Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: He is with us.
Merry Christmas.
God is with us.
Merry Christmas.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Here we are. Welcome to the NextGen Advent podcast, a podcast with our students from ages 0 through 12th grade that are hoping to just curate a space for you to be able to reflect on the true meaning of the season. This year, we are going to be going through lifeways teen devotional called God with us, the story of the Messiah. We're going to be looking at all the days leading up to Christmas, just how it is that the Lord created the story of the Messiah to be able to bring him to us. Our first section that we launch into is the prophecies of the Messiah. And we see that repeatedly throughout the Old Testament, humans chose to sin and reject God, while God chose to be faithful. God empowered prophets to share his message, and those prophets spoke truth to Israel. God's words pointed to a Messiah who would offer hope. And many of the prophecies were not clear and didn't make sense until after Jesus ascended to heaven. But now we get to look back and we see very clearly that God had a plan all along. And so, without further ado, let me introduce to you our guests that are going to help us work through this first day of our podcast. And so will you tell me your first name and your grade?
[00:01:24] Speaker C: I'm Sadie and I am third grade. I'm Annabelle and I'm in seventh grade.
[00:01:29] Speaker B: All right, so we have a sibling pair here with sisters who are going to help us kind of work through this first day. And our first day, we're looking at next door neighbor. And before we kind of jump into the passage, I have some questions for you guys. Sadie, what are you most looking forward to about Christmas this year?
[00:01:44] Speaker C: Spending time with my family and opening presents.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: All right, is there a certain present that you're hoping to get?
[00:01:50] Speaker C: No.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: All right, so you're like, I'm just gonna be happy with anything. All right. And then this is coming out early in the season, so your parents could listen to that and be like, oh, Sadie just wants anything. She'll be happy with anything. Annabelle, what about you? What are you looking forward to for the season?
[00:02:05] Speaker C: I'm looking forward to there being snow on the ground and hanging out with family.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you like to play in the snow or you just like the way it looks?
[00:02:14] Speaker C: Both.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: Both? Yeah. If you were to play in the snow, what do you like to do?
[00:02:19] Speaker C: We play in the cul de sac biohouse and they shove up a big mountain of snow, so we carve slides.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: Oh, that's so fun. I do Enjoy playing I don't love winter. I don't love snow, but I do like playing in snow. There's not much more fun than that. That's great. All right, so one of the things we're looking at in the podcast this season is we're looking at how God is with us and how that makes a difference. Right. And so just got me thinking, at Christmastime, when you guys do things with people, what's something that's more fun to do with people than to do. Do by yourself at Christmas time?
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Decorating the Christmas tree.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: All right. You like to decorate the Christmas tree. You do that with your family. Okay.
[00:02:55] Speaker C: Annabelle, how about you singing Christmas music.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Oh, singing Christmas music. That is more fun with other people, isn't it? Than just, like. I mean, sometimes it's pretty fun to, like, belt it out in your room by yourself, but it is more fun to be able to sing with other people. That's true. All right, when you think about that God is with us. Okay, where do you imagine God, like, when you're like, okay, God is with us, how do you imagine that he's, like, nearby? Like, what does that look like in your imagination?
Okay.
You don't have a clear picture of what that looks like yet. All right, Annabelle, how about you like.
[00:03:32] Speaker C: Him standing next to us and watching us and making sure that we're safe and happy?
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Yeah. And what's he thinking about you when he is standing there watching you?
[00:03:42] Speaker C: Um, probably just thought that we're gonna have, like, a good time and to make sure that we're, like, still thinking about him when we're having fun.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Mm. Yeah. Like, he wants to kind of be, like, involved in, like, all those moments. Right. Like, even the fun ones.
[00:03:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: And how do you remind yourself, like, if you ever, like, get to a point where you're like, oh, no, I think I'm alone, or, you know, you forget that he's with you all the time. How do you remind yourself of that truth?
[00:04:02] Speaker C: I either pray or I grab my Bible and read some.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Yeah, so, like, God's word has helped you to, like, remind you of that truth, and then praying and just understanding that he's there with you. I love that. All right, so let's dig into our passage. We're going to be looking at John, chapter one, verses one through 18, but we're really focusing on verses one and two. Well, why don't you go ahead and read that for us?
[00:04:23] Speaker C: In the beginning was the world, and the Word was with God. And the word was God. He was God. In the beginning.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: All right, so here we see we're just really literally starting at the beginning because that's what the first word is pretty much of this scripture. Right.
So what is the earliest memory that you have? Do you remember just the first thing that comes to your mind?
[00:04:44] Speaker C: Hanging out with family.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Okay, Sadie, what's the first earliest memory you have of, like, being little?
[00:04:50] Speaker C: Hanging out with family, too?
