Participants:
Series Code: SWJ
Program Code: SWJ000061S
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00:25 (Miss Ruthie) Hello boys and girls. Welcome back to Starting
00:29 with Jesus where I hope you are starting everything you do with 00:32 Jesus. Now our program today is going to be a little bit more 00:35 serious because we're in the last few hours before Jesus's 00:43 death and it's kind of a serious story. It's a thought provoking 00:48 story. It's something we should be thinking about all the time. 00:52 The thought of what Jesus did for us and how much He loved us 00:58 and what He went through that we could be saved. Now before we do 01:06 that let's praise Jesus for what He's done for us with some 01:10 singing. 01:11 ♪ ♪ 02:21 ♪ ♪ 03:42 ♪ ♪ 03:46 (Miss Milca) Hello boys and girls and welcome to another 03:48 page in God's great book of nature. Help me play a little 03:50 guessing game today. I'll give you a clue or two or three and 03:55 you guess to see which fruits I'm talking about. Let's dive 03:59 right in. It's red. It grows in a strawberry patch. What is it? 04:03 Well strawberries of course. They grow in a strawberry patch. 04:08 Now that was a freebie, a practice run so we would all get 04:13 it right. But here's a real one. Are you ready? To eat this one 04:19 you have to peel the peel. But be careful. It might be mushy 04:25 inside. I hear monkeys love this fruit. What is it? I hope you 04:32 said Banana. You go. That's two for two. Are you ready for the 04:36 next one. This fruit is prickly on the outside and God gave it 04:43 a royal crown and did you know that it can take up to three 04:46 years to grow one of these. Huh! Three years is a long time. What 04:51 is it? If you guessed pineapple you've got it. Awesome job so 04:58 far. Now how about I make it just a little tougher for you. 05:01 The next fruit is found in a few stories of the Bible. See if you 05:05 can guess it correctly. Here we go. It is small and some have 05:11 seeds and some do not. They're called seedless when they have 05:15 no seeds. This fruit comes in a bunch or a cluster and it grows 05:20 in a vineyard. What is it? That's right. Grapes. All right. 05:27 let's see how you do on this last one. Ready, ready? Here we 05:31 go. This one is brown and hairy. That's right, I said brown and 05:37 hairy. But on the inside it's green and juicy. It's considered 05:43 a tropical fruit. That means it grows in a place that's hot year 05:45 round because it's near the equator. What is it? A kiwi. 05:52 Yummy. Do you know that I eat the peel and all. Oh thank you 05:57 God. I love this fruit. You did a great job playing that game. 06:03 That was lots of fun. Here's a bonus question for you. All 06:08 those fruits are designed by God and all those fruits are found 06:13 in nature. How do they remind us of God's character? Hmm. 06:18 That's a good question. How do those fruits remind us of God's 06:23 character. Hmm. Some of you are smiling because you know the 06:31 answer. You've read Galatians 5:22 and 23, haven't you. Let's 06:35 read it together. 06:45 These verses talk about fruits but not the fruits we eat but 06:50 the fruits of the Spirit, the character qualities we start to 06:53 show once the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and starts 06:55 changing us. Our characters become more like God's and less 06:59 like our own. I know my character is the only thing that 07:01 I'm going to take to heaven so I want the Holy Spirit to come in 07:04 and start changing that character today. Because I want 07:06 a character that will make God smile. Don't you want the same 07:10 things? I hope that you do. Until next time boys and girls 07:13 Adios. 07:15 ♪ ♪ 07:20 (Miss Michelle) Hey everybody, we're still on Thursday night. 07:23 And we're still in the upper room with Jesus and now His 12 07:28 disciples. Do you remember who left? That's right. Judas. 07:32 we go any further in this very somber part of our story I'd 07:36 like to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to be with us. 07:38 Dear heavenly Father. We want to praise you and thank you for 07:43 your love and your ultimate sacrifice that you make for us. 07:45 Please be with us as we go through today to the garden and 07:50 we watch and see what happened. Lord, I pray your Holy Spirit 07:52 would touch our hearts and our lives for you. In your name we 07:55 pray. Amen. 07:57 Now hundreds of years before the Passover ceremony was started. 08:02 Right? And this ceremony reminded the people of God's Son 08:06 soon coming as the sacrificial lamb. Last week we learned about 08:10 the new ceremony that Jesus started; Communion with the foot 08:14 washing, the grape juice and the bread. Right? That symbolized 08:19 how we should live and Jesus's and God's sacrifice for us. As 08:27 this meal came to a close the disciples and Jesus went out 08:31 with a hymn. That was one thing in my home church when I was 08:34 growing up and I loved that. Singing a hymn as we went out 08:36 from communion. They went out. On the way to the Mount of 08:40 Olives Jesus gave them a warning Let's see what that warning is. 08:44 In Mark chapter 14 verse 26, 27. He's writing about singing a 08:52 hymn and going out. Twenty-seven: 08:53 And Jesus said to them, All of you will be made to stumble 08:56 because of me this night. For it is written, I will strike the 09:00 shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. But after I have 09:03 been raised I will go before you to Galilee. 