Episode Transcript
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Welcome to the Kids haven't podcast.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: And heaven and Nature Sing. And heaven nature Sing and in nature.
[00:00:31] Speaker C: Welcome to December 9 on the Village Kids in five, Six Advent podcast. I have some twins here with me today who are going to be leading us on our gift, opening it up and talking about what this is. So let's go ahead and introduce yourself. Go ahead.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: My name's Olivia.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: And what grade are you and Olivia?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Fifth.
[00:00:49] Speaker C: All right.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: And next up, my name's Sophia.
[00:00:52] Speaker C: And what grade are you and Sophia?
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Fifth.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: All right.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: It's always a good plan when twins are in the same grade. All right, so we are going to be talking about the topic of out.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: With the old, and this is the.
[00:01:03] Speaker C: Gift that we're opening up. That's kind of a weird gift. Like, what if you opened up a gift that was like, here's the gift of out with the old? You'd be like, Okie dokie artichoke. That's kind of strange, right? Olivia has a face on right now that's like, I don't know. I like that gift. Right. So let's explore it. Let's see if we like it. Here we go. But before we get into that, I have a couple of questions for you guys. What are you looking forward to most about Christmas this year?
[00:01:25] Speaker B: I'd probably say that I'm looking forward to, like, when our family decorates gingerbread houses. Like it's a tradition.
[00:01:32] Speaker C: I like that.
[00:01:34] Speaker A: Probably having all our family over and eating together.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: Yes. Like sharing a meal. That's pretty fun. All right, so what is a Christmas gift that you have received that you absolutely enjoyed?
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Like coloring stuff.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Oh, you like coloring. Do you like using pencils or markers or crayons or what's your paints? Ooh, paints. All right, how about you? What's a Christmas gift that you've enjoyed?
Olivia cannot remember any gift she's ever been given because when you ask people questions, sometimes all of the answers run out of your mind, don't they?
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Basketball.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: That is Sophia's answer for Olivia. And we've just said it to keep the podcast going. Right. If you could think of it later, you can tell me the real answer. Hey, basketball is a good gift. All right, so Here's a question.
What is a gift that you've given someone that you are really excited to give them?
[00:02:25] Speaker B: A squishable.
[00:02:26] Speaker C: Oh, all right. I mean, who can be disappointed with a squishable? All right, Sophia.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Like this little chezzer chest that they can paint.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: Oh, that's cute. Yep. So those are gifts that you're like, I think this is going to go over well. And I love giving a good gift. So now if you ladies could gift the whole world with one gift, you can each have your own answers. What would you give every person in the whole world? It could be a real thing or like something that's intangible.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: A house.
[00:02:52] Speaker C: All right, so they have a house. I like that everyone like shelter, right? To be able to be cared for.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: All the stuff that they need.
[00:02:59] Speaker C: See, right? You're like, I'm going to do a needs assessment for every person. We're going to make sure we just get everything that they need. I'll tell you what, our five, six and village gives, given some pretty good gifts in all these podcasts. So we'll have to listen to every day just to understand all the things we would give the world if we had that power. All right, so let's talk about out with the old before we start, I'm just going to pray for us and then we're going to jump into the cons tent. God of amazing gifts, I pray that you would just grow our excitement about the sort of changes that you make possible. Pray this in your precious name. Amen. All right, so I have a question for you guys. What toys would you have loved to receive when you were five years old? But now you would be very awkward if you received that as a Christmas gift.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: When we were little, we got this like Rapunzel pony thing that we can sit on.
[00:03:45] Speaker C: I mean, I'd still probably like that, too. How about you? When you were five years old, you're like, this is the best thing ever. But if someone gave it to you this Christmas, you'd be like, thanks.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: A unicorn stuffed animal.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: A unicorn stuffed animal. That's right. All right, so this Christmas we do not need any more unicorn stuffed animals or Rapunzel ride along poniEs, right? You're like, we're on to some different subjects. And that's true for all of us, right? Like we all kind of, as we grow, there's things that we kind of grow out of, right? And they're like, I don't need that anymore. And as we grow, we love different things. Old toys can get thrown out or given away to make room for new gifts, new things that we're finding enjoyable. And that's a good picture of what happens when we receive God's Christmas gift of Jesus. Out with the old. We decide to turn away from loving other things instead of God. And we say to God, you're the best gift and the greatest gift giver. In other words, we repent, right? And we're like, now, I only want the things that are new. I only want the things that reflect you. I only want the things that are having to do with me becoming a new creation in you.
So we're going to go ahead and read our passage for today and the following verses as we read through, they're spoken by Zechariah, one of Mary's relatives following the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Zechariah talks about God's covenant and oath, and this means the promises God made to his people in the Old Testament, these promises came true with Jesus. So we're going to try to count the different things that God said that he would do.
[00:05:10] Speaker B: Father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: He was remembered his Holy covenant, the oath he saw to his Father Abraham, to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
[00:05:48] Speaker C: All right, so if we look at the different things that God swore to do, it's a couple of things he said. He's going to remember his Holy covenant. He's going to rescue them from their enemies. He's going to enable them to serve without fear and in holiness and righteousness before him for all of the days. And so we have a couple of things that I want to look at in this passage.
What Word beginning with R was the first thing that God promised to do for his people in verse 74?
[00:06:11] Speaker B: Rescued.
[00:06:12] Speaker C: Yes, that's exactly right. And so when we look at rescue, why do you think the people would be like, oh, that's exactly what I need? What do you know about God's people when they were looking for Jesus to come as a savior, like, what were they feeling? Why did they feel like they need to be rescued?
