{"id":307759,"date":"2023-06-09T09:15:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T13:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2\/"},"modified":"2023-06-09T09:15:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T13:15:00","slug":"whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Who&#8217;s the Hero Here? How to Tell Kids a Bible Story: Jared Kennedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How to tell a Bible story seems straightforward. But could there be a \u201cwrong\u201d way? Children&#8217;s ministry expert Jared Kennedy suggests methods to make sure we point the next generation in the right direction.<br \/>\nShow Notes and Resources<\/p>\n<p> \tConnect with Jared Kennedy on Twitter @JaredSKennedy, or catch more of his thoughts at his website: The Gospel Centered Family<br \/>\n \tAnd grab his book, Keeping Your Children&#8217;s Ministry on Mission: Practical Strategies for Discipling the Next Generation<br \/>\n \tIntrigued by today&#8217;s broadcast? Download FamilyLife&#8217;s free 7-day, hands-on devotional to teach kids spiritual life skills!<br \/>\n \tCheck out all the FamilyLife Mission trips happening soon<br \/>\n \tFind resources from this podcast at shop.familylife.com.<br \/>\n \tFind more content and resources on the FamilyLife&#8217;s app!<br \/>\n \tHelp others find FamilyLife. Leave a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.<br \/>\n \tCheck out all the FamilyLife podcasts on the FamilyLife Podcast Network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to tell a Bible story seems straightforward. But children&#8217;s ministry expert Jared Kennedy suggests wiser methods to point kids in the right direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/mp3.familylife.com\/fl2023-06-09.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:25:46","filesize":"47.19M","filesize_raw":"49483025","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2833],"tags":[2317],"podcast_series":[8641],"cwp_profile":[9865],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-307759","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-godly-legacy","tag-how-to-tell-a-bible-story","podcast_series-practical-ways-to-disciple-kids-jared-kennedy","cwp_profile-jared-kennedy","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/307759\/whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/307759\/whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"kamaTBu477\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2\/\">Who&#8217;s the Hero Here? How to Tell Kids a Bible Story: Jared Kennedy<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/whos-the-hero-here-how-to-tell-kids-a-bible-story-jared-kennedy-2\/embed\/#?secret=kamaTBu477\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Who&#8217;s the Hero Here? How to Tell Kids a Bible Story: Jared Kennedy&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"kamaTBu477\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"How to tell a Bible story seems straightforward. But children's ministry expert Jared Kennedy suggests wiser methods to point kids in the right direction.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylife.com\/fl2023-06-09.pdf","transcript_content":"<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Here is a question I think every Christian parent wants an answer to: If I pour into my kids and lead them to Christ and disciple them their whole life, when they leave why do some follow Christ and others don\u2019t?\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> So good.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Is there something I should know or do or not do as a parent while they\u2019re still under my roof that I got to do, and I\u2019ve got to get this right?\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>We all want the formula. [Laughter] Give me the formula that my kid will love Jesus and walk with Him the rest of their days.\n\n<strong>Shelby:<\/strong><strong>\u00a0 <\/strong>Welcome to <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>, where we want to help you pursue the relationships that matter most. I\u2019m Shelby Abbott and your hosts are Dave and Ann Wilson. You can find us at FamilyLifeToday.com or on the FamilyLife<a id=\"_Hlk136507882\"><\/a><sup>\u00ae<\/sup> app.\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>\u00a0This is <em>FamilyLife <\/em>\n\n<em>\u00a0<\/em>\n\n<strong>Dave: <\/strong><em>Today<\/em>!\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> We\u2019ve got Jared Kennedy in the studio with us today. You\u2019ve spent your life, at least the last twenty some years, right, just this is your focus, children\u2019s ministry, families, gospel-centered family. I\u2019m giving all terms you\u2019re connected to\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Discipleship\n\n<strong>Dave<\/strong>: So, Jared this is a question you deal with all the time, right?\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Well Dave and Ann thanks for having me. It\u2019s really good to be with you. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a formula but there is a message.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Oh good, let\u2019s hear it.