Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:13 Welcome to Podcast
Speaker 2 00:00:17 2022,
Speaker 1 00:00:20 The Adventure of Christmas.
Speaker 3 00:00:35 Welcome to the Village Kids Advent podcast for December 11th. We are leaping for joy over here in our podcast recording, and we're pretty excited to talk about this subject, aren't we? Yeah. And I have a very special guest with me. Um, will you introduce yourself? What's your first name?
Speaker 2 00:00:50 Bella.
Speaker 3 00:00:51 And Bella. What grade are you in?
Speaker 2 00:00:53 Second grade.
Speaker 3 00:00:55 And Bella, what's your favorite thing about second grade?
Speaker 2 00:00:57 And we're learning cursive. Oh,
Speaker 3 00:00:59 I love cursive. Right? It's so fun. It's like a secret language for so many people. Secret.
Speaker 0 00:01:05 That's
Speaker 3 00:01:06 That's right. And so Bella, I'm gonna take a couple minutes, just ask you some questions so we can get to know our hosts for today. What are you looking forward to most about Christmas?
Speaker 2 00:01:16 Like by opening presents. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And also doing this, um, more celebrating Jesus' birth.
Speaker 3 00:01:25 I know, right.
Speaker 2 00:01:26 On his
Speaker 3 00:01:27 Birthday. What do you like to do to celebrate his birth?
Speaker 2 00:01:29 Well, we, so we love to do some feasts opening presents and mm-hmm. <affirmative> eating a good meal. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And it's really a fun like time. Well, it's really a huge today on Christmas right. And Thanksgiving, because first we, um, have to go to my mom's side, family mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then we go to my, my dad's side family. So
Speaker 3 00:01:56 You get to see everybody. Yes. That's so fun. And if you had to pick one of the foods that you eat at Christmas to only have one, what would you pick? You have to say this one.
Speaker 2 00:02:05 Mashed potatoes.
Speaker 3 00:02:07 Okay. Do you put gravy on them or do you eat them plain?
Speaker 2 00:02:09 I just eat 'em plain.
Speaker 3 00:02:10 All right. I think that sounds good. There's pretty much nothing better than a really nice mashed potato. Do you like it when they're lumpy or smooth?
Speaker 2 00:02:17 Like maybe like bumpy and smoothy and like a mountain shape.
Speaker 3 00:02:21 Oh, I like them in a mountain shape, but I only like them smooth. I'm very picky when it comes to my mashed potatoes. So, I have a question for you. Yes. What is your favorite adventure that you've been on?
Speaker 2 00:02:32 Um, I have one, uh, is it okay if I do two?
Speaker 3 00:02:35 Oh yeah, let's
Speaker 2 00:02:36 Hear about 'em. So one of them is in Oklahoma with my grandma and aunt. Youngest aunt. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. We were, uh, hiking in Oklahoma. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we went on a big hike and I felt like an adventure. My second one, we were in Arizona for my mom's birthday. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we, we walked all the way to top of a mountain <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:02:56 And what was the best part of that mountain. So
Speaker 2 00:02:59 We were climbing up and we're almost at the top and there was a big American flag on it. Oh,
Speaker 3 00:03:04 That sounds so special.
Speaker 2 00:03:05 And we stayed there to see the big villa too. And then we walked down. So
Speaker 3 00:03:09 It sounds like on both of those adventures you enjoyed being with some of the people you love. It sounds like you enjoyed actually like the journey, like the hiking process Yeah. And kinda working towards getting to there. And it sounds like there was a view that was like really like inspiring with American flag and from the top.
Speaker 2 00:03:25 I think that, I think I felt like I sold the whole Arizona. Right.
Speaker 3 00:03:30 That's pretty fun
Speaker 2 00:03:31 To be able to see because it was really huge.
Speaker 3 00:03:33 I know. Imagine what birds feel like they get to see that kind of perspective all the time. The Birdseye perspective.
Speaker 2 00:03:39 They, but they do have teeny tiny brains,
Speaker 3 00:03:42 So they probably don't remember it and really enjoy it as much as we would. Right.
