Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Welcome to the Kids Advance Podcast.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: And heaven and Nature Sing. And heaven and nature Sing. And in nature.
[00:00:31] Speaker C: Welcome back to the Village Kids and Five Six Advent podcast. We are recording here today and we have Snickers the leopard joining us for part of this recording session. I also have another special guest. What is your first name special guest?
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Emma.
[00:00:45] Speaker D: And what grade are you in?
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Third.
[00:00:48] Speaker D: And what's your favorite thing about third?
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Well, when I go to church, my dad's the leader.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: That is pretty fun.
[00:00:57] Speaker D: So he's like your classroom leader? Is he pretty fun?
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:01] Speaker D: Is he ever strange?
[00:01:04] Speaker A: No.
[00:01:05] Speaker C: Good. A fun dad who's not strange. I mean, what more could a girl ask for? I love it. Before we jump into our content today, we're going to be talking about how to receive gifts, which is fun because we haven't talked about this at all yet in this advent season. But Emma, I would love to hear from you.
[00:01:20] Speaker D: What are you looking forward to about Christmas this year?
[00:01:22] Speaker A: Well, I am excited to see my sister.
[00:01:27] Speaker D: Is she coming home for Christmas? Are you guys going there?
[00:01:29] Speaker A: She's coming here.
[00:01:31] Speaker C: Oh, that is exciting. You love spending time with her, don't?
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Yep.
[00:01:35] Speaker D: Do you miss her on a day to day basis?
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Sometimes.
[00:01:39] Speaker C: Sometimes?
[00:01:40] Speaker D: Yep.
[00:01:40] Speaker C: Not like all good sisters would answer exactly that question. So Emma, what is your favorite gift that you have received?
[00:01:46] Speaker A: My mom a couple days ago got me a Bible.
[00:01:50] Speaker D: What kind of Bible was, um, you.
[00:01:53] Speaker A: Can color in the Bible.
[00:01:54] Speaker C: Oh, that's super fun. And have you started?
[00:01:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I mostly have colored so far.
[00:02:02] Speaker D: Yeah, that's pretty fun.
And what is a favorite gift that.
[00:02:06] Speaker C: You have given to someone else?
[00:02:09] Speaker A: I'm sending a note to my brother that has a bracelet in it for him.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: He's going to love that. And you made the bracelet or did you find it?
[00:02:17] Speaker A: I made it.
[00:02:18] Speaker C: You made it? Oh, he's going to love that. I bet when he opens, it's going.
[00:02:21] Speaker D: To make his heart like, just explode. Yeah.
[00:02:23] Speaker C: You have some older siblings, right, who live in different states and so is.
[00:02:27] Speaker D: He coming home for Christmas too?
[00:02:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:29] Speaker C: Oh, that was so fun. So Emma, if you could give a gift to all of the world, one gift, every person gets it, what would.
[00:02:36] Speaker D: You give to everybody?
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Probably a Bible.
[00:02:40] Speaker B: A Bible.
[00:02:41] Speaker D: Now would you give them a normal.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: One or would you give them the one that you can color in?
[00:02:45] Speaker B: What do you think?
[00:02:45] Speaker A: I think a normal one.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: A normal one. All right, sounds good. All right, let's go ahead and look at how it is that we receive gifts. I'm going to go ahead and open us in prayer and then I have a question for you, Emma, God of amazing gifts, would you give us humble hearts that we can admire your greatness and your mercy, and that we could learn how to receive good things from you and from the people around us? Pray this in your precious name.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:03:08] Speaker C: All right, Emma, so I want you to put these responses to receiving a gift in order from worst to best. We have four options. Okay, we're going to worst first, best last. Here's the first option. Oh, that's amazing. Just what I wanted.
Second option. Quite right, too. I wouldn't have been happy with anything less.
Number three, thank you so much for your generosity and for realizing that I would love this. Number four.
[00:03:37] Speaker D: Is that it?
All right, so what's the worst of those responses?
[00:03:42] Speaker C: I think the last one, I think I would agree with that, too. Can you imagine if you gave someone a gift and they were like, is that it? You'd be like, okay, right? Like, what if your brother opened up the bracelet you sent him? And that was his response? That would be hurtful, right? That'd probably make me cry. All right, what's the second to worst 1 second one. Yes, quite right, too.
[00:04:03] Speaker D: I wouldn't have been happy with anything less.
[00:04:06] Speaker C: Okay, what's the next one?
[00:04:08] Speaker A: Amazing. Just what I wanted.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: And what's the best one?
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Thank you so much for your generosity and for realizing I love it.
[00:04:18] Speaker C: Exactly right. You're, like, really seeing the person for.
[00:04:20] Speaker D: What their motive was. All right, Emma, will you read for.
[00:04:23] Speaker C: Us Luke, chapter one, verses 46 and.
[00:04:25] Speaker D: 47 so we can see how she responded?
