Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: All right, let's get started. How many people like a good movie? Anyone enjoy a good movie? I love good movies. And the best movies is where there is a problem to solve, right? It wouldn't be a really great movie. That said, Mike met Amy and they fell in love and they were married for 50 years and everything was great. Roll the credits now. That's a great life, right? But that's not going to make a great movie. There is always a challenge to overcome. There's going to be a hero, there's going to be a villain. Right. There's going to be probably a couple of comic relief actors within the storyline as well.
But there's always some good and some bad. There's the mountaintop moments. There's the deep, dark valleys. There's all of these moments that come into a great story.
This morning, we are going to be looking at the greatest story ever told with the greatest action hero the world has ever and will ever see. Children, can anyone tell me who they think the greatest action hero could be? On the count of three, shout out. One, two, three.
All right, we're gonna have to get a little bit louder this morning.
Okay. Well, over the last week, we have had the privilege of coming on an adventure with Timothy Jones, explorer extraordinaire. And he was looking along with Cassidy Blaze and her bumbling sidekick, Max McLeod. I bet you can't guess who the bumbling sidekick was.
Cassidy Blaze. And they were on the search for an ancient manuscript called the Elbib, the lbib.
Has anyone ever read an L bib before?
And they went looking and hunting for this ancient manuscript that was going to tell of these amazing stories of what God had done. And then we realized that actually, it's the Bible.
Come on. We found the Bible.
The Bible's available for every one of us to read, made up of 66 different books from 40 different authors. And it tells the story of creation right through to an amazing moment where God gathers everybody into his kingdom, into heaven, where we can live with him forever.
And so this morning, please fill in the blanks in your booklet, children, and if you manage to get that completed, you can take it to Jason. And Jason will reward you with chocolate. So a little bit of incentive. And I know a couple of parents managed to grab a booklet as well, so I would probably even honour that. So well done.
But here's your first one to fill in. We're going right back to the very beginning. Trust me, I'm not going through all 66 books. We're going to be out of here before 12. Okay, that's the plan. All right, so Genesis 1, verse 1. If you know this one, why don't you say it with me? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. All right? Two words to fill in there. Heavens and the earth. God created everything.
Before there were lions and parrots and monkeys and kangaroos and meerkats, bugs and bisons, God began with one statement. He said, let there be light.
And there was. So we're going to create. You know, sometimes in a movie set they have the sound effects. All right, we're going to create the sound effects for this movie. So what I need you to do is we are going to go through these seven days of creation and we need your interaction. Okay? Don't be boring, right? Don't be boring. Don't be that adult that goes, this is boring. Don't be that.
Come on, I want you in with me. All right, so what I need you to do is I need you to put your hands up in the air like this.
On the count of three, when I say 1, 2, 3, we are going to clap our hands together.
One clap. Just one clap. I know someone's going to try, too. Just one clap.
I'm looking at my 13 year old son. All right, ready?
One, two, three.
Now, in the time it took us to clap our hands together, that's about one second when God says, let there be light.
Light came out of God at 186,000 miles per second.
Now, how far is that?
That is about 7.8 times around the globe.
That's a long, long way. And that's really fast. Just a little faster than Drew drives, maybe.
All right, on day two, God created the sky and the atmosphere and separated the atmosphere. I want you to reach up nice and high. Get your hands nice and high. Make a couple of clouds if you want to. Make some clouds. Some fluffy clouds. Very good. Thank you. Thank you for participating. All right, make a bit of range, or let's try the one with the fingers. All right.
Oh, feels like I'm in a rainforest. I could just go to sleep on this one.
Wow.
Day three.
God created the trees and the plants. Come on, get your branches and your leaves out. Get your vines. Wrap that vine around the person you love, give them a little squeeze and say, I'm so glad I'm sitting next to you.
Make it awkward if that person doesn't realize that.
Or make it awkward if this is your moment. I'd say take your shot.
Day four. The sun, the moon and the stars. Come on. Who's got the moon?