Speaker 2 00:03:46 Yeah. We're humans. Yep. They're animals.
Speaker 3 00:03:48 It's true. God gave us a much bigger brand, didn't he? So what do you like most about going on adventures in general? Like what do you like? Ooh, I like this.
Speaker 2 00:03:56 Uh, like, you go somewhere new, new things. Yes. You find cool sites and you also see new things that you never seen before. That's true. So you're going to, it's kind of like mostly really cool.
Speaker 3 00:04:09 That's true. What do you like least about adventures?
Speaker 2 00:04:12 So if like, if you're going somewhere around like the world, like, like Africa or Australia, based
Speaker 3 00:04:19 On your personal experience.
Speaker 2 00:04:20 Yeah. You don't know where the food, you don't know their language. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you don't know what they do and you don't know anyone. That's
Speaker 3 00:04:29 True. So you're saying it can be a little, the fear of the unknown unknown can be a little intimidating. Yes.
Speaker 2 00:04:34 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:04:35 Do you ever feel like that? Like the first time you went to Arizona, but you're like, what, where am I going?
Speaker 2 00:04:39 Well, my mom like, may maybe a little teeny kind. A little teeny, teeny. But I got cheered up like, like halfway there. Right. Well, I'm like, I, I was like, oh no, I'm gonna get hot.
Speaker 3 00:04:51 <laugh>. Right. It is a desert. Right. But anyone who's been there, you're like, well, this is beautiful. This is so fun. All right, so Bella, tell us, what are we talking about today?
Speaker 2 00:04:59 We're talking about blessed.
Speaker 3 00:05:02 That's right. We're talking about blessed. And so where are we going today?
Speaker 2 00:05:06 We're going to like, um, like Mary's, like ha like pregnant right now. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And Elizabeth's pregnant.
Speaker 3 00:05:14 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And then what happened when they saw each other?
Speaker 2 00:05:16 So they saw each other. And John the Baptist was in Elizabeth's belly. I keep forgetting her name. And when he heard him, like her talking a little bit mm-hmm. <affirmative>, he jumped in in Elizabeth's belly.
Speaker 3 00:05:32 Can you imagine what that would feel
Speaker 2 00:05:33 Like? If I was Elizabeth's, I would felt like whoa.
Speaker 3 00:05:37 Right. And we saw that John the Baptist, he actually, God gave him the ability even when he was in his tummy, to know that the presence of Jesus was near to him. Right. And he like responded. And Elizabeth got to feel that. Mary got to see that. That must have just been the craziest thing.
Speaker 2 00:05:54 If I was John, I would've felt like awesome <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:05:57 That's right.
Speaker 2 00:05:58 But I'm a girl
Speaker 3 00:05:59 <laugh>, so there we are. Um, okay. Quick question for you. Yes. Does anything make you leap for joy? Kind of like punch the air and be like, yeah.
Speaker 2 00:06:08 Like something exciting is happening. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like what? Tomorrow is like very Halloween. I'm so excited.
Speaker 3 00:06:15 That's
Speaker 2 00:06:16 Right. I'm also excited when it's my birthday because we are, I get to see my friends mm-hmm. <affirmative> and they're saying like, think that sometimes I'm special Thanksgiving's also happy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> because when I like thankful. And also when I went to my mom's side, my oldest aunt, auntie Laura mm-hmm. <affirmative>, she, she gave us like rose, kit kitty, rose. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we all say what we're thankful about with each cousin. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:06:43 <affirmative>. And so do you like listening to their answers?
Speaker 2 00:06:46 Yes. Yeah. And then we do cheers.
Speaker 3 00:06:48 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And what are you thankful for this year?
Speaker 2 00:06:51 I'm thankful for, um, my family, my church, and my school.
Speaker 3 00:06:56 That's a lot to be thankful for, don't you think?
Speaker 2 00:06:58 Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:07:00 And so when we're really thankful for something, that's how we kind of see that we're blessed. Right? And you're like, yeah, like something is happening in my life that is worth being happy and celebrating and I'm being thankful for this.