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> So the message is the gospel and I think sometimes we can, even as parents, have a tendency to become Pharisees in the way that we raise our kids, or begin to trust ourselves and what we\u2019re doing in our parenting to change our kids more than we\u2019re actually trusting the good news of who Jesus is-\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2013Okay\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> \u2013and what Jesus has done.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Explain \u2018we can become Pharisees.\u2019\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> I think the subtle way you become a Pharisee is thinking that your school choice or your family worship routine or your chosen way of disciplining your kids is going to guarantee that your kids are going to turn out right.\n\nThe truth is there are faithful things the Scriptures teach about godly parenting, but keeping God\u2019s good law, even though it\u2019s God\u2019s good law is no guarantee that a child will be saved. It\u2019s no magic formula that a kid is going to be able to become a Christian.\n\nYet we know how you become a Christian and that is by trusting Christ as your Savior. You know Romans 10:9-10 says, \u201cIf you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.\u201d What do we need to teach our kids when they\u2019re young? What do we need to model for our kids when they\u2019re young? It\u2019s a trust in the Savior. It is the good news about who the Savior is and what He\u2019s done for them so that the fact that He\u2019s Lord is the confession that\u2019s on their lips. The fact that He was raised from the dead is the belief that\u2019s deep down in their heart.\n\nAt the end of the day, looking not at, not at our strategies but outside of ourselves at who Jesus and what He has done for us is the pathway to salvation. And for our kids not looking at themselves and what they need to do but looking outside of themselves at who Christ is, is the pathway to salvation for them.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> And Jared you\u2019re a storyteller. Story is important to you. You\u2019ve written a bunch of kids books as well and a <em>Gospel Story Bible<\/em>. I think this would be so helpful for parents of let's just say elementary school aged kids and lower elementary. How would we share the gospel? Hopefully, we\u2019ve been sharing these nuggets, this is who Jesus is, God loves us, you know, so we\u2019ve been sharing parts of it. But give us a little like, okay, it\u2019s Easter, you\u2019re going to tell your girls, you have three daughters, you\u2019ve been married twenty years, what did that sound like in your house? I\u2019m sure you share this a lot.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Yes, when I worked with children\u2019s ministers, I tell them there\u2019s three different ways to tell a Bible story in your classroom. When I get to the third one, I want to talk about what parents do in the home too.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> But the first is what I like to call the example lesson. All of us grew up with this lesson. You know you think of David and Goliath.\n\nThe example lesson is all about David. He was too little for Saul\u2019s armor. He was little and the giant was big. The main point of the story is be brave like little David when you face the big obstacles in your life. Be brave and fight the giant.\n\nNow I think that example lessons are good. I think that we do look at the Bible and we see examples. In 1 Corinthians 10, Paul says these things about the children of Israel and the events of the Exodus were written down as examples for you to follow. So, we do see examples in the Bible, but the struggles with examples is sometimes the characters in the Bible aren\u2019t good examples. [Laughter] The other struggle with the example lesson is it really does put the focus on us and what we should do rather than putting the focus on who God is.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Like I need to be brave.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Yes. I need to be brave rather than who God is in the moment.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Think about David and Goliath story again. The second way to tell a Bible story is what I like to call the God-centered lesson, or the theology lesson. I live in a seminary town. The tendency of the first-year seminary student is to teach all of the big words to children in a Sunday school lesson [Laughter] so we all are learning about justification and sanctification and all those things mean. They are big theological stories you know. In one sense that\u2019s a step in the right direction. David, if you listen to him in the story, doesn\u2019t talk about himself he talks about God.\n\n<strong>Ann: <\/strong>\u2013Yes\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> \u2013He says to King Saul, \u201cThe Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine.\u201d David is not looking at himself and his five stones in his sling. He\u2019s looking at the God who fights the battle for him. He\u2019s confident that God, this day, is going to deliver the Philistines into the nation of Israel\u2019s hands.