09:06 And they were just all befuddled because they were fixated on the 09:10 first part of that, made to stumble because of me this night 09:13 What is happening? And, strike the shepherd and the sheep will 09:17 be scattered. What? What is He talking about. They totally 09:21 didn't even the part about after I have been raised I will go 09:23 before you to Galilee. They were just really confused about the 09:26 first part there. And this shocks them. And Peter, as 09:31 always, Oh dear old Peter, he always had something to say 09:34 didn't he? And in verse 29 he asserted himself and said: If 09:41 all are made to stumble yet I will not be. And Jesus said to 09:44 him, Assuredly I say to you that today, even this very night, 09:48 before the rooster crows twice [Cock-a-doodle do, cock-a-doodle 09:53 do] you will deny me [not one two but] three times. But He 09:59 spoke most vehemently, If I have to die with you, Peter said, I 10:04 will not deny you. And they all said likewise. 10:11 Hmm. You want to remember that because here in today's story 10:18 and the stories to follow Jesus's prophecy. Well what do 10:22 you think? I'll let you draw your own conclusion. They 10:25 reached the Garden of Gethsemane It was on the western slope on 10:28 the Mount of Olives. And as they walked, as they were almost 10:32 there, they were walking there they saw a grape vine. And Jesus 10:35 always sharing lessons of wisdom with them to the very end says 10:39 something about the grapevine. In John 15, let's flip over 10:45 there. John 15 verse 5: 10:48 He said to them, I am the vine and you are the branches. He who 10:52 abides in me [or stays in me] and I in him bears much fruit. 10:56 For without Me you can do nothing. But if anyone does not 11:01 abide in me, he is cast out as a branch that is withered and they 11:06 gather them and throw them in the fire and they are burned. 11:08 What a valuable lesson. We must depend on Jesus just like a 11:13 branch depends on the big vine for the nutrients to get there. 11:18 Right? And when we do that we will bear fruit for Jesus. 11:22 Now they reached the garden of Gethsemane and the disciples, it 11:26 was a familiar place for them because they had actually slept 11:29 there were a few nights while Jesus had prayed in the past. But this 11:34 time it felt really different. It was like an extra darkness 11:38 than the darkness of night there Jesus had changed. It was like 11:43 He was carrying something heavy. But when they looked He wasn't 11:46 carrying anything physically. He staggered. He could hardly walk. 11:51 He was making groaning noises. And He almost fell a couple of 11:56 times if they hadn't held Him up and He had this overwhelming 11:59 spirit of sadness come over Him. This perplexed the disciples and 12:05 as He left the disciples at the entrance of the garden He took 12:08 three disciples, Peter, James and John, into the garden with 12:12 Him. Matthew tells us what happens next. Matthew 26. 12:18 I said the word somber earlier. Do you know what somber means? 12:22 It means really serious. Right? And really, I guess, sad would 12:28 be another synonym for somber. Matthew 26 verses 36 and 37: 12:35 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and He 12:39 said to His disciples, sit here while I go and pray over there. 12:42 And He took with him Peter and two of the sons of Zebedee, 12:46 James and John. And He began to be sorrowful and deeply 12:49 distressed. He'd asked all his disciples one simple request. 12:53 Sit here while I go and pray over there. [Right?] Then He 13:00 said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to 13:02 death. Stay here and watch with me. 13:04 Pray with me, watch with me. He needed is friends now more than 13:11 ever. Mark adds in Mark 14 verse 35: 13:15 He went a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed 13:19 that if it were possible the hour might pass from Him. 13:24 Have you ever felt guilty before I know I have. Guilt is a 13:31 feeling when you've done something wrong and you know it 13:34 and maybe you haven't admitted it yet. Now there's a lot of 13:38 reasons why humans should feel guilty. Right? We make a lot of 13:40 mistakes on a regular basis. At least I'm speaking for myself. 13:44 But Jesus was experiencing a different kind of guilt than 13:48 anyone has ever experienced or will ever experience. Jesus, the 13:53 only, only ever sinless human being was now carrying all of my 13:58 guilt, all of your guilt, all of the guilt of everyone who has 14:02 ever lived and ever will live and all of their sins as well so 14:06 not just the wrongs that they've done but the feeling of guilt 14:09 that you get from those sins. He was feeling all of that 14:14 pressing down on His heart and soul. In Mark 14 verse 33 and 34 14:21 it says: And He took Peter, James and John with Him and He 14:27 began to be troubled and deeply distressed. He said to them, 14:29 My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even unto death. Stay here and 14:32 watch. 