Backseat Bible Nuggets (Laura Young)

Y'all, Christian Parenting has been hitting it out of the park lately with their products. This month they are rolling out a devotional made just for kids called My Time with God. It’s geared for ages 6-12. And it’s a colorful and fun devotional to read scripture, engage in creative activities, deepen their prayer life, and learn the benefits of spending time with God every day! Go get today at CPGive.org

Today we talk about questions with Hudson (9) and Avery (6):

What’s special about the Bible?

When do you usually read your Bible?

Why do you like reading your Bible?

What is your favorite Bible story and why?

How does the Bible help us live the way God wants us to live?

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Alright Backseaters, as we start this episode, I want you to show me your best dance move. GO ahead and let me see it! I’ll be dancing right along with you.

Wow! Incredible moves! Where did you learn to dance like that?

Did you know that dancing is not only fun but it can be used to worship God? That’s right! The Bible talks about dancing a lot. If you want to read some verses you can check out Ecclesiastes 3:4 or Psalm 30:11 or Psalm 149:3.

But today we are going to talk about King David dancing. You have probably heard of King David but have you heard of his dance moves? King David loved to dance and he wasn’t afraid to show it!

Now, he didn’t just dance to show off his dance moves, but he danced to worship God, to give God glory and he did it in response to how awesome he thought God was.

2 Samuel chapter 6 tells us the story of when King David brought the ark to Jerusalem. Now, this ark is called the ark of the covenant. NOT Noah’s ark. NOT A BOAT! The ark of the covenant was a special box that God told the people exactly how to make and it represented God himself being with the people. It seems a little strange to us today because we live in a different time where God’s Spirit can be with us anywhere, anytime. But it wasn’t always like this!

God’s presence, or just God being with His people centered around this box called the ark of the covenant. Okay, so the ark of the covenant was coming into Jerusalem and King David…oh man….he was SO excited. You know why? Because it meant God would be with them, close to them!

And guess what? David showed His excitement and praise and worship to God by busting out his BEST dance moves!

2 Samuel 6:14b tells us that David, “danced in front of the Lord with all his might.” Show me how you can dance with all your might like David.

NICE!

And David wasn’t the only one worshipping. EVERYONE was excited and worshipping God, it says! The next verse says that “the whole community of Israel helped him bring it up. They shouted. They blew trumpets.”

They all worshipped God in different ways, but King David is known for his dance moves in this story.

So, let’s talk about a few things… You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get us talking:

1.     What’s your favorite way to worship the Lord?

2.     Why do you think it’s important for you to worship God?

3.     What do you think is God’s favorite dance move?

Let’s try and learn our verse together. You can repeat after me. “David danced in front of the Lord with all his might.” 2 Samuel 6:14b

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Hey Backseaters! I have noticed that there are a LOT of new listeners here on Backseat Bible Nuggets which means you’re telling all your friends about this podcast and that makes me super happy. Thank you!

But, I thought it might be time to reintroduce myself again for some of our new Nuggetters! So, Hey! I’m Laura Young. And I’m the most normal mom of two kids you’ll ever meet. Hah! What I mean by that is that I’m not a fancy podcaster with a big studio and slick production skills. Nope! I’m actually a mom who wanted a podcast devotional for her kids to listen to one morning as we were running out the door and it was stressful, crazy and everyone was frustrated. We needed something to reset our hearts and minds for the day ahead since the morning hadn’t been our best. Anyway, I couldn’t find anything. All I wanted was for someone to basically read a devotional to us since I was driving and definitely not in the right state of mind to wing it as we headed out the door.

Since I couldn’t find anything, I decided to make it! Well, actually, I prayed about it, tried to get other people to do it and really felt like the Lord kept saying, “why not you? Why not you?” So, 2 years ago I decided to go for it and kicked off this whole Backseat Bible Nugget project.

That’s how I got here! And I’ve done it with the help of lots of kiddos like you. My favorite episodes are when I hear your voices instead of my own! Speaking of kid voices, my kids are Hudson and Avery and you’ll hear their voices on here helping out pretty often.

Right now though, they are enjoying summer activities like invention camp, water parks, dance camp, reading challenges, family trips and swimming. Lots and lots of swimming since it’s so so hot.

Anyway, since I want you to know who we are, here are 5 random things about us….

1.     My kids prefer to be barefoot all day every day no matter the terrain.

2.     We think that Papa Johns pizza is the best pizza that exists.

3.      We had a black bear walk across our front porch last year!

4.     We live near an air force base that has tons of fighter jets constantly flying. It’s super fun to see an airshow every day, but not always best when it comes to recording a podcast since those planes are LOUD.

5.     Our family has 2 kittens who are brother and sister. They look just alike and we have a hard time telling them apart!

What about you? What are some cool things about you? I’d love to meet you and get to know you better! You can always email me at backseatbiblenuggets@gmail.com or even find me on Instagram or facebook. I’d love to hear your thoughts and even any ideas you might have for some podcast episodes!

But, you know what? Even if we don’t ever meet, I know something about you. I know the Lord created you and has big plans for your life! The Bible says that the Lord knit us together so He’s made YOU in a special way. And I know that He can use YOUR life to do awesome and wonderful thing for God’s glory if you follow Him and His ways all the days of your life.

And that’s my prayer for every ear listening. That this podcast would be used to add a little fuel to your fire in walking in relationship with the Lord. That it would be a supplement to help you remember and talk about Jesus and all He’s done for us every day.

Okay, yall, well it’s been great to meet you. I’ll be back next Wednesday with a regular episode. See you the

This episode is a follow-up to the 'How do I become a Christian?' episode. If we don't understand the WHY behind the HOW then we're missing the whole point.

We talk about how because we are all sinners then we need Jesus! That's WHY we should ask Jesus to be Lord of our life and follow Him and His ways. An understanding of personal sin needs to come before a true commitment to following Jesus. Let's make sure our kids understand that they need Jesus because they are sinners, not becuase their parents tell them to or because they grow up going to church.

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Miss Patty Cake “Little Me” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI_pDN-edw8

I’ve been walking with Jesus for 30 years now and its crazy that I’ve just recently realized that the longer I know Him, the more I understand how much I don’t know and don’t understand about Him.

I mean, most people, the more you spend time with them, the more you know them, right?!

That’s true with Jesus too in some ways. The more time I spend reading the Bible which teaches me about Him, the more I know Him. The more time I spend in prayer talking to Him, the more I know Him. The more time I spend singing songs about Him, the more I know Him.

But since God is unlike any other person I know because, well, He’s God…I’ve realized that the more I know Him it’s like the less I know.

The more I realize how huge and great and holy and mighty in power and just massive His presence is. My understanding grows to see how nothing can stop Him and how He can speak a word and whatever He said happens and how even tiny details all throughout history are orchestrated and directed by Him. He is just on this massive huge scale that I can’t even wrap my brain around.

But yet. Here’s the amazing part.

He loves me. Little me.

But why? Why would He love me? There’s plenty of other people for Him to love. Plenty of cooler people who are better at all sorts of things than I am. Yet…..little me. He loves and cares for so deeply. And He doesn’t just love me big picture or if I’m acting really good. He loves me even when I make the wrong decision. He loves even the details of my life. Like He knows what hurts my feelings and what foods I like or don’t like. He knows me. He knows my thoughts. He knows me better than I even know myself because He made me.

Makes me think of this song my daughter learned in preschool that’s by Miss Patty Cake. I’ll put the link to the song in the show notes. Listen to this song…

AVERY SING

Jesus loves little me. The God who is bigger than we can ever understand….He loves little me. How amazing is that? And that my friends, is what I’ve been learning recently. Even after walking with the Lord for 30 years. It’s the basic gospel, the good news about what Jesus did for us while we were yet sinners, that still floors me and brings me to my knees in worship. My little knees, if you will.

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Here are some questions to get you and whoever you’re listening with talking about how amazing the Lord is to us.

1.     How can God create the heavens and the earth yet still know your thoughts?

2.     How does that make you feel to say that Jesus loves little me?

3.     What can we do in response to such an amazing love? Like should we just say thank you and walk away? Or what can we do because of His love for us?

Let’s practice our verse together one last time. You can repeat after me. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Need a resource to help you talk to your kids about politics from a Biblical world view this election season? SUBSCRIBE here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backseat-bible-nuggets/id1573752728

All content is party neutral and focuses on topics like being citizens of God's kingdom first, setting our minds on things above, and even what it looks like to respect government authority.

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/backseat-bible-nuggets/donations

Do you ever need help with something? I mean, is there ever something that you can’t do on your own and you need someone to help you do it?

Let’s talk about some examples. When have you needed help today? Go ahead and tell me about a time recently where you needed help.

Okay, now I want you to tell me exactly just HOW you asked for help when you needed it.

Alright, so maybe you asked for help by simply saying “I need help.” Or “can you help me, please?” or maybe you just cried and the adult you were with knew you needed help.

It’s a totally normal part of a kid’s day to need and ask for help. It happens A LOT, I bet, doesn’t it?

Well, that need for help doesn’t stop when you grow up. It might look a little different. Like as you grow up, you’ll learn how to tie your shoes or cut you your food or things like that or other things you might need help with at this age, but even grown-ups still need help in all sorts of ways. Good news is that we know someone who always hear when we ask for His help. It’s Jesus!

Did you know that the Lord really really really wants US – me and you -  to ask Him for His help? He wants us to go to Him when we need help because He can help us!

John 14:13 and 14 is where Jesus said, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Philippians 4:6 tells us to “not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

There is certainly a right way and a wrong way to go about asking for help from God. For example, if you demand that God gives you an ice cream cone right now!! ….He might not. But, if you go to Him, thanking Him that He listens to you and your need for help. And if you ask Him to help you through a situation or if you ask Him to help you with a hard situation so that His name would be glorified, John 14:14 tells us that He will do it!

So, here’s what I want you to remember today, because this is a big deal. We can ask God for help. Repeat John 14:14 after me…..”You may ask me for anything…..in my name….and I will do it…. John 14:14”

Jesus said those words. He wasn’t joking or making it up. He really really wants us to go to Him when we need help and ask Him for help. Don’t you think that God Almighty who created the heavens and the earth just might be the perfect person to ask for help? I do. And it’s a good reminder that we can go to Him first for help when we are in need.

I want to leave you with 2 questions to talk about with whoever you’re listening with….

1.     Where do you need God’s help in your life right now?

2.     How do we ask God for help?

Talk it out and maybe even pray together as we put it in to practice of asking God for help in our life!

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Ezekiel 37 tells us the cool story of the vision that Ezekiel saw where a bunch of dead bones came together piece by piece and came to life. This story was used to prophesy to Israel but is also useful for us today to remind us that when we are without Christ, we are just like those dead dry bones. But when we believe in Jesus and ask Him to be in charge of our life, we receive His Holy Spirit which gives us life! It's like we are those dry bones coming to life when Jesus fills us up!

Romans 6:11 says "Count yourselves dead to sin, but alive in Christ.” Let's talk about this cool story and the visual that it gives us to what the Lord does within our hearts when He gives us spiritual life!

The Advent book is out this year from Christian Parenting! I’m so excited because we loved ours last year. This year the book is called ‘Jesus, Light of the World’ and every day includes scripture, a short devotional, engaging activities that encourages kids to take ownership of their faith and yall know we love all those things here at Backseat Bible Nuggets.  You can get your copy at cpgive.org. That’s cpgive.org.

I have some friends who are going to be real life missionaries! I have always heard about missionaries, but I’ve never actually known a missionary that I called my friend. Do you know what a missionary is? A missionary is someone who is so excited about telling others about Jesus that they make it their job.

Your parents probably have a job where they might leave the house to go to work or maybe they work from home, but a missionary is willing to go anywhere where people need to hear about Jesus. To be more specific, a foreign missionary usually means they go to another country or a different part of the world to live and to tell others about Jesus and the Bible.

My friends are going to northern Africa to tell the people there about Jesus. How cool is that?

I think missionaries are like super heroes. And you should read some stories about missionaries, just like you read books about super heroes. Hudson, my 9 year old and I read a book on Hudson Taylor this summer. I chose it because they had the same name, but the life story of this early missionary made a huge impact on me! A missionary’s literal job is to introduce people to Jesus, which changes people’s lives forever. Is there a more important job? No!

But while my friends are packing up everything and moving to Africa and agreeing to learn a new language and live in a new culture, it reminded me that being a missionary doesn’t only mean those people willing to move to a different country. It’s important for all of us to be missionaries right where we live now.

Did you know that Jesus told all people who believe in Him to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded” in Matthew 28:19 and 20?

That verse I just read is called the Great Commission. Can you say Great Commission?

And it is the job description of a missionary, or really every person who believes in Jesus – to go and make disciples, which is just a fancy word for people who know and follow Jesus. And it says to do this everywhere…where you live, where you go to school, where you practice sports, where you dance, where your parents work, and even for some foreign missionaries it means wherever the Lord calls them in the world.

Okay, let’s talk about some things. You can pause after each question to discuss. And don’t overthink it…the point is to get conversation flowing.

1.     Did you know that you’re supposed to be telling others about Jesus?

2.     Is there anywhere that you can think of where you SHOULDN’T talk about Jesus?

3.     Who in your life might not know Jesus and you could tell them what YOU know about Jesus?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19 and 20.

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

www.BackseatBibleNuggets.com

How much fun would your kid have making their own Backseat Bible Nuggets episode? You can help them follow these steps:

1. Choose your favorite Bible story or verse and read it!

2. Find out what the story/ verse teaches you about God.

3. Apply it! How does the story/ verse change your life?

4. Ask questions about the story or verse that will get people talking!

And remember to have fun while you do this and as always...don't overthink it!

You can let me know how your episode turns out @backseatbiblenuggets on Instagram or Facebook!

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

What's the difference between having head knowledge and having heart knowledge? In this episode, we explore the differences by using candy as a simple and fun example. 

And is the head or the heart more important? This episode will teach you kids the importance of having heart knowledge of God and how the Lord values our heart more than our head knowledge (knowing lots of facts about Him).

The Bible tells us in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

And in 1 Samuel 16:7 we find out that, “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Knowing the difference between head versus heart knowledge is foundational to lifelong Christian doctrine.

Backseat Bible Nuggets is BACK! We are excited to get back to the routine with you as school gears back up. There are a lot of new things in store for this season including a Backseat Bible Nuggets SUBSCRIPTION for extra episodes! Click here to find out more: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backseat-bible-nuggets/id1573752728

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Do you know what obedience is? It is when you do something that’s been asked of you. It’s when you obey! But, I’d like to add that it’s doing what’s been asked of you right away and with a happy heart. I’m sure you and your parents talk about obeying pretty often. I know we do around our house! And there’s a reason for us talking about it so much. It’s because learning to obey your mom and dad or any other adult that’s in charge is SO important.

Why? Well, because God told us it was important! Ephesians 6:1 says, “children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” That verse makes it clear that obeying your parents is what the Lord WANTS us to do. The Bible tells us that obeying our parents is the RIGHT thing to do. It’s not asking us whether or not we FEEL like obeying or if we agree with what’s being asked of us. Ephesians 6:1 says, “obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.”

But, second of all, obeying your parents is helping you learn how to obey the Lord, which is also super important.

Think about this for a second….take your favorite Bible story. What is your favorite Bible story right now? Or maybe just a story that pops in to your head. I bet there is someone in that story that obeyed or disobeyed the Lord. Obedience….or disobedience….is in every story of the Bible! Think about it.

Adam and Eve disobeyed and were kicked out of the garden.

Noah obeyed and built the ark.

Abraham obeyed and was blessed with a huge family.

Moses obeyed even though others around him didn’t.

The story of the Israelite people is a rollercoaster of obedience and disobedience.

King David himself mostly obeyed the Lord but definitely had his moments of disobeying.

Even Jesus obeyed the Lord. Yeah! Philippians 2:8 tells us that he was obedient to death – even death on a cross. Meaning, that’s what God had asked him to do and he did it! He obeyed.

What about people in the Bible like John the Baptist or the disciples or Paul? They all have stories of obedience to the Lord.

I could keep going, but I think you see the point. Obedience is SO SO important the Lord!

So let’s practice and get really good at obeying our parents because that means that we will be able to better obey the Lord!

Here are some questions to talk about. Remember, there’s no wrong answer, so don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing:

1.     What does it mean to obey?

2.     Why is it sometimes hard or difficult to obey what we’ve been told?

3.     Tell me about someone in the Bible who either obeyed or disobeyed.

Let’s practice our verse together one last time. You can repeat after me. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” Ephesians 6:1

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

We talk a lot on here about how Jesus came to earth and died for our sins. But, did you know that Jesus is going to come back to earth some day?!

Yeah! He’s going to come back one day. But this time it’ll be different. This time He won’t be born in a manger with Mary and Joseph as his Mom and Dad. This time will be A LOT different.

I have to tell you up front that we don’t know EXACTLY all the details about how Jesus will come back, but we DO know He said He would come back so we can trust that it’s true.

We can look to the Bible for some clues about what it will be like when Jesus returns to earth. So, here’s what we DO know about when Jesus comes back again, which we also sometimes call His second coming.

We know he will come on the clouds. We know that every eye will see Him. That means every person will see Him with their own eyeballs. We know He will come with all of His angels – tons and tons of angels with Him. Oh, and there will be trumpets! Loud trumpets! (trumpet sound) AND we know that the only person who knows when all of this will happen is (drum roll) God, Himself.

Revelation 1:7a says, ”Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…”

How cool is that?! Our God is so amazing that He can do all of those things – like come in the clouds with millions even billions of angels behind Him. With a trumpet call announcing His arrival so that all eyes on earth will look to Him and see Him. I REALLY want to see this because I think it’ll be the coolest sight ever!

And it will be for those who know and love Jesus! For those who don’t know Him or follow Him, though, it won’t be the best day ever. That’s because when Jesus comes back they won’t have time anymore to turn to Him. That’s why it’s important that we know and follow Jesus TODAY! We can’t wait to do that because remember….no one knows when He’s coming back. Only God knows that!

What if it’s today? Look up! Do you see Him in the clouds right now? What if it’s tomorrow? What if it’s when you’re 100 years old? Who knows?! Maybe it won’t happen in your lifetime. Maybe it’ll be in 10,000 years. Only God knows. But, we are told to live for Him right now and to be excited about the day when He comes back in this awesome way.

Okay friends, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get us talking about this:

1.     What are some things we know from the Bible about Jesus’ second coming?

2.     What are some questions that you might have about Jesus coming back to earth? There are plenty of things that we don’t know about this day! So what are some of your questions?

3.     How do you think you’ll respond if you see Him coming back? Would you jump for joy or find a trumpet to blow or maybe you’d hide not knowing what was happening or something else?  

Let’s try and learn our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him…” Revelation 1:7a

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Figuring out just who God is can often feel like putting a puzzle together. We learn Him piece by piece and overtime we start to make connections as we know Him more. Just as its fun to put a puzzle together, it can be fun to learn all the pieces of the Lord and put those pieces together! But He is so awesome and profound that He is a puzzle that we will never complete as humans. And that's okay! Just as we enjoy the process of working on a puzzle, we should enjoy the process of learning more and more about the Lord.

