This may be a good gospel download for someone who might prefer to listen, perhaps on an a smartphone, or the like, to the Word of God.
It is given out by The Listener's Bible. They have many other Bible downloads, CDs, DVDs, et cetera, offered in a number of Bible versions and translations.
The narration is by Max McLean, and the link is as follows:
Teens, in particular, may need or wish to know more about Christian missions. One type of missionary endeavour, that of serving the Lord by serving minority groups around the world putting the Bible and biblical resources, into various languages that are not mainstream, is the well-known Wycliffe ministry.
It is easy to get acquainted with areas of this ministry by watching on-line films that focus on endeavors in disparate areas of the world.
There are short, on-line clips, as well as longer films available through use of an order form. There is also an abundance of other material on the website.
Just one aspect of missionary endeavor, but a very crucial and needed one. The links are below, but it is a good idea to look around the website:
Here is a link to a well-known tract written many years ago. The number of languages listed on the tract site is very impressive -- 122, if my memory serves me correctly.
Here is a site with many resources in the Spanish language. If you wish the same items in English, simply click on the English tab on the same site. Here is the link:
Here is a very interesting link. It has activities for camps, or other such endeavors in which babies up to three years old are included. It does not deal with more abstract matters that would be understood later, such as salvation and the Christian life, but mainly with concrete matters such as God giving us life and growth. Its activities would also be suitable for Christian nurseries, I should think.
This link gathers material of all type -- no doubt, some suitable, some not so suitable for you -- from all over the Web. Sounds like it may be helpful for VBS programmes that involve crafts and activities:
I will give you the PICTURE CLUES before we start:
PICTURE CLUE #1:
What is the name of the boy on the left?
Clue #1: D
________________
He is the person who knew today’s prophecy.He knew it a LONG time before it
happened.God told him about it.
What do you see INSIDE the dryer?
Our second clue is cl__________,
Clue #2:
Clue #3:
Do you know what these dice are for?
We use them to find out who is the WINNER of a game,
right?
Well, in the Bible they “cast lots,’ which is about the
same as using dice.So, they cast
lots to see who the winner would
be.I wonder WHAT he would win?????
ARE YOU READY WITH YOUR CLUES?Well, do you remember the person in Clue
#1?Can you count how many hundred years
he lived, before Jesus was born?Let’s
make the green D be David.Let’s make
the blue J be Jesus.About how many
hundred years before Jesus did David live?
Did you count around 9 or 10?If you did, you were right?
That’s a long time before, don’t you think?How do you suppose David knew about these
things that would happen to Jesus one
thousand years before?
Do you, Liam, know what you will be wearing on December 2,
this year?Do you know what time you
will get up, that day?Do you know how
you will feel?Who is the only One who
knows?
Today’s prophecy is a little sad.It’s about a game, and you might think that
it would be fun, because games are usually fun, aren’t they?
But, again, it is about the time when Jesus died on the
Cross. The soldiers were very unkind to Him and even took away his
clothing.Not only did the soldiers take
His clothing, but they decided that it was going to belong to them, from now
on.It was hardtop decide who to give it
to, because, if it was a big piece of clothing, it wouldn’t be very useful to
tear it into pieces.For example, if
someone took your winter coat and ripped it into four pieces, would it be a
very good winter coat, after that?No,
it would not.
So, they decided that, when it was a BIG piece of clothing,
they would “cast lots” for it – that’s about the same as “throwing dice.”Then, if they got a winner, the winner could
have the whole piece of clothing.
That happened when the Lord Jesus died.David, however, knew about it one thousand
years before, and wrote it down in one of the songs that he wrote.Here is what David wrote down:
But the chief priests and the
soldiers didn’t know that God knew that, and that He was in control.They thought that they had been so very
clever to crucify Jesus, but God knew the day and the hour, and he knew how Judas
would get paid in silver, and how all of that would happen.
And, after it did happen, four men
wrote about it: they said it in four different ways, but, somehow, they are all
the same:
So, that sad day was written about by five men:first of all, there was King David, who
knew about it one thousand years before; then there was Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John.They all told the same
thing, so that we would know that it was true.This is one of the sad, sad things that
happened that day at Calvary, when Jesus came to take away our sins.
So, that is why we stop, sometimes, to remember all
about it, and to thank Him for His great sacrifice, and for dying in our
place on Calvary, for putting up with all the shame and meanness that
people did, and for bearing our sins in His body.
One of the last things He said to His disciples was,
“Remember Me.”We can do a little of
that when we think about His death and the many things that happened there.And remembering the story, as well, about
how they took His clothing and played a game to find out who would get
it.They did not know that God knew
that before they ever did it, and even told it to David.
Matthew
27:35 When they
had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
Mark
15:24 And they
crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each
would get.
Luke
23:34 Jesus said,
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."
And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.
John
19:24 "Let's not
tear it," they said to one another. "Let's decide by lot who will
get it." This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which
said, "They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my
clothing." So this is what the soldiers did.
So, that sad day was written about by five men:first of all, there was King David, who
knew about it one thousand years before; then there was Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John.They all told the same
thing, so that we would know that it was true.This is one of the sad, sad things that
happened that day at Calvary, when Jesus came to take away our sins.