14:33 He asked them again, stay there and watch. What Jesus went 14:35 through that night, we will never completely understand. 14:38 The feeling of separation from His Father that is created by 14:42 sin and guilt; the wages of sin are death. He was feeling that 14:46 separation of death even thought He hadn't actually experienced 14:49 it yet. And it would have killed anyone else. Had not God given 14:55 Him extra strength He wouldn't have survived this spiritual and 15:00 emotional torture that he was going through. For hundreds of 15:05 years lambs had been sacrificed and those lambs represented 15:09 Jesus. They represented what he was going to go through in 15:12 the next day. And back then the people would confess their sins 15:17 upon the head of the lamb and then that lamb would take on 15:21 their sin and then would be sacrificed and would die their 15:26 death that they deserved. Now all the sins were placed on 15:30 Jesus just like He is the sacrificial lamb, the Lamb of 15:34 God. Jesus, the human, once again, with no sin of His own, 15:39 He took our sins on Him. The wages of sin is death. Our wages 15:43 We deserve death and yet He took that upon Himself. He felt 15:48 totally alone and cut off from God. He was going to be killed 15:52 in our place. Mark continues and says: 15:57 He went a little farther and fell on the ground and prayed 15:59 that it were possible that it might pass [as we have said 16:02 before] and He said, Aba, Father All things are possible for you. 16:06 Please take this cup from me. Nevertheless not what I will but 16:11 your will be done. 16:14 Three times Jesus asked his disciples to watch and pray with 16:18 Him and three times He went back to find them sleeping. He said, 16:24 The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. They could hardly 16:29 recognize Jesus as He came back the third time. His whole 16:36 demeanor had changed and it actually says there was blood 16:41 coming from the pores. The pores are little holes in your skin 16:43 where sweat would normally come out of, but blood was coming out 16:47 and was coming down His face. And they were so confused. What 16:52 was Jesus going through. And yet they couldn't stay up and pray 16:54 with Him. Hmm. Satan during this time was also tempting Jesus to 16:59 give up. I don't know if we can even half or quarter imagine 17:03 what Jesus was going through during this time. And of course 17:05 Satan was right there with his angels trying to push Jesus over 17:09 the brink, trying to push Him past His limits. At this point 17:13 Jesus could have chosen to give up the mission and to change His 17:19 mind and to not save us and to not die for us. He could desert 17:24 the mission. He could walk away. He didn't deserve to die. The 17:27 sins and the guilt He felt were not His own. He longed for a 17:32 different way to save us. He longed for another way and 17:35 that's why He asked God, any other way, can you take this cup 17:41 away from me. When He came the third time and found them 17:46 sleeping, He said to Peter, Simon, why are you sleeping? 17:48 Could you not watch one hour? Could you not? Are you still 17:53 resting and sleeping. It is enough. The hour has come. 17:55 Behold the Son of man is being betrayed into the hands of 17:58 sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. 18:03 Very soon the betrayer would be coming. Do you know who that was 18:08 Before the angry mob met them there at the garden of 18:12 Gethsemane though, God did send His angel. In Luke 22 verse 43 18:20 it says: Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven strengthening 18:25 Him and being in agony He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat 18:29 became like great drops of blood falling the ground. When He rose 18:31 up from His pray and had come to his disciples, he found them 18:34 sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, Why were you 18:38 sleeping? Rise and pray lest you enter into temptation. 18:43 Do you hear that now? It sounds like there's a crowd coming this 18:47 way. Jesus heard it too and so did His disciples. Jesus knew 18:51 that Judas was on the way with his posse, probably some 18:57 soldiers and the Jewish leaders to come and arrest Jesus. The 19:03 disciples were kind of like in a daze, you know like when you 19:05 just wake up and they didn't understand exactly what was 19:08 happening. But Jesus had come to the decision point and you know 19:15 what He chose? He chose you. He chose me. He chose anyone in 19:22 the world who is willing to accept His gift. His life in 19:27 exchange for ours. Wow! Jesus heard the betrayer and the crowd 19:35 coming to get Him and He could have run. He could have had the 19:40 disciples fight. He could have done any of those things and 19:42 yet He chose us. Powerful isn't it? Jesus asked us to continue 19:49 to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation as well. 19:52 He wants us to be there and He longs for us to accept His 19:57 sacrifice in place of our own. What an amazing Savior! He loves 20:05 you so much and I love Him too. Thanks for listening and we'll 20:10 continue our story again next week. 20:13 ♪ ♪ 20:18 Thank you, so much, Miss Michelle for that Bible story. 