Family Service

[0:00] okay boys and girls let's close our eyes and put our hands together and let's talk to god and pray heavenly father we thank you for today we thank you for this your day a day that you've kept especially for us so that we'll stop all the stuff that we usually do with our work and we'll take time to come to your house and to open your word and to pray to you and to be with you we thank you that this is the lord's day and every time we have the lord's day we remember jesus and his death and his resurrection the fact that he didn't stay dead but he he rose from the dead and is alive and we thank you that because he is alive all of us can be alive in our hearts in this world and we can be alive forever when we're trusting in jesus we thank you for the psalm that we sung and how it speaks to us about how we are to follow jesus and he he guides us through life we thank you that he not only guides us through life but he guides us through death into life that never ends in heaven and lord we pray that you would help us to trust jesus and that you would help us to follow jesus and help us to know the happiness and the joy that comes from knowing that your promises are true so we pray lord for each other today as we're gathered here you know every one of our hearts and we thank you lord that you you help us as we come to you we pray for those today who who may be sad in their hearts and who may miss people who once were in this world with them and now have gone from this world we thank you that you are the god who comforts us when we lose people who die but we thank you that when they are trusting in jesus we are told that they do not really die but they go to live with him forever we thank you that that's what's promised to us too if we believe so help us to believe be with those who are sad we think that you would be with those who are sick today some people who would want to be with us and who are not with us who may be in their homes and who may be in hospital we ask father that you would help them and that you would heal them if that's your will for them and lord that they would know that you are with them even where they are just now we pray lord for those who don't know clearly the way ahead and we thank you that you are the god who has a plan for our lives and we pray that you would guide each one of us and we pray especially for angus and for kirstie and as they think about the future and as they wonder where you're leading them we pray that you would go before them and that they would follow you and lord that they would know that you are with them every step of the way so we pray for them lord we thank you for the yf weekend away and for all the fun that was had and the teaching that the young people received and we ask lord that you would be at work in each one of their hearts and we ask lord that you would be at work in each one of our hearts from the sunday school here today to everyone through the different ages those who come every week those who maybe have just started coming others lord who are here visiting we ask that you would be with each one and that you would watch over them and that you would help them we ask now lord that you would be near to us and as we read the bible and as we sing and as we pray we ask lord that we would know that you are with us and we pray that jesus would be lifted up high in all that we do in this day hear our prayers take away lord our sin we admit that we are sinners we say the wrong things we do the wrong things we in our hearts lord are sinners but we thank you that

[4:05] jesus came and he died to take our sin away and to make us your friends forever so help us lord to lift jesus up high in all our thoughts and our words and the things that we do in this service today and indeed in our whole lives we pray this in jesus name amen peggy is going to come now she's not quite one of our sunday school but she's just a recent graduate from sunday school and she's going to read a bit of the bible from john chapter 21 and so let's listen to god's word so john 21 verse 15 when they had finished eating jesus said to simon peter simon the son of john do you truly love me more than these yes lord he said you know that i love you jesus said feed my lambs again jesus said simon son of john do you truly love me he answered yes lord you know that i love you jesus said take care of my sheep the third time he said to him simon the son of john do you love me peter was hurt because jesus asked him for the third time do you love me he said lord you know all things you know that i love you jesus said feed my sheep i tell you the truth when you are younger you dress yourself and went where you wanted but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which peter would glorify god then he said to him follow me peter turned and saw that the disciple whom jesus loved was following them this was the one who had leaned back against jesus at the supper and had said lord who is going to betray you when peter saw him he asked lord what about him jesus answered if you if i want him to remain alive until i return what is that to you you must follow me thank you peggy do you remember the last four words that peggy um said there what did jesus say okay you didn't but you're going to remember it by the end aren't you boys and girls i want to ask you a question to begin with for a few questions first one is what's your favorite meal is it breakfast or lunch or dinner what's macaroni okay and do you have that for breakfast or lunch or dinner lunch and dinner yeah jono what's your favorite breakfast or lunch or dinner dinner lasagna the yf for having lasagna if you hide in under the chairs then maybe you'll be able to get a portion lunch so what other meals do you like what's your so we've got one who likes dinner what's what's your favorite breakfast lunch or dinner lunch lunch lunch what about anyone else i've got some sweets to encourage you ah yeah but you're not getting really well yet dylan breakfast what's your favorite breakfast pancakes pancakes pancakes katie lunch and dinner just dinner just dinner what's your favorite dinner what's that mashed potato you have to get that on the menu teeny michael what's your favorite lunch or breakfast or dinner pizza pizza for lunch and breakfast and dinner i don't i don't like but no