Everyone knows that kids ask really great questions. And sometimes the questions are tough to answer! Here are a few questions I’ve heard recently: “If God created everything, then who created God?” or “Why would God create hell?” or “When is Jesus coming back to earth?”

These are all awesome questions! And the thing I love most about these questions is that it means you’re thinking about the Lord. But, these questions don’t have easy and clear answers.

In fact, there are a lot of things about God that are somewhat of a…..mystery. A mystery is just something that’s hard to explain or difficult to understand. And certain things about God will always be a mystery us. Why? Because we are humans that can’t understand EVERY. SINGLE. THING. about God. Sure, we can understand a lot about Him, especially as we read the Bible which teaches us about who He is. But, the Bible doesn’t give clear answers to every detailed question we might think of.

And I want to tell you something…..that’s okay! It’s okay for God to be a God of mystery. It’s okay that all of my questions don’t have perfect clear answers. This is important! If I were able to figure out every little thing about the Lord and how He works and thinks, then I might start thinking I could do His job for Him, which wouldn’t be good.

We should see God’s mystery as reassuring to us that He’s way bigger than we are and able to do much more than we can ever imagine.

So, let’s be okay with the mystery, deal?!

Romans 11:33-34 talks about this when it says, “how very rich are God’s wisdom and knowledge! How He judges is more than we can understand! The way He deals with people is more than we can know! Who can ever know what the Lord is thinking? Or who can ever give Him advice?”

That verse says God’s ways are more than we can understand, more than we can know. So, if anyone ever tells you that they know everything and they have all the answers, just know that’s not possible because this verse tells us that we won’t ever figure out all the things about the Lord.

Kinda mindblowing, if you ask me.

One last thing as we’re talking about this. Yes, God is a God who has some mystery. But, He’s also told us A LOT about who He is in the Bible. So, don’t get discouraged that God will always be a mystery about everything. There’s a LOT to know and learn about Him for your entire life! There will just come a point, on some questions or topics, where we have to be okay with NOT knowing every detail. That’s where we trust what we DO know about Him and go back to the main truths in the Bible.

So, let’s talk about a few things… You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get us talking:

1.     What hard questions do you have about God?

2.     Now ask the adult you’re listening with what questions they have about God? What is a mystery to them about the Lord? Remember how our verse said that God’s ways are more than we can understand and more than we can know? That’s for everyone, kids AND adults! So, ask your adult what is a mystery to them about the Lord.

3.     Do you think it’s cool or not cool that God has some things about Him that we can’t figure out? How do you feel about His mystery?

I hope you had great discussion! And I want to tell you on the last question, if you don’t love that you can’t figure everything out about God, then we can pray and ask Him to help you have more trust or faith in Him. He can help us with that! It doesn’t mean He will tell us all the answers for our questions, but He will help us to better trust who He is and trust His goodness even in the mystery.

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me.

“How very rich are God’s wisdom and knowledge! How He judges is more than

Does God forgive and forget? When we say, "God, please forgive me," we can magically erase His memory? Explore and ponder these questions with us!

Psalm 103:12 says, “He has removed our sins from us. He has removed them as far as the east is from the west.”

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Have you ever seen one of those big inflatable balls that people can get inside and fit their whole body in? It’s almost like a giant hamster ball, but for humans? Apparently, it’s called a zorb. You can look it up! https://www.zorbs.us/ Well, my friends, this is sometimes how I visualize God’s protection of His children.

Hah! That might sound sorta strange, and I should start by saying there is no Bible verse that talks about giant human hamster balls, but scripture is full of stories that show God’s full and complete protection from all sides. And it’s the Lord’s protection that encompasses those who follow Him as they live their life.

In fact, God’s plan of sending Jesus to die for our sins PROTECTS us from death for all of eternity. Talk about ultimate protection! And so those who have surrendered their heart to Jesus and received His gift of salvation can know that they know that they know that the Lord will always protect and that He will never leave them or forsake them. That’s a promise in the Bible that we can depend on. And part of Him never leaving us means that we can count on His protection all around us. A protection that cannot be broken. A protection that cannot be penetrated.

In fact, Psalms 18:2-3 says, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.”

So, these verses talk about the Lord being a fortress. Hmm, what is a fortress? We don’t typically have those around town anymore, but they used to be very common and very important to protecting people! A fortress was almost like a castle or a giant structure that was meant to protect people inside from an outside enemy attack. It usually had thick walls made from stone and its whole purpose was to protect the people and keep them safe.

So Psalm 18:2 is telling us that the LORD is OUR fortress. The Lord is like this huge structure made from the biggest stones that cannot be broken. His protection is a like a fortress that we can stay in and know that we will be safe. And a fortress sounds like much better protection than a giant hamster ball, doesn’t it?

Now, I want to say one thing. God is our protector. He does offer us protection. And He won’t ever fail. But, does that mean that nothing bad or hard will ever happen in our life, right? No, sometimes people choose to walk away from God’s protection, like they walk out of the fortress and think they can protect themselves on their own. Or sometimes God allows things to happen in our life to give Him glory as we grow through it. But either way, God as just as He is described in Psalm 18:2. Y’all can repeat after me on this one. It says, “The Lord is my rock…my fortress….and my deliverer…My God is my rock…in whom I take refuge….” Psalm 18:2…

So, let’s talk about some things that we learn from this. You can pause to discuss. And remember, don’t overthink it. Just give your best answer and get the conversation going!

1.     What does it mean that God is our protector?

2.     How have you seen God as protector in your life?

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Sometimes in church, we use words or say things that are sometimes confusing. For example, maybe you’ve heard of someone say that we should be “in the world, but not of the world.” What does that mean?

Or earlier this week my 8 year old asked me what “the fall” meant. Is it like when someone tripped in the Bible and it was super embarrassing so we still talk about it to this day? No, no. No one remembers when you trip, I promise.

Anyway, I wanted to talk about what those 2 terms, ‘the fall’ and ‘the world,’ and what they mean just to make sure we aren’t confused.

Our family loves to play Monopoly, especially my 9 year old. And if you’ve ever played this game you know that there are times where you have to go to a spot on the gameboard that is the jail. And when you’re in jail, in the game, you lose your turn until you’re free from jail. In order to get out of jail, you need to draw a card that says “Get Out of Jail Free.” This is the best card because it gets you back in the game and moving along with the other players.

This game of monopoly shows us something spiritually. We can think of our sin, that all humans are born with, as a type of jail. Our sin can keep us trapped, in a sense. We can’t get out on our own. And it ultimately keeps us separated from God.

If we were playing monopoly we would keep hoping and hoping we would draw one of those cards to get us out! And guess what? When Jesus came, He came to get us out of that sin jail. He came as the Son of God. He came to live the perfect human life. And He came to die for our sins – to offer us forgiveness from our sins. THEN He came BACK to life, winning over sin and death and showing that He will forever and always be the winner of LIFE – both today and for always.

Jesus did all of this so that we could have forgiveness from our sins, which is like our “Get Out of Jail Free” card. It’s through the forgiveness of our sins that we can have a relationship with Jesus both today and then forever in heaven with Him. But instead of waiting and just trying to get lucky by drawing the right card, in a sense, Jesus offers this forgiveness to everyone who accepts it. Isn’t that amazing? It’s a free gift that gets you out of that sin jail! Have you ever heard better news!?

Psalm 86:5 says, “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call on you.”

 Let’s talk about some questions today. Remember, don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing.

1.     How do you respond when you think about Jesus’ forgiving your sins?

2.     If Jesus is willing to forgive your sins, how do you think He wants you to treat others?

Let’s practice our verse one last time before we go. You can repeat after me. “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, - abounding in love - to all who call on you.” Psalm 86:5

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Did you know there are lots and lots of different meanings for the word “love”? The Bible has A LOT to say about love. So much so that we don’t have time to talk about every Bible verse that mentions the word. In fact, the type of Bible translation that I’m using mentions love 551 times! Woah!

Here are a few major things I want us to know about God’s love though.

1 John 4:19 says that “we love because He first loved us.” God loved us first. He didn’t wait on us to love Him before He returned that love. He loved us before we were even born! And this verse reminds us that He Himself is the definition of love. We love because He first loved us.

And also, His love for us and our love for Him makes us do things. Sorta like how your love for a certain food makes you crave it or how your love for a friend makes you want to play with them. Another way to say it is that love is action. Love isn’t JUST a feeling, it makes us do certain actions.

Mark 21:31 tells us to love our neighbor as ourself. And 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 talks about what actions go along with love. Listen to this: “Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not want what belongs to others. It does not brag. It is not proud. It does not dishonor other people. It does not look out for its own interests. It does not easily become angry. It does not keep track of other people’s wrongs. Love is not happy with evil. But it is full of joy when the truth is spoken. It always protects. It always trusts. It always hopes. It never gives up. Love never fails.”

Okay, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing:

1.     How is God’s love different from other types of love?

2.     How do you know that God loves you?

3.     How can you show love to someone today?

Let’s try and learn our verse together. You can repeat after me. “We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual guidance to help you grow into the perfectly imperfect parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

Have you ever been lost? If that’s ever happened to you then you know how scary and confusing it can be for everyone involved!

Well did you know that one time Mary and Joseph lost Jesus? I mean the most important child in the world was LOST! That’s right!

Luke 2:41-52 tells us about the time that Jesus was lost for 3 days. And this was way before they had cell phones to call people or text and ask if anyone had seen Jesus. They just had to go around asking and I’m sure Mary and Joseph were worried sick.

I love thinking about this story right after Christmas where we tend to imagine Jesus so peacefully sleeping in the manger almost like a fairytale. This story reminds us that Jesus lived a normal human life. Sure, He was the savior of the world and He wasn’t worried or scared when He was lost. But, it reminds us of that He was fully human. And that meant that things happened….like being lost. AND that God chose Mary and Joseph knowing full well that they would lose Jesus one day for a few days. Their parenting mess up didn’t disqualify them from being the perfect choice of parents to Jesus. And that’s reassuring to me as a parent, myself!

Okay, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing:

1. How did Mary and Joseph lose Jesus?
2. How did Jesus respond to being lost?
3. What do we learn about Jesus as a 12 year old boy through this story?

Let’s try and learn our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Why were you looking for me? He asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:49

Raise your hand if you want to be tall when you grow up? I think every kid I know cares a lot about their height. I know we do at our house! I bet you can tell me who is the tallest in your class or group of friends and I bet you can tell me who is the shortest. And have you noticed how adults so often make comments about how they just can’t believe how much you’ve grown?

As a kid it’s important to get the right amount of sleep and eat the right healthy foods in order to grow. Have your parents ever told you that? It’s true!

Well, just as you will get bigger and taller as you grow up, you can also GROW as a Christian as you get to know and follow Jesus. There’s a fancy word for this called sanctification. Can you say that? Sanctification. PAUSE. Good!

This complicated word just means that as we get to know Jesus better through reading about Him in the Bible or singing songs to Him or talking about Him with other people then we grow to become more and more like Him. Have you ever hung out with someone for a while and then you realize that you start saying some of the same things they say? Or maybe you start acting the way they act?

Same things happens when we hang out with the Lord. We start to think the way He thinks and we start to say the things He said. This is sanctification.

And it doesn’t happen over night! It takes years and years, just like it takes years for us to grow as a kid. It’s a process. And just as healthy food and good exercise and sleep can help you grow taller, in the same way, lots of time reading the Bible, praying and talking with other people about Jesus helps us become more like Him. It helps sanctify us!

So, that’s sanctification. The growing over your lifetime to become more like Jesus. Hard to say word – but pretty basic thing to understand, right?

The Bible has a lot to say about sanctification and we see that growing process played out in the lives of all people in the Bible. But, for today, I chose just one verse. 1 Thessalonians 5:23a says, “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.”

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1. What was that word that we talked about today that is a fancy word for growing to become more and more like Jesus over time?
2. How do we know if we are growing to be more like Jesus? It’s not someone that we can measure on a growth chart, like our height, so how do we know if we’re growing more like Jesus?
3. What are some things that you can do today to help you grow to be more like Jesus?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely” 1 Thessalonians 5:23a.

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Raise your hand if you’ve signed up for a sport before? Or your parents signed you up? I bet we have some baseball players and some soccer players and some football players maybe even some ballerinas or cheerleaders or softball players!

Well, tell me. Just because you sign up for a sport and get the uniform, does that make you a professional player of that sport? Like are you the best player ever just for signing up? No!

You sign up so you can go to the practices and play in the games so that you can get better and better over time. By going to the practices and games you improve your skills and HOPEFULLY you are a better player at the end of the season than you were at the beginning, right?

In the same way, just because someone says they are a Christian or just because you pray and ask Jesus to come in to your heart doesn’t make you a perfect Christian immediately, does it? No!

We have to think of reading our Bible and praying and talking about Jesus with other believers like our sports practices and games. These things are there in order to improve our skills of what it means to LIVE as a Christian! As we read God’s words and learn about Him, we will start to live a different way. The point of all of that is not just to fill our heads with fact but it’s to start doing things Jesus would do in our own life. Or maybe it’s to STOP doing things that Jesus wouldn’t do.

I mean this so literally! If you’re a Christian and growing in the Lord then you should find yourself being more kind and loving to others. Seeing them as Jesus sees them. Maybe that’s you seeing someone who needs a friend on the playground and you being willing to go over and be that friend. Or maybe it’s that you start becoming more obedient, more quickly when your parents tell you to do something. Or maybe it’s NOT doing something you know you’re not supposed to. The options are endless for how you will start to live it out day to day as you walk with Jesus.

But I just want you to understand the importance of taking the things we learn about the Lord and letting it change your behavior and attitudes and actions – just like we let our practices and lessons and games in our favorite sport improve our skills.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:9a, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.” Will you try and do that with me? Let’s look for something this week, some way we can put our love for Jesus and the way He wants us to act in to action this week!

Here are some questions to talk about. Remember, there’s no wrong answer, so don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing:

1.     Can you tell me of a time where you acted like Jesus? Maybe you did something or didn’t do something and you know that it would have pleased the Lord for you to act that way. Tell me about it.

2.     Why do our actions matter when we are a Christian?

3.     How do we make our actions more like Jesus’ actions?

Let’s practice our verse one last time before we go. You can repeat after me. “Whatever you have learned - or received - or heard from me - or seen in me – put it into practice.” Philippians 4:9a

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

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On the episode this week, we are talking about how most of us LOVE to win! First place is the best place, right?! Or is it? Find out how Jesus and God's kingdom views first place. This is a great episode for those super competitive kids in your life. But, it's also a great reminder of all of us that Jesus said, "So the last will be first and the first will be last." Matthew 16:20

Jesus being born is a special story for everyone. For me and for you! The story of Jesus being born, the life he lived, and then eventually the death that he died on the cross was all for you. He came to this world for you!

This was such great news for every single person that even a big group of angels shows up praising God saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” in Luke 2:14.

I pray that when you hear the Christmas story, even if you’ve heard it before, that your heart explodes with worship for what God has done for each of us through Jesus.

So here are some questions to get us talking about this famous story. You can pause to discuss and as always, there’s no wrong answer!

1.     If you had to be one character in the Christmas story, like if you could be Mary or Joseph or Jesus or an angel or a shepherd or a sheep or a wise man or anyone else in the story, who would you want to be?

2.     What’s your favorite part of the Christmas story? Do you have a favorite detail?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice this awesome verse together. You can repeat after me. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14 

Backseat Bible Nuggets was created by me, Laura, a mom of 2 that wanted an easy tool to help refocus our hectic days. Our hope is that this helps every adult easily start Christ centered conversations with the kids in their life. We are so honored you listen and would love for you to leave us a review or better yet, spread the word. Let your friends know about this podcast! And as always, I’m praying that your backseaters grow deep roots as you go along the way. 

Think with me for a minute about your school supplies at the END of last school year. What did they look like? Did they look like the same supplies that you took on the first day of school?

No way!!! If you are like my kids, they ended up coming home with a dirty looking pencil box full of broken erasers, half pieces of crayons, and dull markers. Everything they had started school with looked a little worn out by the end of the year.

Thankfully, the beginning of a new school year means a fresh set of school supplies. And honestly, the new school supplies is probably my favorite part of starting school.

The picture of the old worn out school supplies and then the fresh set of school supplies is similar to what happens in our life when we become a Christian.

You see, before we come to know and follow Jesus, our hearts are like the old dingy supplies. Rough and used and worn down by sin.

But, the Bible tells us that when we come to know and follow Jesus then we become like those brand new school supplies! He makes us new! How? Because of Jesus’ love for us and because He has the power to make our hearts new!

Don’t believe me? Listen to this! 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

Can’t you hear the excitement in that verse?! I think Jesus gets so excited to see someone’s heart go from old to new. From dirty, old and worn out to bright, shiny, and fresh.

So, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these. The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1. What do you think it means to be a new creation in Christ?
2. Why do you think God would want us to be a new creation?

Now, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. Oh, and since we are about to start school where you’ll have to use inside voices, let’s take this opportunity to use a crazy loud voice when you repeat after me. Just to send summer out with a bang and get us excited about starting school. Okay, repeat after me in your loudest voice. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

How cool is it that there’s a story about a queen who loved God in the Bible? We just heard how brave she was to go to the king and ask for him to save the lives of the Jews. When Esther went to the King without him asking her to come she could have been killed! Kings were very serious back then with lots of strict rules!

In fact, Esther said this in the Bible: “I’ll go to the king. I’ll do it even though it against the law. And if I have to die, I’ll die.” Esther 4:16

Esther, trusting God and His plan, knew what she had to do to save the Jewish people. Even if it meant putting her life on the line. Wow! What bravery!

You can read more about Queen Esther in the Bible. She has a whole book in the Bible named after her for what she did!

Through the book of Esther, we see that God’s plan will always win. And we learn that He always takes care of His people. AND guess what? Esther’s story shows us that God has more power than any king or ruler.

So, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and the point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1. How do you think Esther felt when she had to be brave?
2. Have you ever had to be brave and do something you were scared to do?
3. For this last question, you might have to go and read more about Queen Esther to answer. But, in what ways did God honor her bravery? Like what happened to Esther after she did this for God?

Our verse today is Esther 4:16. You can repeat after me. “I’ll go to the king. I’ll do it even though it against the law. And if I have to die, I’ll die.” Esther 4:16

One of the goals of this podcast is to get you interested and excited about God’s word. The Bible is important to our everyday life…when we submit or REALLY listen to God’s word it puts our heart and attitude in the right place to go throughout our day no matter what happens. God’s word is living and active, it’s powerful, as we’ve talked about before!

But today, I want to remind us that God’s has a sense of humor and we can find that when we look at details of the Bible. In fact, Hudson, my 8-year-old, found something he thought was super funny in the Bible the other day that made him laugh. Do you think it’s okay to laugh at something in the Bible? It is! I think God loves when we laugh and I think He especially loves when we are reading His word with enough attention to realize when something is funny!