Any twinkling stars? Let's get them up there.
Day five, we had some birds and some fruit fish. So let's get some fish and some birds, some flapping wings.
And then the fun part. On day six, God created animals and humans. So on the count of three, I want you to make your favorite animal sound. Okay? This is gonna get manic. This is gonna be awesome. All right, so, kids, you thinking about your favorite animal?
[00:06:35] Speaker B: Right.
[00:06:36] Speaker A: On the count of three. One, two, three.
That's incredible.
I think I heard someone do a giraffe.
I don't even know what a sound a giraffe makes, but it was brilliant. Amazing. So good.
But you know what God made on the seventh day?
God made people.
So I want you to slap a high five with someone and say, God did a great job with you.
He did a great job.
Absolutely amazing.
And then day seven, what I love about day seven is this is the day where Adam and Eve first got to spend with God.
And God doesn't go to work. You know what God does?
He says, I'm gonna rest with you.
I'm gonna spend time with you.
That's how God has designed this relationship to be. That we would work. But it's not out of. We don't rest as a result of work. We work out of a place of rest. Rest in him. That Sabbath. That day of rest is a great day for us to be with God and spend time with him.
Scene one. God is the master. Creator.
End of scene one.
Scene two of 378. No, I'm just teasing.
Just tease it. We've got four scenes to go, and we'll move through them pretty quickly. All right, Scene two. We are made by who?
God.
All right.
God's been working on a masterpiece.
Tell you what, this is probably his greatest work.
Wow.
And now that you've all seen my bald spot, we can carry on.
You are God's masterpiece.
You're created to do great works for him.
Yeah. Genesis 1:26, 27. We're going to step in and read this together. The text is going to come up on the screen, and if you're able to read, why don't you read this with me? Then? God said, let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. Keep going. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God. He created them, male and female. He created them, got one more.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
And there was evening, there was morning, the sixth day when God made everything else. The creatures, the animals, the plants, the sea, the sun, moon and stars.
God declared it as good.
But when he made mankind, he made a greater statement. He said, this is very good.
Mankind is very good. Why?
Because we are made in his image, the very nature and likeness of who he is.
So often we can see the horrible parts of humanity. But I can tell you there is good that God wants to do in and through us. And there's a problem. And we get into the part very soon in the movie where things start to fall apart. But God's design was that we would walk in relationship with him and know him and be with him. And we learned a really important verse of Scripture on Sunday. And I'm going to ask Cassidy Blaise, also known as Rosie Grace Deveter, to come and teach us a new memory verse. Come on.
[00:10:59] Speaker C: Okay, so the memory verse that we Learned was Psalm 139, 14.
All right, so can we bring that up on the screen?
[00:11:11] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:11:11] Speaker C: I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.
[00:11:20] Speaker A: I think they need to do it a bit louder.
[00:11:21] Speaker C: Yeah, I think we do. Okay, now we're going to do this all together. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well.
Is there any kids who can remember this memory verse and would like to come up and say it?
Or adults?
[00:11:45] Speaker A: Let's go through. We're going to drop a few words. We're going to drop a few words out. Here we go. Okay, okay.
Okay. Can we do it together? You ready? All right. You lead us, Rosie.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: Because I am married and wonderfully made.
Your words are wonderful. I know that full well. Amazing.
[00:12:13] Speaker A: Amazing. So good. Why don't we give Rosie a hand?
Is she the greatest? Cassidy blazed as well.
We are made by God.
Seen two over.
All right, ready for scene three. Sin three. Oh, this is where it gets really interesting.
Scene three, Sin ruins everything.
This is the part of the story where everything goes wrong. And maybe our musical team will take it into a bit of a minor chord structure, a little bit of atmospheric change in the melody.
Adam and Eve, they had everything that they needed.
God says, I give you all of this. I want you to take care of it. I want you to steward this. I want you to go be fruitful and multiply.
Walking with God in the evening, after naming all the animals, I can just imagine some of those conversations. God saying, hey, Adam, what's with the name hippopotamus?
