are 11:51 so important. In fact, He had said that we should receive the 11:55 kingdom of God like a little child does. You see kids don't 12:00 care about what color your hair is or what color your skin is. 12:03 Kids don't care if you have a lot of money or not very much 12:06 money at all. Kids don't care if you're lame or blind. They 12:10 may ask you questions about it. Right? But they don't care about 12:14 that. They just love people. And they just like hanging out with 12:18 people and playing with people. It doesn't take kids long to 12:21 make a new friend, does it? In fact, you could be standing in 12:24 the grocery store line and my son would make friends with the 12:27 kid in the next line. It doesn't take too long, does it? Jesus 12:31 wants adults to be more like you guys. Isn't that amazing? 12:35 Children also trusted Jesus. They didn't worry about what was 12:41 going to happen or anything like that. They just trusted Him. 12:45 This was a good lesson for the disciples. You see, the 12:49 disciples, they really did care about things that children don't 12:52 care about. They cared about other people and what they 12:55 looked like. They cared about the people who didn't know God 12:59 and they liked to call them names like heathen or pagans. 13:01 They cared about Jesus setting up his kingdom on earth now and 13:05 rescuing them from the Romans. It seemed like they had an 13:09 agenda or a plan for Jesus. Can you imagine making a plan for 13:13 Jesus? But that's what they had done. In fact, they also had a 13:17 couple other issues that they were dealing with. They argued a 13:20 lot about who would be the most important person when that 13:24 kingdom started. They said, Well I'm going to be the right hand 13:28 man. You know I'm the most important, I'm the closest 13:30 friend to Jesus, like He's the one who's always asking me to 13:32 do special things for him or go special places with him. Right? 13:36 They were also jealous of the other people. If they saw 13:38 someone getting closer to Jesus they would be jealous of that 13:41 person and want what they had. They had a lot of things that 13:44 they were working on and Jesus wanted them to see the simple 13:48 faith of a child and how that can change our lives. So He 13:54 continued and he used children several other times in his 13:57 lessons. But I want to tell you about one other quick story 14:00 before we jump to the next time Jesus used kids to help teach 14:03 the disciples a lesson. This story is found in Matthew 14:06 chapter 20. And parents this is a good one for you guys to 14:10 listen to, too. Matthew chapter 20 verses 20 and 21. They argued 14:16 so much that finally one of the mom's got fed up with it and she 14:21 actually went and talked to Jesus about it. You see it was 14:25 the mother of James and John, two of the disciples. And she 14:29 said: The mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons 14:33 [there with her] kneeling down and asking something from Him. 14:36 And He said to her, What do you wish? [This was Jesus saying 14:39 what would you like?] She said to Him, Can you grant that my 14:42 two sons may sit one on your right hand and the other on your 14:46 left in your kingdom? [Okay] But Jesus answered and said, You do 14:52 not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am 14:55 about to drink and be baptized with the baptism I'm about to be 14:58 baptized with? They said to Him, Oh we are able. 15:01 They had no idea that Jesus was going to die. They didn't 15:05 understand that His kingdom is in heaven, not on earth. But 15:10 they said, Oh yeah, we can do that. Now parents this one's for 15:15 you real quick. It's so important that we equip 15:18 our kids to take care of as many of their own problems as they 15:23 can. I know that this mom only wanted what was best for her 15:26 kids but she didn't understand what she was doing. And this is 15:29 a conversation that should have gone on between John and James 15:32 and Jesus. So I want to challenge the parents out there 15:35 to make sure you equipped your kids with problem solving skills 15:38 so that they can deal with those things themselves. Now I'm not 15:42 talking about when they're little, but by the time that 15:44 they're in high school and college there's a lot of things 15:46 that they can handle by themselves that parents don't 15:48 need to help with anymore. It's hard to let go though, I can't 15:51 even imagine. My son's only two. All right I'm preaching to the 15:54 choir on this one. Now the next time that Jesus talked about a 15:57 little child He was walking to Capernaum. He heard his 16:01 disciples and they were whispering about Him. Have you 16:04 ever heard someone whispering about you and you thought maybe 16:07 they were talking about you but you weren't sure. Well Jesus 16:09 knew what was going on because he's Jesus of course. And in 16:13 Mark chapter 9 we're going to pick up this story. Mark chapter 16:16 9 verses 33 and 34. 