Okay, so Hudson was reading in 1 Samuel 24 and this is where David is being chased by Saul because Saul wants to kill him. Listen to what it says and see if you can find the funny parts… “Saul returned from chasing the Philistines. Then he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” So, Saul took 3,000 of the best soldiers from the whole nation of Israel. He started out to look for David and his men. He planned to look near the Rocky Cliffs of the Wild Goats. He came to some sheep pens along the way. A cave was there. Saul went in to go to the toilet. David and his men were far back in the cave. David’s men said, “This is the day the Lord told you about. He said to you, ‘I will hand your enemy over to you. Then you can deal with him as you want to.’” So David came up close to Saul without being seen and he cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.” That’s 1 Samuel 24:1-4.

Did you find anything sort of funny about that? First of all, I should say, there was nothing funny about this situation because Saul was trying to kill David and David was hiding for his life! Yikes!

But here’s what’s funny….if you are in to bathroom humor, which most kids are, right?! Saul has to use the toilet, he has to go to the bathroom. And it just so happens that he chooses to use a cave where David and his men are hiding. PU!!

And Hudson pointed out that Saul must’ve gone #2 if he was in there long enough for David and his men to discuss what was happening AND for David to sneak up and cut a corner of his robe off.

What in the world!? HAHA! Can you imagine? Have you ever snuck up on someone going to the bathroom? I wouldn’t recommend it. Stinky!!!

Anyway, this goes to show that when we pay attention to the details of God’s word - when we listen and really think about the details of what we are reading then it comes alive to us! These aren’t just made up stories! They are real life! And sometimes real life can be a little bit funny and make us laugh.

Okay, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. And, like always…don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing:

1. What did you find funny about that story with David and Saul?
2. Why do you think God would include funny details like that in the Bible?
3. Can you think of other funny stories or situations in the Bible?

Let’s try and learn our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Saul went in to go to the toilet. David and his men were far back in the cave.” 2 Samuel 24:3b

Check us out on Instagram @backseatbiblenuggets

You know how in lots of movies, they are searching for some object that has great power or even like a treasure that has great value? Like the genie lamp in Aladdin that would give whatever was wished or desired. Or in the latest Minions movie when they are after the Zodiac stones that would give unlimited power. Lots and lots of movies have an object like that – one that is powerful and legendary. I’m sure you can think of other examples from your favorite movies.

Well, I started thinking the other day that we should think of the Bible like that. We should think of the Bible as a treasure. A powerful object. An ancient artifact of great value.

Because that’s what it is!! Hebrews 4:12 tells us that God’s word is sharper than a double-edged sword. And it’s not just any sword, it’s a sword that can divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow; and judge the attitude of the heart. That sounds really powerful!

And it IS powerful! Did you know that when Jesus was tempted by Satan, and they were having this sorta spiritual fight, that Jesus fought back with Satan by using words from the Bible? Isn’t that crazy?

Jesus didn’t use jiu jitsu moves or Hulk smash punches to beat Satan. No, Jesus used the most powerful tool He had – which was God’s word. The Bible.

Psalm 119:105 also tells us that the Bible is so powerful that it’s a lamp to our feet and a light for our path. The guy who wrote Psalm 119 goes on to say that God’s word makes his heart tremble – which means to shake or shiver because it’s so powerful.

The Bible really is a powerful treasure. And most of us have it right in our house! How great is that?! We don’t have to go on a long quest or fight off bad guys to get this powerful treasure, like they do in the moves. No, we just have to open it and read it. You see the power of the Bible, doesn’t come from just owning a Bible. That’s not how this treasure works. This treasure is powerful when we read the words or hear the words.

So, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these. The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1. In what ways do you think the Bible is powerful?
2. What gives the Bible it’s power?
3. How might this change the way that you think about reading the Bible every day?

Now, let’s practice our verse together. We talked about a few verses today, but lets reread Psalm 119:105 together. You can repeat after me. “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105

John 10:28 talks about someone snatching something out of another person’s hands. Now, I’m just curious if you’ve ever snatched someone from someone before? Maybe your sibling had a toy that you wanted and you just grabbed it. How well did that go? It never goes well in our house when that happens. And let me guess, you hate it when someone else snatches something out of your hands, right? No one likes having something taken from them when it was theirs to begin with. And as parents we teach this lesson to our kids. Maybe you’ve already learned it!

Well since we know that having something snatched from us isn’t the most enjoyable, Jesus clearly tells us that nothing can be snatched out of His hands. And guess what’s in His hands? His children! He holds those who believe in Him in His hands. Those must be some BIG BIG hands!

John 10:28 is where Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.”

So that’s saying that Jesus is the one who gives us eternal life when we believe in Him. And because we have eternal life, we won’t ever die. Okay. But the second part of that verse is where Jesus says that once you believe in Him, you’re in His hand, and nothing can snatch you out.

Like you can’t fall out. You can’t jump out. You can’t get lost and wander out. And this is a huge deal because He’s talking spiritually. Meaning once we give our heart to Jesus, nothing changes that. It’ll always be safe and secure in His hands. Isn’t that awesome. It brings such confidence and comfort to know that He has me forever and ever and I’m protected in His hands as His child.

Let’s talk about some questions today. Remember, don’t overthink it! The point is to get conversation flowing.

1.     Who are the people in God’s hands?

2.     Who would try to snatch anything out of God’s hands?

3.     If you have given your heart to Jesus, how does it feel to hear that nothing can snatch you out of His hands?

Let’s practice our verse one last time before we go. You can repeat after me. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:28

Backseat Bible Nuggets is a part of the Christian Parenting Podcast Network. To find practical and spiritual advice to help you grow into the parent you want to be visit www.ChristianParenting.org

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You’ve probably seen pictures of a medieval knight. They’re usually wearing all of that silver or metal body armor from head to toe. It’s a funny looking suit to someone who doesn’t understand what it’s for or why a knight would wear this. The knight’s armor was protection for them as they went out in to battle. They also usually carried a sword with them as well. So they had protection AND something to fight with.

The knight’s armor weighed around 50 pounds. How much do you weigh? A 50 pound suit of armor would have been heavy for some of us to carry! But, it was worth it to wear it, even if it was heavy because it meant they were protected from attacks of the enemy.

In the same way, God has given each Christian, each of us who believe in Him, a suit of armor too.  Now this isn’t something you can order from Amazon or pick up at Walmart. And it certainly doesn’t weigh 50 pounds. No, this armor is spiritual armor.

We can’t see it, touch it or feel our spiritual armor, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real. Actually, the invisible spiritual armor for believers is even more important than the medieval knight’s metal armor.

As Christians, we battle against sin and the tricks of our enemy, the devil. But God doesn’t just tell us “best of luck in the fight.” No, like any good king, He gives us full coverage spiritual armor that we often call the armor of God. 

Here’s what the Bible says: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:14-17

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. Oh, and the point is to get conversation flowing. So, don’t overthink it!

1.     Who do we consider our enemy as Christians?

2.     What does God give us to protect us against our enemy, the devil?

3.     From the Bible verse we read, which piece of armor do you think is the most important? Maybe it’s the belt of truth or the breastplate of righteousness or the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation or maybe even the sword of the Spirit. What do you think is most important? 

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. Since our scripture passage was pretty long, because we’ve got A LOT of armor, we’re going to just practice the last verse. But, I’d encourage you to read back through all of Ephesians 6:14-17. Okay, here we go. You can repeat after me. “Take the helmet of salvation - and the sword of the Spirit, - which is the word of God.” - Ephesians 6:17 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschekno

Raise your hand if you like to be disciplined. Raise your hand if you love rules and following them each day.

Okay, me neither. No one LIKES discipline and correction, but this is God's way of training us. Proverbs 3:11 says, “My son, do not hate the Lord’s training. Do not object when he corrects you. The Lord trains those he loves. He is like a father who trains the son he is pleased with.” 

Think about any professional athlete or any Olympic athlete. Do you think they became a professional by themselves? Nope! Their incredible plays and skills are ONLY because they listened to the correction of coaches and learned from their mistakes. And this is a life skill, guys! The sooner we learn it, the better off we are.

Alright, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. And as always, the point is to get conversation flowing so don’t overthink it.

1.     Tell me about the last time you were disciplined or corrected.

2.     What do you think the Lord might want you to learn from that situation?

3.     Why do you think God puts adults in charge of kids?

One last time before we go, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “My son, do not hate the Lord’s training. - Do not object when he corrects you. - The Lord trains those he loves. - He is like a father who trains the son he is pleased with.” – Proverbs 3:11

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22

You might be wondering, what is a fruit of the Spirit? Does it mean if I have a relationship with God that I’ll start sprouting fruit out of my body? Well, while that might be nice whenever you needed a snack, no, it does NOT mean you’ll turn in to a fruit tree.

Fruits of the Spirit are the outward signs of what God is doing in your heart. In other words, when we see people who are loving and kind, that lets us know what is in their heart. And when we see someone at peace and they have self-control, we stop and say…hum, that’s not a natural way to be. That must be the Lord or the Spirit working in their life.

As we grow in our relationship with the Lord – as we read and know His word in the Bible, as we talk with Him, as we sing praises to Him – we are growing and as we grow we will eventually produce the fruits of the Spirit – just like a plant!

Let’s read through that verse one more time. We will go slowly, so make sure you listen to each fruit that is mentioned: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22 

Ready for some questions to talk about? You can hit the pause button after each question to discuss. And the point is to get conversation flowing so don’t overthink it.

1.     Look at someone you’re listening with today and tell them what fruit of the Spirit you see in their life. Remember you can choose from love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness. Tell the people you’re listening with which fruits you see in them!

2.     From the list of the fruits of the Spirit, which one do you want to improve or work on in your life? For example, I sometimes have a hard time being patient, so I want to see that fruit of the Spirit grow more in my life. That’s the one I want to see improve. What fruit do you want to see grow in your own life?

3.     How do we grow all of these fruits in our life? 

Today, to help us remember our verse, we are going to teach you a song. This is a song that has helped us remember all the fruits of the spirit. If you’ve heard it, sing along!

“The fruit of the Spirit’s not a banana. The fruit of the Spirit’s not a banana. If you wanna be a banana, you might as well hear it, you can’t be a fruit of the Spirit. Cause the fruit is….love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

And that’s it! You sing it over and over – fast, slow, loudly, softly, you can take turns which fruit you want to name the next time and my favorite part…you can act out whatever fruit you name. Like If you say “The fruit of the Spirit’s not a banana.” You make your body look like a banana when you say that word. 

The goal of this episode is to teach kids that diversity is something to be celebrated, war is a result of sin, but that it won't always be this way! God's forever kingdom will unite every nation, tribe, people and language. (Revelation 7:9-10)  All differences and disagreements we have now, will be wiped away when we unite over the fact that Jesus is Lord in heaven.

With the situation in Ukraine being heavy on our hearts, this episode is intended to help you talk with your kids about cultural tension and war from a Biblical viewpoint that is on their level.

Focus verse: "All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.” Psalms 86:9

Questions to discuss to generate conversation:

1. What are some differences that you know of between where you live and another country?

2. Why do countries or nations fight or go to war?

3. What did those verses tell us about how it will be one day in heaven?

Our neighborhood gang has been playing with walkie-talkies a lot recently. And they’ve been having A LOT of fun! My kids can turn on their walkie-talkie and talk to their friends 2 or 3 houses down the street!

While they are SUPER fun, they do require a few things that we’ve had trouble with before. For example, you have to have batteries. Lots of batteries. And you have to make sure it’s turned on to the right channel. Like if everyone isn’t on channel 1, then you won’t hear each other. Oh, and then you have to press the button down on the side when you want to talk and let it go when it’ s your turn to listen.

It’s not like walkie-talkies are hard, but you just have to know a few things about using them in order to be able to talk to the other person you want to talk to and then for them to be able to hear you.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a walkie-talkie with God? Like we could turn it on at any time and talk to Him and He would hear us and then talk back? That would be so COOL!

But guess what? Psalm 139:4 tells us that “before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord.” And that sounds WAY better than a walkie-talkie! Doesn’t it? 

God knows us so well and wants to talk with you so much that He made a way for you and Him to be able to talk no matter what. In fact, that verse said before a word is on our tongue, He knows it! That means we don’t even have to say it out loud for Him to hear us. 

So, even if your walkie-talkie is nowhere to be found or your batteries are dead. He knows your THOUGHTS, like the things in your head that no one else knows you’re thinking except yourself. He knows us that well! And that sounds so much better than having a walkie-talkie with God. 

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s not wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What thoughts do you have that God knows about?

2.     Why do you think God wants to know our thoughts?

3.     How do you think God can listen to everyone’s thoughts from all around the world, all at the same time?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Before a word is on my tongue, you know it completely, O Lord.” Psalm 139:4

Q: What is heaven?

A: Heaven is thought of as the place where people go after they die. But, it’s not just any ole place. It’s a place beyond what we can imagine, better than anything we’ve ever known. A place of perfect happiness and bliss – also known as paradise. Many people think of heaven like a fairy-tale land, and maybe it will feel like that, but in heaven it won’t be make-believe, it’ll all be very real perfection. 

Q: Who made heaven?

A: God made heaven! The first few words of the Bible tell us that, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 And we know from the world around us just how creative God can be with His creations. I can’t wait to see what He’s made in heaven! 

Q: What do we know about heaven?

A: While there are lots of things we DON’T exactly know about heaven – we do know a few things…The book of Revelation tells us a few things that John noticed about his sneak peek in to heaven. Revelation 22:1-5 talks about a river with living water flowing down from the throne of God. He tells us heaven is like a great city with this crystal clear river in the middle. On both sides of that river are trees. They are the trees of life, which give out crops every month and also have leaves that can heal. How cool is that?? It goes on to tell us that everyone will see God’s face and His name will be on their foreheads. Oh! And good news for those of you who don’t like the dark…there will be no more night! We won’t need nightlights or any light for that matter because there will be no darkness and it says that the Lord will be the light. 

Oh, also, Revelation chapter 21 tells us that nothing bad can enter heaven. That God will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there will be no more death or sadness or crying or pain.

And then…we also know that there’s great worshipping in heaven. Where everyone, from all different countries and since the beginning of time, will come together and praise the Lord who will be on His throne. They will say “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.”

His throne will have a rainbow around it (Rev. 4:3) and flashes of lightening will come from it (Rev. 4:5). There are 7 blazing lamps around it along with 24 other thrones (Rev. 4:4-5). There are also these crazy cool creatures that are like a lion, ox, a man, and an eagle. They have eyes covering them along with 6 wings. (Rev. 4:6-8) Revelation 4:8 tells us that “day and night they never stop saying: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Like I said, creative, right!?

Q: How does someone get to heaven?

A: That’s probably the MOST important question of all. The only way to go to heaven is to believe that Jesus is God’s son who came to die for your sins. John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have eternal life.” And that eternal life is in heaven! But only if you believe and follow Jesus. That means it’s more than just knowing about who God is in your head. Even Satan knows that there is a God. But the difference is believing in Him in your heart. 

Alright, are YOU ready for some questions? You can pause after each and discuss. Oh, and there’s not wrong answer to these. So, don’t overthink it!

1.     From what we talked about today, what is the most interesting thing  to you about heaven?

2.     What questions do you still have about heaven?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “For God so loved the world - that He gave His only son - that whoever believes in Him - will not die, but have eternal life.” - John 3:16

*Music:  "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Have you heard of the Israelites?

Maybe you don’t know them by their name, but I bet you know and love a lot of Bible stories about the Israelites or Jewish people that God chose to love and care for throughout the Bible. 
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We love to focus on how awesome and cool God is in each of those stories! His power and might that is shown. And that’s a great thing to learn from those stories. 

But there’s a pattern in these stories that I didn’t notice until I was older. The story of the Israelites has a pattern of God showing off His awesomeness, the people praising Him for a time and then guess what happens next? They forget about God. They turn away from Him. But the story never ends there. It’s a repeating pattern. God ALWAYS shows up again. So, here’s the pattern. God shows up, they forget God. God shows up again, then they forget God. And the pattern keeps going.

Now, I read these stories and think that God should be pretty annoyed and mad at them if He keeps doing amazing things and the Israelites just keep forgetting and turning away from God. But… God isn’t like us. He loved the Israelites so much that we see God love them over and over even when they’ve turned away.

Now, I should tell you that the Israelites faced some pretty bad consequences for turning away from God. But God still loved them with His whole heart and He kept showing up for them over and over again. 

In the Bible, the book of Hosea shows the pattern of the Israelites turning their hearts from God and then God’s never-ending love for them. Hosea lists off lots of ways the Israelites tried to live their own way and not God’s way, which is sometimes called “waywardness.” It just means going opposite from God’s way, also called sin. And after all the things they had done opposite from God’s way, Hosea 14:4 is where God says, “I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”

We can be encouraged by the story of the Israelites. They saw the Lord do great things and then they chose to make a bad decision by turning away from God. But the story doesn’t end there! God still loves them EVEN when they make bad decisions. He restores them to right relationship with Him, which is what He wants to do with us today through Jesus. 

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s not wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

 1.     Do you ever make bad decisions? We all do! So, do you think God still loves you even after you made the wrong decision? 

2.     What is the pattern of the story of the Israelites? What did they keep doing? 

3.     Why would God love someone over and over even when they make bad decisions?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “I will heal their waywardness - and love them freely, - for my anger has turned away from them.” - Hosea 14:4

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Jesus’ life truly changed the whole world. Did you know that? Jesus’ life changed the whole world. The minute He was born things were different. And the minute He died, things were different than before. But, have you ever stopped to think about WHY He came?

 Why do you think He came and lived on Earth? Why didn’t He just stay in heaven where it’s perfect and wonderful?

Well, the second half of John 10:10 Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Another version of the Bible rewords this verse to say, “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

.... 

Alright, ready to talk through some things? You can pause after each question and discuss. And there’s no wrong answer to these. The point is to get conversation flowing. So, don’t overthink it!

1.     Okay, your turn to tell me…why did Jesus come?

2.     John 10:10b told us that Jesus came so that we would have life and have it to the full. What does it look like for you to have a full or abundant life in Jesus?

3.     So what’s your response? Like if you know that Jesus came for you to have life and not just any ole life, but a full life, how do you respond to that truth?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “I have come - that they may have life, - and have it to the full.” – John 10:10b

* Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschekno

Join along as we explore the Easter story through the eyes of a 5 year old. She covers the facts of what Jesus did for us when He died on the cross and why we celebrate Him ascending to heaven. If this episode doesn't get you and your little ones pumped up to celebrate Jesus' work, then I don't know what will!

Matthew 28:6a "He is not here; he has risen, just as He said!"

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Where is God? Well, basically no matter how you answered that question, you’re right! God is everywhere. The Lord can be anywhere and everywhere all at the same time. There’s a fancy word for this called omnipresent. 

Psalm 139:7-10 speaks of God being everywhere when it says, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

So, let’s talk about some questions. 

1.     What was that fancy word that is used to describe God and how He can be everywhere all at the same time?

2.     So if God is omnipresent, how does that make you feel?

3.     Is there anywhere that you think God might NOT be? Is there anywhere you can think of that it’s hard for you to believe that God is actually there? 