Why did you choose that name of all the names that you could have chosen?
But, you know, in the garden, there were two trees, two significant and special trees that God placed in the garden. Sometimes I wonder, if God hadn't have put those trees in the garden, would that have been a whole lot easier?
Well, no.
Putting the trees in the garden. I'm going to explain what those trees were. They were put in there so that we could have a choice.
Love is an interaction between two people, right?
I can't be forced to love Amy. Love is a choice I make. It's a choice she makes to love me.
I can choose to love her. I can choose not to love her.
So God had to give humanity a choice. And so he put these two trees in the garden. One of them was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
When you eat of the fruit of that, you would understand. You'd understand the law. You would understand what is right and what is wrong. Then there was another tree in the garden called the Tree of Life. If you eat from that fruit, you'll live forever.
And so they were given the choice. And God says, don't eat from that fruit, because if you do, you will surely die.
They had a choice.
They were probably observing and recognizing that choice. And until the sneaky snake, until Satan, our accuser, the tempter of all of humanity, came and he says, look at that fruit. Looks good to eat.
Come on. Sometimes we see things that look really good to touch or taste or try, but we know it's wrong.
And we'll listen to the tempting voice of the enemy that says, give it a go, give it a taste, give it a try.
You won't surely die.
God just doesn't want you to know as much as he does.
The enemy will use every little bit of tactic to try and persuade us to do what is wrong.
And he tempted Adam and Eve, and they ate the fruit. It looked good, and they ate it. And when they ate it, they realized what had gone wrong. They realized that they had disobeyed God. Immediately, they were filled with shame.
They tried to hide from God. You can't hide from God. He knows where we are. He knows the condition of our heart.
There's nothing we can hide from Him.
The power and the pain of love is that we get to choose.
I'm looking for a very godly man.
I'll see if my godly instincts can be.
Can I sniff out a godly man?
Mr. Bastogne. Mr. Graham Bastone. Come on. Come on up. Come on up.
I'm looking for somebody here. Yeah, come up on stage.
And, Jason, I'm not going to call you a sneaky snake, but because you're definitely not a sneaky snake.
All right, in your booklet, there's a little quiz, okay?
And we're going to go through this quiz with this mighty man of God. All right? Four questions. All you've got to answer is yes or no. Okay? All right, first question.
Have you ever told a lie? Yes.
Uh. Oh. That would make you then a sinner.
A liar, right? All right.
All right, let me ask you a second question. Hopefully this knot isn't going to get too tight. Have you ever stolen anything? Yes.
What?
And we let you in this church?
Somebody hide the offering.
He said he stole the biscuits. All right, quick test. How many people have stolen a biscoff? More than one on a Sunday.
All right, you're okay. We forgive you. All right, third question. I hope this isn't going to go too far. Have you ever dishonored your parents? Yes.
And here I was looking for a righteous man, and I couldn't find one. Not even one.
I know. Who would have thought? And lastly, have you ever wanted something someone else had? Oh, yes.
Search the world for a righteous man. You can't find one anywhere.
So we're going to just leave him in this state of sin because sin ties us up. If you've stolen something, you're a thief.
If you've told a lie, you're a liar.
And I'm putting my hand up, because that's me.
I've sinned. I've fallen short of the standard that God said was good and right.
This is the bad news, right?
All of us fall into this state. Unfortunately, like Graham, we have all sinned.
That's the bad news. This is the deepest, darkest part of the story of creation, right through to revelation.
This is the moment where Bonnie Tyler might come out with.
We need a hero.
Yeah, come on. We need a hero. We need a superstar. We need somebody, an action hero who will come and make this problem right.
So, Graham, I'm going to ask you to step just to the side there with Jason for a little while. I'm going to. I'm glad you didn't go all the way to his legs.
