Advent 2024: Day 2 with Naomi & Lucas

[00:00:01] Speaker A: He is with us. Merry Christmas. God is with us. Merry Christmas. [00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome back to day two, the plan. Today we're going to be talking about God's plan and what that looks like. And I have some special guests today who are going to help us talk through that. Go ahead. Special guest number one. Go ahead and give. What's your first name and grade? [00:00:29] Speaker C: Hi, my name is Naomi, and I'm in sixth grade. [00:00:32] Speaker B: Thank you for joining us, Naomi. And what is your name, kind sir, and grade? [00:00:36] Speaker D: My name is Lucas, and I am in fourth grade. [00:00:40] Speaker B: And what are you most excited about Christmas? [00:00:44] Speaker C: I am most excited about, like, fulfilling our normal family traditions. And normally, like, we do Christmas, like, by ourselves, but this year, we're having some family come up. [00:00:54] Speaker B: Fun. So let me just go into my next question. In all of your Christmas traditions, what is one thing that's more fun to do with people than to do by yourself? [00:01:03] Speaker C: I like making Christmas cookies, and it's way more fun to do it with someone else. [00:01:08] Speaker B: That is true. That is true. Do you ever get inspired by other people's designs? You're like, oh, I like what you're doing over there. [00:01:14] Speaker C: Yeah, sometimes. Like, sometimes I'm just, like, doing what we normally do. But if I see something cool, I always want to try it. [00:01:22] Speaker B: That's true. Lucas, how about you? What are you most excited for about Christmas? [00:01:27] Speaker D: Probably, like Naomi said, our normal traditions, and we're gonna have. We always do it by ourself. And this year, we're gonna have family members come over. [00:01:38] Speaker B: So you guys are kind of like, our theme for this entire Advent is that God is with us. And so we're looking at all these things. They're like, yeah, it's so much better to have someone with you. So you guys are so excited about that because you already have your Christmas plans. You're gonna have people with you rather than just kind of being with your own little family. And so, Lucas, when you imagine that God is with you, what does that feel like to you? Where do you imagine that he is? Like, how do you remind yourself that he's with you throughout the day? [00:02:03] Speaker D: Probably he's just kind of like a ghost, like, right by my side. [00:02:07] Speaker B: So when you say he's like a ghost, it's like he's invisible or, like, you don't really see him. He's, like, near you, and he's real close to you. Very, very close. Okay, Naomi, what do you think about that? How do you imagine where God is? What is he like? What's he thinking about you? [00:02:21] Speaker C: I Always imagine that, like, God is watching us from above, but, like, in a way, he always is with us. And he's right, like, by us. And he's like, always paying attention to what we're doing. And he's like, he's with us, protecting us, even if we can't see Him. And, like, we can know that by, like, when we pray and he answers our prayers, like, we know he's there. He's paying attention to us. [00:02:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's like, one of the ways you're like, oh, you're with us legit, right? Like, I see you working. That's absolutely true. And so as we look at this section, we're looking at the plan today. I'm gonna have you guys read for our listeners at home. We're looking at the whole passage of Genesis 3 today, but we're gonna pick out Genesis 3:15 as the verse that we're gonna be focusing on. Who would like to read that? [00:03:07] Speaker D: The plan. I will put hostility, hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her off. He will strike your head and you will strike his heel. [00:03:22] Speaker B: Okay, for one, this sounds like a violent plan. Let's just be honest, right? You're like, what is even happening right here? When we read the whole chapter of Genesis 3, we see that God is here. He's talking, and he's talking to Satan. He's saying, listen, you keep trying to attack my plan, and so therefore, I'm going to make a bigger. And I already have made a better plan that's actually going to disrupt what you think you're doing. Satan in the world. And so is it possible that you heard the story growing up, Adam and Eve, they experienced a perfect relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. Right. Are we all familiar with this? [00:03:53] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:03:53] Speaker B: And they were tempted to eat the fruit that they thought would allow them to know everything that God knew. And that temptation proved to be way too much. [00:04:02] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:04:03] Speaker B: Adam ate the fruit. And then who did he try to blame for that? [00:04:07] Speaker D: Eve. [00:04:07] Speaker B: Yep. And this one moment introduced sin and death into what had previously been a perfect world. Have you ever read Genesis 3:15 before? Have you seen that verse before? [00:04:18] Speaker D: I don't think so, no. [00:04:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of a weird one, Right? And it's actually very much a Christmas verse because it's introducing that God's going to send a savior. Right? And he's going to. He has a plan for how he's going to take back what is happening. Right. And we see him play this all out through the old Testament. God made a promise that the serpent would be crushed and defeated. And the truth of this verse is expressed again in Romans 16:20, Hebrews 2:14, Revelation 20, verses 1 through 10. And God's first promise to redeem the world is here. So if you haven't heard this before, some of our listeners probably haven't heard this before, too. We are continuing to hope that you realize today that God's plan for salvation through Jesus Christ has been in motion ever since the very beginning. In fact, everything that we read in the Old Testament points us to God's plan for our redemption. God's word is as powerful today as it has ever been. His truth is, for you. Sin and shame have been around since this moment in the garden, but God's love and forgiveness have been consistently present from the beginning of time right up to today. He loves you, and he proves this love by keeping his promises. Jesus, life, death, and resurrection defeated sin and death. And God also kept his promise to that serpent that when Jesus died on the cross, Satan was defeated. God