Let’s practice that verse together one last time. We will just look at Psalm 139:10. And while we say this verse, think of the craziest most far away place you can imagine yourself. Okay, do you have it? Alright, hold it in your mind and repeat after me. “Even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:10

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

“Night Night! See you in the morning!” This is something I say every day and probably something YOU yourself hear everyday from whoever tucks you in to bed. Or maybe they say something like “Goodnight!” or “Sleep tight!” or “GET BACK IN BED!” Either way, we all do the same thing at night, right?! We all go to sleep!

This is how our body functions and works! We HAVE to rest and sleep so that we can get up and have energy to do things the next day. Anyway, needing sleep and rest and a time to recharge our batteries is something we all can relate to. We all know the feeling of being tired. 

But sit back for a minute and listen to these verses. I’m going to read Isaiah 40:28-31. Listen to what the Lord can do for those of us who are tired. Here we go!

It says…“Don’t you know who made everything? Haven’t you heard about him? The Lord is the God who lives forever. He created everything on earth. He won’t become worn out or get tired. No one will ever know how great his understanding is. He gives strength to those who are tired. He gives power to those who are weak. Even young people become worn out and get tired. Even the best of them trip and fall. But those who trust in the Lord will receive new strength. They will fly as high as eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not grow weak.”

I think that sounds awesome! What about you?! Now, does that mean that you can run forever marathons or literally fly like a bird? Well, not in this life. Maybe in heaven. But the strength that God offers us today is a spiritual strength to get us through whatever we are facing.

So, let’s talk about some questions. The point of the questions is to get you talking about God, so don’t overthink it!

1.     How does it make you feel to know that God never gets tired and never sleeps?

2.     Tell me about a time in your life where you wanted to quit, like you were tired and just wanted to give up?

3.     If God gives us “new strength” to fly like eagles, to run and not get tired, to walk and not grow weak like the verse said, why do I still get tired everyday?

Let’s practice that verse together one last time. “But those who trust in the Lord will receive new strength.” Isaiah 40:31a 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

God's creation is made for us to enjoy! And we are meant to turn that enjoyment in to thanksgiving and praise for Him.
What things in creation make you worship Him? Maybe it's your pet, something outside, or even your favorite activity.
In this episode, we are skipping the discussion questions and instead asking listeners to have an adult take pictures of 3 things in creation that make them say, "Wow! Thank you, Lord!" 
We would love to see their top 3 shared at @backseatbiblenuggets

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

There’s something that we’ve talked about in lots of these podcasts that I want to make sure we all understand. It’s so important to knowing God and understanding His plan for us… and even understanding WHY you were created! 

It’s a big deal!

 Okay, so here we go…The Bible tells us in 1 John 4:16 that “God is love.” This means that everything about Him – His personality, His plans, who He is…. is love.

You’ve probably heard someone say, “God loves you!” I mean, I’ve even told you that on this podcast before, right!? And that is the TOTAL ABSOLUTE truth.

And it’s not a truth that we should rush by quickly. No, the fact that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the maker of the heavens and the earth loves me. Little ole me. And He loves you. Little ole you….that’s life changing. Meaning it changes your life when you understand it.

We also know from the Bible that God’s love is unconditional. What does that mean? Unconditional. Well it means that God loves us no matter what. His unconditional love means it has NO conditions. There are NO conditions or things I could do that could make Him love me more OR less. Remember our verse that said, “God is love”? It didn’t say “God WILL love if you ________.” No, the Bible doesn’t say, “God will love you IF you go to church.” Or “God will love you IF you are nice to others.” Or “God will love you IF you pray to Him.”

What did the verse say? It says, “God IS love.” And there’s nothing we can do to change His love for us. In fact, Romans 5:8 tells us that, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” 

That means that His unconditional love was given to us even though He knew ALL of our sin. His unconditional love that loves us no matter what was given to us even though we are sinners and will mess up and will fail. That’s what makes it unconditional, remember!?

So, let’s talk about some questions. The point of the questions is to get you talking about the Lord, so don’t overthink it!

1.     Let’s see if you were listening….What does unconditional love mean?

2.     How does God show you His unconditional love?

3.     How does it make you feel to know that God loves YOU with an unconditional love?

 One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. It’s pretty short so I bet you can memorize this one! You can repeat after me: “God is love.” 1 John 4:16 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

In the Bible, the book of Jonah tells us the story of God telling Jonah to go to Nineveh. But Jonah refused and disobeyed what God told Him to do. He got on a boat and traveled in the opposite direction. Remember how we call sin anything opposite from God? Yeah…..Jonah was literally going in the opposite direction from God. Anyway, God’s plans always win so God sent a huge storm to surround the boat Jonah was on. One thing led to another and Jonah ends up in the sea being swallowed in the belly of a big fish.

Jonah chapter 2:1 literally says, “From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.” You should go read his prayer from inside the belly of the fish. I mean, what would you pray in a situation like that?

God hears Jonah’s prayer. God makes the fish spit Jonah out on land. God repeats the plan to Jonah about going to Nineveh and this time…..this time Jonah obeys the Lord. He goes to tell the people in Nineveh about God. Jonah 3:3a says, “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.”

This story teaches us that it’s important to obey the Lord. And the only way that we will get good at obeying the Lord is to know Him by reading the Bible AND to practice obeying people in your life like your parents and teachers. Obey is REALLY hard sometimes, right?! But the story of Jonah reminds us about how serious God is about obedience. And as we say in our house often, “slow obedience is no obedience.”

Jonah eventually obeyed, but he was certainly slow about it.

Now, guess what? There’s actually more to the story of Jonah that lots of people don’t often read. Jonah chapter 4 tells us more about how Jonah felt after he went to Nineveh. There’s also something that happened with a vine and a worm. You should read it. It’s like a hidden treasure that most people don’t remember about Jonah.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. Oh, and remember, don’t overthink it!

1.     Why did Jonah disobey?

2.     Did Jonah get his way in the end?

3.     What is one thing that you can learn from Jonah’s story and remember in your life today? 

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh.” Jonah 3:3a 

The story of Noah and the gigantic boat that he built is a story that lots of you have probably heard before. But what does it teach us? What do we learn about the Lord through this story?

Well, we don’t just learn one thing, we can learn lots of things from one story!

We can learn that God is protector. He protected Noah and his family and all the animals from dying in the flood. 

He is provider. He gave Noah the brain and muscles to build a boat like that. God even gave Noah the exact measurements for how big it should be to make sure everything would fit in it.

What else do we learn?

We can learn that God is holy, which means He has absolutely NO sin. And because He is holy, He hates sin. He hates seeing people sin. He’s actually VERY serious about sin. So serious and so holy that God was willing to save just the few people that followed God on earth while wiping everyone else out in the flood. His holiness compared to the sin of the people on earth is what started this whole story of Noah and the ark!

 Now, we talk about sin a lot because it’s a fact of life for us humans. Remember, Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”? But there’s something different for us today when we sin compared to the sinful people who where killed in the flood that God sent. And that difference is Jesus! 

When we sin today, God still hates it. His feelings on sin hasn’t changed. It’s just that NOW we have a way to make our relationship right with the Lord again. When we believe in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross to forgive us from our sins and when He is king of our life, then we are forgiven from our sins. Jesus’ death changed everything. God doesn’t see sin in the world and have to flood the earth again, which by the way, He promised He would never do. And we are reminded of that promise whenever we see a rainbow.

Jesus is the way that we as humans can know and love a God who is holy. And whenever I read the story of Noah’s ark I’m reminded just how serious God is about sin. But also just how awesome He is for creating stories like this that show us His loving protection for those who follow Him.

Genesis 6:9b tells us that, “Noah was a godly man. He was without blame among the people of his time. He walked faithfully with God.”

So, let’s talk about some questions. The point of the questions is to get you talking about the Lord. You can pause after each question to discuss. Oh, and don’t overthink it!

1.     What do you learn about God through the story of Noah’s ark?

2.     What do you learn from Noah in this story? We didn’t have time to go in to this one so really think about how Noah responded, how hard he worked, and even what his friends must’ve thought about what he was doing.

3.     How does the story of Noah’s ark make us thankful for Jesus?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Noah was a godly man. He was without blame among the people of his time. He walked faithfully with God.” Genesis 6:9b

It's been a full year of Backseat Bible Nuggets. This episode tells the story of the past year and all the Lord has done!
I want you to know that when you listen to this podcast, you’re listening to the product of small steps of faith and acts of obedience from the most ordinary average mom. I’m still in those same parenting trenches I was in a year ago and we still have lots of hectic days that are full of mom fails. But, I’m thankful that not only do we serve a God who in the trenches with me, but also we serve Him in a day and age where we can get a gospel centered parenting resources with the click of a button. What a time to be alive!

So to my long term listeners, thank you for encouraging me. Thank you for listening. I hope you love the changes you’ll see and hear soon. And to any new listeners, welcome! I’m so glad you found us. I can’t wait to have you along for the ride as we use this podcast to refocus your hectic busy days and orient our conversations around things of the Lord. 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Alright, parents! I want you to think about how many times you’ve bought a devotional book to do with your kids and you had the best intentions.. yall were going to do it every night at bedtime or at breakfast. And it was going to be this lovely time of blissful discipleship. But alas, life happened and that book ended up on the shelf and that dream of family devotionals …well it’s honestly on the shelf with those well intended books. I’m serious I probably have at LEAST 5 of those books in my house right now. 

And it’s not for lack of trying! It’s just that life is busy, seasons change, and honestly some days I’m just tired and don’t feel like doing it. 

Well, despite how many kids devotional books you’ve bought in the past, this podcast is here to help you accomplish your family discipleship goals in the easiest way possible. Even if you’re the best at family discipleship and you’re rocking a family bible study every day, I’m sure there are some days you just don’t have it and could use some back up. THAT’S what Backseat Bible Nuggets is here for! AND if we think of it like the easiest most convenient devotional ever, then it's a nobrainer that you’d sign up for Extra Nuggets, our new subscription plan. If you become a subscriber then you’ll have access to more content over the next year. So, go ahead and click the Extra Nuggets banner in Apple podcasts and get started! Your overloaded bookshelf will thank you later!

What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given? Maybe it was a birthday present or something you got for Christmas. Maybe it was a surprise treat you weren’t even expecting or maybe the best gift you’ve been given was getting to do something cool, like go on a trip or do some sort of  special experience.

My guess is that you’ve been given a lot in your life and that you’ve been blessed in lots of different ways. I know for me, it would be hard for me to think about the BEST gift I’ve ever been given since I’ve received lots of great gifts over my lifetime! But I remember when I was younger and how I really really really wanted to bird for a pet.  I had already tried cats, dogs, turtles, fish and hamsters for pets, but never a bird and I just thought it would be amazing. So I talked about it constantly to my parents and family. Everyone knew I wanted this bird.

I dreamed about what the cage would look like. I planned where it would go in my room. I brainstormed what I’d name the bird. I thought through all the details of owning a bird. I was so excited about having a bird. And would you know, the day came where my parents actually got me the bird?! I couldn’t believe it. I remember walking down the stairs in my house and seeing this big sheet covering something that looked sorta like a cage and there were tweets coming come underneath. All of my dreaming and wishing and hoping had actually come true! I was so excited.

Now, what I want you to know is that my parents aren’t the biggest animal lovers. It’s not like they shared my same desire for birds. And looking back, I bet they weren’t thrilled about bringing another animal to live inside their house. So, why did they get me the bird? Why does someone get another person a gift? What would lead them to do that? Well, love! My parents loved me enough to know that I really wanted that bird and they felt compelled to get the bird because of their love for me.  

This is how our Heavenly Father works too! The Lord knows you and knows what you love and He LOVES to give His children good gifts. In fact, Matthew 7:11 says, “Even though you are evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

In other words, if humans, who are sinful, understand the concept of loving someone so much that they want to give gifts out of love, how much more does our Father in&

*Click the banner in Apple Podcasts to order Extra Nuggets!*

The Bible is the most amazing book ever to exist. It’s unlike any other book! I bet you probably have a Bible or 2 in your house but do you know just how special it is? Let’s see if you know these facts about the Bible…

Did you know the Bible is like it’s own little library since it’s made up of lots of different books written by different authors?

That’s right, there’s 66 different books written by over 40 different people! 

But, the Bible has one MAIN author who wrote all of it through those 40 different human authors…and that’s the Holy Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit who told the human authors what to write down and how to say it. And it’s the Holy Spirit who has protected and preserved these words for thousands of years so that we can read them today!

In fact, the oldest book of the Bible was written over 3 thousand 500 years ago. And books don’t just happen to stick around for that long unless it’s by some miracle. And the Bible IS a miracle, not only because we have it but because it’s what we call the inspired word of God. And the word of God is described as a sword. That’s pretty cool, right? We can think of God’s word as a way that we can get to know God better and learn about who He is and what He’s like and how He acts and the things He says. Stuff like that. But we can also use God’s word to fight. Well, at least, that’s what Jesus did. Remember when Jesus fought with Satan when Satan was trying to tempt him? Jesus fought back to Satan’s tricks with God’s words – the words in the Bible. And we are to do the same today! We should know the Bible so well that we can use it whenever Satan tries to trick US!

You know, sometimes, God seems hard to understand or difficult to figure out and wrap our head around because He’s so different from us as humans. I mean, God is GOD and there’s no one else like Him. SO we don’t have many other ways of understanding Him or getting to know Him OTHER than reading the Bible. It’s like a letter He left for you to read about Him. He wants you to know Him and not some made up version of what you THINK he might be like..He wants you to know the REAL Him even the unexpected things about Him or the things that are hard to understand or even the mysterious things about Him. The Bible begins to reveal all sides of God to us if we take the time to read it!

And it’s because of how awesome the Bible is that I want us to start walking through each book of the Bible together. The plan is to complete the Old Testament this school year. I want us to talk about what each book is about, talk about a few of the cool stories found there and then talk about how it fits in this bigger story that God is writing. I want us to learn how different books show us different aspects of WHO God is and what we can learn from it. We are going to be doing this for subscribers only so I’d love for you to join us as we journey together through the awesome books of the Bible. You can click the banner in Apple podcasts to sign up for just a few dollars. 

But before we sign off, listen to this verse. 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

The Bible is God breathed….just imagine that. Isn’t that amazing that the words we read in our Bibles are directly from God just like your breath comes out of your body? I sure hope you’ll join us as we go through the books on Extra Nuggets, but more than anything, I pray you fall in love with reading your Bible. I pray you love it so much that you can tell others about what a special book it is to you in your life. And I pray that by reading it you come to love the Lord more and more.

Remember how “Father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham..”? Well, that family started in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. So, in Exodus, the second book of the Bible, we see that Abraham’s many sons had turned into lots and lots of families that turned into a whole entire nation! And that nation or big group of people is called Israel. The people of Israel were called the Israelites and they found themselves in a bad spot. They were slaves in Egypt, which meant they were treated so badly. But, God had a plan. He wouldn’t leave His people in this bad spot for long.

There’s so much in the book of Exodus! But more than anything we see that God WANTS to be with His people. He was with them and provided perfect food and shelter and was a guide for them each day!

And that takes us to our special verse for the book of Exodus. Let’s read it together. You can repeat after me. “I will take you to be my own people. I will be your God.” Exodus 6:7a

Let’s talk about some questions together. You can pause after each question to discuss and remember...don’t overthink it. The point is to get conversation started!

1.     Can you name the 10 commandments? That story is a part of this book of the Bible so let’s see how many we can remember!

2.     Why do you think God wanted to give rules or commandments for how His people should live?

Let’s take a vote! We are going to vote with the people you’re listening with today about whether or not we like eating pizza or hamburgers most of all. Like if you had to choose 1 food to eat for the rest of your life, would it be pizza or hamburgers? Alright, raise your hand if you like pizza the most. The nice crust with gooey cheese baked to perfection with whatever toppings you want on it. Delicious! Okay, count how many have their hands up. Got it? Now put your hands down. Now, raise your hand if you like eating hamburgers the most. The bun with the grilled to perfection hamburger meat and maybe even ketchup or other things added. Okay, count again how many have their hands up. Which one was the winner? Pizza or hamburgers?

Well, my friends, that’s a vote. And if you live in America and are listening to this, our whole country is about to vote for who they want to be President. They are going to figure out who they think is the best person for the job and then they will go and vote for that person.

 So that you can better understand a bit of what’s going on in our country and how the Lord would want to be a part of it. We are going to look to His word, the Bible, like we always do to help us understand our world. 

We have split this series into 4 episodes so you can take it one piece at a time. We have to realize that Bible has a LOT to say about our world and the things that happen in it!

Let’s start with probably the most important thing to remember when we are talking about an election in our country’s government. We must remember that John 18:36 is where Jesus tells us that “my kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world…hmmm what does that mean exactly? Well, I’m so glad you asked!

If God’s kingdom isn’t of this world, it means that if we have confessed our sin and asked Jesus to be our Lord and Savior, then WE are His children and WE get to be a part of a whole different kingdom than just our country here on earth. In other words, even though you might live in America right now, you have a better country waiting for you in heaven! And this heavenly kingdom will last forever and ever and it’ll be perfect and there’s NO sin there so there aren’t disagreements and fighting or anything bad. 

God’s kingdom is not of this world. So, that means that our elections that ARE of THIS world must be thought of as temporary. I mean, we vote for the president every 4 years and that’s like NOTHING in comparison to eternity that will go on and on and on forever and we can’t even wrap our mind around it.   

When I remind myself that God’s kingdom isn’t of this world and that I’m part of that kingdom, then I take a deep breath. It’s so comforting for me to remember this because it lifts my head above the things happening around me in my little part of the world. It gives me eyes to see the bigger picture of what God is doing! It reminds me of my heavenly home that waits for me where all bad things will be made right as promised in Revelation 21!

So whenever I hear any news or people talking about the election, I remind myself that my first and most important citizenship is in God’s kingdom. I’m His FIRST before I’m an American. 

Okay let’s get to talking about this.

1.     What do you know about the Presidential election coming up? Maybe you’ve heard the names of people running for President and what people think. Let’s start by talking about what we’ve heard about the election.

2.     Jesus told us that His kingdom is not of this world. What does that mean?

3.     Why is it important for us to remember that Jesus’ kingdom isn’t of this world?

When we talk about anything and, well, everything in life, we have to remember God’s sovereignty. And this is especially true when we’re talking about a political election. Most people think that whoever gets the most votes will win and that’s true, but there’s more to the story than just number of votes.

When we say that God is sovereign that means He is completely involved in all things and He has complete control and rule over all things. He’s super involved and that’s great reassuring news for us! That means that no matter what the outcome is of our vote or no matter who wins to be the next President, we can always trust that God is in control. God is sovereign no matter what! No matter if it’s our favorite guy who wins or not!

Now, God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean that it’ll always work out the way I think it should or you think it should. If that was true, then life would be a lot easier and things would go my way more and I would get whatever I want and my teams would always win and so on.

But, rather, it means that we can TRUST that God is involved and we can TRUST He knows what He’s doing. Isn’t that the best news ever? It means it’s not all up to US to figure out this world and how everything should go and work together. It means He’s in charge and not me and goodness knows that’s a good thing!