\n\nThat\u2019s good. The trouble with the theological lesson is it can be really high minded, and it can teach the big terms. It can be all about a big theology of who God is but unlike the example lesson it\u2019s not as practical in like your daily life.\n\nThere\u2019s a third way of teaching a Bible story. This is what I really want to encourage children\u2019s ministry leaders to do in the classroom, and it\u2019s what I want to encourage moms and dads to do at home too. It\u2019s what I call a <em>gospel-centered<\/em> lesson, or a <em>gospel-centered<\/em> story. The way you would go about that is the first thing you would ask is, \u201cWho in this story does the author want you to see as the people who really need saving?\u201d You want to help your kids identify with those people in the story. Not identify with the hero, not just learn the big theological truth, but identify with the people in the story who really need saving.\n\nIn 1 Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath, it\u2019s the nation of Israel. It was written to the nation of Israel so the nation of Israel would have identified with themselves [Laughter] in the story when they read that. In that story they had a really weak leader who didn\u2019t want to go fight for them. They were shaking in their boots every day as Goliath came out and challenged God\u2019s people and said, \u201cOur god is greater.\u201d They needed someone who would go to battle for them, and God chose this little boy from Bethlehem out of the pasture, brought him there, and the people who were there in the moment didn\u2019t know this but we know this is if we\u2019ve read 1 Samuel 16, he had just been anointed as the new king, the better king.\n\nThat king goes out on the battlefield. He represents the people as their representative. When he wins all of Israel gets the victory. He goes out with confidence in God as the perfect King, the perfect Savior for them, who and every elementary school boy loves this part, cuts the head [Laughter] off the giant. He\u2019s the one who defeats the great enemy.\n\nWhen you tell the story that way, when you help kids identify with who needs the good news in a story, and then you help them see what good news there is that they got, you can begin to ask the question, \u201cWait, wait, wait. This reminds me of someone. I know someone from Bethlehem. Ask yourself the same question. How does God do this for us in our Savior Jesus Christ?\u201d And so first of all when I\u2019m telling stories to kids, I want to tell it that way.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> I want to tell it in such a way that they\u2019re identifying with people in the story who are the most needy, whether that\u2019s the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness who are\u00a0 complaining that there\u2019s no food in the refrigerator, or whether that\u2019s the sick person who needs healing from the Savior in the New Testament, or the Israelites that are threatened on the battlefield. Help them identify there then show them how God comes and saves. It puts the focus one on what our need is, and then secondly where God provides the solution for that need. Help them look outside of themselves to the Savior. You ask the question, \u201cHow would you share this with your toddlers?\u201d It\u2019s just like, \u201cIf this is true, if this is how God has provided salvation for you, do you believe?\u201d Bringing kids to that point of responsiveness.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> So, you\u2019re asking them [kids] that question?\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Absolutely. I think it\u2019s absolutely essential to actually ask them, \u201cDo you believe? Will you trust that this is what Christ has done for you?\u201d\n\nI think you recognize like kids are at different developmental levels and oftentimes when they\u2019re in that preschool age they\u2019re just going to repeat back what you said. \u201cOf course, I do daddy.\u201d You know but as they get older that\u2019s harder to believe, or because they\u2019re angry about doing family devotions today they say, \u201cNo, I don\u2019t believe that.\u201d It\u2019s okay to leave it there and say, \u201cThis is the call to you. The call is to trust and believe that truth. If you do believe it, then keep on believing it all your life.\u201d For me that is the pathway to those conversations and Easter Sunday is a great time to do that.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Because that is the heart of our salvation that Jesus was raised from the dead so it's the perfect time to do that.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Well, it\u2019s interesting the way you presented David and Goliath, is every kid wants to be David.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Yes, that\u2019s right.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> As a parent it\u2019s easy to go, \u201cYou are David and you can walk up against any big giant in your life and you can take them down,\u201d and to say, \u201cNo, you\u2019re Israel.\u201d It\u2019s like, \u201cWhat? That\u2019s a bummer.\u201d [Laughter] They\u2019re afraid. They can\u2019t save themselves. And it\u2019s like yep, that\u2019s the truth.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> The good news is you have Jesus and Jesus is David, in fact He\u2019s better than David.