[00:04:28] Speaker A: And Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior.
[00:04:36] Speaker C: So what did you notice about the.
[00:04:38] Speaker D: Focus of Mary's response?
[00:04:40] Speaker B: Who is it focused on?
[00:04:42] Speaker D: God. That's exactly right.
[00:04:44] Speaker C: All right, can you go ahead and read us the next way that Mary responds in verses 48 and 49?
[00:04:49] Speaker A: For he has been mindful of the humble states of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name, and humble means.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: That you can be very ordinary or very poor. But most of the time we're using it because that you're thinking that you're not as important, you're not super important, you're not overly important. Right. And so the attitude when we're like, no, I think about myself rightly. I don't think about myself too much. It's called humility. And so what two words does Mary use to describe herself in verse 48?
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Humble and blessed.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: That's exactly right. She's like, that's who I am.
I'm not even going to think about myself in this. I just feel so blessed and humble to be chosen for this. And what does she call God in verse 49? What name does she give him?
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Mighty one?
[00:05:52] Speaker C: Exactly.
She's showing, right that he has done this good work. God didn't send his Christmas gift to someone who thought that they were going to be great. God sent Jesus to someone who thought.
[00:06:03] Speaker D: That God is great.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: God loves to give gifts to people who are humble, like Mary. And this is what we see in the next verses. As Mary continues to respond to God's.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Gift, mercy extended to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud of their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rules from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but he sent the rich away empty.
[00:06:45] Speaker C: That's verses 50 through 53. And so we see here that God's mercy is extending. He's taking care of the people who are humble and the people who are needing to be lifted up. So why might rich or powerful people find it hard to be humble?
[00:07:01] Speaker D: Emma, what do you think?
[00:07:03] Speaker A: They have so much money and power that they forget about God.
[00:07:08] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:07:09] Speaker C: So they'rE like, I'm pretty sure I could do this on my own, right? Why might hungry or poor people find.
[00:07:14] Speaker D: It easy to be humble?
[00:07:16] Speaker A: They don't have as much money, so they don't have everything they need.
They have to rely on God.
[00:07:24] Speaker D: Exactly.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: They know what reliance is, right? They know what that looks like. And so for us, we are always trying to be humble and poor in spirit. So because we're like, Lord, let me see that I need to rely on you and let me see how it is to be able to receive good gifts and be thankful for them no.
[00:07:40] Speaker D: Matter what they are. All right, so, Emma, as we look.
[00:07:42] Speaker C: At these sentences, how would Mary finish these sentences? People who realize they need God's mercy receive God's gift.
[00:07:50] Speaker D: And people who don't think that they.
[00:07:51] Speaker C: Need God's mercy don't receive God's gift. And so everybody needs God's Christmas gift. But the people who receive God's Christmas gift are the ones who realize that they need it. They realize that God is great and people are not. They realize that they need God's mercy. Mira's response shows us that God's Christmas gift has to be humbly received and that that is the way that we receive gifts. So let's think about this, Emma. I want you to think about God, the perfect, mighty, eternal creator and the ruler of the universe. He holds out the gift of forgiveness through Jesus to you.
God, the perfect, mighty, eternal creator and ruler of the universe. He has offered you his forgiveness through Jesus Christ, right?
[00:08:37] Speaker D: And so when you think about that.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: And you're thinking about how we humbly receive gifts, what does that make you want to say to God in response?
[00:08:45] Speaker D: That he would offer you that forgiveness.
Thank you, right?
[00:08:49] Speaker C: Like, you didn't do anything to deserve that, right? And he's like, I want to give you this forgiveness. That's a beautiful thing that he has to offer.
Emma, would you be able to close us in prayer today? And before we do that, I just want to extend an invitation to anyone who's listening to this podcast that you also have been offered the same gift of forgiveness through God. So when we look at our responses, we want to be able to see like, yeah, I want to be able to humbly receive what he is giving to me, these good things that he has for me. And so my prayer for everyone listening.
[00:09:19] Speaker D: To this podcast today is that you.
[00:09:22] Speaker C: Would consider how you can humbly receive that gift of forgiveness. You and I were in a place where we need it. My heart has been full of sin and it's separated from God, and I need an opportunity to be brought back to God. And Jesus has offered that to us by his death on the cross. And so Emma's going to close us in prayer today that we would all just be able to humbly receive the gift of forgiveness that God has offered to us.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: Mighty, merciful Father, you are great and we are not. Thank you. That in all your power and perfection you want to have a relationship with unimpressive sinful people like us. Thank you for showing us grace and mercy and sending Jesus to die in our place. Please give us humble hearts that praise and celebrate you. Amen.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:10:13] Speaker C: All right, Emma, can you just close up our time today by wishing our listeners a merry Christmas.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Merry Christmas.
[00:10:19] Speaker C: All right, Merry Christmas, everyone. We'll be back with you again tomorrow.