[8:07] dinner dinner oh dinner pizza yeah ailie lunch what's your favorite lunch um um um i'm thinking about that one john pardon i can't remember i hope it's not an apple because you've got a tooth that's hanging on by a thread there dinner dinner favorite dinner pizza pizza john roddy breakfast breakfast pancakes pancakes emily what's your favorite lunch or dinner what's your favorite lunch or dinner sausages sausages sausages sausages what about over here i think see if i asked over here they'd be saying things like what about you what about alistair um potatoes potatoes breakfast breakfast bran flakes bran flakes interesting bran flakes if i asked over here they'd be saying my favorite dinner is marak black marak and gugga and um um sheep's head you ever tried sheep's head yeah exactly eat it in this now boys and girls if you were listening closely in that reading in that reading what we heard was jesus and what we saw was jesus and jesus was in that reading did you notice what he was doing in that reading ailey ailey asking peter asking peter asking peter asking peter um asking peter jesus was asking peter if he if he loved him we'll come to that in a wee second michael i was actually looking for that answer that you said i think i heard it having breakfast he was having breakfast did you notice that jesus who had been on the cross to die for our sin did he stay dead no he rose from the dead he rose from the dead he came back to life and then he came to find his disciples quite a few times and on this time that peggy read he was making them breakfast he was making them breakfast do you remember what he was making them for breakfast do you know bread and fish it was bread and fish he made them bread and fish for breakfast and he ate with them imagine how amazing it would be to have jesus cook you breakfast and in the company where jesus was where some of the disciples and one of the disciples who was there was a man called peter and in the last few days in peter's life things had not gone so well sometimes we get times don't we and we do things and we say things and we wish we hadn't and peter had had a few bad days jesus was going towards the cross he'd been arrested he wasn't quite taken to the cross yet but peter was there and he was watching jesus as he was getting closer and closer to the cross and a little girl came up to peter and she said to him i recognize you you're one of jesus disciples aren't you what did jesus say what did peter say did he say yes i am no he didn't did he did he peter said no i am not one of jesus disciples because he was scared because everybody had turned against jesus and the disciples and then a second time he was asked the question

[12:08] you are one of jesus disciples aren't you and peter said i am not and he got a bit angrier and the third time he was asked again we saw you with jesus you are one of his disciples and peter even said swears to try and get people to believe that he was not one of the disciples they've got a pretty full church and there's a cat trying to get in the back window anyway it's gone so peter think about peter for a second there's peter and he's sitting down and jesus is cooking breakfast and he's serving breakfast to all the disciples and some of them would have been probably quite happy to see jesus but a bit a bit scared but peter how do you think peter felt when he said three times that he he didn't he didn't even know jesus how do you think peter felt when when he saw jesus sitting in front of him dylan ashamed ashamed i think peter would have felt ashamed he would have felt ashamed about what he said and did about jesus because jesus saw peter and he heard peter and he knew exactly what peter had done and then jesus came and he came to that place where he was making breakfast and he said i want to speak to peter what do you think what do you think jesus had to say to peter why do you think jesus wanted to speak to peter what do you think katie well that's the right answer see when i've done something wrong and somebody says i want to speak to david mcleod i think oh no gonna get around remember in school do you see heal that place would you you're the cat woman it's amazing the number of things that cause distraction i've never had a cat before sometimes in school you ever done something naughty in school and then somebody comes to the class and says um bella has been called for in the head teachers office and you would think oh no i'm going to get a huge row and peter might have thought jesus has come and he's going to give me a huge row but katie that's right he hadn't come to give him a huge row huge row he came to peter and he wanted to speak to peter because he knew how sore peter's heart was and he loved peter and he wanted to make peter better in his heart and think about this how kind jesus is think about how kind jesus is john how kind he is have you ever let jesus down put your hand up if you've ever let jesus down i have lots and lots they're all perfect on this side but i have lots and lots of times i've let jesus down maybe you've let jesus down maybe you've been in the playground one day and some of your friends the cool friends have said to you you don't believe all that