Speaker 2 00:07:12 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:07:13 So today we see that Jesus, when he was near them, made people leap for joy even before they were born, which is pretty beautiful. Well, yeah, cuz John the Baptist was in Elizabeth's tummy, right?
Speaker 2 00:07:22 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.
Speaker 3 00:07:23 I get it. Right. So when he was near them, John was like, woo. And he lept in her belly.
Speaker 2 00:07:29 Don't even think about presence right now. Truth.
Speaker 3 00:07:32 Truth. And so how do you think we should feel when we know that Jesus is near us?
Speaker 2 00:07:37 Um, so we could feel like I love it. Like you are like happy that he's by us. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Or if you're like scared of the dark eye sometimes and like
Speaker 3 00:07:49 Scared. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So then what do you think though? Sometimes
Speaker 2 00:07:51 I like think that I'm like, the angels are right here and Jesus is standing like right in front of me.
Speaker 3 00:07:57 And so can anything bad happen to you while he's standing right in front of you?
Speaker 2 00:08:01 No.
Speaker 3 00:08:02 Are you alone?
Speaker 2 00:08:03 I'm not right. We're not alone.
Speaker 3 00:08:05 Nope. Ever.
Speaker 2 00:08:07 No, we're never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever alone.
Speaker 3 00:08:12 Amen sister. And so we gotta remember, we're not alone. He's near us. And when he's near us, there's something in his presence that can cause us to be able to leap and to feel joy and to feel blessed. So where are we in the Bible? Where are we finding this story?
Speaker 2 00:08:26 It's, I know it's like somewhere in Luke, but I don't know what's the like,
Speaker 3 00:08:30 So in a minute we're gonna read Luke chapter one, verse 39 through 45. And so far where we are at is that the angel Gabriel has told Mary that her elderly relative Elizabeth was having a baby too. I I bet she's like a,
Speaker 2 00:08:45 Like 16.
Speaker 3 00:08:46 Well, Mary is right, but her, I don't actually know how old Elizabeth was, but she was much older to the point where Mary was like, like 40,
Speaker 2 00:08:53 I think 49 or 50.
Speaker 3 00:08:55 Almost 40 old. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. It
Speaker 2 00:08:57 Must be okay.
Speaker 3 00:08:58 So as soon as the angel left, Mary headed off on the long journey to go see Elizabeth. Right. She's gonna go find her. So we have to look out for what we're gonna read in this story for who is happy in this story.
Speaker 2 00:09:09 Okay.
Speaker 3 00:09:10 All right.
Speaker 2 00:09:11 Luke won. Mary got up and went quickly to the tone in the mountains of Judea. She went to Zacharia's house and and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth and Mary greeted upon the baby, inside Elizabeth jumped, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy, holy Spirit. She cried out in a loud voice, God blessed you more than any other woman and God is blessed this baby, which you'll give birth to two. You are the mother of the Lord of my Lord. And you will have to come with to me. Why? Why has something so oh, good happened to you when I heard your voice, the baby inside of, of me jumped with joy. You are blessed because you believed what the Lord said to you would really happen.
Speaker 3 00:10:33 So can you see why Elizabeth and the baby in her tummy were so happy? What does that scripture say?
Speaker 2 00:10:39 So like, they were happy because Jesus was in Mary's belly, but Mary was also happy. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, what Elizabeth was telling her was she was like, wow. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:10:53 <affirmative>, he says, you're blessed because you believe what the Lord would say would happened to you and you're blessed because you are carrying my Lord. And so that has to be like a really good, like if you've been wanting a savior in this whole time, you've just been like, Lord, are you gonna save us? And now that you see that he is starting this part of the story that has to be like pretty. What? What, what do you think you would feel?
Speaker 2 00:11:13 Well, as a little girl, I, I like toddler one. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. I didn't, I didn't, I thought that Jesus was fake, but now he's actually real.