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Right, yes.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> But I think the struggle is if the kids just thinks they\u2019re David, what do they need?\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Do they need Jesus?\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> By helping kids identify that need - I talked about the Numbers 21 story for just a moment ago where the Israelites are grumbling about their food and water in the wilderness. One of the things they say in Numbers 22 is, \u201cWe have no food. We have no water, and we hate this miserable food.\u201d [Laughter] Which we have no food, we hate this miserable\u2013which is it? Do you have food or not? It\u2019s exactly what every kid does [Laughter] standing in front of the fridge. \u201cMom, there\u2019s nothing to eat here.\u201d [Laughter] \u201cThere\u2019s meatloaf.\u201d \u201cThere\u2019s nothing to eat here. I hate this, I hate meatloaf.\u201d I think the more that we can learn to see ourselves in those stories as the sinful ones, as the needy ones, the more our hearts can turn away from ourselves in terms of our trust to the One that has done great things for us. That\u2019s what we really want for our kids. We don\u2019t want them to always be the most competent kids in life.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2013Yes.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Because we know we\u2019re not always [Laughter] the most competent people, and in a broken world our kids are going to experience suffering too. We actually do want kids, who are willing when they see the end of their competency, to look away from themselves and look to the One that is always competent for us, the One who is always there to save, to look to who Jesus is for them.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> I remember decades ago learning how to lead a Bible study. I was the chaplain of the Detroit Lions, so we had weekly Bible studies. I had been to seminary, and I came across this simple little process you mentioned in your book and I want you to teach parents \u2018Hook, Book, Look, Took.\u2019\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Yes\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> That little formula, and again it\u2019s not this magical thing but, \u201cOh, there\u2019s a process of how to lead and teach,\u201d and parents need to know this. So, help parents understand how do I lead my family in a devotion?\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> I think about this anytime I lead devotions, or anytime I preach or anytime that I talk to the youth group at church.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Right.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> I\u2019m always thinking through these four categories. So \u201c<em>Hook, Book, Look, Took<\/em>\u201d it\u2019s really four questions that you\u2019re answering.\n\nWith <em>Hook<\/em> it\u2019s the <em>why<\/em> question. It\u2019s kind of built in some old science on learning styles back from the seventies that when kids come into a classroom environment, or any kind of learning environment, they\u2019re bringing these questions with them. Some kids may ask one question more than the other, but if you answer all the questions, then you\u2019re teaching in really effective way.\n\nThe first is \u201c<em>why<\/em>\u201d is this important? <em>Why<\/em> do I need to know this? I think about this any time I hear Tim Keller preach. He\u2019s like always answering big philosophical why questions, <em>why<\/em> this is important. You don\u2019t need to be Tim Keller in family worship. [Laughter] You know we talked about courage just a moment ago and so if you\u2019re teaching about Joshua and be strong and courageous, or David who was a courageous leader, there are going to be times in your life when you need courage. Being able to define what courage is and share why it\u2019s important before you get into the meat of the story. So that\u2019s the hook.\n\nOftentimes as preachers we think of the <em>hook<\/em> as the really interesting story that\u2019s going to grab attention, or as a youth leader or a children\u2019s ministry leader it\u2019s like the interesting thing that\u2019s going to grab kids\u2019 attention. That\u2019s good, grabbing their attention at the beginning of a Bible story or lesson is important, but if you can grab their attention and answer the why question, why this is important, that\u2019s a beautiful way to teach kids.\n\nSecond is <em>Book<\/em>. This is where you school them. This is the content, the meat-\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2013open your book.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> \u2013open the book to read the story. It answers what\u201d question. <em>What<\/em> do I need to know? You always have those kids in class that are asking the question, \u201c<em>What<\/em> is going to be on the test?\u201d [Laughter] This is the part that answers even, though in Sunday school or family worship there\u2019s no test. This is kind of the meat, it\u2019s the main points of maybe the argument or just the plotline of the story you\u2019re telling. There that you\u2019re giving them that truth.\n\nThird is <em>Look<\/em>.