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

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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

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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

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

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

 

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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

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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

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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

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

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

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

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

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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

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