So, that is why we stop, sometimes, to remember all
about it, and to thank Him for His great sacrifice, and for dying in our
place on Calvary, for putting up with all the shame and meanness that
people did, and for bearing our sins in His body.
One of the last things He said to His disciples was,
“Remember Me.”We can do a little of
that when we think about His death and the many things that happened there.And remembering the story, as well, about
how they took His clothing and played a game to find out who would get
it.They did not know that God knew
that before they ever did it, and even told it to David.
Matthew 27:35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his
clothes by casting lots.
Mark 15:24 And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast
lots to see what each would get.
Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not
know what they are doing." And they divided up his clothes by casting
lots.
John 19:24 "Let's not tear it," they said to one another.
"Let's decide by lot who will get it." This happened that the
scripture might be fulfilled which said, "They divided my garments
among them and cast lots for my clothing." So this is what the
soldiers did.
Yes. It was the story of Judas. Who are the other people depicted in the picture? Why are they paying him? And how much are they paying him?
When do we first know about this, in the Bible? Old Testament [that's the part of the Bible before Jesus was born], or the New Testament [that's the part of the Bible after Jesus was born]? The most obvious answer would seem to be "New Testament," but, actually, God told someone about it in Old Testament days, long before Jesus was born.
Do you know who the person was that God told? His name starts with a "Z." Yes, it was Zechariah.
Let's check how long before Jesus was born! You know how we count backwards from around the time that Jesus was born to see the Old Testament days. There will be a Z over the time when Zechariah the prophet was born, and an LJ over the time that the Lord Jesus was born. Try to count the years between. You don't have to be exact, because this is not a very precise timeline, with measurements and all. About how many hundreds of years happened before Jesus was born?
Z LJ
900______ 800______700______600______500_______400______300______200______100____4
Zechariah was making his prophecies from around 520 B.C. The Lord Jesus was born somewhere around 4 to 6 B.C. If the man who had figured the years had gotten it correctly, it would have been 0 B.C., but, he did not get it quite correctly, so it is a bit before. He was pretty close, though, right?
So, you have about 500 years before Jesus' birth that Zechariah wrote down that there would be thirty pieces of silver that would be paid. Very, very, very old people live until 100. But, that's only one-fifth of the time between Zechariah and the Lord Jesus.
That's not ALL that God told Zechariah, either. He told Zechariah several other important details about
what would happen. Here are some clues:
This clue is about an action, so, forget about the objects in this picture, and focus on the ACTION. What is the person doing? Can you think of a word that describes it? Click on the links, and answer the questions:
What did Judas DO with those coins after he'd had them a while? He tried to give them back to the priests, but would they take them back? No. So, what did he do with the coins?
He didn't want them any more. He had betrayed Someone innocent. But, the priests didn't want to put them into the Temple money, either. That is because those coins had bought the DEATH of someone. They were the price of what?
Blood. That's right -- blood. Whose blood? Jesus' blood.
The priests thought about what they could buy with that blood money. They decided to buy something that could be made into a graveyard for strangers that would die in Jerusalem -- people who didn't have a graveyard of their own there. They decided on buying a f_________. The clue is below:
Yes. We're talking about a field. The field probably didn't look exactly like the one in our picture, because it was in a dryer land than ours. But, you get the idea. They could buy this field, and then they could bury people in it.
Do you know that God also told Zechariah about this field? Yes, He did. And, about how many years before Jesus' birth did God tell Zechariah about this field? Yes, about five hundred years!
But, God not only told Zechariah about the priests buying a field. God even told Zechariah who the person would be that owned the field before the priests bought it. God did not tell Zechariah the name of the person. God told Zechariah, instead, what that person would be doing for a living -- what his job would be. Let's guess what kind of job this person had:
This person is making a pot, right? What do we call a person who makes pots? Yes, a potter!
So, God even told Zechariah, 500 or so years before, that the field for that graveyard would be one that they would buy from a potter.
So, we begin to notice that God not only knows the future, but He knows it in detail. So, next Tuesday at four o'clock is hard, maybe, for you to predict, but God already knows exactly what you will be wearing, what you will be thinking, where you will be, and everything about you.
Let's look at what Zechariah wrote about the betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah:
Zechariah 11:12-13
New International Version (NIV)
12 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.
Thirty pieces of silver, interestingly, was the price you would pay to someone if your bull had gored their slave/servant. It is interesting because the Lord Jesus was pierced for us, and, also, because He came as a Servant, and was shown by Isaiah to be the "Suffering Servant."
What do we learn from this lesson? Here are some possibilities, but think of some on your own, first of all:
God knows everything in detail in the future.
People may hatch up very wicked plans, but God knows all about them, even before those wicked people even think of those plans, or carry them out. So, He is in control at all times. He does not cause the people to do those evil things, but He allows them to do so. Why do you suppose God allowed people to crucify the Lord Jesus?
Basically, we are on one side or the other, when it comes to the Lord Jesus. He died for us, and either we can stand with those who don't care, or with those who crucified Him, or we can realize that He willingly allowed Himself to be put to death, for our sake.
If we realize that He died for us, then, have we accepted His great gift of salvation. Have we thanked Him for dying for us, for us poor, lost sinners?