When we think of God’s sovereignty it’s especially good news with something like a big presidential election. Listen to what Daniel 2:21 says: It says that God is the one, “who changes the times and the periods; He removes kings and appoints kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, And knowledge to people of understanding.” 

Since they didn’t have presidents back in bible times we can think of the word kings as another word for president. So this is telling us that God who is the one who removes presidents and HE’s the one who appoints or sets up presidents. It’s Him who’s doing it. Not an election. God is in control of all things. He alone is sovereign. 

Yes, each vote plays a role in the election. God likes for us to be involved too, but it doesn’t mean we have TOTAL control. Does that make sense? It’s kinda like we are on a team with God when we are following Him. He can direct us and tell us who to vote for. And He can determine who the best person is to serve as president. 

But, as we learn in God’s word, people CAN and often do choose to reject what God is telling them or how He’s leading them. People CAN choose to reject God. Remember how the Israelites wanted a king and God gave them king Saul? King Saul WAS God’s chosen man. God was sovereign in that choice and He certainly appointed Saul. BUT, Saul wasn’t a good king in the end. Did God mess up? Did God choose the wrong guy? 

No, God sometimes gives people what they want if they keep rejecting what God is telling them. 

Same thing is true today in our world! God’s sovereignty can be trusted to determine the election and He can be trusted to be working no matter what. And that might be the most encouraging news ever right now, Amen?!

In fact, Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Will you remind yourself of that truth today? Will you remind yourself that God’s ways often don’t make sense to us, but we can rest in His sovereign control? He is the one in charge here, just as He’s always been and will always be in charge of His creation.

1.     How do I know God is sovereign over our presidential election?

2.     What happens if I DON’T believe that God is sovereign and in control?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respect. 

 I bet you already know a lot about respect - you know, realizing that someone is in charge and therefore needs to be listened to and obeyed or maybe it’s just being polite to others and treating them well. Respect for authority is a big part of your life whether you realize it or not…..you respect your parents and grandparents, your teachers, your coaches and so many other adults in your life. And this isn’t just because it’s fun to do. It’s because that’s what the Bible tells us to do!

But, since we are talking about this presidential election coming up. What does the Bible tell us about respecting people in our government? People like the president? Are we supposed to respect the president like we do our parents or teachers? Great question! Let’s look to God’s word to find out what He has to say about it. 

Romans 13:1 lays out pretty clearly just WHY and HOW followers of Jesus are supposed to respect the human authority that governs them. Listen… “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”  There is no asteric, that says UNLESS the governing authorities aren’t who you or your parents voted for. No! It says there is NO authority except that which God has established.

And we know this is true because we just talked all about God’s sovereignty in the last episode. So, of course, it’s no surprise that God expects us to honor and respect those that He has put into a place of authority. In other words, we respect the President not only because he has a super important job and we are thankful for that person taking on the job of being in charge of running our country, but we also respect the President because GOD put that person there in that job. So, our respect for God Himself overflows to those He’s put in charge of us.  That means no matter who is president or no matter who our teacher is or who our coach is, they must be respected by followers of Christ. 

Now, I also have to tell you another piece of respecting human authority or those who God has put in charge over us. We respect them all the way until they ask us to do something that goes against God’s word. Remember our first episode talked about how we are citizens of God’s kingdom first. That’s our MOST important citizenship. And after that we are citizens of our country. So, we respect authority UNLESS they are asking us to do something that goes against what God has told us to do in the Bible.

A great example of this is Daniel. The king who was in authority over Daniel told everyone in the kingdom to bow down and worship the king each day. Well, clearly, God had already given the 10 commandments and said “you shall have no other gods before me.” So, this was directly against God’s word. And Daniel refused to do what the king said. He stayed true to God rather than the king and that was GOOD in this case. That’s what he should have done since he was being asked to do something against God’s word. Do you know what happened next?

Yep, that famous story of Daniel being thrown into the lions den and God closing the mouths of the lions. ALL because Daniel chose to show his respect to God over the human king.  

We must remember that we resect human authority that God put in place, but we respect God more than anything or anyone else. So, God’s ways first. Respect human authority second as we are told in Romans 13. 

Okay let’s get to talking about this.

1.     Why should we respect the President no matter who wins?

2.     How should we respond if our president asks us to do something that is opposite from what God tells us to do?

Do you know that you have the ability to tell you brain what to think? Like you’re the boss of your brain. And you’re in charge of what it thinks. If it starts thinking something that you don’t like you can make it stop. Or if you start thinking about things you love and make you happy, you can keep thinking about those things. 

Well, when we’re talking about a presidential election, we can get really focused on what the news is saying about the election or the people running for president. Or we can start thinking all about what our friends are saying. We can start thinking what will happen after the election depending on the outcome and who wins. And we can easily find that we’re thinking about it more than we want to, possibly.

And as always, God’s word has something to say about the things that we spend our time thinking about. 

Colossians 3:2 tells those who believe in Jesus to “set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Earthly things are things around you – the things you can see, touch, feel, smell, taste. It’s also things you might worry about or be scared about. Earthly things are things happening well…on earth! And the Lord doesn’t want us to keep our minds there. He’s telling us to set our minds on things above, which just means to think about Him and His ways. Rather than just looking at the world around us, keep our minds focused on Him. When we do that, we have a much better way of understanding the world around us!

And with a presidential election coming up, you might hear a LOT of talk about it. You might even hear a lot of mean things being said from one person about another if they support different people who are running for president. A big part of the election process is trying to convince people to vote for one person or another. It’s like they are competing for votes and often times they are willing to do anything or say anything to get those votes…even if it’s mean or isn’t even true. The Bible calls this type of mean talking about someone else slander. 1 Peter 2:1 says to “put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.”

Sometimes our sinful world shows it’s worst self during an election. So many things said that aren’t true and that are hurtful about the people who want to be president. It’s like a big disagreement that we all have to live through and it gets exhausting.

But remember Colossians 3:2 tells those who believe in Jesus to “set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” If we have His Holy Spirit living in us as believers, then He can help us not focus on all the disagreements around the presidential election and the Lord can help us set our minds on things above! We have to realize when our brains are getting to caught up in the worldly stuff and stop and tell our brain to set itself on things above. 

As the boss of our brain, we remind ourselves to think about Jesus. And His kingdom. And just who He is. And just what His kingdom is and will be like for eternity. And when we start thinking about the Lord instead of the worldly problems, you know what happens? We take a deep breath. We relax. We aren’t worried. We feel secure knowing this world isn’t our ultimate kingdom. In fact, this world isn’t our home. Hebrews 13:14 says, “for this world is not our permanent home, we are looking forward to a home yet to come.” Let’s keep our minds focused on the things above by looking forward to that home with Jesus.

Okay let’s get to talking about this.

1.     Why does the Lord care about what we think about?

2.     Why do you think it’s easy to get focused on worldly things like the presidential election rather than keeping our minds on things above?

Hear from a Backseater as they read Luke 1:1-14 to us! This scripture details Jesus being tempted by Satan and how Jesus responded to Satan each time with scripture. The Bible says that God's word is like a sword and here we see Jesus using it to fight back against the crafty tricks of the enemy. In the same way, you and I need to know God's word well enough to be able to use it to fight against temptation.

Maybe you’ve heard the Christmas story lots and lots already. But have you taken the time to listen, I mean REALLY listen, to what the Bible has to say about Jesus’ birth as written by Matthew. There are 2 different people who wrote down the majority of the details of Jesus birthday and it’s Matthew and Luke. Today, we are going to read through Matthew 1:18-2:23 together. And while we do, I want you to think deeply about the details. This is a real story! All of these details are true. And this is one of the most important stories ever written. I mean, it changed the WORLD! So listen to what Matthew wrote about just how Jesus was born.

 
Matthew 1:18-2:23

A few questions just to get us talking about this story….

1.     Was there anything new you learned from listening that you didn’t already know?

2.     What does Emmanuel, the name given to Jesus, mean?

3.     If Emmanuel means God with us, why is that important to me and you today?

Jesus’ birth is one of the biggest events to ever happen in human history. It changed everything when He came to this world as a human. And so today, I want us to read together the story of Jesus’ birth written by Luke.

Luke was a guy who became a follower of Jesus after Jesus died. So, Luke’s writings are based on things he learned about Jesus from people who personally knew and followed Jesus. He does a great job recording the amazing, miraculous facts of this story. But as you listen, I want you to imagine these things taking place. This is a real story, not a fairytale, but a story that is true. And it changes everything, listen to Luke 2:1-21…

A few questions I want you to think and talk about.

1.     Why is this story so important?

2.     What part is the coolest to you? What was your favorite part?

3.     What is your response to this story? Does it make you want to thank God or do you want to tell someone else this awesome story? Or do you want to think on it more, read it or listen again and again? Or maybe something else…what’s your response after hearing this?

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EXTRA NUGGETS:
All I want for Christmas are some extra nuggets, extra nuggets, extra nuggets.

We could all use a few extra nuggets in our life, right!? So hit the subscribe button in Apple podcasts and you will find episodes where we are doing an flyover of every Old Testament book. It’s a great way to see God’s big connected story. Oh, and it’s only a few dollars for the most convenient kid’s devotional ever!

Hear from a Backseater as they read Luke 19:1-10 to us! This scripture is the story of Zacchaeus the tax collector. He climbs a tree because he wanted to see Jesus. And the story ends up with Jesus going to Zacchaeus' house to eat with him! This unexpected act changes Zacchaeus' life and salvation comes to his house. What a story of redemption!

I’m sure this never happens in your house, but in our house there are some weeks where I’ve heard my kids ask, “do we HAVE to go to church today?” And it’s not that they don’t love our church, it’s just that some weeks they wake up tired or with other plans in mind for that day.

Well, whenever they ask, our answer is always, “we don’t HAVE to go to church, we GET to go to church today.”

So we GET to go to church, not because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to. And that’s what I want to remind us of today. But there might come a day where you’re tired or have other plans and so we wrote a fun song for you to sing on those days…..

“I want to go to church. I want to go to church. The Bible will be taught to me, I want to go to church.

I want to go to church. God’s people will be there. It is good for me to see God’s people everywhere.”

Hebrews 10:25 says, “let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

What do emojis and Psalms have to do with each other? Take a listen to this free preview of our Extra Nuggets: Psalms episode to find out! You'll learn that we can take all of our emotions to God and pour our heart out to Him.

If you enjoy this episode, check out Backseat Bible Nuggets: Extra Nuggets by subscribing in Apple Podcasts. We have are working our way through the books of the Old Testament in the Bible.

Have you ever played a game of telephone? Where you whisper something to someone and then they whisper that same message to someone else and it goes on and on until you get to the last person and they say the message out loud. It’s usually pretty funny because the last person never gets it right. They say some gibberish that’s totally different from what the first person said.

Well, in some ways, the Bible for thousands of years, was like a game of telephone. They didn’t have it written down like we do today. For thousands of years they just told the next person and they told the next person and they told the next person. Like a game of telephone. So, how do we know that the Bible we have today isn’t some gibberish version of what the first person said? I think that’s a great question to ask. So let’s talk about how we know the Bible can be trusted today.....

Hey……you….yeah, you…..what cha doing right now? Riding in the car? Listening to something while waiting on dinner? Laying on the floor with nothing to do? Playing legos?

Did you know that all of these activities and NOT activities are opportunities to talk about God? 

Yep!

The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 6 to talk about God no matter what’s happening… any circumstance. Any time of the day. Any place. Whenever and wherever! 

In fact, listen in Deuteronomy 6 verses 5-7. It says this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The people in Bible times walked everywhere they went. They didn’t have bikes or roller blades or scooters. Just walking! But, how do you get to places most of the time? If you live in a town like we do, we drive everywhere we go! And this Bible verse that tells us to talk about God when we are “walking along the road” can now be applied to “when we are riding in the car.” 

Some of my best thinking and talking happens on car rides!

And so that’s why we’ve named this podcast BACKSEAT Bible nuggets. It was created for parents that have someone in the backseat that they want to talk about God with as they are going as the Bible has commanded us in Deuteronomy 6:7. These are short devotional podcasts to get you talking about God and His word as you go!

 So, back to our verses…Let’s hear it again. Deuteronomy 6:5-7. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Whew! That means everything that we have in us! My heart, my brain, the things I do in my own strength with my arms and legs and hands and so on) These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. (In other words, parents are called to have God’s commandments in their hearts and minds so that they can then TEACH them to YOU, their kiddos!) Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (All. The. Time!)

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! Listen. There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it! 

1. Okay, so first. What does it mean to love God with ALL of our heart, soul and strength?

2. Why is it important that we talk about God and His words in the Bible?

 3. And lastly, how can you make sure that you talk about the Lord all the time, like it said in scripture. Remember it said talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up? How will YOU help your parents do that? 

I’m sure they would love to talk about Him with you! And even if they don’t know all the answers, you can learn together! God loves when we come to Him. Whether we know it all or not!

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice Deuteronomy 6:5 together. You can repeat after me: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

You’ve been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God’s great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. We’re honored you listened and pray deep roots grow in the lives of your backseaters as you go along the way.

* Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

Everyone is scared of something. Did you know that? What’s your mom or dad scared of? Or your grandparents? They’re scared of something too! If you don’t know what the adults in your life are scared of, just ask them! You might get some funny answers.

Me, for example, I’m scared of snakes. Any kind of snake. Long ones, skinny ones, short ones, fat ones….snakes are NOT my thing. And yet somehow I always seem to have lots of interactions with snakes. One time a snake even came in to my house when I opened my front door to get a package! Like he wanted to move in with us or something!

Anyway, I’ve learned to live with my fear of snakes because they are all around where we live. In fact, I saw a possum eat one the other day for a morning snack in my backyard! It’s a fear that I can’t get away from. Snakes exist and my fear of snakes exists, so what’s the answer? What gives? 

Think of what you’re scared of. What scares you most? You don’t have to say it out loud but just think about it. Being scared of something is the same as being fearful. So if I’m scared of snakes I can also say I have a fear of snakes. That’s my fear.

Well the Bible has something to say about fear. Listen to 2 Timothy 1:7. It says, “God did not give us a spirit of fear; but of power, love and self control.”

In other words, when we are a child of God we have God’s own Spirit, the Holy Spirit living in us!! This should blow our mind! We have God’s huge power living inside of us – the same power that created our world by just speaking word and it coming to existence. The same power that made hungry lions go to sleep and not eat Daniel. The same power that held back the rushing waters so that God’s people could cross over safely to freedom. The same power that brought Jesus back to life 3 days after he was crucified on the cross.  I could go on and on.

But here’s the deal… if we have THAT sorta power living in us….Why should we ever feel scared of something? Well, we shouldn’t! But….even if we try really hard to not be scared, it always seems to come creeping back, right?

That’s something that we will always deal with while we live on this Earth, but you should know that it’s not from God to feel that way. No. The verse said that God’s Spirit DOES NOT make us weak and fearful. He is no scardey cat! God is the only one who has no fears. And if He gave us His Spirit, like actually part of Himself to live in us, then we too shouldn’t give in to our fears.

 Because He gave us a Spirit of power and love and self control. You see, He doesn’t want you to go through your day and night being scared of this and that. No! He wants to replace your fear with His power, His love, and His ability to help us control our fears.

 We can’t control our fears on our own. No, we need a helper. And that’s just what God WANTS to do for us! He isn’t scared of what you’re scared of. But He doesn’t laugh at your fears and think they are silly or ridiculous. He wants to HELP you with your fears.

 Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! Listen. There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What are you scared of? What’s your fear? 

2.     Do you believe that God can help you with that fear? Can He actually help you to not be afraid of that?

3.     What would be different in your life if you trusted Him to take away your fear and replace it with His power, love and self control?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice 2 Timothy 1:7 together “God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self control.”

Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. 
*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

What was your first word when you were a baby? Was it Dada? Or Mama? Or supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Okay, probably not that. BUT from an early age, even as babies, we are born with a desire to talk. We want people around us to know what we are thinking or feeling. This is why babies cry, right? Even before a baby can say a single word they want to let others know when they are happy or mad or sad.

Think of toddlers. Maybe you know a toddler and I bet you wouldn’t describe them as very quiet and having very few things to say. No, most children of any age really like to talk and be loud. And even if some of our friends listening struggle with putting sounds and words together, they probably have their own special way of showing those around them what they think and feel.

This is how we are wired as humans! It’s our instinct from day 1 of our life to communicate. So let’s talk about how that relates to prayer.

Praying is simple. It’s just talking to God. Just like you talk to your family members or your friends, it’s just like that when we pray to the Lord. In fact, prayer is sorta just a fancy word for having a conversation with Him. There are no magic words that are needed when we pray. And there is no right or wrong way to pray to Jesus. The only way we can mess up praying is by NOT doing it at all. Think of it this way: Who’s taking care of you today? No matter who is it, think of who is in charge of making sure you have food and clothes today? Okay. Now, what if you didn’t talk to them at all. All day. OR what if you ONLY talked to them for a minute or two before a meal or before bedtime. It wouldn’t make sense would it?! That would be silly and kinda just weird to be with someone all day but only talk to them for a brief moment at certain times.

So, why do we pray this way? Some people think we are only supposed to pray before a meal or maybe right before we go to bed. While those are great times to pray, so are the other 1,440 minutes that are in your day! Yep, there are 1,440 minutes in a day (assuming you stay up all night, which I would NOT recommend!) and so that means that there are plenty of opportunities to talk to God during your day.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 tells us to “pray continually.” That’s our verse! Just 2 words! Let’s hear it again, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray continually.” You might be wondering what continually means. It means… always happening, constant. In other words, pray without ever stopping.

Wait. Does that mean that we are supposed to sit around and pray all. Day. Long?! What about my toys I love? Or games with friends? Or crafting? or sports?  No, no, no. Go back to thinking of prayer as talking to God. Do you talk while you are playing with your favorite things? Sure you do! And so we can also pray while we are doing other things!

We can pray out loud while we are doing our favorite activity or we can just say it in our head, silently. We can say long prayers as we think of different things or we can say short quick prayers. We can thank Him for things AND we can ask Him for things. Remember, it’s a just conversation between you and God! And 1 Thessalonians 5:17 is telling us to never stop having that conversation.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What do you think prayer is?

2.     What does the Bible tell us about prayer? What did the verse say that we talked about?

3.     Why does God want us to pray to Him?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice the shortest verse we’ve ever had. I bet you can remember this one! Repeat after me. 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “pray continually.”
*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

In our last podcast, we talked about prayer and how it’s really not that complicated. It’s just having a conversation with Jesus! But we kinda need to stop and pause because while it IS just that simple, it’s also very different from talking to someone you can see.

Well, you’re not alone if you wondered to yourself…hum, but how can I talk to someone who I can’t see? Or how will I know if He’s even listening? 

I want you to know that it’s great to ask questions like this because God WANTS to answer your questions! Plus this is how we learn together and better understand these things that can sometimes be very confusing. AND these are questions that plenty of people have had since the beginning of time. 