Speaker 3 00:11:23 Right? That's a big difference. Huh? What do you think it felt like for them to be waiting for a savior? And now, now he's like coming, he's in her tummy. Like they've been waiting like for 400 years the Bible was silent. Right. And now we're starting to finally see that God is like moving the story forward.
Speaker 2 00:11:40 So in the Old Testament that we had no savior, just God and characters that were leading Israelites and and stuff. But then, then the news, TIFF testament came and Jesus is now here. So we took off with lots of stories coming, and then soon he will like die on the cross. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. That's why he came. That's
Speaker 3 00:12:06 Exactly right.
Speaker 2 00:12:07 Just like that. He'll come back to life. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 3 00:12:10 Mm-hmm <affirmative>. He'll come back into our stories. And so where is he right now? In this time period before he died on the cross and he ascended into heaven. And where is he right now?
Speaker 2 00:12:17 He's right now, like while he was still a baby, right now Mary's pregnant. So he, she, he is in Mary's Mary's tummy. Tummy
Speaker 3 00:12:28 In our lives right now though. Where is he? Because now we know that he came, he was a baby. He lived a perfect life. He was killed on the cross buried Rose again after
Speaker 2 00:12:37 40 days
Speaker 3 00:12:39 Ascended into heaven. And where is he now? Like as you and I are talking on this podcast, where's Jesus now
Speaker 2 00:12:45 In my heart and yours and then mm-hmm. <affirmative> more. Everyone who believes in might have Jesus in your heart. That's a, a few people don't believe in him.
Speaker 3 00:12:55 Right. That's true. They don't have him living in their heart. Right? Yeah. But he's still up in heaven seated at the right hand of God. But yet he's at the same time he's with us here. And so we have this opportunity to be able to leap for joy because he's near us too. Right? Like when he lives in our heart, when he's near us, we can be happy about that.
Speaker 2 00:13:13 Yeah.
Speaker 3 00:13:14 Because we see that there's a bunch of happy people in this story, right? Because they're feeling blessed. We can see why Elizabeth was happy. We can see why Mary was happy and we all wanna be happy. Don't you think
Speaker 2 00:13:26 We have? Well, sometimes we are happy and sometimes we're not. That's true. So whatever you feel you're happy. If whatever else feel all mad, sad, confused,
Speaker 3 00:13:37 All sorts of options,
Speaker 2 00:13:39 Hundreds and hundreds.
Speaker 3 00:13:41 But just cuz we have hundreds and hundreds of emotions, does that mean that God went anywhere?
Speaker 2 00:13:46 He's still with us. That's right. Like he's with us right now. That's exactly right. Watching us with the podcast. That's right. I think he's like right next to us, like in the middle right
Speaker 3 00:13:55 Here. And that is fantastic. The Ella that is right here, right? Like, he's like, no, I'm gonna give you the words to say I'm actually taking care of this entire situation and I'm delighting in listening to you just like process the things that you've learned so well about who Jesus is and about his story and about how he got here. So let's talk about this. We all want to be happy and blessed is that Bible word right. That God gives us for this deep, deep, deep happiness that last and last and last like inside of our soul. And so what did Mary do that made her blessed?
Speaker 2 00:14:28 Um, well Gabriel came, well she was like busy. I don't know, whatever she was doing, she was working mm-hmm. <affirmative>. He told her that she was gonna have a baby and it's kind of like blessing her with the baby. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Well usually we actually pray for a baby when you have a husband with no baby. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And like she wasn't married yet. Right?
Speaker 3 00:14:52 So she wasn't even expecting this, was she?
Speaker 2 00:14:54 She didn't even know what's gonna happen. But she believed the, what the angel said,
Speaker 3 00:15:01 Which is pretty impressive, right? Because if when you were 16 someone came to you and said you were gonna have a baby, don't you think you'd feel a little confused?
Speaker 2 00:15:09 Yeah. I'm like, what? I'm 16. What's the matter? I have a license right now. <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:15:14 That's exactly right. And so in that, um, I want you to think about this. What do you feel like sometimes you just hope you get more of? Or what does your family want more of? What do we think is gonna make us happy?
Speaker 2 00:15:27 Um, like if we obey the first time and stuff.
