Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:10 Going to the The's,
Speaker 1 00:00:13 Welcome to the Village Kids and the podcast 2022, the Adventure of Christmas.
Speaker 2 00:00:35 Welcome back to the Village Kids Advent podcast. We are so excited that you are joining us every day and we hope that you guys are having a fantastic Saturday today. And so before we get started, I'm gonna introduce our guests for you today we're gonna be talking about getting ready, one to go before the Lord. We jump into what that is. Um, but before we get started, special guests, what is your first name? Ireland And Ireland. What grade are you in?
Speaker 1 00:01:01 Second.
Speaker 2 00:01:02 And what is your favorite thing about second grade?
Speaker 1 00:01:05 That I get to learn new things that I didn't know before in first grade.
Speaker 2 00:01:10 Can you gimme anything that sticks out right away in your mind where you're like that I've gotten to learn that?
Speaker 1 00:01:15 Um, learning about how to take care of other people to make, give them a medicine. Mm.
Speaker 2 00:01:24 Okay. Love it. And so Ireland, what are you most looking forward to about Christmas this year?
Speaker 1 00:01:30 Getting to see my family and getting to see my cousins.
Speaker 2 00:01:34 What do you like to do with your cousins?
Speaker 1 00:01:37 We like to go downstairs and play like soccer, like mm-hmm. <affirmative> fun like tag. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and other fun games and like hide and
Speaker 2 00:01:46 See. So it sounds like you guys are good at like burning up energy together, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. You're like, let's play it. Let's do it all. So we're talking a lot this um, Christmas season about adventures and kind of this adventure of Christmas. Can you tell me Ireland, what is one of your favorite adventures that you've been on?
Speaker 1 00:02:04 We got to go to Far Oaks Farm. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And we got to see a lot of cows and pigs and animals.
Speaker 2 00:02:10 I've always wanted to go there. So it's a pretty fun place. Yeah. Yeah. Did you get to drink any chocolate milk?
Speaker 1 00:02:16 Uh, for breakfast.
Speaker 2 00:02:18 Oh, there you go. Um, that sounds like a very fun adventure. And so when you go on these kinds of adventures, whether it's that one or any of them, what do you most like about going on? Adventures
Speaker 1 00:02:29 To get to stay there for like a week or three days. And also getting to like, sleep there and wake up and we get like a big breakfast because most hotels are have mm-hmm. <affirmative> a lot of like breakfasts. So they have a big and stuff for you.
Speaker 2 00:02:43 Ooh. Yes. So you enjoy kind of like the experience of not having to move around all the time. You get to stay at one place, just get to enjoy that, get to enjoy these breakfasts. So kinda having like a relaxing time it sounds like. So when you go on these kind of adventures, what do you like the least? Like, you're like, whoa, adventures. They're just hard because, ugh. What, what are you
Speaker 1 00:03:03 Thinking? When my parents tell me something that we're gonna do that makes me super excited. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and then something happens and then we can't do it anymore.
Speaker 2 00:03:13 Yes. Disappointment and a change of plans. That's, that would probably be mine. Yep. That is, that's sad. But your heart was all like fluttering because it was like Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then it's like, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no. That is sad. So here's what we're talking about today. We are gonna be talking about how the angel promised Zacharia and Elizabeth a special son who would grow up to get the people ready for Jesus. Do you remember that son's name?
Speaker 1 00:03:43 John?
Speaker 2 00:03:44 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Very good. Is that a familiar name to you? Have you ever heard of that name for somebody? <laugh>? Yeah. Cause he got a big smile. That's true. It is a familiar name. Right? And he was gonna have a special job. And so I have a quick question for you. Can you think of a couple different ways that your family gets ready for Christmas? Like what do you guys do to prepare for Christmas?
Speaker 1 00:04:06 We get to buy a lot of food for our family cuz when they come over, we have a lot of guests at our house. Yep. And also like decorating the tree and make sure mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Cause our family is like a big, um, one for Christmas. So we like do a lot of big things. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and we like get to decorate the tree and put out stuff outside. Stuff outside. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:04:30 <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it's a lot of preparation, right? You're like, so it sounds like you gotta get the house ready. You have to have food so that everyone doesn't get hangry when they come over to your house for Christmas celebrations. Right. And all these different ways of like preparing. Um, I think in today's story we're gonna find out how God got the people ready for that first Christmas. And so they had to prepare too. And so most of us today, were in a season of preparing, getting things ready, ready to celebrate, and we are starting our celebrations. Right? But it takes some time and effort. All right. So Ireland, tell me where are we in the Bible as we're getting ready? Tell who are we talking about today?
Speaker 1 00:05:07 Zachary and Elizabeth.
Speaker 2 00:05:09 Tell me about them. What were they doing? What was this day like? When we come to read about them today, what were they doing that day?
Speaker 1 00:05:15 Praying. So they could have a child.
Speaker 2 00:05:18 Mm-hmm. <affirmative> because they didn't have any children. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> not yet. Right? They're good at God's gonna give them one, but right now they have no children. And how do you think that made them feel?
Speaker 1 00:05:26 Kind of sad.
