Transcript
Speaker: following podcast is a Jill dev Divine Media production. We're just normal kids learning about God's big story. Welcome to Normal Goes a Long Way.
Speaker: For kids! Hi friends, welcome back to the podcast. I'm Miss Hannah and I'm excited to be with you for the next part of God's Big Story. We are reading through the Bible together, hearing these stories and learning more about God.
Speaker: So last week, after Miss April shared a story with you, she asked, what does your name mean? We ask you guys a question every week. And when you send in your answers, we love to hear them.
Speaker: And this week was a really fun one to listen to. Here's what you shared with us. My name is Mason and it means someone who works with bricks. My name is Hadley, and my name means Heather Field.
Speaker: My name's Lena. It's Hawaiian. It means leap of the gods. My name is Owen, and my name means young warrior. hi my name is Miles. My name means soldier or merciful.
Speaker: My name is Ian. It means God is gracious. My name is Everly, and my name means wild boar in a woodland clearing. Clearly, that's not why my parents chose this name. They chose it because they loved the sound of it, and it was unique but not hard to pronounce.
Speaker: Some of our parents named us something because they liked what it meant, or maybe you're named after a person. My name is Hannah Magdalene, and those are actually two names of women from the Bible who my parents named me after.
Speaker: And actually, I have one more special one for you to listen to. My name is River. It's like a river. That was my son, River. He was named after a river because, you know, river is flowing water. It means new life.
Speaker: And we also liked the way it sounded. So let's get on today's story with some fun facts. See if you can figure out the theme with today's fun facts.
Speaker: um It's time for some fun facts. My name is Morgan and I'm 11 years old. A 15 year old girl named Anne created a flashlight that is powered by body heat. A third grader named Katie grew 40 pound cabbage in her yard. She donated it to a local soup kitchen and fed 275 people. A fifth grader invented the water talkie, which is a device that allows people to talk to each other underwater. Wow, those kids did some amazing things.
Speaker: I'm sure some of you have done some amazing things too. Maybe you invented something or helped someone in a cool way or tried something new. Well, I'm sure that you will do some other amazing things in your life too.
Speaker: In fact, I know that God has amazing things planned for you and he even knew about them before you were born. It kind of blows my mind knowing that God has planned things for you before you were even born.
Speaker: It's true. And in today's Bible story, We're going meet someone who heard those very words from God himself. His name was Jeremiah. And when Jeremiah was still a young man, God spoke to him and said something really powerful. Listen to these words we read in the Bible.
Speaker: God said to Jeremiah, "'Before formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, i set you apart and appointed you as a prophet.'" Whoa, that's a pretty big deal.
Speaker: God was telling Jeremiah, before you were even born, I chose you to have this big job to be my prophet. Now, remember, we've learned that prophets are people who share messages from God.
Speaker: Now, Jeremiah was chosen to be a prophet to share God's message with people. But when he heard that, he wasn't excited right away. In fact, Jeremiah was nervous and he told God, I'm too young.
Speaker: I don't think I know how to speak your message to people. Have you ever felt like that? I definitely have. I've had that thought, oh, I'm not ready for that. Or I don't know if I can. Or maybe this is too big a job for me.
Speaker: Well, listen to what God said to Jeremiah. He said, don't be afraid. will be with you and I will give you the words to say. And then God did this pretty amazing thing.
Speaker: He touched Jeremiah's mouth and put his words inside Jeremiah's mouth. And it gave him the courage and the strength and the wisdom to speak boldly as God's prophet.
Speaker: That is amazing. I would like to imagine God putting his hand on my mouth too and giving me the words to say when I need them. God is always on my side. He's on your side too.
Speaker: And it's really amazing to think how he could do that for us. So Jeremiah did become this brave prophet, reminding the people of God's love for them. But unfortunately, just like we heard about last week and the week before, not everyone listened to Jeremiah, not even the king.
Speaker: You see, God's people were in this time where they stopped worshiping him. They had made a promise to be faithful to God, but instead they started worshiping fake gods.
Speaker: They were breaking their promise to God and So God sent the prophet Jeremiah to warn them. Hey, people, if you keep doing this, bad things are going to happen. But again, the people still didn't listen.
Speaker: So let's talk about consequences. Can you say consequence? I'm sure you've heard that word from your parents or your teachers. I know I've talked about it with my kids, because consequences are what happens because of our choices, and everyone experiences consequences.
Speaker: Some are good, some are bad. Like if you flip a light switch, what's gonna happen? The light will turn on. That's a pretty good consequence. If you practice your instrument every day, what's gonna happen?
Speaker: You'll become a better player. That's a pretty good consequence. But if you go to mail a letter and you forget to put a stamp on, it won't get delivered. That's a bad consequence.
Speaker: If you go to a party and you eat way too much cake, might get a stomach ache. That's not a good consequence either. See, some things are good, some things are bad, but consequences always happen because of our choices.
Speaker: So God told his people, if you follow me and worship me only, i will bless you. i will give you a wonderful land. But if you turn away from me and stop following me, there will be bad consequences.
Speaker: Even though Jeremiah warned them again and again, the people did not turn back to God. So just like he warned, there was a bad consequence. In fact, a really powerful, mean army from Babylon came.
Speaker: They destroyed the temple. They stole the people's things and they even took some of the people away from their homes and led them to captivity. It was a very sad time for God's people.
Speaker: But here's what I want you to remember. God never stopped loving them. Even though God's people messed up, they stopped trusting him and they had this bad consequence, he still had hope for them.
Speaker: And through Jeremiah, we read these words of God's promise. I have plans to give you hope and a future. God promised that one day these people would return to their home.
Speaker: And guess what? We read from the Bible that it really happened. They did return to their home and God kept his promise just like he always does. God has good plans for you too.
Speaker: There are consequences to our choices, but God always, always loves us. When we mess up, God is ready to forgive us and bring us back to him.
Speaker: Imagine God is always saying this to you. He's always saying, i love you. i want you to be part of my family. Keep me first in your life. Listen to me. i will help you. i will guide you.
Speaker: i will never stop loving you. When I read Jeremiah's story, I remember that God's love is never stopping, never giving up, never ending, even when I mess up.
Speaker: So let's get to the point. God loved his people even when they did wrong. God will always love me. Today with your family, talk about this question. Since God loves you, even when you mess up, how should we treat others when they mess up?
Speaker: Talk about it together and please record a voicemail because we want to hear what you think. send it in a text message to 636-280-5433. We'd love to feature you on another episode coming up.
Speaker: So talk about it with your family and don't forget, God loves you with a great big love. Bye friends.