\u00a0 So, I think of looking at your heart and then looking from your heart to Christ. So, the kind of things we talked about a minute ago with identifying who in the story needs the good news, how I\u2019m like that person exposes my heart and the needs I have, then helps me look away from myself and look to Jesus.\n\nThis [Look] answers really the <em>how<\/em> question. <em>How<\/em> does this truth work out in my life? The <em>how<\/em> would be just really practical, like really pragmatic. If you read old Puritan sermons from the Great Awakening, they\u2019re going to have a good opening illustration, lots of book and then like a list of like 15 practical [Laughter] applications at the end. That\u2019s the how section. The Puritans were really good at that. \u201cThese are the things you do after you know this truth.\u201d\n\nWith kids I think role playing is a really great way to get at the <em>how<\/em>, to be able to put them in a scenario, you\u2019re teaching them the 10 Commandments about not lying and Susie did something wrong and her mom came in and asked you, \u201cDid Susie do this?\u201d What do you do in that situation? You want to tell the truth but you don\u2019t want to hurt your friend and I think wrestling through some of those difficult situations with your kids is a great way to talk with them, instead of being a Puritan and just listing 15 [Laughter] things is a great way to unpack that.\n\nLast is <em>Took,<\/em> which is the <em>takeaway<\/em>. <em>What are you going to take with you as you go?<\/em> The big question to answer here is, \u201c<em>What if?<\/em>\u201d <em>What if<\/em> I put this into practice? <em>What<\/em> would this look like in the world? <em>What<\/em> would this change? You\u2019re hoping kids see the influence or the impact of what obeying God in this way or believing God in this way would change in their life. It\u2019s a way of inspiring them at the end of the time.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> There was a preacher I used to listen to when I was a young preacher that every sermon, every Sunday, three quarters of the way through he\u2019d done all that basically, you know <em>hook, book, look<\/em>, and the whole congregation would yell this out. He\u2019d start it and they would just jump in. I mean 1000 people would go, \u201c<em>So what<\/em>?\u201d It was the took.\n\nYou taught all of this, so what? How do we live this out? What are we supposed to do with this when we go home? It would be sort of a fun thing to get your kids to do. You know you\u2019re teaching them a Bible study, get them to say, \u201c<em>So what?<\/em>\u201d You know because a lot of times we do all the knowledge, and all the\u2013and we don\u2019t even get to the application. It\u2019s all about how am I going to live differently.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Even in the car on the way home, \u201cSo what?\u201d Because it\u2019s easy to get in the car and say, \u201cWhat did you think of church today?\u201d It makes us become consumers. \u201cWell, it wasn\u2019t very good, and the preaching, and the song\u2013\u201d You know we were bad at that. Our kids did that a lot. Instead of that \u201cSo what?\u201d How do we apply this as a family? What does that look like?\n\nWhen kids get bored, especially teenagers, this is the piece. Kids, they need to do something risky. They need to take the gospel and think, \u201cHow can we impact our world with the gospel?\u201d When our kids were little, I\u2019d say, \u201cHow can we be the light of the world by serving our neighbors? What would that look like?\u201d One of our neighbors is older and we made her some cookies, and we shoveled so many driveways.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> We mowed our neighbor\u2019s yard every week--\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2013yes. But I think--\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2013she yelled at us because she didn\u2019t like us doing it. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2013it wasn\u2019t good enough.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2013Sometimes you help people, and they don\u2019t like it.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> But I think to put it into action for our kids. This becomes the gospel. Even sharing stories of how we\u2019re taking it to the world and maybe it\u2019s not received well, but it\u2019s the beauty and the risk and how God wants to use you. Even our kids working at church we could see the gifts of each child, of what they had.\n\n<strong>Jared: <\/strong>\u2013that\u2019s right\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2013Our middle son, talk about puppets, [Laughter] Austin you know Austin, he was the best puppeteer ever.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> His brothers would yell at him at night, \u201cDo a puppet show.\u201d\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> That\u2019s awesome. We\u2019re talking about this the next time I see him.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> He was a master. [Laughter]\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> And our older son he was a total IT guy so he\u2019s working the sound board--\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> \u2013Yes, that\u2019s right.