In fact, let’s go all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve (the 2 first people ever created) walked around with God and actually had back and forth conversations. Their relationship and conversations with God looked very similar to how you’ve talked and interacted with people around you today. Adam and Eve would talk and God would respond and back and forth it would go. Imagine all the things they talked about!

But then, Adam and Eve broke the one rule God gave them, sin changed everything, and they were sent away, being separated from God. 

But God…He didn’t give up there. In His perfect kindness and deep love for us, He didn’t stop listening and talking to us altogether. Even though we all mess up, just like Adam and Eve did, God doesn’t get mad and give us the silent treatment. You know the silent treatment where one person gets mad at the other and says, “I’m not talking to you ever again!” God loves us way too much to ever say that. And because of that, we can be confident that He is ALWAYS listening when we pray to Him.... 

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Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What does it mean that prayer is like a conversation? 

2.     Do you find it hard or difficult to pray to God? If so, why?

3.     How do we know that God hears us when we pray to Him?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice 1 John 5:14 together. Repeat after me. “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14

 You’ve been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God’s great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. We’re honored you listened and pray deep roots grow in the lives of your backseaters as you go along the way.

Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

Let’s talk about opposites. The opposite of hot is….COLD! The opposite of sad is….HAPPY! The opposite of good is….BAD!

God, who represents all things good, has an opposite who is bad and is an enemy of God. This bad guy is named Satan or the devil. And while he has limited powers, he is still a bad guy who we need to talk about. He’s very sneaky. And his #1 goal is to trick people and lead them away from God. Opposite from God. 

Satan is the one who made himself look like snake when he went to Eve in the garden of eden. He slithered over to her and told her that she should eat from the tree, the one tree that God told Adam and Eve NOT to touch. He kept talking to her until he convinced her to try the fruit. She did and so did Adam. In this moment, something called sin entered the world. You see, before that moment, everything had been perfect and heavenly. But after that rule was broken, nothing would ever be the same. Adam and Eve were sent away from the garden, separated from God because of their sin.

You see, God is perfect and has never made a mistake. He is a holy king. And because of His holiness, He can’t stand sin. I don’t mean like when you eat a food and say “ugh, I can’t stand that!” No, God himself is the complete opposite of sin. They will never be close to the same. 

Anything that is opposite from God can be called sin. The Bible tells us that we are all born sinners. Romans 3:23 tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That means that EVERYONE, even your parents or pastor or someone you look up to, sins. No one is perfect. And we ALL fall short of the glory of God. Meaning that none of us can even come close to God’s perfection and His holiness.

So you see, when Adam and Eve messed up and sinned there were HUGE consequences that happened and they were really sad about it. But God had a plan!

Now, this plan might sound a little strange, but we can talk later about how it was actually the perfect plan. The plan was to send Jesus, His only son, who would die to save us from our sin, all the bad in us. And through Jesus we would be able to be with God again one day, just how Adam and Eve had been with Him in the garden.

God’s plan worked perfectly and it’s still working today!
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So remember next time you’re tempted to do something that is opposite from what God would want you to do, that it’s probably a trick from the enemy and that you have weapons that God has given you to fight sin! Ask Him for help!

So here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What is sin?

2.     What is an example of sin in your life?

3.     What should we do when we find ourselves sinning?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice Romans 3:23 together. You can repeat after me.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23.

You’ve been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God’s great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. We’re honored you listened and pray deep roots grow in the lives of your backseaters as you go along the way.

Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

Invisible. You know, when you can’t see something with your own two eyes but  you know it’s there. It almost sounds like a super power. Like if I was playing hide and seek and could suddenly make myself invisible, how cool would that be? I’d win every time! 

While I don’t see myself being able to become invisible any time soon, there ARE things in our world that are invisible. Can you think of some things that are invisible? 

What about God? Is He invisible? Humm. That’s interesting to think about. Right now, if you wanted to, could you see God with your own two eyes? The answer is tricky. The simple answer is “no.” The more complicated answer is “no, but I can see EVIDENCE of Him.”

What does THAT mean?! Sounds confusing, but the Lord has actually given us a great example of this to help us understand. When we think of God being invisible I like to think of it like the wind. Can you see the wind? No. Do you know that the wind is real? Sure! Can you tell where the wind is blowing? Definitely. The wind is an invisible force that can pack a power punch in a storm or it can be gentle and refreshing at other times. 

Do you believe in the wind? Hah, okay that’s a silly question. Who doesn’t believe in the wind? We can’t see it, but we know its there. We’ve never wondered if it was real or not because we can SEE what the wind can do. In other words, we can see the evidence of the wind. We can feel it blowing our hair. We can see it waving in the trees. We can even hear it with our ears sometimes. We can’t SEE the wind itself, but we can certainly feel it and see the effects it has on everything when it’s blowing.

This is how our great God is! Though we cannot see Him, we can feel Him and see what He is doing around us if we are looking. We shouldn’t wonder whether or not He’s there just because we can’t see Him, just like we shouldn’t question whether or not the wind is real just because we can’t see it or touch it....

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Romans 1:20 tells us “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” 

That verse is longer than we normally have but it’s packed with so much great truth!  Romans 1:20 is telling us that ever since God created this big beautiful world, everything that we can see and experience and enjoy all point to who He is and actually helps us to understand Him. So next time you see, feel or hear the wind think about God and how He is like the wind!

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What does the Bible tell us about God being invisible?

2.     How is God like the wind?

3.     Do you think its cool or confusing that God is invisible to us? And why?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice Romans 1:20b together. Since it’s a pretty long verse we are going to just say the middle half, which I why we say “b” after the verse reference. That let’s us know it’s just a portion of the verse. You can repeat after me. “Through everything God made, we can clearly see His invisible qualities.” Romans 1:20b

You’ve been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God’s great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. We’re honored you listened and pray deep roots grow in the lives of your backseaters as you go along the way.

Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

Okay, I know it’s middle of summer and it’s HOT! But let’s talk about snowflakes. Have you heard that every snowflake is different? There are never two that are exactly the same. I always think that’s so cool to think about! But even cooler than snowflakes is the fact that there are never two people who are alike either. Our great God is such a magnificent creator that He never runs out of ideas and since the beginning of time has made each and every human unique. Not like anyone else. 

Think about that. There has never been anyone JUST like you. And there never will be anyone JUST like you. YOU are the only YOU that there will ever be! 

The Bible tells us that God knit us together in our Mama’s belly. I always love to think of God literally making me piece by piece in just the exact way He wanted me to be made. It’s like He’s sitting at His craft table with the supplies…paper and scissors and glue and glitter and crayons and …well, you get the point. ALL the supplies you could dream of! And He knows just where He wants each piece to go on each person. He doesn’t mess up and have to redo it. Even what WE might think of as a mistake, isn’t. He fully planned on making you in that way! No mess ups. No need for redos.

Even His timing of WHEN and WHERE He made you is unique. He didn’t make you 1,000 or 100 years ago, no He made you to be born on the EXACT day you were born. He wanted you to be alive in 2021 listening to this podcast just like you’re doing now! And ever further, He wanted you to live WHERE you are living in the world right now. Your exact neighborhood is unique – just for you! He makes no mistakes even in the details! 

Acts 17:26b says that “he decided exactly when they should live. And he decided exactly where they should live.” So this means that God, Himself, said I want YOU to live now and in this exact spot. The exact place you are now living. No mess ups. No need for redos.

But why would He go to all that trouble? I mean it’d be a lot easier if He just had one big God-sized cookie cutter to make people out of. And we’d probably all end up looking like gingerbread men and women. Then He could make people in big batches, right? 

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So when we think about God making us piece by piece when He was creating us in our Mom’s belly, He wasn’t just using a cookie cutter. He was taking His time putting each piece and detail together. You’re not just any ole cookie, are you?! How awesome and exciting is it that God created you piece by piece, uniquely YOU, to live today and put you in the exact place where you are right now? 

And if He went to ALL the trouble, then He has GREAT and EXCITING plans for your life. He’s got mighty adventures ahead of you! Adventures that can have eternal impact – that means your adventures could change things forever. Wow!

When you start to understand how He planned out and created every detail of your life, then you can start to get excited about what that means for His plans for your life.

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1.     What does it mean in Acts 17:26b when it says He determines exactly the time and place that we should live?

2.     How did God make you unique or special?

3.     How can God use YOU in the exact places in which He’s placed you? Like your neighborhood, school, friends, etc. How can He use you there?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice Acts 17:26b together. Since we are only focusing on the second half of the verse, that’s why we say “b” after the verse reference. That let’s us know it’s just a portion of the verse. You can repeat after me. Acts 17:26b “he decided exactly when they should live. And he decided exactly where they should live.” Acts 17:26b

*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

We recently saw the second Boss Baby movie in the theater. And one of the characters, Armstrong, asked a very good question during the movie. He said, “why do parents get to be in charge anyway?” 

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The Bible tells us in Romans 13:1, “All of you must obey those who rule over you. There are no authorities except the ones God has chosen. Those who now rule have been chosen by God.”

In other words, our parents, teachers, etc. have been put in charge by God. And that means that we must obey them! God chose your parents. He chose your teacher. He chose the people who are in charge. So we must respect them and honor them. We must listen to them and obey them. 

A few verses later in Romans 13 it says that those who are in charge or that “rule over you,” as the verse said, have someone in charge of them too. They are serving God! They are responsible to God, who has ultimate authority and rule over them and really over everything. 

 Two last thoughts on this:

1.     I actually WANT God to be in charge of everything. Life goes so much better than way! So whomever God puts in charge of me, I want to honor and respect because God put them there and His plan in the best plan.

2.     The earlier I learn to respect and obey those who are in charge, the earlier I learn to respect and obey God. And this is something that even adults struggle with! But, God gave us people on earth to help us learn authority. It’s all in a practice to teach us how to respect and obey God as the ultimate ruler of our lives.

So here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     Give some examples of people who are in charge of you or who have authority over you.

2.     How should you treat those who are in charge?

3.     Why should we respect, honor and obey those who are in charge? Or in other words, why do parents get to be in charge anyway?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice the first half of our verse. Romans 13:1a. You can repeat after me. “All of you - must obey - those who rule over you. There are no authorities - except the ones God has chosen.” 

*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

I wanted take a time out and just talk to the parents for a minute. But, don't worry, we will have another regular episode later this week! 
Show highlights:
- We hit the milestone of over 1,000 downloads last week! Thank you for listening and telling others about it. To God be the glory!
- You aren't limited to listening in the car just because it's called  "Backseat Bible Nuggets." People are also listening as they eat a meal together, going to bed at night, on a family walk, etc.
- Message me on social media (@backseatbiblenuggets) or email me (backseatbiblenuggets@gmail.com) with any feedback, comments or ideas. I want to partner with you and the conversations that you're having in your house with your kids!

Who’s ready for school to start back?! I am! And my kiddos are too! It’s always an exciting time of year but it’s also a very BUSY time of year. Lots of you listening will go back to your school schedule and start some kind of sport or other lessons.  And you’ll have… homework!

So it’s usually this time of year when I see all that activity coming up, starting in just a few weeks, that I stop to remind myself of something. It’s not complicated, but it’s just something that we forget a lot. Especially this time of year as we get busy. But, here’s the deal: God wants a relationship with you more than anything. Or in other words, He wants to hang out with you and have your attention more than anything else.

Obviously He’s a fan of us learning and growing our brains to genius status as we go to school. And I’m sure He loves sports and music lessons or any other extra activity you’re learning. But those all come in second place to us having a relationship with Him.

Relationship is a big word, but it simply means knowing someone and being known by them. You have plenty of relationships. You have relationships with your friends, your parents, your brothers and sisters and lots of other people. You talk to them and you listen to them; you spend time together; you know each other so well that you know what the other person likes and doesn’t like. See? It’s pretty simple but this is what it means to have a relationship. And the Lord also wants a relationship with YOU!

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So maybe you’re wondering, how DO I have a relationship with Him? It starts with asking Him to be IN your life. To be the one in charge of your life, actually. And you do this because you know that He DESERVES to be in charge since He is God and… we. are. not. 

In fact, Jesus is God’s son who came to save us from our sins when He died on the cross. We’ve talked before about how sin separates us from God, it pulls us away from Him or opposite from Him. But when we know and believe that Jesus died on the cross, we are pulled back to Him. Jesus’ death is so much stronger than sin that we say it defeated sin. It wins over sin all day, every day!  And this means that we can have a relationship with Him! It’s because of Jesus that we can even imagine having a real relationship with the Lord!

John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Anyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life.” This means that because of God’s son, Jesus, we can have a relationship with Him FOREVER, that’s what eternal life means.

What an awesome thing! We can know and be known by the God of the universe! The King of all Kings! How cool!

So here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What does it mean to have a relationship with someone?

2.     How can we have a relationship with God?

3.     Do you have any other questions about this? If you are thinking about something, ask the adult you’re listening with!

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice John 3:16 together. You can repeat after me. “God so loved the world - that he gave his one and only Son.  - Anyone who believes in him  - will not die - but will have eternal life.” John 3:16

*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

My dad has three names: he is Dad, he is granddaddy and he’s also Mike. He’s one person, but he has 3 names. To me, he is my Dad. To my kids, he is granddaddy. And to other friends or family members, he is Mike. No matter what name you call him, he’s still the same person.

Maybe you have different names too. Maybe you have a name that they call you on the first day of school and then you have the name that you actually want to be called. You might also have a nickname that your friends call you. 

This is the easiest example that can help us start to understand what it means when the Bible says that God is 3 in 1. Now, I can’t go any further without telling you that it’s NOT nearly a perfect example. It’s actually a mystery to us humans as to how God can be 3 separate persons while also being just one person. But God in His great power and creativity somehow has the ability to be 3 in 1. I don’t have to understand all the details of HOW that works, but I need to know and trust that God’s word is true when it tells us that God is 3 in 1. 

The 3 persons that I’m talking about are 1. God the Father 2. God the Son (who is Jesus) and 3. The Holy Spirit. 

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But actually the first story in the Bible, Genesis chapter 1, shows us that since the beginning of time, before the world even existed, all 3 have existed together. Isn’t that cool?! And all 3, God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, are all equal. No ONE is more powerful than the other because they are really all the same person, not different people trying to be more in charge or more powerful than the other.

When we talk about the 3: God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit this is also called the trinity. So when you hear people talk about the trinity you will know that they are talking about how God is one God with 3 different persons.

It’s kinda confusing. It’s not like anyone else that we know, right?! Because God isn’t like anyone else! He is God! So if He says He’s 3 in 1 then we can trust that He IS 3 in 1. He is God and we are not and so His ways sometimes blow our mind. Actually, His ways USUALLY blow my mind!

In John 10:30, Jesus says, “I and the Father are one.” And then a few chapters later in John 15:26 He says, “I will send the Helper to you from the Father. He is the Spirit of truth, who comes out from the Father.” So Jesus is telling us all 3 are actually 1. Remember, we can trust this truth even if we don’t’ fully understand how it works!

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     Who are the 3 in the trinity?

2.     What does it mean that God is 3 in 1?

3.     Why do you think God made Himself like this? Why would He make Himself 3 in 1?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our two short verses together. You can repeat after me. “I and the Father are one.” John 10:30. And the next verse: “I will send the Helper to you – from the Father. – He is the Spirit of truth – who comes from the Father.” John 15:26

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gluschenko

QUESTION: "If I want to follow God, do I have to be a good person before I can become a Christian?"

That is a great question! I was actually talking to someone the other day that told me their daughter was asking questions about how to become a Christian and the lady I was talking to told her daughter “well, that’s something we need to talk more about because if you want to do that you have to start acting better and be a good person!”

The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that “God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him will not die, but have eternal life.” Now, did you hear anything in there about being a good person?

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That’s right. He offers for EVERYONE to live with Him forever in heaven, that’s what eternal life means. It’s not just for the good people or for people who look or act a certain way. Paul, a pretty important dude in the Bible, wrote in Romans 7:18 that “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” He goes on to write more about how he REALLY wants to be a good person and do good things, but he can’t ALWAYS be good not matter how hard he tries. And it’s the same with us! Do you ever feel that way, that you try to be good and it’s just hard to be a perfect person all the time??

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It’s so tough! Even for adults! Even for people who have had a relationship with Jesus for years! But at the end of the day, that doesn’t matter. Because God offers His free gift of salvation, or eternal life, a relationship with Him to ANYONE. Not just good people! BUT…each person has to accept His gift. Imagine if I were to give you a present wrapped in a big ole box, with awesome wrapping paper, tons of bows on top and it has YOUR name on it. What would you want to do with that present?

...

You’d want to open it and tear in to it so that you could see and enjoy the present! When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, it’s like a present. A gift that allows us to have a relationship with Him forever and be saved from being punished for our sins. BUT we have to open and accept His gift. Lots of people have that gift sitting in their lap and they say “um, no thanks.” And they set it to the side. Never opening it. Never enjoying the gift that God has given them. The gift that God has given to each of us! He doesn’t just give gifts to the people who act the right way or wear certain clothes or even those who go to church every week. He offers His free gift of knowing Him and living with Him forever to EVERYONE. This is called salvation! And it’s awesome and life changing.

Will you help me practice our verse? You can repeat after me:

“For God so loved the world – that He gave His only Son – that whoever believes in Him – will not die, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and the point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What is salvation?

2.     Who gets the free awesome gift of salvation from God?

3.     Why should you accept God’s gift to you? 

Have you ever had something come in the mail just for you? Maybe a letter from someone or a fun magazine or maybe even a package! I, at the age of 35, still get excited about mail. Unless it’s a bill, which is another story, but when we see the mailman stop at our house, it’s usually a rush to the door to see who is going to get to the package or mailbox first. Even though my kids run to the mailbox, the mail is usually not for them….yet. But sometimes…sometimes…it says their name on it and it makes our day! A special package or note just to them. 

Someone took time to think of them, write a note or buy a present and then took time to send it to them. To makes sure it got there. And it wasn’t just the sender that made sure the package or note arrived safely, there were plenty of other helpers along the way that took it from one mailbox to another, loaded it on trucks, and then drove it to our house to deliver it. And because of that, the thought and effort that went in to the letter or package just for me, it makes it super special.  

God’s word, the Bible, is like a special package just for us! But it’s more special than any other package. Want to know why? Because it is what we call the “inspired word of God.” Now, this doesn’t mean that every word is a word that Jesus spoke. It means that the Holy Spirit actually told people what to write down at different times throughout history. In fact, there are actually 40 different human writers in the Bible. But, all the words came from ONE person and that’s God himself. 

And because it’s from God means it’s true, true, true. There is nothing in it that isn’t true. No lies. So we can know that whatever we read when we open the Bible can be trusted. Even if it might not make sense to us, we can always remember that it’s true whether we understand it or not.

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 But, that’s what the Bible is! A letter to us. From God. Thousands of years old and yet God has made sure that we still have His letter to us! He loves us so much that He has made sure that His words, the Bible, have not been lost or forgotten over time. 

He thinks you’re special enough that He wanted YOU to have His special letter that He wrote for YOU. So next time you read the Bible, let’s think about how awesome it is that God took the time to write us a letter. AND that He took time to make sure that it was delivered to us.

