The Gospel Story #1: GREEN
Hello and welcome to the podcast!
I am Anna Ware, the host of the show and am so excited to be sitting here in my shut up office talking to a microphone, thinking of you listening and imagining you are thinking, like me, that we are going to be chatting together about the most important stuff that is in this world - the message of Jesus!!! This is also known as the message of the gospel.
I am keen to cover the gospel first, and I have always understood the gospel easily using the Gospel Story Colours - Green, white, black, red and yellow. I find it is easier to remember what I believe and easier to explain by using these colours, and I am hoping that you guys will find it all easier to remember by using these colours too! So we will talk about the green part in this episode! I think as I chat that you will be able to work out why this topic is green!
Have you ever created something AWESOME?
I think it’s important to start at the beginning like in the Sound of Music, so for this podcast I am going to start at the very beginning. In the beginning of the bible is a book called Genesis, which explains that in the beginning of the world was God and he created things.
Every single kids bible I have ever read starts with God’s creation, and goes through each of the days and what God created and when. If you’ve ever read it, you will know that the world was created in 7 days, although on the last day technically he rested. On the other days he created the land, the water, the plants, the planets and all the animals in the water, the sky and on the land. And finally he created us - people!
I am going to read you the first 7 verses in the whole bible, and it goes like this:
Genesis 1:1-7
“In the beginning God
created the heavens
and the earth.
The earth was barren,
with no form of life;
it was under a roaring ocean
covered with darkness.
But the Spirit of God
was moving over the water.
God said, “I command light to shine!” And light started shining. God looked at the light and saw that it was good. He separated light from darkness and named the light “Day” and the darkness “Night.” Evening came and then morning—that was the first day. God said, “I command a dome to separate the water above it from the water below it.” And that’s what happened. God made the dome and named it “Sky.” Evening came and then morning—that was the second day.”
And it keeps going like this until he had created everything!!! How powerful is God?! He created all these things with just his voice! AMAZING!
But do you know if is this exactly how the world came to be? Some people think that the world came to exist by accident, or by a big explosion, or a collision of planets, and then the animals changed and evolved over time to get what we have now. Those people believe that because they don’t want to believe in God and look for another way the world began.
The bible tells us a different story. It was Moses who wrote the beginning bit of the Bible.When Moses was alive he would chat with God every day, and God told him so many things, including the 10 commandments. It is believed that God told this story to Moses so that he would write down for us.
But is God’s story a true one or just an interesting and entertaining story? Jesus told lots of interesting stories that weren’t true. But Jesus had good reasons for telling his story.
If it wasn’t a true story, just an interesting one, I am sure God would have a good reason for telling the story to Moses. Whether you believe this story literally happened or is a poem or illustration, it shows us that God is the one who made all things. He is the one who worked out what butterflies would look like. He is the one who decided what YOU would look like!
God designed the whole world intricately, down to every detail! He created the atmosphere to keep the oxygen in gravity. Where would we be without it? He created water, waterfalls, snow and mountains. He made small things too, like atoms, which are so small that we can’t even see them under the strongest magnifying glass in the world.
There are some things that God didn’t create, but he created us to make the things, and he created the materials we need to make it. I made the Christmas Advent Calendar myself, but God is the one who made the materials I needed to make it.
The other thing this story of God’s tells us is about what God is like. He is super powerful and he is awesomely creative! We know that because we can read it later on in the bible, in Romans 1:20, where the apostle Paul says,
"God’s eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made.”
Have you worked out why this first part of the gospel is green? Yes, because a lot of what God created is green - the leaves, grass, bushes. When we think of nature, we typically think green, and so that is the colour that can help us remember this section!
In every episode, I am going to finish up with some questions.
It’d be awesome to hear some of your answers, so if you’re keen to share what you come up with, pop on over to our facebook page to join in the conversation!
So here are the questions. If you have trouble remembering them, you can pause me after I’ve asked each one, although this week there are only 3!
Discussion Questions:
Have you ever created anything that you were so proud of and loved so much?
What is one of your favourite things that God created?
Why is important to believe that God is the creator?
Pop over to Facebook or Instagram and share your answer and find out what others have said!
Please don’t forget - if you are keen to get a copy of “The Gospel Story” just pop on over here. I have created it with you guys in mind - to read with your children about the wonderful story of our fall but God’s amazing grace!