And this is our halftime break. I'm gonna get everybody to stand to their feet because we're gonna sing a song called Superstar. And I'm gonna ask some of our holiday program leaders and kids to come and join me for Superstar. Right, but you can stand to your feet if you're able. Come on. Bit of a stretch. We're getting there. We're almost done. We're almost done.
Right, Come on. I need a couple of people on stage. Come on. Where are my helpers? Where are my helpers? Come on, Josiah. Come on. Hope. Brilliant.
All right. It's really easy. One sing along and work out the actions as you go. Here we go. Come on. Come on, come on, come on.
So lots of actions with this one. Follow along.
I could be a movie star with.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: Bodyguards and a fast car but none of it would matter if I don't have Jesus I could be an action.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Star, a bustin moves but none of it would matter I got all I need. Here we go.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: Jesus, you're my superstar.
Jesus, you're my superstar.
I live a better life by far.
Cause you're my superstar.
[00:20:55] Speaker A: Come on, bust the move.
I could be a rock star Rip.
[00:21:05] Speaker B: A solo on my guitar but none of it would matter if I don't have Jesus I could be asked for a star.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: Ready?
[00:21:17] Speaker B: Kick a ball real far but none.
[00:21:21] Speaker A: Of it would matter Better.
I got all I need Jesus.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: Jesus, you're my superstar.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: Come on. Adult I need a few more stars. Come on.
[00:21:33] Speaker B: Jesus, you're my superstar.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Much better. Looking good.
[00:21:40] Speaker B: I live a better life by far Cuz you're my superstar.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: I don't think Graham's doing the superstar very well.
[00:21:52] Speaker B: You can offer me the world with glory and the fame.
I don't want it, I don't need it I'm proud to win his name.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Jesus.
[00:22:07] Speaker B: Jesus, you're my super star.
Jesus, you're my super star.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: Here we go.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Jesus, you're my superstar.
[00:22:24] Speaker A: A couple more to go. You're doing the work. Go.
[00:22:27] Speaker B: Jesus, you're my superstar.
[00:22:32] Speaker A: Come on, Graham.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: I live a better life by far Cuz you're my superstar.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Amazing. Give yourself a hand.
Grab a high five before you hit your seats. Hold on. Thank you. Children, young people, Amazing job. Amazing job.
Amazing.
Now that's great. We need a superstar. But we still have a problem.
Because poor old Graham, he can't do any of the actions. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. Anyone else feeling sorry for Graham? Oh, there's no one.
He's got one hand.
No sympathy Graham. Do they sin ruins everything.
End of scene three.
How many people ready for some good news?
All right, here it comes.
Jesus was God's rescue plan John 3:16 says, For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Even though we were lost, tied up in sin, God never stopped loving us.
And for centuries, man tried to get to God by going through a sacrificial system.
So if Graham had been really just a little sin, he might have to offer a dove.
But if he'd been really, really bad, he might have to offer a sheep or something.
The Bible tells us that none of us have escaped from the power of sin.
Romans 3:10 says, There is no unrighteous, not even one, not even one.
But God, we read in Romans 5:8 demonstrates his own love for us in this that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
And when he died, it was significant. When we die, we'll go to be with Him. We will spend eternity with him or without. That is the reality. At some point, we will all face judgment and we want to live our lives fully for Him.
The word righteous, what does that mean? Simply means being right with God.
Right? Standing with God. If there's no one righteous, not even one, then we don't stand a chance. But there was one righteous and is one righteous.
And it's in his righteousness we now stand.
It's in his righteousness we can say to sin, you have no power on me anymore.
And when we surrender our lives to God, God removes the power of sin.
We're hoping this illustration is going to work.
Oh, what happens when we surrender our lives to God? The power of sin is no longer in our lives.
And maybe Graham again, you can be a superstar.
Come on, let's get your hands up.
Give it up for Graham. Amazing. Thank you, sir.
And he is a righteous man because all of those things that he said he'd done, now in Christ, he is a brand new creation.
Not a better version or an upgrade, but a brand new creation. And we're so thankful for men like Graham and our church. Amen. So good.