Speaker 3 00:15:30 Okay, but when you're like sad or when you're frustrated, do you ever tend to think like, oh, I've only had this, this would make me more happy.
Speaker 2 00:15:37 Um, I maybe said, if I only had a friend right here, I would feel better. But actually, and then I noticed that, you know what, who is here?
Speaker 3 00:15:48 Let's review it again. Who is it?
Speaker 2 00:15:51 G o d God or maybe j e s u S. Maybe g s s. They're both, they are, they they are three and one.
Speaker 3 00:16:02 That's right. And so their presence is with us. Right. And God says that he's, when Jesus went up to heaven, he said he'd send us the comforter. Right. He'd send us the Holy Spirit who would be with us and he would be able to fill us and he would help us to grow. Right. He would help us to understand how to do with our emotions and what to do with
Speaker 2 00:16:18 That. Okay. But just like that a few days later, like maybe a few years, I don't know mm-hmm. <affirmative>, whatever it was. Poof. The Holy Spirit came. That's
Speaker 3 00:16:29 Exactly right.
Speaker 2 00:16:29 Poof. But only for the people that believe in him. Good
Speaker 3 00:16:34 Job Bella. Yep. Because when you put your trust and your belief in Jesus that he's gonna save you, you give him your sins and you're like, listen, I can't go on carrying my sins. They're too heavy and too ugly. I need a savior. And he comes into our stories, he takes our sins and it said, he makes us right with God. Right. So we can go to heaven. And part of that after that is that he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit. What does the Holy Spirit do for us? What's his role?
Speaker 2 00:16:59 Um, it helps us, um, like more about this, um, maybe kind of like worshiping God a little
Speaker 3 00:17:06 Bit. Yeah. Yeah. He like directs us, right? He shows us how to worship God, how to pray. He tells us how we can grow. He gives us all sorts of gentleness and all these different fruits. Like patience,
Speaker 2 00:17:20 Love. Oh yeah. I know the fruits of the spirit. All right. Fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, faithfulness, goodness. Um,
Speaker 3 00:17:29 Gentleness,
Speaker 2 00:17:30 Gentleness, self control. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 3 00:17:33 And do you think that those are things that people in the world need more of?
Speaker 2 00:17:36 Yes. Some people like sinners might need to get it soon.
Speaker 3 00:17:41 Yeah. Yeah. And some sinners might need to get themselves some Holy Spirit cuz I think you're right. We could
Speaker 2 00:17:45 All use some of it. Or some people around the world need help with learning more about God. That's right. Lots of people are just worshiping idols.
Speaker 3 00:17:53 And does that ever go well for them?
Speaker 2 00:17:55 Um, if they think so, but if I decided to get in, well I think I will worship in this church. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:18:03 <affirmative>
Speaker 2 00:18:03 Because we're, we don't have no idols. We're just talking to something. I don't know why we're talking to and I don't, I have no idea why we can't see him.
Speaker 3 00:18:11 That's right. We, we try very hard not to have idols around here, right? Yes. Sometimes our heart makes idols though and we're like, oh, I think this chocolate will be my idol and I really want it really bad cuz it's gonna make me feel better and I love the way it tastes. Or I want candy and sometimes I like can make that into a small little idol. Right? And you're like, anything that we look to make us feel blessed, anything that we look to, to make us feel happy, that can be tricky sometimes cuz sometimes our hearts can trick us. But you're right, the end of the answer is, Jesus is the only thing that can make us feel true happiness. It's gonna last for a long time. And so with that Bella, I'm wondering, can you close us in prayer for today?
Speaker 2 00:18:45 Okay. Dear Jesus, thank you for this great podcast learning about bless and talking more about you and helping us do more than this, um, day that we at this church, we get more of this Bible is in your word that I pray that this podcast will never, never get away from members. We always have this membered. Amen.
Speaker 3 00:19:19 Amen. And can you close our podcast today by wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 00:19:23 I wish you Merry Christmas, no present dreaming.
Speaker 3 00:19:28 See you again tomorrow.
