Jesus is Better: Bible Stories with Gospel Joy

Thank you so much to those of you who prayed for me to recover from Covid back in April. Though the brain fog and fatigue hung on for months, the Lord has graciously restored my health. 

I’ve enjoyed doing this podcast so much the past 3 years, working with my son Isaiah (Finn) and getting to study and meditate on these stories from the Bible. 

As I look to the future, God has shown me that I need to focus my time on homeschooling two of my children this year and continue to be involved as a family at church, so I’ve had to make some difficult and painful decisions. 

For now, you won’t see new podcast episodes, but you will see activity on my website aliciayoder.com. I will plan to keep my recommended resource page updated, with suggestions for children, parents, and materials for discipleship and spiritual growth. You will also see certain podcast episodes or series highlighted, especially around holidays. So if you’re only subscribed to the podcast, be sure you subscribe to my site here: aliciayoder.com. 

There will still be some costs to host my website and to host the audio for past episodes so that they can be accessed through Spotify and iTunes, so if you’d like to support this work for a couple dollars a month, you can do so at https://www.patreon.com/aliciayoder

Lastly, thank you so much for being a parent or someone involved in working with children. It can feel exhausting, thankless, and discouraging when we aren’t able to see much fruit, but God sees and gives us grace in our efforts. We have so much hope because of Christ, who took the punishment for all our sins, credited us with His righteousness, and leads us moment by moment to God’s throne of grace and mercy. We are loving who Jesus loves as we compassionately and humbly train our children. So let’s keep going in Christ’s strength as we come to Him in each desperate need! 

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

In this episode, we see how gracious, loving, tender, and kind God is toward those who repent and that we need God’s help to have that attitude toward others.

With your kids: Talk about what you could say to encourage your brother or sister this week when they choose what’s right.  

In this episode, Finn and I talk about a shepherd prophet and how the message is the same for us. Seek the Lord and live!

With your kids: Ask your children how they would explain the holiday of Easter to a kid from another country who thought it was just about bunnies and candy. 

And in case you missed it, Isaiah and I put together a behind the scenes video (Part 1 and 2) for the boys and girls who listen to the Jesus is Better Podcast.

In this episode, Ahaz chooses to go to the king of Assyria for help instead of the One True God. We need the power of the Holy Spirit to change our hearts from thinking we know best to submitting to our King Jesus who knows best. 

With your kids: What is something your friends get to do that you don’t? Pray that God would help you to trust that He knows what is best for your life. 

P.S. I’m still looking for “kid recordings” for the introduction to the podcast, so if you would like to help, send me a message on my contact page.

In this episode, we see how God shows His power and blessing through the reign of Jotham and His compassion and judgment through the reign of Ahaz, and that God is the one who delivers us from all our fears. 

With your kids: What makes you feel scared? Pray together and ask for help and to trust God’s power and love toward you.

In this episode, Finn and I talk about the sad ending of the northern kingdom and how God wants to free us from our own idolatry. 

With your kids: What is something you really love? Pray together that God would help you to use it to worship and praise Him. 

This episode is a compilation of encouraging and hope-filled verses to listen to at night or any time you’re feeling discouraged.

And a huge thanks to Blue Dot Sessions, Chad Crouch, and Nuno Adelaida for their amazing piano compositions!

In this episode, we talk about Uzziah’s sin in the temple and Isaiah’s worship in the temple and that Jesus came to be the perfect Prophet, Priest, and King of our hearts. 

With your kids: Pick one of Jesus’ roles–prophet, priest, or king, and talk about it. Then praise Jesus for perfectly fulfilling that role in your life. 

And here’s the link to my patreon page if you’d like to support these podcast episodes:

https://www.patreon.com/aliciayoder

Merry Christmas!

In this episode, Finn and I talk about who King Amaziah started listening to, and how God loves to help those of us who are joined to him listen to him instead of those who don’t follow Him. 

With your kids: What expression do you think is on God’s face when you sin? 

If you want to help keep getting the word out, it would be so helpful for you to leave a review on iTunes.

 On your phone, you can find it by typing the title in the search bar of your podcast app, clicking on the picture, and scrolling down to the bottom to where you can write a review.

Another way is to search for Jesus is Better under podcasts on the iTunes store on your computer and click on it. Then there is a tab you can click to read reviews and write your own review of the show.

(You can also click here to get to the podcast and click “open in iTunes” or “listen on Apple Podcasts” to get there directly.)

Thanks so much for listening and sharing these stories with your children!

In this episode, Finn and I talk about God’s kindness in rescuing the Israelite kings and how in Christ, we are saved for so much more! 

With your kids: What’s scary about dying? Is there anything you are looking forward to?