So God sent Jesus, a perfect human, to become a sacrifice, to pay the price for the death that we deserved.
I deserve death. You deserve death.
None of us can say we are righteous on our own. Only through the work of Christ. Only through the work of the cross can we be made right with him.
Jesus is God's rescue plan. End of scene four.
Are you ready for scene five?
This is scene five. God invites us back to the garden.
God invites us back to the garden. Adam and Eve were put out of the garden because when they ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. If they then ate the tree from the Tree of Life, that fruit would mean that they would be eternally living apart from God, separated from God, so as even God in his mercy allowed them to be removed so that they wouldn't eat the Tree of Life.
We can only eat from the Tree of Life when we recognize what Christ has done for us. And I love that. We've read from Creation at the very beginning of Genesis, and now we're reading from the very last chapter of the Bible. Listen to what it says. Come on, let's read this together. Can we read this together?
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Down the middle of the great street of the city, on each side of the river stood the Tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Come on, that is some good news right there. And don't you love that? The fruit. Fruit is born every single month, every month of the year. There is life that is being given to us.
And the leaves of the tree are for what? The healing of the nations.
You know, we sat in small groups as children, and you know what one of the questions we asked is? Could you ask God any one question? What would it be?
And one of these children says, why is there so much war?
That's a big, big question, right?
Well, here's what our promise is. If we can just have that last verse now. Thanks, Kirsten.
The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. There will be a moment where there is no more war.
And we will eat from the tree of Life forever. And that invitation, the Spirit and the bride, it says in this chapter, the Spirit and the bride say, come, come, eat and receive.
You know, we've learned today we all fall short of God's perfect standard. And it's not just the big wrong things of murder, but it's every thought, every action, every little word we have to take account for.
And the Bible used as a word called repent.
What does it mean to repent? Sorry? Repent. Not repent. Repent.
What does it mean to repent of our sins? It means that we are walking in one direction.
And the word literally means to turn and go the opposite direction.
When we recognize that we have sinned, when the conviction of God comes on our heart and we recognize that we have lied, we've stolen we dishonored our parents.
We've wanted what other people have had, and we've sinned. When we recognize that we are given a choice, will we repent? Will we turn, surrender our life to God, humbly come to him and say, God, please forgive me.
I want to live for you. I want to be forgiven for my sin. I want to be made righteous in and through you alone. And God's forgiveness is a gift made possible through Jesus Christ. And when we humbly come to God, that door swings wide open. The door of forgiveness swings wide open and every single one of us can walk through. If we go through repentance, we say, God, I surrender my life and my heart to you. Forgive me for what I've done.
I want to walk with you. I want to have you lead my life and be the Lord and Savior.
I'm going to ask for us to put a prayer up on the screen here in a moment. It's in your booklet as well.
We're going to pray this prayer together as a church family. And if you're visiting with us and this is your first time in church, this is a prayer that. Not the exact words, because actually the exact words don't matter. It's a state of our heart that says, God, I repent. I turn.
Please ask me, please forgive me of my sin.
Have a read through this prayer, because in a moment, I'm going to ask us to pray this prayer for some of you. For the very first time.
You are going to repent. You are going to turn from your sin. You are going to acknowledge that God has a standard that you have not been meeting.
I did it.
Hundreds of people in this room have done the same thing.
And then you got to say, God, I need your forgiveness. Will you forgive me?
So why don't you just take 20 seconds now just to prepare your heart?
Would you be prepared to pray this prayer? Maybe for the very first time, or maybe you've been away from God and God said, I'm drawing you home.
Would you pray this prayer, prayer of repentance and come back to me today so that we would eat from the tree of life?
So if you're prepared to pray this prayer, why don't we pray this together?
God, thank you for creating me and loving me.
I admit that I have sinned and need your forgiveness.
Today I turn away from my sin and turn towards you.
Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for me and rising again to give me life.
I receive your forgiveness and the gift of eternal life come into my heart. Be my Lord and savior and help me to stay connected to you for all of my life.