20:20 And now we actually have some answers to last week's questions 20:25 So let's look at those and I believe we have some shout outs 20:29 on our website at startingwithjesus.com 20:31 for those of you who sent in your answers to your questions. 20:35 ♪ ♪ 21:01 It's time now for our new questions. Are you ready? 21:05 Question #1: While Jesus was praying in the garden of 21:10 Gethsemane and pouring His heart out to God, what were the 21:14 disciples doing? While Jesus was praying in the garden what were 21:19 the disciples doing? Question #2: 21:35 Question #3: 21:41 He was very close to death and Miss Michelle told us the reason 21:45 There was a reason why He didn't die in the garden. 21:52 You can send your answer to us at: 21:56 answers@startingwithjesus.com And even if you don't send in 21:59 your answers, I hope you're thinking about these questions 22:02 and you're answering them at home or in your mind or wherever 22:05 you are that you're answering these questions so that you can 22:09 have an answer for somebody who asks you these questions someday 22:13 So you can send your answer to answers@startingwithjesus.com 22:17 ♪ ♪ 22:22 Our memory verse today is: Matthew 26:41 22:29 ♪ ♪ 23:37 ♪ ♪ 23:41 Hi friends. This is Moe. Today I want to tell you a story about 23:46 crossing the river. You know we grew up in the mission field in 23:51 Central Africa and during those times there were lots of wars. 23:55 One of the wars that we were in we had to escape and the only 23:59 to escape was to go through the river. But as we approached that 24:06 river, there you would have to go into a little canoe and 24:09 somebody that knew how to navigate through that river 24:13 would be the one to guide you. But you had to pay some monies. 24:17 And before we decided to cross we agreed on some monies that we 24:22 were going to pay for this person to take us across. But as 24:26 we were going across the river, the Congo river, the man who was 24:32 guiding us, the pilot, turned around and he says, Guys, I want 24:36 more money. The money that we agreed upon is too little. And 24:40 if you don't pay me this money right now, I'm going to leave 24:43 you here and, guess what? In that river they had crocodiles. 24:48 Now leaving us there we knew what that meant. But remember my 24:53 friends, whenever you're in danger you can always go to 24:57 Jesus. So we prayed. We said, Lord, we're escaping from a war 25:01 already, we've been through a lot. Please work through the 25:06 heart of this man and help him to get us to the other side. 25:10 Oh just at that moment this man, he was not nice, and it seemed 25:17 at first as if our prayers were not being answered because he 25:20 demanded even more money from us But we told him, we said no, we 25:27 don't have that money and if you leave us in that river you're 25:31 going to have to answer to God. Oh the man started to tremble 25:36 because he realized that we serve a God. And at that moment 25:41 he went quiet and he started to row as fast as he could and 25:45 guide us through the river all the way to the other side. 25:49 I tell you what my friends, when you serve Jesus who can be 25:55 against you. Today we are alive because of a simple prayer and 26:00 we asked Jesus for help. So I want to invite you this week my 26:04 friends, Call upon Jesus when you need him and 26:08 he will answer your 26:11 prayers. God loves you and he longs to take care of you. 26:16 Have a wonderful week and a wonderful Sabbath. 26:20 ♪ ♪ 26:24 I'm so glad you joined us today. And I'm so glad that Jesus has 26:29 given His life for us. Now we have more programs that are 26:35 going on at startingwithjesus.com 26:38 and you can check out all the different programs there. 26:40 We have a daily devotional, we have a storytime, we have an 26:45 upcoming VBS program, On guard night and day and we have a 26:51 storytime that we had over December and January where we 26:56 were reading the story of Jesus. We also have some upcoming 26:59 things that are going to be very exciting so you don't want to 27:02 miss out on those. If you go to our website at 27:04 startingwithjesus.com you can find all sorts of different 27:08 things. You can find activities and coloring pages and all sorts 27:11 of different things. So make sure to check it out at 27:14 startingwithjesus.com. Let's pray together. 27:16 Our Father in heaven, thank you so much that you poured out your 27:23 life for us, that you were thinking of us when you were in 27:27 that garden praying. You were praying for us. That when you 27:32 were almost on the brink of death your thoughts were of us. 27:37 We thank you that your love is so deep and so broad, 27:44 unimaginable. Help us to have that kind of love for other 27:49 people. Help us to have that love and show that love to those 27:54 around us, that's so broad, so deep that when people look at us 28:00 they say I want to get to know that person because they love 28:05 me. Jesus, thank you. We love you so much. We pray this in 28:11 your name, Amen. 28:13 Thank you so much for watching. Have a blessed week, and 28:15 keep in touch. 28:17 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2022-01-03