Transcript
Speaker: Welcome back, friends, to the Raising Autistic Disciples podcast. My name is Lara Roberts. I'm so grateful to have these conversations with you. Today, we're talking about something so exciting, and you may see me get a little bit passionate in this video, um but it's because I love talking about this conversation, about how do we talk to our autistic kids about Jesus. to Like if I could talk about one subject, um I think you if you follow me on Instagram, you know, if I could talk about one question for the rest of my life, it would be, can my autistic kid know God? Which is a resounding yes. um And how I answer that question is because what i have come to understand and know in scripture is that our God is a revealing God.
Speaker: He reveals himself to us. Isn't that fantastic? That like we serve a living God. Scripture tells us that he is alive, right? That God the Father, it reigns over everything and that he reveals himself to us.
Speaker: So it's just incredible. It's unlike any other religion or little g god that has worshipped throughout the history. Like he's unlike any other god. He is the one true god, the god who made the heavens and the earth. and In the next few weeks, at the time of this recording, we'll celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And the story of his life, death, and resurrection is the best story of all time. And so that's why I'm passionate, is because if we can answer the question, can our autistic kid know God, which is a resounding yes, because we know that our God is a revealing God, then we can talk to our autistic kids about
Speaker: Jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. Now, take it a step forward because many of you have asked me this question. How do I know if my autistic kid understands? Well, I answer it trying to be as loving as possible. I don't really mean to be sound sarcastic when I answer this question, but it kind of comes off that way. and i don't really mean it to be. Know my heart. Like, I love you. This is a conversation, right? I'm trying to answer questions, so I don't mean it to be sarcastic. But when somebody asked me that question, can I, I don't know if my autistic kid understands what I kind of look at them and say, well, well you don't get to determine that.
Speaker: And it it is kind of freeing when you think about it, though, that you that's not your lane. you You are finite, which means you're flesh. God is infinite. He is creator. He created you and he created me and he created our kids. And so...
Speaker: we don't really, that that's not our lane to run in. We're not required to to tell if they understand or not. He created their minds and their hearts and their bodies. And so we relinquish that. Praise God, we don't have to determine understanding. He knows their mind and their hearts because he's a revealing God. And so there are some things that are a mystery that we'll never know. But I think a lot of it has to do with our natural bent, are our so our flesh, our sin nature of having to have instant gratification, one, of having to have a indication that they understand for us to move forward. And we got to get past that hurdle of indication and identification, whether it be a facial expression, a nod, words, or whatever, that something is that they've got it or they understand we got to get past that. All God is requiring of us as Christian parents raising kids that are nonverbal or that are um whatever it may be, whatever however your kid learns best, well all we're required to do is gospel proclamation and gospel saturation.
Speaker: Proclaim the gospel in your home. Be the aroma of Christ where it is it is known that you're home and that wherever you go as a Christian parent, that's where the gospel goes.
Speaker: Proclaim it. Proclaim it. What we're going to talk about in a few minutes And then saturation is this over and over again, saturating the soil of your home, of your family in gospel truth. And so let's go back to the question. I don't know how to talk to my kids about Easter. Great. Well, let's start somewhere. And here's where i have found that's been the easiest way for me.
Speaker: Um, ah our family, we love movies. um We love to watch movies, um especially old movies that are clean and that my kids can understand and laugh. And anyway, our, our family loves movies. We love to sit down for movie night. And so um what has been ah crazy, I don't know if you can relate to this, but um we can quote movies.
Speaker: Like, line by line by line, real quickly. Like, if somebody says something, we respond with a movie quote. Or my kids are kind of caught on and like, you know, we'll spout off lines from a movie that are funny or things like that. And I got to thinking one day, and the songs are no different. Songs are actual stories, too, which is my point. Movies are stories. And we remember stories, right? We can remember storylines and we can remember plots and we can remember funny moments. And so, but y'all, that is, that is how God designed us.
Speaker: And even so, I'm reading in Deuteronomy, and it's the Shama in chapter 6. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 8. So if you want to go there in your Bibles, if you're driving in a car, just I'll read it out loud. But if you're able to watching this YouTube video, or listening to this podcast, if you're able to go to Deuteronomy, go there with me. It's called the Shama. um But what we see in Deuteronomy, really, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, is and even Numbers too, um is God's good plan for the nation of Israel. It is Him outlining... um
Speaker: the way he was going to have his family orient their lives. Because you see, there's pagan nations all around the nation of Israel, and God wanted them set apart, meaning distinct from the world, so that others could know who God is by how they lived. And so what we see in this chapter, of verse 6, it's the greatest command. We all know it. Love our neighbor as we love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, right?
Speaker: And so, um but what we see in chapter six, in verse four, it says, listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. That's foundational. The Lord is one.
Speaker: Then verse five says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. That was him teaching them how to love God, how to love him. We're not left alone to figure this thing out. It says right here, how do you love God? You love him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Speaker: These words I am giving you today are to be on your heart. Verse six, these words that I'm giving you today are to be on your heart. Now, here's what I love about the Bible. Okay, God is telling us what to do. So many times, let me take a preface. So many times we think when we're raising an autistic kid, um even though like it's different than those of us who are raising also ah neurotypical kids as well. But the Bible if we just read it, actually gives us a lot of understanding when it comes to how to navigate a a the way a child processes information differently than we do.