2 Timothy 3:16 says that “All scripture is God-breathed.” Meaning it’s His words! And the verse goes on to tell us how it’s useful for us. Because, hello, what could be more useful to us than God’s holy words?!  That’s some pretty powerful stuff!  

Now before we talk through our questions, I want you to know that not everyone in the world has a Bible. Think about that for a minute. Not everyone in the world has a Bible. What would you do if you didn’t have a Bible? How would you know and learn about God? If you’re listening to this you probably have a Bible. I’d bet you might even have more than one in your house! Ask your parents how many Bibles you have in your house…..

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     Who wrote the Bible? 2.     How would you learn about God if you didn’t have a Bible? 3.     How is the Bible like a gift?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “All scripture - is God-breathed.” 2 Timothy - 3:16a

You’ve been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God’s great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. 
*Music: Forest by Vlad Gluschenko

Quick! Grab your tongue and listen to this from the Bible: “All of us get tripped up in many ways. Suppose someone is never wrong in what they say. Then they are perfect. They are able to keep their whole body under control. 

We put a small piece of metal in the mouth of a horse to make it obey us. We can control the whole animal with it. And how about ships? They are very big. They are driven along by strong winds. But they are steered by a very small rudder. It makes them go where the captain wants to go. In the same way, the tongue is a small part of a person’s body. But it TALKS BIG. Think about how a small spark can set a big forest on fire. 

The tongue is also a fire. The tongue is the most evil part of the body. It makes the whole body impure. It sets a person’s whole way of life on fire. And the tongue itself is set on fire by hell. People have tamed all kinds of wild animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures. And they still tame them. But no one can tame the tongue. It is an evil thing that never rests. It is full of deadly poison.” That’s James 3:1-8 

Okay, you can let go of your tongue now if you’re still holding it.

Did you know that your tongue can get you in to trouble? These verses say that our tongues are evil and full of deadly poison. Woah! Why so much hate for a tongue? Well it’s because with our tongue, we are able to talk. And you probably know by now that our talk, the things we say, can be dishonest and wrong or hateful and mean or even bring harm to others. You might think that something you say is not that big of a deal, but our words have POWER and we don’t always use it for good. In fact, these verses said our words can be like a spark that starts a forest fire. 

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 So what else? Well, Luke 6:45b says, “For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

This means that what we say is actually overflowing from our heart. Think of a bucket full of water, that’s our heart. And when the water fills up so much it’s overflowing, those are our words. So whatever is in our heart, overflows in the things we say in our words with our tongue.

So how do we tame or control the tongue? We start with the heart. And that’s a job that only Jesus can take on. When we give our heart to Jesus and let Him be ruler of our life, He starts to change our heart. He does the work with His saving power! And when He changes our heart, it changes everything about us – especially our tongue and the things we say.

So instead of walking around all day holding on to our tongue to keep it under control, let’s ask the Lord to change our heart. Because when He changes our heart, then good, loving, life-bringing words will overflow and come out of our mouths.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s not wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1.     Tell about a time when your tongue or words got out of control. And this is a free zone answer time, parents don’t get your kids in trouble with their answer! Just listen!

2.     What does our heart have to do with our tongue or our words?

3.     How do we tame our tongue and get it under control?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “For out of the overflow of his heart - his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45b

You’ve been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God’s great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. We’re honored you listened and pray deep roots grow in the lives of your backseaters as you go along the way.

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gluschenko

We recently took a road trip and when we finally got loaded up in the car we started to drive. The question was “which way,” though. We had plugged in the address of where we were headed and our phone suggested more than one way to go. We could go one way and avoid paying tolls. We could go another way, but it might have some dirt roads. We could go another way with bigger roads but it might have traffic. So many options that would get us all to the same place eventually. 

Think about somewhere that you go to in the car a lot. Maybe school or to a friends house or to your practice field. Is there more than one way to drive there? Usually there is!

Now, let’s think about heaven, where God lives forever. If being in heaven with God is where we want to eventually end up, is there more than one way to get there? That’s an interesting question!

Listen to what the Bible says in John 14:5-6. This is when Jesus had been telling the disciples that He was going to die and then be raised from the dead to then go back to heaven. But, here’s the thing… the disciples didn’t really understand what He was saying though. So what should we do if we don’t understand something? Ask a question! And that’s just what one of Jesus’ disciples, Thomas, did in John 14. He says in verse 5 and 6 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

To Thomas and the other disciples, Jesus’ answer was “clear as mud.” Have you ever heard that saying? Clear as mud? That means it’s not clear at all. Mud is not clear is it? So Jesus’ answer might have confused the disciples even more.

But what Jesus is saying here is that there is only ONE way to God. One. Not zero ways, as if we can’t EVER reach Him. And not 2 or more ways, as if we should add anything to Jesus’ way. Only one way.

And that one way is Jesus. In John 14:6 Jesus said that, “no one comes to the Father except through me.” He can say that because Jesus is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. The ONLY way.

This is an important truth in our world today. There are lots of different people who believe different things about who Jesus was and what the Bible commands us to do. A lot of times you will hear someone say that we can all go to heaven whether we believe in Jesus or not. Some people even believe in other gods or worship statues called idols. And some people might tell you that we actually do need to follow Jesus AND do other things in order for God to really love us or in order for us to go to heaven with Him one day. And it can be a number of OTHER things that they suggest. It’s like they are saying that there are many different ways to get to God, like different routes we could have taken on our road trip that would get us to the same place in the end. 

But this is not what the Bible, God’s true word tells us. Jesus’ teaching tells us that there’s only ONE way. And that’s to follow Him. Pretty simple! We don’t need to add any more to that. THE way is Jesus. 

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s not wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1.     What is the one way to God?

2.     What did Jesus mean when He said He is the way, the truth, and the life?

3.     How does this change the way we live?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “I am the way - and the truth - and the life. - No one comes to the Father - except through me.” John14:6

Hey parents, don’t forget to click the subscribe or follow button to get reminders when new episodes are available each week! 

* Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gluschenko

Today I have a guest here with me, Ethan! Ethan, how old are you?

Ethan: I’m 11 years old.

So at the age of 11, you’ve got something going on that has challenged and encouraged me and I think will for others too. Tell us what your morning routine looks like.

Ethan: Well, when I wake up in the morning I read my Bible, then pray. Next I get dressed for the day. After that’s done I eat my breakfast, and do pretty much everything you do to get ready for the day. 

And this routine is pretty important to you from what I hear! You’ve been doing this for a while, right? Tell us WHY you do this. Like does your mom and dad make you or do you have to for school or what makes you WANT to spend your mornings in this way?

Ethan: I’ve been doing this for a year and a half now. No, no one makes me do it; But it still means a lot to me because we serve a God of order and it is probably what God would do ( well, He would do it perfectly but you understand.)

Psalm 119:9 says, “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.” This verse is fitting not only because you are a young man, like the verse mentions but because in order to keep our way pure, or in order to live God’s way which is the best way, it says we must live according to His word. Well, how do we live according to His word or how do we live the way He wants us to live? We have to KNOW His word! We can’t expect to live the way God would have for us to live if we never read the Bible, His word. 

So, Ethan, you’re setting an awesome pattern in your life every day by starting out spending time reading the Bible and in prayer and thinking about what God’s word means in your life. Guess who else set this example for us in the Bible?

Ethan: Jesus!

That’s right! LOTS of times we see Jesus going off by himself to spend time alone with the Lord. Jesus would even wake up while everyone else was sleeping in order for Him to get some time alone with God. And man, if Jesus needed that time alone with God and made this a part of His every day life, shouldn’t we?!

So, Ethan, if someone wants to start spending time with God like you do and like Jesus showed us to do, what would you tell them?

Ethan: I would suggest that you wake up 30 minutes prior to getting started for the day. Then begin reading two chapters of the bible a day and start in Genesis and end in Revelation. Then finish your time with God in prayer. I started off this way and I encourage you to do this as well. But, if this isn’t what’s best for you, you can always find a new way.

Okay last question. Since you’ve started spending time reading the Bible each morning, how has it changed you?

Ethan: It has changed me on so many different levels. Mainly though, this has helped me in knowing that God is with me and no matter what happens, He is on my side.

Awesome. Well, Ethan, I’m proud of you as a sister in Christ and want to encourage you to keep it up. As you grow up and life changes it’ll be hard to always keep this practice, but I pray the Lord continues to draw you to Himself and transform your heart for His kingdom.

Thanks for joining us today!

You've been listening to Backseat Bible Nuggets. A podcast for kids about God's great love for them and His written word. Parents you can check out more resources at BackseatBibleNuggets.com. We're honored you listened and pray deep roots grow in the lives of your backseaters as you go along the way.

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gluschenko

Hey, before we get started today, I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Ivy over at For Parents Podcast. We had a great discussion on her podcast last week about all that God is doing through Backseat Bible Nuggets. And parents if you’re looking for other practical tools and wisdom as you walk this Christian parenting road go check her out at For Parents Podcast. 

Okay, now to our topic for today. We absolutely love music in our family. Recently, we’ve been loving the new Cain album and especially one of their songs called “I’m So Blessed.” If you haven’t heard that song, I’ll put a link to it in the show notes: https://cain.lnk.to/RiseUpAlbumID!ISBVIZ 
Or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzrtLAj-RNw
In fact, you might want to pause right here, go listen to it, and then come back.

Alright, so there’s a few lines in the song where it says, “On my best day, I’m a child of God. On my worst day, I’m a child of God. Oh everyday is a good day, You’re the reason why.” And Hudson came to me the other day and said, “That doesn’t really make sense to me. They say that “on my worst day, I’m a child of God but then they say that everyday in a good day.” And that’s true! It might sound confusing but listen to this.

When we are a Christian, we are a child of God. Nothing can take that away from us. But does that mean we won’t have bad days? No! We will still have days where things don’t go our way. Or where someone is mean to us and hurts us. Or where we find ourselves grounded or in time out over and over again. We can expect bad days to happen from time to time until we get to heaven, in fact.

But like the song says, “on my worst day, I’m a child of God.” No matter what happens, at the end of the day we are a child of God and nothing changes that. Even if we’ve made the worst decisions that day.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:29 that “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Those are some big words! Think to yourself right now of the worst thing you could do. Like if you really wanted to make a bad day for yourself. You don’t have to say it out loud. Just think about it.

Okay, guess what? No matter what you thought about and how BAD it is, it doesn’t change the truth of what we just read. That NOTHING. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Will separate us from the love of God. On your best day He loves you just the same as He does on your worst day. Let that sink in. That’s hard to understand because that’s so different from any other kind of love that we know on Earth.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s not wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1.     When you make bad decisions and get in trouble, does that change God’s love for you?

2.     How is everyday a good day like the song said?

3.     The next time you’re having a bad day, what can you do to help yourself remember that you’re a child of God and that makes every day a good day since we cannot be separated from the love of God? How can you help yourself remember this truth?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. Romans 8:39 “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gluschenko

“He’s got the whole world in His hands” Do you know that song? It’s a good one that reminds us how our BIG God is in control of all things. The song says that He’s got the world in His hands, which is true, but He actually controls more than that! He is in control of the universe! .......

God created all of these things and put them in place with perfect balance. And He’s really good at it! I mean, we tried to make a solar system mobile recently and planets kept falling off. The whole mobile was heavy on one side and hung crooked. It was much harder than I thought it would be. And that’s just a silly mobile! 

Our creator God created the world we live in and He created YOU with such perfection that we can’t even understand all that He’s done. I mean, if I can’t successfully make a solar system mobile how would I ever start to try and create a human being. Yikes! But God did. And He doesn’t stop there.

He is still in control over all that He created. He didn’t just create things and then forget about them. 

He’s in control of His creation. Every thing from the solar system to the details of your life. He is in charge of everything that happens in the world. He decides what will happen in your life today, He decides what will happen to countries as they rise and fall, He decides what will happen with the weather, He decides what will happen at school, He is in charge of it all! There is nothing outside of His control.

There’s a big word for this. It’s sovereignty. Can you say that? Repeat after me. Sovereignty. You might hear someone say that God is sovereign. This means that God is in control of everything. And this should make us feel so safe and secure. 

But when I don’t believe that God is in control, I worry and get nervous and I feel like it’s all up to me to make sure that it turns out the way I want.

When I DO believe that God is in control, I am sure that no matter what happens He is involved and will take care of me. It doesn’t mean He will give me whatever I want or that it’ll even be clear what He’s doing. But I can be sure that His plan. And His way is the best way!

Think of something that you can hold in your hand. Like my kids love to catch lizards or worms. Or what about a roly poly. Have you ever caught someone like that and held it in your hand? That’s what God is doing for us right now. But He’s doing even more than just holding us. He’s making sure everything that happens in our world and in our lives is part of His plan. He has the power to make sure that everything that happens, happens for His good purposes and for His glory. And that doesn’t just mean the good things! He can make good things come out of even bad things that happen in this world. He is sovereign over it all!

Daniel 4:35b says, “He does as He pleases with the power of heaven. He does what He wants with the nations of the earth.” And this truth makes me take a deep breath and relax knowing He’s got it all under His control. And I can trust HIS control.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     So what is God in control of? Name some things!

2.     How do you feel knowing that God controls everything?

3.     Would you rather be in control or would you rather God be in control?

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “He does as He pleases – with the power of heaven. – He does what He wants – with the nations of the earth.” Daniel 4:35b
*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gluschenko

Do you think God laughs? Someone asked me this yesterday and it made me think…what do you think? Do YOU think that God laughs? Do you think that Jesus laughed when He lived on Earth? 

I do! I think that God laughs a LOT actually and I bet Jesus laughed a ton as He lived His life. How could He not?! There’s too many funny things in life to NOT laugh! And think of how much you love to laugh. Everyone loves a good laugh. It just makes you feel good! And sometimes we say laughing is contagious, meaning that we can just hear someone else laughing and then we start laughing too. I think God loves to laugh just like we love to laugh.

When God was creating Adam and Eve, the Bible tells us that God created them in His own image. That means God looked at Himself and made humans very similar to Himself. And as good as it feels to laugh, I think God loves to laugh too.

Is it kinda strange to think about God doing someone as simple and fun as laughing?

This isn’t always how we think about God. Some people think God is a mean dictator that sits on His throne telling people what to do and not do. Most people don’t think of God as laughing right along with us when we laugh. But I think it’s important for us to know that while God is indeed a king who has laid out the best way for us to live in the Bible, He’s also our best friend who wants to be right there in the middle of the good laugh.

Psalms 126:2 says “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then is was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them." 

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     If God laughs, what does He laugh about?

2.     How do you usually think of God? Is He like that mean guy telling everyone what to do OR is He the loving, laughing best friend?

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Our mouths were filled with laughter, - our tongues with songs of joy. - Then is was said among the nations, - “The Lord has done great things for them.” Psalms 126:2 

This week, we asked some of our listeners “Who is God?”

……

 Wow! That was amazing to hear from y’all! And everything you said was right on. God is ALL of those things! Isn’t that so cool? And guess what? There’s even more ways to describe God. 

But it sounds to me like many of you are on your way to understanding many different parts of who God is. I heard some of you say that God is love which is in the Bible in 1 John 4:16 where it says “God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God lives in Him.” I heard some of you say how God is like a father or Dad to you, which can be found in 2 Corinthians 6:18 where is says “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

And I heard even more names for God from some of our listeners like how God is greater than anything, awesome, the BEST, ruler of the universe, guide, a protector who takes care of us, and even a provider who gives us what we need. I loved hearing from each of you!

Here are some questions for you to talk about together. There’s no wrong answer to these, the point is to just get us talking about our awesome God.

1.     So, who is God to you? He can be so many different things, like we talked about, but who is God to you today?

2.     Who do you WANT God to be in your life?

3.     Who is the adult that you’re listening with this week? Ask them if you can work together to find a Bible verse that talks about who God is to you. For example, if you said “God is love,” parents, you can Google “God is love bible verse.” That’s the easiest way to find it! You don’t have to have extensive Bible knowledge to look up verses!

Okay, so let me hear from you this week!  Have an adult record you saying who God is to you and send it to me. I would love to hear from you! You can email your audio or video clip to backseatbiblenuggets@gmail.com

Can’t wait to hear from you!!

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? Have you decided yet? In case you’re still undecided, let me point you towards a Bible verse that tells us to be aliens. Wait, what?! That’s right, 1 Peter 2:11 says, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” 

That verse has a lot of big words, but let’s focus on the part where Peter, who wrote this in the Bible, tells us to be aliens and strangers in the world. WHAT does that mean??

An alien is someone from a different planet, right? Think for a second what you imagine an alien to look like. If you want, draw me a picture and have your parents send it to me. I’d love to see your aliens! (backseatbiblenuggets@gmail.com) 

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We’ve talked before about when we become a Christian and have the Holy Spirit living in us, it changes EVERYTHING about us. While we might not have antenna on our head or have green slimy skin, like I usually think of an alien, it does change us on the inside. It changes our heart and what we care about, it changes how we want to spend our time, it changes how we treat others, it changes EVERYTHING. And when we are changed, we start to look so different than the world around us.

This is what it means to be an alien! 

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     If you’re not a Christian, are you an alien in the world or not an alien?

2.     What are some ways to be an “alien” in the world for God? Like is it to walk around with 3 eyes, antenna, and green skin? Or is it something else when we are an alien in the world as a Christian?

3.     And last question to think about, WHY would God want us to be different from the world around us? WHY would he want us to be aliens?

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.” 1 Peter 2:11

“Blessed are those who make peace, for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9
Our world today desperately needs peacemakers.
When we are peacemakers that means that we bring calmness to a situation. It’s like breathing a big deep breath in to a situation. 
When we are not peacemakers, we let our emotions rule. It’s like whatever we feel at the moment spills over to everyone around us. This is usually the opposite of peace!

But here’s the key to being a peacemaker: being a peacemaker is only possible with Jesus’ help - bringing His powerful peace in to any situation we are in each day.

*Music:  "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Have you ever dreamed about being a bird before? I’ve always wondered how it would feel to fly around soaring high in the sky and then swooping down. I’ve been jealous of a birds view before because they can fly up and see everything! And when they have somewhere to go they don’t have to stick just to the roads, they can fly in whatever direction they want to. No road rules! But you know what would stink about being a bird? When it’s cold or raining and you still have to live outside. And that’s where my bird dream ends. 

 Matthew 6:26 – 30 talks about birds and how they have life so easy. God provides everything they need and they don’t even worry about it! We can look at birds and even flowers, things we see everyday and remember that if He takes care of the birds and the flowers then He will DEFINITELY take care of us!

“Are you not much more valuable then they?” it said in Matthew 6:26. You are a child of God. Not simply a bird or a flower. But His child. And He loves you so much! 

Next time you see a bird flying through the air or scurrying on the ground remember how God cares for the birds. And next time you see a pretty flower blooming remember how God cares for the flowers. And THEN I want you to remember how much more loved and valued you are to God than birds and flowers. And He loves you more than you will ever know and He will take care of us.

Here are some questions to talk about. 