[00:04:51] Speaker B: Yeah, right. That's probably, like. Makes sense. That's probably, like, a lot of people's, like, response, Right? Because that's what you did a lot when you were, like, really little. Right. And so for some people, it's a place for. Sometimes it's a person. For some people, it's a moment. Sometimes we remember how old we were, or sometimes it's kind of vague. Sometimes we remember other people being there. Sometimes it's just, like, hard to really recall those details. But it's just strange to think about. But even though you can't remember it, you existed before your first memory of being alive. And there's evidence of the days that you were born and the name that you were given. There were witnesses. There's a birth certificate, and maybe there's even pictures to be able to prove when you were born. Right. I don't think anyone could ever disagree with the idea that you existed before you were old enough to be able to remember that was going on. And one of the names of Jesus has in scripture is the word. John wrote that Jesus was, I.e. that he already existed at the beginning of all creation. God wasn't created. The Bible tells us that he was, is, and always will be. In the book of Genesis, God promised a savior. Thousands of years later, a baby was born. Angels proclaimed the birth to the shepherds and told them to check the manger in Bethlehem to see for themselves. How are you and I supposed to believe something like this when we didn't experience it? We weren't there. But God's word is consistent over thousands of years. It reveals to us a God who loves, shows mercy, and always keeps his promises. There is evidence we can trust. There will be times when we have doubts. And sometimes this has to do with what we've experienced and our memories of the past. But God's Word reminds us that God not only loves us right now, he always has and he always will. His word is evidence of things that are sometimes difficult to understand.
So Annabelle and Sadie, help me think through this. How many different names is Jesus called in these verses? And how do they help you understand who Jesus is?
[00:06:40] Speaker C: Quite a Few.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: Okay, tell me some of them.
[00:06:43] Speaker C: Son, Savior, the light, the world, the true light, A man, son of, from the Father.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Yeah, that's like, in this passage is the whole passage. That's what we see. Right. How does that help you understand who Jesus is, Annabelle?
[00:06:55] Speaker C: That he is kind of like the overall person that you have with you all the time?
[00:07:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I think my favorite one that like, sticks out to me. I mean, I like all of them, but the one that sticks out, the light. Right. Because I think there's so many times when I'm like feeling maybe like overwhelmed or like in darkness and I'm like, I need something just like shine through and be like, this is the way to go. This is what is true and this is what you need. And that's probably like one of my favorite ones in there. As we look at this, how do these few verses describe the gospel or the good news of Jesus Christ to you?
[00:07:29] Speaker C: That he's like the light that we should follow and that the Word was God and still is him.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: Yeah, like, that doesn't change. Right. Just because, like time has gone on and maybe some things in our culture have changed, it doesn't mean that anything about him who has changed. And so we see. You're exactly right. Like, this is the good news of gospel. We get to follow the light. Even though maybe it's inconvenient for, like how it works in our lives or sometimes it's really hard, it's still absolutely what we need to follow.
And so John essentially described the God of the universe as becoming a next door neighbor. Right. How does Jesus existence on earth reveal God's love for you personally?
[00:08:07] Speaker C: That he cares about us so much that he just wants to be with us wherever we go and that he's kind of like our next door neighbor and wants to just be next to us and be able to comfort us.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: That's exactly right. And do you think coming to this earth, Sadie, do you think coming to this earth was like an easy thing for Jesus?
[00:08:22] Speaker C: No.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: No. Right. But yet he chose to do that. Right. Because he's like, that's what I need to do in order to be able to be with them forever and to be able to have my blood shed for them. Right. To be able to draw them close to me and cover all of their sin. And so when we look at this, we are looking to see, okay, what is the Lord up to in this? He's sending us a next door neighbor. He's sending God with us on this earth and to be able to see what he's up to. And so let's just think today throughout our time and maybe take some space to be someplace private or go to your room or prayerfully consider how we can see what the Lord is up to. We see that God is faithful to us even before we were old enough to be able to remember. I would love for all of our listeners today to take some time to consider the greatness of God and all of the events that are in our life and how he's able to be able to bring these together to be able to display his glory. A lot of what we're going to be talking about in these first couple days is just the plan. And when we see the prophecies coming to be, and we're just so thankful that we get to now watch and look back and see, wow, the Lord had the most beautiful plan for how he was going to save us and make us part of His. His family. And it's really just an opportunity for worship for us just to be able to look at it and make much of Him. And so would one of you guys just be able to close this in prayer for today?
[00:09:36] Speaker C: Dear God, thank you for all these listeners listening that they take time out of their day to listen to this, Lord. And I pray that they have had a good day, Lord. And I pray that their day will be delightful and that you will be with them and they know that you are with them, Lord, And I pray that you know how much we love you, Lord.
Amen.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: Amen. All right, can you go ahead and close our timeout today by wishing all of our listeners a Merry Christmas together?
[00:10:10] Speaker C: Merry Christmas.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: All right. Merry Christmas. We are so excited to kick off this Advent season with you all, and we hope that you will join us back here again tomorrow.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: Star is shining angels sing Our Savior born the hope he brings in a manger the king has come God with us the Holy One through the silence Light breaks through A tiny child A promise true in the stillness Heaven's near God with us we shall not fear he is with us Merry Christmas.
God is with us Merry Christmas.
He is with us Merry Christmas.
God is with us Merry Christmas.