[16:09] that stuff about jesus do you you know they're wanting to laugh at you don't you and you do believe in your heart you don't want them to laugh and you might say no the second you say it you think oh i shouldn't have said that because you know you've let jesus down that's what peter had done he let jesus down he'd sinned and so jesus came to help him and jesus comes today in here into this room to help us he's not come to make us breakfast but he's come to give us the food of his word the bible to speak to our hearts so that our hearts could be made right and better so boys and girls back to the story let's try and get back to what we were talking about and thinking about so who came to see peter lois jesus came to see peter and um what kind of things did jesus say to peter that's the next thing i want to think about and let's do a wee test on peggy mckella where is she peggy where are you it's over there let's um put your bit of paper away do you remember peggy the last thing that uh jesus said to peter you peter must follow me and that's what i want you to remember today whether we're very young or whether we're about grayer jesus said to peter jesus says to us you must follow me just four words for the minute right on this table here boys and girls i have um i have some books who are they for do you want them they're for you they're for you and i know they're for you because if i open up some of these books i can see names in these books i can see bethany's name in one of those books here i can see another name in here and i can see another name in here these books are for you they're for you they're not for anyone else they're not for me they're for you they've got your you've got your name on them now sometimes james comes to our house doesn't he and he puts things through the letterbox and uh when these letters come through do you open them all you shouldn't do you open them all do you open them all you don't open them all you open the letters do you open the letters you open the letters that are for you and jesus came to peter and he didn't come with a letter or he didn't have a letter sent to peter through a postman jesus came to peter and he didn't come with a book and a presentation but he came straight to him and he looked him in the eye just the same as i'm looking you in the eye just now and he spoke to him and there was one point and peter got distracted see when the cat came out the window everybody turned around not just you guys but everyone over here too everybody's craning their neck pretending they're not looking

[20:09] but they're all looking as you hear and they're kind of scraping out the window they all got distracted and there was one point and jesus was speaking to peter and peter got distracted because he saw his friend john and he said jesus what about john but what do you have to say to john and jesus says never mind about john peter i have my own plans for john you must follow me i'm speaking to you peter not to john what's this boys and girls it's the bible and it's a giant letter and it's from who and who's it for it's for all of you and it's for all of you and it's for me this is god's giant love letter and it's to you you probably don't get too many letters through the post and sometimes if like john you get the letter and you start to open it somebody might say give that over here it's not for you it's not for you god has made very clear that this letter it's for you boys and girls who's got mark 13 14 is it better can you read that verse please now boys and girls you listen especially to this one let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of god belongs to such as these maybe just one more let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of god belongs to such as these thank you ruthie i hope you got that three times boys and girls jesus said let the little children come to me i want to speak to them other people were saying boys and girls get out of the way this is important stuff jesus is speaking about it's not for you and jesus says the disciples let the little children come to me don't stop them i want to speak to them and god decided boys and girls that you would be here today everyone whether we're in the sunday school or the yf or whatever age we're at god decided that he would have us sit in one of these chairs today where his word would be open and if we're hearing he's speaking to you jesus says to peter you must follow me and jesus says to me and he says to you you not anyone else never mind the cat never mind what's happening next tuesday never mind the kind of shoes the person three along from you is wearing i'm speaking to you says jesus and you must listen because it's important and peter was listening so what did jesus have to say to him we'll we'll think about that we were just singing boys and girls weren't we what was the words we were saying i heard

[24:02] Dylan i heard the voice of jesus say keep going huh come unto me and rest i heard the voice of jesus say come unto me come to me and really that's what jesus was saying to peter he was saying come to me peter i know what you did peter i know the things that you said that you shouldn't have said i know about your sin i saw you i i heard you and i know how sorry you are for your sin i can see your heart peter and i know you really do love me peter so come to me and follow me said jesus to peter you peter must it's very important peter follow me and you know that's what a christian is christian isn't someone who feels something about jesus so much a christian isn't someone who feels something about jesus so much a christian isn't even someone who has a lot of knowledge of the bible because we can have a whole lot of knowledge about the bible and we can have had a feeling in our hearts about jesus but a christian is someone who's following jesus day by day by day and year by year that's what a christian is not someone who's following jesus but a christian is someone who's following jesus day by day by day and year by year that's what a christian is not someone who just feels something but someone who's following jesus all the way through life now here's a question and i'm going to give you some sweets for answering this question this is a tricky one tricky one how how could peter follow jesus because in just a a very short while jesus was going to disappear up into the clouds and into heaven and then he would be gone from this world and so people wouldn't be able to see and feel and touch jesus jesus peter couldn't follow him like he used to follow him by keeping his eyes on him and walking in a certain direction so so how could how could peter follow jesus all the hands are up now let's take them one by one ailey reading the bible yeah he had the old testament then was praying yes loving him yes good answer do that and listening to listening to him listening to him how would he listen to him and all the things that jesus said he'd remember them the holy spirit would help him remember them yeah he would he would he would yeah he'd be forgiven he'd be forgiven he'd be forgiven he'd be forgiven you've got three yeah yeah sorry that's

[27:16] Treat how could he oh he didn't he good Persecret Yes, who else has got their hand up? Let me see them. Caitlin? Trusting him. Excellent.

[27:40] Michael, sorry. Be good. You missed that. If I had the hands like that, I'd change it. Be good. Take one.