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Because they were sinning and they wanted to repent.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: And at that time, they were having to do everything that the old Covenant told them, which involved animal sacrifice. They were having to keep all of these laws. They were having to work really hard in order to be good enough that God would at that time look upon them and see that he was their people. They had to work for it. And so they're weary from doing all of that. And so they are looking for a messiah that is going to come and free them and to be able to give them a new way to be rescued, but not through their own having to do things, but from Jesus actually being what they needed. And so why do you think that people also need God to enable or help them to serve him? It's kind of like a weird thing, right? You're like, I can't I just serve him on my own. Why do you think, though, that sometimes people have to be strengthened by God to serve him?
[00:07:14] Speaker B: I think that they need help because.
[00:07:18] Speaker C: Let'S think about this. Do you ever need help to obey?
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: Do you ever pray like God? You're going to have to be the one who helps me right now.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:25] Speaker C: Because do you feel like you have what you need at that moment to obey or to please God? Right. Sometimes it's really hard. Sometimes you're like, I'm scratching like the bottom of my soul and I don't feel like I have what I need to obey. The Lord is going to have to show up and he's going to have to enable me to obey. He's going to help me to have to want what is right to want. Right. And so God didn't just save people. He also promised to change people's hearts and their priorities so that they could live for him and so that they could actually want to do what he wanted them to do.
In verse 74, what other change did Zechariah say people would experience in their relationship with God? How are they going to serve him?
[00:08:04] Speaker A: They were going to serve him without fear.
[00:08:07] Speaker C: So, like in the Old Testament, right? They are constantly thinking, oh my goodness, what if he doesn't accept this sacrifice? Oh my goodness, what if what I'm doing isn't good enough? What if I forgot to get some leaven out of my house?
They had to really live up to a very high standard of keeping the law. And so here Zechariah is telling them that change is going to happen, that they don't have to fear God anymore, that they're going to be covered in holiness and righteousness.
So by taking the punishment for our sin and our place, Jesus takes away our fear of God's righteous anger at us. Out with the old, be done with it. And he gives us our own holiness and righteousness. And Jesus gives us what we couldn't achieve on our own. He gives us a changed heart that loves and serves God. Out with the old and in with the new. All right, so here are two truths. God is able to change our hearts, right, ladies?
[00:08:56] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:56] Speaker C: And God treats his people as holy and righteous because of Jesus. How can these truths encourage you I want you both to be able to answer this. When you realize that you have done.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: Something wrong, you know that you can serve him without being scared, and he will deliver you when you need him.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: So he's going to be the person who does that, right? Like, he's going to deliver you and he's going to be there for you. He can change your heart. He can cover you in that. Okay, Olivia, how about you? How can these truths encourage you when you realize you've done something wrong, that he can change your heart and he gives you Jesus's righteousness, you know that.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: You can worship him and praise him without being told or something like that.
[00:09:40] Speaker C: You do things right?
[00:09:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:42] Speaker C: Yeah, me, too. It's a thing we all do, right? And so when you do things wrong, how does it make you feel that you're like, Jesus has got this. I don't have to sit there and bear it on my own. I don't have to make up for it. I have to go make a sacrifice. How does that make you feel?
[00:09:57] Speaker B: Sad.
[00:09:58] Speaker C: Okay. Why?
[00:09:59] Speaker B: It makes me feel sad because sometimes when I do stuff wrong, I know that I did something wrong. I know that God can forgive me, but he feels sad when he has to do that. When I was littler, I always used to do stuff and I'd never want to confess that I did it. So I'd always be like, God can forgive me. I don't have to say sorry or anything like that.
[00:10:23] Speaker C: You don't have to own, I think, as you mature, right, and you grow up, has your understanding changed that God can change your heart and he can give you Jesus'righteousness? How have you come to be like, oh, I can actually own it. I can say I did something wrong because why?
[00:10:38] Speaker B: As I grow up, I learn more so that people teach me that I can confess and that I can do something right. Because I didn't want to go back to when I was, like, five years old and I didn't want to confess my sins or anything because I know that that's wrong, right. So I want to do the right thing.
[00:10:55] Speaker C: Because you don't want unicorns anymore and you don't want to go back to being five, right? Handling life the same way you handled it when you handled it then, right?
[00:11:02] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:02] Speaker C: When we're younger, we don't know as much, right. And as we grow up, both the Holy Spirit and just like you said, the people around us, they teach us things and they teach us all about what it is to live a new life in Christ. And so part of the reason of our topic today is seeing that part of God's amazing gifts is that the way that we used to do things, the way we used to feel about things, the way we used to not want to confess, we used to want to hide what we do. Maybe we used to want to try to twist the truth so people couldn't see it. You're like, you don't have to do that anymore. You can own what you did because Jesus's blood covers you and he has the ability to change your heart. It's not up to you and what you're doing. And so I'm very thankful for this topic because it allows us to be a topic that we can really just grow from and we can really begin to see, like, we don't have to hide anything in our hearts. God sees it all anyways and we can just show it to him and allow him to do something new with it if we bring it to him. And so, Sophia, will you close us in prayer today? And then we're going to just be excited for seeing what the Lord does today in all of our lives, all of our stories, as we're able to see that there's a new thing that he is trying to do in us.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: Dear God, I hope that we all have a good Christmas, and I hope that everybody who is sick feels better. And thank you for letting us serve without fear. And thank you for letting us know your word. And amen.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: Amen. All right, can you go ahead and wish all of our listeners Merry Christmas together?
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Merry Christmas, us.
[00:12:30] Speaker C: All right, you guys, thank you for being with us today. We are excited for you to join us again tomorrow.
