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Well now that we come to the book of Haggai and Zechariah, we find them writing in a time period when the 70 years of exile was ending and the people were returning to Jerusalem. What a time to have been alive, right?! Seeing God’s people be able to return to their homeland, the land God promised them surely had to be exciting. And it was! But Haggai and Zechariah wanted to warn them too. They tell the people that God has great things planned, His promises are still true, if the people commit to the Lord and His ways as they return to the land.   Haggai focuses on the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem and how it’s important that they do it the right way so that it’s holy and honoring to God. Remember that the temple was where God’s presence would dwell, so it’s important to get it right! That’s what Haggai was communicating. And God cheers the people on through Haggai’s words by saying things like ‘be strong’ and ‘don’t fear, my spirit remains among you.’   And then there’s Zechariah….like any good prophet, Zechariah has all sorts of crazy dreams with crazy images. Things like horsemen and horns and a guy who has a measuring tape and a gold lampstand and olive trees and my favorite, the flying scroll…. but these dreams were like symbols and confirmations to Zechariah and the people of God’s plans for them. And while these dreams spoke of things that would happen Zechariah’s lifetime, they also pointed forward to when Jesus would come both as Messiah and Conquering King. Almost like setting the stage for God’s grand plan that He’s writing throughout history.

This classic episode helps us get excited for Easter where we celebrate Jesus' resurrection! The best news ever is that Jesus came to this earth, died for our sins, and rose to life again. He conquered sin and death and now offers us the victory and hope of eternal life!  Listen to this podcast with your kids and get ready for Easter! 

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.....

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.

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.”

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!

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? _______________________ 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!

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?

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

*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.