Speaker: And here's what I mean by verse 7. As we read it, here's what i want you to about. ah We talk a lot about rhythms and routines because of that's how our kids process information. So we have visual schedules, we have icons, we have the same schedule over over, you know, and we have to repeat and repeat and repeat.
Speaker: Like, guess what we're going to find in the Bible? Guess what we're going to find God doing for the nation of Israel? Let's read it in verse 7. Repeat them to your children. Repeat them to your children.
Speaker: Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. It's rhythms. It's rhythms and routine because God knew in God's good design that we all, this is, ah if you've been around the the disability circles long enough, you know this this term um ah universal design. It means what's good for for our kids with hidden disability is good for everybody. So what's good for when I teach Graham about a visual schedule, my Levi,
Speaker: benefits as well. So it's a universal design. So it's, so God is telling us in this passage, repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up, it's this rhythm of constant gospel proclamation and gospel saturation.
Speaker: Bind them on a sign on your hand. Well, there's our visual schedule. Verse eight, right? Bind them as a symbol on your hand and let them be a symbol on your on your forehead.
Speaker: Write them on your doorposts of your house and on your city gates. Now, there's There's a simple reason. There's a many reasons why he's given them this. But if we are forgetful people.
Speaker: We forget. So, nation of Israel, bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on your doorpost. And so what we need to gain from this is, Lord, would you just show me how to create rhythms and routines of gospel proclamation and gospel saturation in our home?
Speaker: And so he shows us how, friends. He shows us how. And so when we're talking about Easter and meaning the the events leading up to Holy Week, and we understand that rhythms and routines, gospel proclamation and gospel saturation, along with how stories, because, i mean, think about the Old Testament. Think about this passage. Repeat them to your children.
Speaker: That's all they had. They didn't have the written, they didn't have scrolls yet. They didn't have the written word like we do. So they passed down God's faithfulness by telling stories of what he had done in the past. I mean, go back to, you know, after Deuteronomy, go, go into Joshua and, and how, uh, uh, or, or, you know, Noah, like splitting the Red Sea and then splitting in the Jericho, um, uh, uh, not Jericho, uh, Joshua and the, what river was that?
Speaker: Um, the Red Sea was Moses. No, there was no parting. There was the flood. Here I am doing biblical theology on the fly with you. Um, um, Joshua and the Jordan River. There it is. Man, 40 is coming real fast and I forget things like crazy. Okay, so Joshua and the Jordan River, splitting the Jordan River, being able to walk across. And what did they do? What did God tell them to do? What God told Joshua do as they walked across the Jordan River is to go collect stones and pile them up as a statue of sorts, but as what's called memorial stones. If you ever, when you sing that hymn in church, Here I Raise My Ebenezer, that's what it's calling. It's like we are remember remembering God's faithfulness because we are forgetful people. And so God says, Joshua, go get these stones. And every time um the nation of Israel will pass, they will remember my faithfulness of leading them um into the promised land. And so that's what we're doing with our kids. we're We're setting up memorial stones by telling of God's faithfulness of the God of the Bible and in our lives as well. And so stories help us remember things, right? Stories in the Bible, like we can see people passing them down to generation after generation. And so
Speaker: When we think about the events of Holy Week and how to explain to our autistic kids who process things differently, um again, I've said this many times, the gospel message doesn't change, right? we The gospel is clear. It's 1 Corinthians 15, 3.
Speaker: Jesus Christ died for my sins in accordance with the scriptures. He was buried and raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. That is the gospel. Friends, let me take a timeout and a preface for a second. The gospel is not, oh, I was raised in a Christian home.
Speaker: Oh, well, I went to church every time the doors opened. That's great. I'm glad you you did that. That's not the gospel. That's your story. And that's a story of transformation that God has done in your life. And that's great. But when we are saved not by Lara Roberts' story.
Speaker: We are saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ came. Christ lived. Christ died for our sins in accordance with what the scripture says. He was buried. He was really dead.
Speaker: really dead, but because he was fully God and fully man, God in his power raised him victoriously over sin, Satan, and death, conquering sin, Satan, and death forevermore. vi Victoriously rose from the grave three days later, and the resurrection changes everything. It sets us apart from every other religion in the whole entire world because our God is not dead. He is alive. And so with that said, I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself, but that is the gospel.
Speaker: So friends, when you present the gospel to your kid or to your coworker or to somebody in the therapy waiting room or wherever it may be, when God allows you to have gospel opportunities, share the gospel with them. Yes, your story is great and it is of how God has transformed your life, but the gospel is what saves. So we want to be careful with that. So how do we talk to our kids about Easter?
Speaker: How do we talk to our kids, our autistic kids, without overwhelming them? How do we put it in a simple way? Because we know that how their mind processes things has got to be a little bit like like in bite-sized chunks, or that's what I've experienced with with my son. So here's what happened. here's Here's how this tell the story method came to be.