16:20 With them he came to Capernaum and when he was in the house, He 16:23 asked them, What was it you disputed among yourselves on the 16:26 road? 16:28 Oh He heard us, Oh, Mm-hum, hum. So things got real awkward 16:34 because they really didn't want Him to know what they were 16:38 talking about. Did they? And in Matthew 18:1 it says: 16:42 After that time the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who then 16:45 is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 16:47 That's what they'd been talking about, who was the greatest and 16:50 they didn't really want Him to know that they had been talking 16:53 about that. So in Mark 9 verse 35 it says: 16:57 And He sat them down and He called the 12 and He said to 17:00 them, If anyone desires to be the first he should be the last 17:03 and the servant of all. 17:05 A servant?! How is that person important? That didn't make any 17:08 sense at all. Then he took a little child and set him in the 17:13 midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said 17:16 to them, Whoever receives one of these little children in my name 17:21 receives Me and whoever receives Me receives not Me but Him who 17:27 sent Me. 17:28 Wow! He said you should treat each other like you would treat 17:34 this child and when you treat them with kindness it's like 17:36 you're treating Me with kindness Isn't that powerful? Now I want 17:44 to do a side note right here and realize that sometimes we have 17:47 adults in our lives who may not be the best examples for us. We 17:51 live in a sinful world, don't we? And even I make mistakes 17:54 sometimes and I have to apologize to my son and say I'm 17:57 really sorry buddy. Mama shouldn't have said it that way 17:59 or I'm sorry that my voice got loud. You know? But remember 18:03 that even when the adults in your life make mistakes we can 18:06 always look to Jesus as our ultimate example and He loves 18:10 you. And this is mind boggling parents; He loves your kids even 18:14 more than you do. Wow! Jesus loves you just that much. Now do 18:19 you think the disciples learned the lessons that Jesus used the 18:22 kids to help teach? By the time Jesus left for heaven after His 18:27 death and resurrection they had changed a lot. Well everyone 18:31 except Judas. But they had changed a lot and Jesus at that 18:36 point talked to Peter about taking care of His sheep and His 18:42 lambs. Who do you think those were representative of? That's 18:45 right. They represented sheep who were like grown. Right? 18:50 Those would be the adults and lambs would be His kids. He now 18:54 trusted those disciples. They had learned their lesson. They 18:58 knew that kids and adults are important to Jesus. And He loves 19:02 them all so much. Now they still had more to learn and we all 19:07 always have more to learn, don't we? But they had learned an 19:10 important lesson through Jesus, that Jesus loves kids, Jesus 19:14 loves adults, Jesus loves everyone and we should too. 19:18 Even when it's hard sometimes. It's hard to love people isn't 19:22 it? But Jesus is the one who can put that love inside our hearts 19:26 because Jesus loves us so very much. Isn't that amazing? I hope 19:32 that you feel that love inside your heart today, that you know 19:36 no matter what's happening in the world around you that Jesus 19:40 loves you. No matter what goes wrong at school or at home, that 19:46 Jesus loves you. No matter what people say or no matter how 19:51 people look at you, no matter anything in our lives, Jesus 19:55 loves you. That's the most important thing to remember in 19:58 the whole wide world. That's probably why that song is so 20:02 popular and maybe you think you've heard it one too many 20:06 times but remember the message that's so important: Jesus loves 20:11 you, this we know. I hope that you have a blessed day and I 20:15 look forward to more Bible adventures with you in the 20:18 future. That care and God bless! 20:20 ♪ ♪ 20:33 Have you ever wondered what's going to happen in the future? 20:37 Maybe you've wondered what's going to happen tomorrow or in 20:42 the next month or year? Do you know God wants you to know what 20:49 the future holds. And you may say, Oh I'm just a kid. I can't 20:53 understand prophecies. But that's not true. God wants you 20:58 to understand Bible prophecy. Join us as we go on an exciting 21:02 journey exploring the future. 21:05 ♪ ♪ 21:10 Thank you Miss Michelle for that story. I'm so glad that Jesus 21:13 loves all of us from little all the way to big. And I'm glad 21:21 that He loves me and He loves you. Now it's time to review our 21:25 questions from last week and see if you got the answers right. 21:28 Let's see. 21:30 ♪ ♪ 21:47 Were you listening to the story today? Because it's time for our 21:50 new questions. Question #1: When the children came to see Jesus 21:56 what did the disciples do? 22:03 Question #2: 22:09 What did Jesus say to the disciples when the children 22:14 were there? 