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> \u2013in children\u2019s ministry. But to say, \u201cOh the body of Christ needs you and the gifts God\u2019s put in you.\u201d These are the things we just talk to our kids when they lay down when they rise up. You know as we are walking along the way. I love how you are walking through these things.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> And using your hands in that way is so important.\n\n<strong>Ann:<\/strong> Yes.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Whether that\u2019s serving at a homeless shelter, or at a medical clinic, even being the kid that\u2019s helping gather supplies up for those kinds of things. I think in my formation, going on a mission trip with my local church. I think back, that was such a big turning point for me in my faith. \u201cOh, this is something I\u2019m learning how to live out. I\u2019m actually using my hands to serve other people and my mouth to speak about Jesus here.\u201d That takeaway is such a big impact in a kid\u2019s life.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Yes I was just thinking get dirty.\n\n<strong>Jared:<\/strong> Yes, that\u2019s right.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> Get dirty, get in the dirt.\n\n<strong>Jared: <\/strong>\u2013get out of your comfort zone.\n\n<strong>Dave:<\/strong> \u2013Yes, and that\u2019s for the parent as well because sometimes we\u2019ve got to get out of our comfort zone but take your kid. We went on mission trips with all of our kids. FamilyLife has mission trips you can jump in as a family. It will change their life. It\u2019s like faith in action. Enough talk. Let\u2019s do something.\n\n<strong>Shelby:<\/strong> You know we want our children to see the end of their competence and look to the competence of Jesus. To do that we need to really look at our heart and from our heart to Christ and to help our kids to do that as well.\n\nAs Dave mentioned, you can do that on a family mission trip. You can go on a mission trip with FamilyLife with your own family. So we\u2019d love for you to check out more details on that. You can go to our link in the show notes to find more specifics on where you can actually go. [familylife.com\/missions\/home]\n\nI\u2019m Shelby Abbott and you\u2019ve been listening to Dave and Ann Wilson with Jared Kennedy on <em>FamilyLIfe Today<\/em>. Jared has written a book called <em>Keeping Your Children\u2019s Ministry on Mission: Practical Strategies for DIscipling the Next Generation. <\/em>I know Jared, and he is such a practical guy in a way that points us to the goodness of the gospel. I love that he pairs those things so well together. You can pick up a copy of his book at FamilyLifeToday.com.\n\nIf you were with us earlier this week our guest was Dean Inserra. Dean wrote a book called <em>Pure: Why the Bible\u2019s Plan for Sexuality Isn\u2019t Outdated, Irrelevant or Oppressive. <\/em>It\u2019s an incredible book and it\u2019s our gift to you when you partner financially with us today. In order to make more conversations like the one we had today with Jared actually possible.\n\nYou can go online to FamilyLifeToday.com or you can give us a call today with your donation at 800-358-6329. Again the number is 800, \u2018F\u2019 as in family \u2018L\u2019 as in life and then the word TODAY. Feel free to drop us something in the mail too. Our address is: FamilyLife, 100 Lake Hart Drive, Orlando, Florida 32832.\n\nWe hope you\u2019ll join us next week when Dave and Ann Wilson are joined by Rachel Faulkner Brown and Karen McAdams. They\u2019re going to talk about how a lot of people go towards what they can do for God instead of taking our eyes off of ourselves and truly seeing who God is. We hope you\u2019ll join us next week.\n\nOn behalf of Dave and Ann Wilson, I\u2019m Shelby Abbott. We will see you back next time for another edition of <em>FamilyLife Today<\/em>.\n\n<em>FamilyLife Today<\/em> is a donor-supported production of FamilyLife<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>, a Cru<sup>\u00ae <\/sup>Ministry.\n\nHelping you pursue the relationships that matter most.\n\n<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>\n\nWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you. However, there is a cost to produce them for our website. If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/donate\"><u>donating today<\/u><\/a> to help defray the costs?\n\nCopyright \u00a9 2023 FamilyLife<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>. All rights reserved.\n\n<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\"><u>www.FamilyLife<\/u><\/a><u>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/u>\n\n1","theme_header_position":"","post_header_is_sticky":"","is_header_overlay":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/307759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307759"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307759"},{"taxonomy":"podcast_series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast_series?post=307759"},{"taxonomy":"cwp_profile","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cwp_profile?post=307759"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=307759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}