Speaker: um It's actually, I didn't come up with it. It's how missionaries, and I know some of them that have used this, how they were trained to tell the gospel story, the events of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, um to those that they were serving among called unreached people groups who have never heard the name of Jesus, didn't have access to the written word, the Bible, and their language. But many cultures learn things through story.
Speaker: Okay, so these missionaries would practice together in a group setting, um this tell the story method. um And then they would go out to the marketplace or to relationships that that they were already built or something like that and say, Hey, would you meet me at such and such time, get tea or coffee? And can I tell you a story?
Speaker: Of course, again, cultures love stories. They're like, absolutely. Yeah. so they would go meet with um this unbelieving ah friend that they were building relationships with, and they would tell them the story one sentence at a time or one passage of a story at a time of the events of Holy Week. And so what would happen, though, is they would tell this short story and then they would say, I'm going to come back to the same place tomorrow and tell you the rest of the story. So it created curiosity and a little bit of suspense, a little bit of a cliffhanger, but a good cliffhanger. And they would meet back the next day and they would tell them the rest the story. And then they'd meet the next day and tell the rest of the story. Because stories, if you remember back to ninth grade English, I remember um Miss Sanders teaching me this, that stories have an arc to it, right? Right. You start off with the intro and then you lead up the rising action and then you get to climax and then you're like, oh my, where's it going from here? And then you have the false ending where you're like, is that, is that really the end? that That's not how ah a good story ends. And then you have the resolution, right? And so every good story follows a good story arc. And that's why we know Jesus to be the best storyteller ever as he tells parables. And we can see that in the gospels, but the story of his life, death and resurrection follows a story arc too. So as we tell it,
Speaker: it's It's good, friends, to understand here that this is not a boring story. So when you tell it, be animated. When you tell it, have ah ah your voice and your tone.
Speaker: go with that story arc, right? So when you get to Jesus being arrested and ah Jesus ah ah standing before the on trial, like mean it, like give that suspense. And then when he was buried, make it seem like, oh man, is this the ending? Because we know it's not, right? And so as you tell that story, be mindful that that's how we land these sort of things to where it's helpful for our autistic kids.
Speaker: And so tell the story method began like that from missionaries, understanding story, telling the story in bite-sized chunks. So what we're going to do is we're going to tell the story to our autistic kids one sentence a day.
Speaker: This is us doing the tell the story method last year. Take a look or listen. People were waving palm branches and Jesus rode in on a donkey. Jesus was the best storyteller ever. He told stories everywhere. he went Men called Pharisees were coming up with a plan to kill Jesus. Oh One of Jesus' disciples going to do something really bad. Then Jesus prayed and had a meal with his friends. Jesus died on the cross and was buried.
Speaker: All of this so we could be made right before God. And on the third day, Jesus rose from the grave. He's not dead. He's alive. be afraid of discipleship, friends. Just tell your kids the best story of them all.
Speaker: And so I have a guide for you um to do that. If you'll check the show notes and and and that, if you're on Instagram, if you'll comment story, I'll send that to you. um But tell it one sentence it's at a time. So you're starting with the the triumphal entry, and then it goes on, and for eight days ah to um the burial, and then on the last day, the resurrection of Jesus, when it's like, yes, it wasn't over.
Speaker: ah This story is the best story ever because of the resurrection. You're telling that to your kids. And so, man, I just think it's a great method to incorporate ah all the time. Really, I mean, we could do this at Christmas. We could do it at other times. But um specifically at Easter, when we are endeavoring to obey God and his assignment that he's given us to raise autistic disciples for his glory and our good, to know and love him forever, um is to tell them the story of the gospel of of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, and what that means for us. If we place our faith in him and trust in him, repent and respond to him as Savior and Lord, um man, all we're doing, Christian parent, is planting seeds. God brings the harvest. And so just use the tell the story method to tell one sentence a day leading up to Resurrection Sunday, Easter Sunday, and trust God with the rest.
Speaker: We may tell the story every single year. I hope we do, actually. um But we trust God who will do transformation. All you're required to do is gospel proclamation and gospel saturation and use the tell-a-story method for that very purpose. And so um God is good, and this is the best story of all time. And so I'll leave you with this. In the guide, there's it gives you the sentence to say each day, but it also gives you a devotional because, listen, friend,
Speaker: We cannot raise autistic disciples if we are not disciples first ourselves. So you as Christian parent, study your Bible. may it saturate our hearts before we begin to proclaim and saturate their hearts with the truth.
Speaker: We've got to know it before we can tell it. So ask God every single day before you go to to to present that sentence, that proclamation to your kid, ask him to seed, and to to plant that seed in your heart first.
Speaker: as you study his word and use that devotional um as a part of that. We can't raise autistic disciples unless we are ah we are disciples first ourselves. And to God be the glory as he does great things in your home, on the go in your car, waiting in line in therapy, wherever it may be as you tell the story, because it's the best story of all time.
Speaker: Blessings, friends.