22:15 Question #3: Does Jesus love you? Now I know that you know 22:22 that you know that He loves you. And I know that you know that He 22:25 cares about you. So I guess my question for you is a challenge. 22:30 Do you want to give Him your heart today. Say Jesus come into 22:34 my heart. I know that you love me and I know that you care 22:37 about me no matter how old I am, no matter how young I am so 22:42 today do you want to let Jesus into your heart? Now you can 22:47 send your answers to us at answers@startingwithjesus.com 22:51 and on our YouTube we give a shout out to people 22:55 who send in their 22:56 answers. So you won't want to miss that and see a shout out. 22:59 Sometimes we even put them on our Facebook and Instagram 23:01 actually video. So you won't want to miss that and see your 23:05 shout out for answering the questions. 23:07 ♪ ♪ 23:18 It's time now for our memory verse. Let's say it together. 23:20 Matthew 19 verse 14: Jesus said, Let the little children come to 23:26 me, forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. 23:31 ♪ ♪ 23:45 (Uncle Vince) Ah, many years ago my sister and I, a little boy 23:50 and girl, we were laying in the yard after school and we look 23:56 over the fence and we see our neighbor. Now our neighbor was 24:02 about 20 years old at this time and we were nowhere close to 24:06 that age. So as we were playing we noticed the he looked 24:12 slightly different than we did. Now he was just a taller 24:19 individual and we were shorter than him but for some reason we 24:24 thought that was something to make fun. So my sister and I 24:30 spent the next maybe 20 minutes just making fun of him. Now did 24:38 God make him tall, yes or no? Absolutely yes. Was it the right 24:44 thing to do, make fun of our friend, our neighbor? Absolutely 24:49 not. And so we thought it was just fun and it was innocent and 24:55 it was all good. However, we also thought no one was 24:59 listening. But our Nanny was listening and when our parents 25:04 got home our Nanny came to my parents and said, You know what 25:11 little Vince and Viv were doing? And she went right ahead and 25:17 told our parents exactly what we were doing, making fun of our 25:22 neighbor. My parents called us in and asked us if this the 25:28 right thing to do? Is this what Jesus would do? And we said, 25:33 Well no, it's not. And they said Well you know because of what 25:39 you've done now you have to go and ask your neighbor for 25:44 forgiveness. That was the hardest thing to do, going and 25:51 knocking on our neighbor's door, asking him for forgiveness, 25:55 telling him why we should not have been making fun of his 25:58 height. As a result we learned a lesson, that we should never 26:05 make fun of what God has made. I hope you never make that same 26:11 mistake as we did. 26:14 ♪ ♪ 26:16 Thank you so much for joining us today. I'm so glad you got to 26:18 learn more about Jesus's love and how to share that with 26:20 others. Now this summer we have a very exciting program coming. 26:26 We have a VBS kind of (vacation Bible school) camp meeting kind 26:30 of program and we're really, really excited about it. It's 26:34 going to be happening this summer, we haven't decided 26:37 exactly on the date but we want to keep you informed. So make 26:42 sure to check out the newsletter at startingwithjesus.com so that 26:45 you can know when that will be and what the theme is going to 26:49 be and how you can be involved. It's going to be a super fun 26:53 program. Similar to last year's but also different so 26:57 you'll want to check it out. And we have the weekly podcast that 27:03 you don't want to miss out and make sure you have that daily 27:07 time starting with Jesus every single day, right, in that 27:11 morning time. And when you get to have that special time with 27:14 Jesus. So you can learn more about that at 27:17 startingwithjesus.com/seedpod Also, make sure to check out our 27:22 at youtube.com/startingwithjesus and Instagram and Facebook, all 27:27 at startingwithjesus and you can see different things that we do 27:32 on those (Facebook/Instagram: @startingwithjesus) platforms as 27:34 well. So make sure to check us out and let's pray. 27:37 Our Father in heaven, thank you so much for all that you do for 27:40 us. Thank you that you love us when we're little, when we're 27:45 old, when we're everything in between. Thank you so much that 27:49 you care about each one of us. I pray that you will be with 27:52 each child listening today and watching today. I pray that you 27:56 will help them to learn how to start every single thing they do 28:00 so that they can be able to be ready when you come. But not 28:05 only that so that they can share your love with their friends and 28:08 their family. We love you Jesus and we thank you. 28:11 In Jesus' name, Amen. 28:13 Thank you for joining us. Have a blessed week and keep in touch 28:17 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2021-10-27