 1.     How does God care for birds and flowers? Let’s list some ways.

2.     Do you think that you are loved and valued by God?

3.     How does God care for you? Let’s list some ways.

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Look at the birds of the air. They don’t plant or gather crops. They don’t put away crops in storerooms. But your Father who is in heaven feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than they are?” Matthew 6:26 

** Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

One of the foundational purposes for Backseat Bible Nuggets is to get kids and adults talking about simple spiritual conversations. The most powerful influence in the spiritual development of a child is seeing and hearing about God’s character throughout their day.  What better way to do that than to share YOUR story with them? 

Believers are called in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) to make disciples and that starts with the kids in your life! So, let's tell our kiddos our own story with Jesus and what He has done and is doing in your life today.

From our website (backseatbiblenuggets.com):

"The goal of BBN is to put an easy tool in the hand of parents and caregivers that helps accomplish God’s commandment to us to impress these things upon our children as we walk along the way. (Deuteronomy 6:7)

This podcast is a tool to help you do just that! I hope and pray it begins God-glorifying conversations in your family that develop your backseaters in to powerful men and women of the Lord."

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

There are so many things that can be earned in life. Think about it…maybe you do chores to earn allowance money. Maybe, at this time of year, you are trying to be on your best behavior to earn your gifts for Christmas. Maybe you recently played your hardest to earn a trophy or championship for your sports team. Or maybe you’ve even earned a free haircut like I did the other day by going to the same place 9 times and earning that 10th cut for free!

We understand the concept of working or putting in effort in order to EARN something. Like cause and effect. If I do this, then I’ll earn that. But guess what? This isn’t how God’s kingdom operates.

In fact, you’ve probably heard of the word ‘grace’ before, right? Grace is defined as God’s powerful kindness poured out on the undeserving. Repeat after me: Grace is….kindness to the undeserving…Did you hear anything about earning God’s grace in that definition? Sometimes adults define grace as God’s unmerited favor. That’s just a fancy way of saying that He blesses us even though we don’t deserve it and we’ve done nothing to earn it.

And listen closely, we CAN’T earn His grace. His grace is a free gift for all BECAUSE of what Jesus did on the cross.

Let’s back up for a second… Okay, we actually see God’s grace in every area of life. In fact, my life and your life and everything exists in creation because of God’s grace – His kindness to the undeserving. Everyone experiences God’s grace on that level, even if they don’t realize it. 

However, God’s grace is much much bigger than that in that it saves us from our sin. Because we are sinful, we cannot earn His love or even a ticket to heaven by doing lots of good things. No, it’s ONLY God’s grace – His kindness to the undeserving – through what Jesus did on the cross that can save us from our sins and allow us to walk with God now and live with Him forever. I’m going to say that again because there’s a lot there…It’s ONLY God’s grace, through what Jesus did on the cross, that can save us from our sins and allow us to walk with God now and live with Him forever.

Ephesians 2:8 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

We have done nothing and there is nothing we can do to save us from our sins. We have done nothing and there is nothing we can do to earn God’s love and forgiveness. It’s only by grace that we are saved. Wow! What an awesome God we serve! He offers us grace even though we don’t deserve it.

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     How have you experienced the concept of grace in your life? Maybe it was grace from a parent, teacher, or friend. When have you seen someone treat you with grace even though you didn’t deserve it?

2.     What is God’s grace? Tell me in your own words.

3.     How do some people still try to earn God’s grace?

One last time, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “For it is by grace you have been saved,  - through faith – and this is not from yourselves, -  it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

It’s Thanksgiving week and you know what that means?! Lots and lots of yummy food is coming your way. Thanksgiving is known for its feast of wonderful food! And in the end, I hope and pray your belly is full and happy after your Thanksgiving meal. Even if you’re a picky eater and only eat dinner rolls the whole time….every family has a picky eater, right?!

Anyway, we can satisfy our stomachs with delicious meals like a Thanksgiving meal, but you know what? God’s word can satisfy us in our heart, soul, mind, stomach and ….okay, really the Lord can satisfy us in all places in our life!

Psalm 63 is talking about how awesome God’s love is. And it tells us how God can satisfy us just like the most delicious food we can imagine. But it doesn’t just satisfy our tummy, making us full and happy in our belly. No, God’s love can make us full and happy, in every area of our life. Psalm 63:3 says, “I will be as satisfied as if I had eaten the best food there is.” 

Doesn’t that sound great? To be satisfied, or full and happy, in God’s love? What happens when we are full and happy after a meal? We don’t want more, more, more food. We go and do other fun things besides eating because our bodies have the fuel. We can think about other things besides how we are SO hungry. In the same way, when we let God Himself satisfy us, we don’t focus on wanting more and more and more. When we are satisfied in God, we overflow all the good things God wants for our life and those around us. It shows when we are full and happy with the Lord!

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question or just generally review together when it’s over. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer to these! The point is to get conversation flowing. So don’t overthink it!

1.     How does it feel to be satisfied after eating yummy food?

2.     What does it mean to be satisfied in God?

3.     How can you tell when someone is satisfied in God? 

One last time before we sign off, you can repeat after me. “I will be as satisfied - as if I had eaten the best food there is.” - Psalm 63:3 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Think for a second about the most useless part of your body. Go ahead, point to something on your body that you think isn’t really that important. Like why is it even there? Are you pointing? Okay, well I’m pointing to my baby toe. Now, you should know something about my baby toe. It’s tiny. Like almost not even there. So it surely doesn’t serve much of a purpose, right?

Well, actually our baby toes are a big part of helping us stand up and balance and even helps us walk and run faster. Kinda a big deal!

God designed our bodies, every single part of it, to work together as one unit and each part serves a great purpose. In the same way, God designed all Christians to work together just like a body. This is why you might hear someone say that we are all part of the Body of Christ. He wants all Christians to work together as one unit where every single person serves a purpose. 

Romans 12:4-5 says “ Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

That verse highlights that we are to all form the body of Christ as we work together. But did you catch the part that said these members, meaning each of us, do not all have the same function? This is like saying that some of us are ears, some of us are fingers, some of us are hearts, some of us are eyes, some of us are even baby toes! I could go on, but you get the point. God has made each of us in such a special way that we are like a body part. But we aren’t literally body parts in the body of Christ. It just means that each of us has an important job to do that only we can do. And it’s not like an eye can take the place of a toe, no, whatever function He has for each of us we must realize how important it is to the whole body!

So let’s consider some things to get us talking more about this idea. You can pause to discuss and as always, there’s no wrong answer!

1.     Who are the people that make up the body of Christ?

2.     Do all the people that make up the body of Christ all have the same function?

3.     If you could be any body part in the body of Christ, what would you want to be? 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Raise your hand if you've already failed at doing the advent study that you had such high hopes for this year! Me too! Don't worry if you are feeling overwhelmed during this Christmas season. You're not alone. 
I want to encourage you to use this podcast as an easy button when life is crazy busy yet your heart still desires to lead your children to the Lord.
I'm right there with y'all. Let's simplify this Christmas and take the (self-inflicted) pressure out of the season. Let's focus on the basics of the Christmas story together as you go along the way to all the parties/ events/ errands/ cooking/ cleaning/ hosting/ traveling/ laundry/ gift buying/ wrapping/ I could go on forever.....

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Christmas is a time to celebrate Jesus being born! This is a BIG deal and I’m so excited to tell you why!

I get excited about any birthday party…the cake, the candles, the gifts, the FUN! But I’m REALLY excited about a birthday for Jesus!

When Jesus was born, it showed us how much God wanted to be with us. He could have stayed in heaven doing other things, but He loved us so much that He didn’t want to be SO far away from us.

So God sent His one and only son, Jesus, to live as a human. He was totally God and totally human at the same time, which is crazy, right?!

But God didn’t just decide one day to send Jesus. No, God had this plan for a long long long long time. And thousands of years went by as people waited for God’s plan to take place.

People knew God had promised to rescue them, but HOW…..WHEN….. WHO….. and WHY?

When Jesus was born, most people did NOT think this was God’s great plan. But it was!! Our rescuer, our Lord, was born in a stinky barn with gross animals. I’m glad I wasn’t born there!

But I’m so thankful that Jesus was born. Because when He was born, it showed that God wanted to be with me. And with you!

He came and lived a perfect life. Then He died on the cross to save me from my sins. Now I get to be with God and KNOW Him! AND I get to join Him in heaven one day!

This is why Christmas is special. It’s because we celebrate Jesus being born. And that means we celebrate what His life means – our relationship with Him!

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question to discuss. Oh, and this is important! There’s no wrong answer, so don’t overthink it.

What are we celebrating at Christmas?

Why is it a big deal that Jesus was born?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice a Bible verse together that shows us why we celebrate Christmas.

She will give birth to a son. – And he will be called Immanuel – which means, “God with us.”  - Matthew 1:23

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Do you ever think about all the things that seem unfortunate about the Christmas story? Like Mary having to travel on a donkey when pregnant. Or not being able to find a place to stay in Bethlehem. Or birthing baby Jesus in a barn?!

The Christmas story looks VERY different from our modern day birth plans, doesn't it? 

But when I believe that God is sovereign (check out the Sovereign episode for more details on this topic), then I believe that every. single. detail. of the Christmas story are actually purposefully divine details.

Check it out!
Luke 2:12

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschekno

Jesus being born is a special story everyone. For me and for you! The story of Jesus being born, the life he lived, and then eventually the death that he died on the cross was all for you. He came to this world for you!

This was such great news for every single person that even a big group of angels shows up praising God saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” in Luke 2:14.

I pray that when you hear the Christmas story, even if you’ve heard it before, that your heart explodes with worship for what God has done for each of us through Jesus.

So here are some questions to get us talking about this famous story. You can pause to discuss and as always, there’s no wrong answer!

1.     If you had to be one character in the Christmas story, like if you could be Mary or Joseph or Jesus or an angel or a shepherd or a sheep or a wise man or anyone else in the story, who would you want to be?

2.     What’s your favorite part of the Christmas story? Do you have a favorite detail?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice this awesome verse together. You can repeat after me. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14 

Backseat Bible Nuggets was created by me, Laura, a mom of 2 that wanted an easy tool to help refocus our hectic days. Our hope is that this helps every adult easily start Christ centered conversations with the kids in their life. We are so honored you listen and would love for you to leave us a review or better yet, spread the word. Let your friends know about this podcast! And as always, I’m praying that your backseaters grow deep roots as you go along the way. 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Jesus came in to this world as a little baby. Needing all the things that little babies need. He needed to be fed, he needed to be rocked to sleep, he even needed someone to change his dirty diaper! And we can understand that because this is what all babies need, right?! No big deal.

But wait a second, this was God himself, who came as a baby. This wasn’t just any baby! So doesn’t that kinda change some things? We know that Jesus was fully God and fully man. That means that He was completely God while also being completely human. And this is a divine mystery. One that we probably won’t ever fully understand. Even those closest to Jesus, His disciples, got confused a LOT about what this meant.

Here’s a few things that we know from the Bible: Jesus had basic needs like needing to eat, drink and sleep. He had human emotions like being sad, happy, and upset.

But we also know that He was without sin. 

Let that sink in for a minute. He didn’t have ANY sin…ever! He never messed up or made a bad decision. He never disobeyed or was disrespectful. He never looked at something and wished it was His own. And this is the part that such a mystery to me. While He had all the same basic needs and emotions that we have, He never let them get out of control or to a point of sinning. He never did anything that disobeyed God or made God sad. 

How could He?! Remember He was God at the same time! I mean, this is really mind blowing. Like that emoji with it’s brain coming up out of it’s head!

Hebrews 4:15 says, “For our high priest is able to understand our weakness. He was tempted in every way that we are, but He did not sin.” The high priest is Jesus so this is saying that Jesus is able to understand to our human weakness. It says He was tempted in every way. Meaning He felt those feelings you and I feel every day. BUT, it tells us, “He did not sin.”

This is how we know that He was fully God and fully man. All at the same time. Wow! What a special and cool God that we serve! Like I said, I don’t fully understand how this all played out in Jesus life because it’s hard for me to imagine anyone totally without sin. BUT I know that what the Bible says is true. So if it says the He was God without any sin while also being human then I can trust it.

So, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause to discuss and as always, there’s no wrong answer. The point is to get conversation started about the Lord.

1.     Who are we talking about when we say he was fully God and fully man?

2.     How does it encourage you to think about Jesus being completely God and completely man?

3.     What confuses you about this concept of Jesus being both God and human at the same time?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “For our high priest - is able to understand our weakness. - He was tempted in every way that we are, - but He did not sin.” - Hebrews 4:15 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

What makes you strong? 

Well, I really should tell you that there’s 2 different ways that you can be strong. You can be strong with your muscles. And someone can also be strong in the Lord. And rather than flexing their muscles to show that strength you’ll be able to tell when someone is strong in the Lord by watching how they act or listening closely to the things they say. If their attitude and how the treat others and words reflect how God want us to act this is how you might know that someone is strong in the Lord. It’s a different kind of strength that comes from spiritual muscles. 

Psalm 28:7a says, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.”

So, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause to discuss and as always, there’s no wrong answer. The point is to get conversation flowing.

1.     What do we mean by spiritual muscles?

2.     Do you think we should spend more time on making the muscles in our body stronger or should we spend more time on our spiritual muscles?

3.     What can you do today to make your spiritual muscles stronger?

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Jesus was teaching that the good soil, that has lots of rich nutrients for the seed to sprout and eventually grow in to a full plant, is the best soil. This is the kind of soil that we want in our heart. Whenever we do things like read the Bible, talk about the truths of God, and worship Him these are little seeds that we plant in our heart. And I pray that the Lord makes each of our hearts that awesome soil in which His seeds can grow in us. Imagine what God might be planting in your heart today that will one day grow for Him! The possibilities are endless of what you can do for His kingdom.

Oh, and another important point of this story is that when we tell others about Jesus we are like that farmer planting seeds in other peoples hearts. Jesus wants us to tell others about Him and how He came to die for our sins. Every time we do that it’s a seed planted in the heart of the person that we’ve told. Then, it’s up to the Lord to make it grow. 

Matthew 13:23 says, “But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it.” That’s the kind of soil I want to be! The good soil that will let those seeds grow by hearing God’s word and learning it and understanding it.

So, here are some questions to talk about. You can pause to discuss and as always, there’s no wrong answer. The point is to get conversation flowing.

1.     Is someone that hears God’s word and understands it considered good soil or bad soil?

2.     Okay, I know we don’t have actual soil in our heart, but what description best describes your heart when you hear and read the Bible? Are you the path where birds come and eat the seeds or the rocky soil or the thorny soil or the good soil?

3.     How can we help the seeds grow that are planted in our heart? 

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “But the one who received the seed - that fell on good soil - is the man who hears the word - and understands it.” - Matthew 13:23 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Faith is a big complex topic, but let's begin to boil it down to the basics for our kids today.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We have basic faith that the sun will come up or that we will be able to find food when we are hungry, but what about faith in Jesus? 
When we have faith in Jesus it means that we believe Him to be who He said He was - the Son of God who saved us from our sins when He died on the cross. True faith in Jesus takes it to the next step of not only believing in Him, but also trusting Him enough to let Him be King and ruler of your life. And it drives us to action and take steps of faith.

Here are some questions to get conversation started:

1.     What does it mean to have faith in Jesus?

2.     True or false: Having faith in Jesus means that everything will be easy and perfect and make sense.

3.     Do you think having faith in Jesus makes like fun or boring?

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Did you know that what we spend most of our time talking about actually shows us what's in our heart? Matthew 12:34b tells us that “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” 

So, what is your most favorite thing to talk about? 
What does your family spend the most time talking about?

Let’s think of our heart like a bucket. What happens when we fill up a bucket to the top? It overflows, right?! 

If I fill a bucket up with dirt, it’ll overflow dirt. And if I fill it up with water, it’ll overflow with water. And whatever we fill that bucket up with is what will eventually overflow, right? When it comes to our heart, the overflow, as the verse told us, are our words that we speak with our mouth. The things we say to those around us!

So the questions in the beginning were we thought about what we spend the most time talking about and what our family spends the most time talking about show us what’s overflowing out of our heart bucket. It’s always a challenge for anyone to really examine their words in this way. 

Let’s think through one more question. You can pause after to discuss. Oh, and the point is to get conversation flowing. So, don’t overthink it!

1.     If I want to overflow with the things of God, how do I do that? In other words, what are some ways I can fill my heart bucket up with the good things of God? 

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34b 

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Peter, who was one of Jesus’ closest friends, got very scared in this story. Being scared and fearful is something we’ve all felt before. But guess what? When Peter called out to Jesus to save him, then Jesus was right there ready to reach out and save Peter.

We can learn from this story that Jesus is always with us. Especially when we are afraid. No matter what we are scared of, He is there! And we can ask Him to help us!

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1. When was the last time you were scared?
2. What did Peter do when he was scared?
3. What can you do the next time you’re scared and afraid?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Right away Jesus called out to them, “Be brave! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Matthew 14:27

Do you know what freedom is? Well, in case you don’t, I looked it up for us. According to Google, if you have freedom then it means you are allowed to act the way you want to, say the things you want to and think however you’d like to without anything holding you back.

It also means you’re not trapped. Like the lizards my kids keep catching and putting in our bug catcher. Those lizards are NOT free. They are trapped until we decide it’s time to play something else and let them go.

Anyway, freedom is a big deal! Lots of countries have worked and fought very hard for the freedom they have in their country. I live in America and freedom is a celebrated thing. The fact that we are free to go where we want to, say the things we want to talk about, and think however you’d like about different things. It’s a big deal!

There’s all different types of freedom. Maybe it’s summer now and you have freedom from school! Or if you were ever quarantined for COVID and felt the freedom after you got out of quarantine. Maybe freedom is as simple as being free to play the games you want to play every day. Or being free to sing a song when it’s in your head.

There’s all different types of freedom.

But, the most important freedom we can have is the freedom that Jesus gives us. The freedom from the consequences of our sin.

2 Corinthians 3:17 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

When we are a follower of Jesus then we have the Holy Spirit and that means that we have the best kind of freedom. We will be free FOREVER and won’t ever be trapped by our sin. We will be free FOREVER with a freedom that is bigger than a freedom that we will find in any country in this world. The freedom found in Jesus is the best freedom!

Here are some questions to talk about. You can pause after each question and discuss. Oh, and there’s no wrong answer to these. So don’t overthink it!

1. In what ways do you have freedom in your own life? Like what are you free to do?
2. Let’s fill in the blank….The Bible verse, 2 Corinthians 3:17 said that “where the ________ is, there is freedom.” Can you fill in the blank?
3. Let’s talk about why we are so thankful for freedom both in this world but also forever. Why are you thankful for freedom?

One last time before we sign off, let’s practice our verse together. You can repeat after me. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

*Music: "Forest" by Vlad Gulschenko

Hudson talks to us about having self control with something he loves - screen time! Remember that self control is a fruit of the Spirit? And it's something that doesn't always come naturally to us. But as we walk and grow in the Lord, self control is something that God will develop in us just like a fruit growing on a tree or vine. 

In this episode, we talk about the familiar Bible verse of 2 Timothy 1:7 that says, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-control.”