Speaker 2 00:05:27 Yeah. And Zacharia, his job was something that we call a priest. And so when we come into the story today, cuz were they old or were they young? Old? When we come into the story today, you're exactly right. We see that they have been serving God faithfully and he's about to step into the heart of God's temple for the only time in his life to have this responsibility. And so although he's old and godly and he is kind of hurting from having no children, it's a big day for him. Him. And so we're gonna look out in the passage that you're gonna read for us, that God had a job for the baby. He was gonna tell them that they were gonna have, right? And so we're gonna go ahead and read Luke chapter one verses 11 through 17,
Speaker 1 00:06:11 Then on the right side of incense table. And angel of the Lord came and stood before Zacharia when he saw the angel. Zacharia was confused and frightened. But the angel said to him, Zacharia, don't be afraid. Your prayer has been heard by God. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to a son. You will name him John. You will be very happy. Main people will be happy because of his birth. John will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink winter or beer. Even at the time John is born. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He will help many people of Israel return to the Lord there God, he himself will go first before the Lord. John will be powerful in spirit like Elijah. He will make peace between fathers and their children. He will bring those who are obeying God back to the right way of thinking. He will make people ready for the coming of the Lord. Luke one verse 11 through 17.
Speaker 2 00:07:54 So that's a pretty long passage, right? And you did a great job reading it. And what do we see here that John is gonna get ready for people for, they're giving him kind of like a big job, right? They just listed a whole bunch of things where he's like, all right, hey, let's start with this. Can you imagine that an angel disappears to you by the incen table and you're like, oh, hey, what do you think that would feel like?
Speaker 1 00:08:16 I would feel scared and totally a little like nervous. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:08:22 Right? You're like, why are you here <laugh>? Right? And so that's exactly, he, I think Zach's probably feeling the same way because it says when he saw the angel, Zacharia was confused and frightened. And so what does the angel say to him? He's like, don't be afraid. Sometimes I wonder if that worked. Like if the angel had just this warmth to his voice where they all they had to say was Don't be afraid. And then it calmed their hearts. Cuz sometimes I feel like those words, I would've been like, oh no, I'm, I'm, I'm still kind of afraid, but thanks for telling me not to be. And he says, your prayer has been heard by God. You're gonna have a son. And then he goes on to tell them what he's going to do. What are some of the things that John was going to do?
Speaker 1 00:09:03 He will never drink
Speaker 2 00:09:04 Any kinda alcohol, right? Yeah. Yeah. And so why do you think that they were like, Hey, this is gonna be a special part of his life. He's not going to have alcohol. Any ideas?
Speaker 1 00:09:13 Um, maybe Jesus doesn't want him to drink it because maybe he is not the kind of man who is like, who, like maybe Jesus doesn't want him to like drink it cuz maybe say, wants him to,
Speaker 2 00:09:28 Or you're right. I think it could distract him maybe. Right? And so he's saying, actually, you have such an important job that you're gonna abstain from alcohol. That's not gonna be a part of your story so that you can stay focused on what your job is. What are some of the other things that he says? What's, what's he gonna do right here?
Speaker 1 00:09:46 Well, he will help many people of Israel return to the Lord their God.
Speaker 2 00:09:55 So he's saying like, oh wait, there's been a whole bunch of people that are no longer following God, but they're God's people. But they don't even know him. They're not even, they've turned their hearts against him. And so he has a special job of being able to talk to the Israelites of being able to say, Hey, turn your heart back to God. Your heart is going in one direction and it needs to make a total turnaround to follow after the Lord. What are a couple other things he's gonna do?
Speaker 1 00:10:20 He'll make people really ready for the coming of the Lord.
Speaker 2 00:10:25 Right? And so that's a pretty special job, right? Like what if an angel came and said, Hey Ireland, your job is gonna be to make people ready for the coming of the Lord. You're gonna help people to obey God. Go back to the right way of thinking. You're gonna help them return. You're gonna be powerful in spirit. You're gonna make peace between fathers and their children. That's a big job, don't you think? Yes. And so John had a very, very special job and a role in this. And so we see how Zach RA felt when the angels surprised him. We see that John has a huge job. What do you think Zacharia felt? So he felt scared and confused, but what do you think he felt right after this?
Speaker 1 00:11:06 Kind of a little confused and a little like, what's going on? Yeah,
Speaker 2 00:11:12 I think he started to doubt a little bit. We're gonna see in the next couple days kind of how responded to this. And so one of the things I think that's super important and very exciting to think about is how special John was and the adventure and the mission that he was given to be able to prepare God's people. And so today I'm hoping that as everyone's going about getting your world ready and your Christmas ready, that you continue to think of how you can prepare your hearts for getting ready for the Lord. And really we see that there's a couple things that we can kinda learn from this too. Are our hearts far from God or do they need to return to God? Are they at peace with God? Or are they kind of like fighting against something that that God is doing? Are we getting along with our family? Are there things that really that show that our hearts are calm, that they're at peace and they're connected to the people around us. And so my hope today is that that can be something that you are focusing on in your journey and adventure to Christmas of what it looks like for you to be getting your heart ready. And so Ireland, would you do me a favor and can you close us in prayer for today? Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 00:12:15 <affirmative> Gaylor. Think for this wonderful day we got to have in that a lot of people got to go to church today and we got to have food. And that we get to worship you today, Lord. And that everybody's day safe and that everybody doesn't be mean to other people and just name Amen.
Speaker 2 00:12:36 Amen. All right. And can you close our time today, um, by just wishing all of our listeners, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 1 00:12:42 Merry Christmas.
Speaker 2 00:12:43 All right. We'll see you back again tomorrow.