is always and forever faithful. So let's talk through this, Naomi and Lucas, after we read this verse. What specifically did Adam and Eve do wrong? What were the consequences of their sin? [00:05:50] Speaker C: I think that the main thing that they did wrong is disobeyed God by eating the fruit when he specifically told them not to eat that one. Even if they were tempted, that's still a sin. [00:06:06] Speaker B: Yep. Yep. Well, yeah, lots of things tempt us, right? And we're like, yeah, that's still not what we're supposed to do. Temptation's so hard, isn't it? Sometimes, yeah. Yeah. Lucas, is temptation ever hard for you? [00:06:17] Speaker D: Yeah, it's very hard for me. [00:06:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Right. Like, and we get it right. And you're like, and so then. And so what were some of the consequences of that sin when they decided to give into the temptation and to do what God told them not to do? What happened? [00:06:28] Speaker C: Like, he first, like, kicked them out of the Garden of Eden. And for Adam, he said that they would have to work for their food. And, like, it kind of affects what it is now because now all, like, men have to work for their food. And for Eve, she had to go through a lot of more, like, pain when she was giving birth to another child. [00:06:52] Speaker B: Yeah. So literally no fun. Are those consequences. Right. And we still see those today. Right? Yeah. Like, women still experience pain in childbirth, and we still are all constantly toying and laboring to try to take care of ourselves, to get our food, to try to keep ourselves protected and all those different things. So. That's exactly right. Big consequences that you see. I see. And I think probably everyone listening is like, yeah, we still see those consequences. So we look at the passages that we mentioned before, but how has God kept the promise of Genesis 3:15? How did he ultimately fulfill this promise? [00:07:26] Speaker C: Like, he kept the promise of saying, like, when it says, like, he will strike your head and you will strike his heel, we think that means, like, God will come back, like, for us, even though Satan, like, he kept his promise because, like, he said that Satan will, like, still keep doing bad things and will still be sin in this world. But, like, we, like, obviously he hasn't, like, come back yet, but we can, like, believe that, like, what, by reading the Bible, that, like, there will be, like, he will come back. [00:08:03] Speaker B: Yep. So he came back. He came as a baby once. Right. And so we see here he's like, yeah, you're gonna keep going after me, and you're gonna be, like, nipping at my heel. Like, how annoying when someone's trying to take out your Achilles tendon and it's very vulnerable. Right. But it doesn't destroy you. Right. Does crushing someone's head destroy them? [00:08:21] Speaker D: Yes. [00:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah, that would get you. Right? And he's like, yeah, so, like, you, I'm going to crush your head. Even though you keep going after us in these little ways. And so when Jesus was born as a baby, that was the beginning of this promise being fulfilled. And you're exactly right. When he comes back a second time and he comes to bring his kingdom on earth, that'll be the time, right. When he's like, this is done. This game is over. Like, we are not. Like, I am the victor and the victory is me. And so you're exactly right. He's working. He has fulfilled it, and we're in progress of fulfilling that. All right, so when you guys look at these promises, right, and we see that God always keeps his promises because he's making his plan happen. What are some promises that you feel like you've made that you're like, that was a hard one to keep. I'm not sure I kept that one. Either of you got some promises that you've tried to try to make and didn't end up keeping? [00:09:13] Speaker D: I don't know. Maybe like, when I told my parents, like, I don't know, like, there isn't any good ones, like, come into your mind right away? Yeah. [00:09:25] Speaker B: Yeah. I think sometimes we make prom. Like, oh, like, I know. For my kids, I'm like, hey, can you go Empty the dishwasher. And they're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll go do that. And then do they do it? No. Right. What else? What are your thoughts, Naomi? [00:09:37] Speaker C: Like, sometimes, like, I'm told to do something, like if I forgot to do something, like take out the trash. And then like, sometimes, especially if I'm in the middle doing something else, I finish up what I'm doing and then I go to do it. But then I get distracted and I didn't keep my promise. Even if I didn't say, I promise I'll get take out the trash. [00:09:55] Speaker B: Just take your word, right? Yes, I'll do that. Yeah, yeah. It's super hard because sometimes you're right. Do we always break promises? Cause we're like, I'm going to secretly say I'm going to do something, and then I'm not going to do it. No. Sometimes, like you said, you're like, I just got distracted. Like, I kind of forgot that was the plan. I kind of forgot that's what we were doing. And I got easily distracted. And so there's all sorts of reasons that we don't keep promises. But is God a God who keeps promises? Yeah, like, sometimes or like always. Always, Always. Right. And so we see that in His Word, he has kept all of the promises that he says. And his faithfulness compared to our own is, like, out of this world. And so that's one of my favorite things to see, that everything in the world, even when it seems chaotic, like someone's sitting there nipping at our heel, trying to take us down, we see that Satan is trying to step into the story and distract what's going on. God has a plan and he has a promise that he's still going to make happen. With that, we just thank you guys for joining us on day two. As we look into what it looks like for God to be with us, we see that we have a God who's with us, who keeps his promises and is making the plan continue to happen. Would one of you just close us in prayer today? [00:11:06] Speaker D: Thank you, God, for keeping your promises and helping you walk with him and help us be more with Jesus for help and help us know what you do. Amen. [00:11:21] Speaker B: Amen. All right, can you guys just end our time together by wishing all of our listeners Merry Christmas together. [00:11:26] Speaker D: Merry Christmas. [00:11:28] Speaker B: All right, we'll see you back here tomorrow. [00:11:45] 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.