[27:55] Good answer, Michael. That's one of the answers I was looking for. Donald? Telling other people about Jesus. Yes. Yeah. Dylan?

[28:09] Respect him. Honour him. Yeah. Pardon? Going to worship him. That's right. So these are all different ways that Peter could follow Jesus.

[28:23] He couldn't follow him by walking along the street. But to follow Jesus, it means to trust Jesus. It means to ask him in our hearts to take away our sin.

[28:35] We don't hide our sin. We tell Jesus that we're sinners. We tell him how bad we are. And we say, Lord Jesus, please take it away. You died to take sin away, so please take my sin away.

[28:47] And to follow Jesus means to obey Jesus. To do what he says. To be good. To try and do the things that he would want us to do.

[28:58] And say the things that he would want us to say. To live lives that are like him. And how can we know what Jesus is like? Well, we only know what Jesus is like by reading the Bible.

[29:10] Because this is where he shows himself to us. So if you and I want to follow Jesus today in Tarward, then what do we do?

[29:23] Well, we trust him. And we honour him. And we read our Bibles. And we pray. And we ask him to take away our sin and to come into our hearts.

[29:35] Here's a game I want you to play. Do you know the game Simon says? We're almost finished. Do you know the game Simon says? So you only do the thing if Simon says it.

[29:47] If I just say it without saying Simon says it, you don't do it. Is that right? Yeah. That's how it works. Simon says stand up. Simon says sit down.

[30:02] Simon says stand up. Sit down. Simon says stand up. Simon says scratch your head. Simon says do a turn.

[30:14] Jump. Okay. That's got you awake again. Sit down. Simon says sit down. Okay, that's got you awake again.

[30:25] Sit down. Simon says sit down. Now, the key to that game is you only do things if Simon says you do them.

[30:38] And if you and I want to live a Christian life well, we only do the things that Jesus says we should do. See, in this world, boys and girls, you'll have figured this out already.

[30:51] Even when you're little and you're in school, there's certain things that you're told and you're told to believe them. But Jesus doesn't see them. Some people will tell you who made the world and who made you and how they made you and all these different things, how you should live and who you should marry.

[31:12] And some of the things that you and I are told, we shouldn't listen to. And we shouldn't obey. So how do we know what we should listen to and what we should obey and what we should decide not to listen to and not to obey?

[31:30] How do we know? Not what Simon says. It's what who says? It's what Jesus says. And how do we know what Jesus says? The Bible.

[31:43] So we need to be very often reading the Bible. We want to live wisely. It's about what God says to us. It's what Jesus says to us.

[31:54] And Jesus said to Peter, and Jesus says to you, and Jesus says to me, you, what does he say to us? You must follow me.

[32:06] Let me hear that again. What does Jesus say to us? You must follow me. One more time. You must follow me.

[32:17] Who's you? Me. Me. Everyone says me. Jesus says you. Not him, not her. You. You must follow me.

[32:30] You must. Don't think this is not important, says Jesus. This is very, very important. You must listen. And you must follow me. Now we're just about to finish, boys and girls. One more minute.

[32:41] But I want to finish by asking for your help. Because there'll be some people sitting here and everywhere. And they'll be sitting thinking, well, I don't know if I want to follow Jesus.

[32:55] I'll sit in the chair here. But I'm not sure if I want to follow Jesus. Why should I?

[33:06] Why should I follow Jesus? And I want you to tell us three reasons why we should follow Jesus. Who's got number three on the sheet?

[33:22] Who's got one John four? Bella. You come up. Nice big voice. Now here's the question, Bella. Here's the question, Bella.

[33:34] Why should I follow Jesus? Because Jesus loves us. Pardon? Because Jesus loves us. How do you know? I don't know. This is how God shows He loves us.

[33:47] His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into this world. That we might live through Him. This is love. Not that we love God, but that He loves us.

[34:01] And that He sent His anointing sacrifice for our sins. Thank you very much, Bella. Why should we follow Jesus?

[34:14] Bella told us. Because He loves us. And how do we know He loves us? Because He sent His Son, Jesus, into this world to show us how much He loved us.

[34:25] And tell us how much He loved us through the cross. That's one reason. Second reason. Why should we follow Jesus? Who's got Jeremiah 29?

[34:37] Dylan, I can come. Good lad. So Dylan, why should we follow Jesus? Why should we follow Jesus?

[34:48] Because Jesus has the best plans for us. He's got the best plans for us. Excellent. And where do we read that? For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to propose, prosper you, and not harm you.

[35:07] Plans to give you hope and a future. Brilliant. Thank you, Dylan. Why should we follow Jesus? Because He loves us. And because He has the best plans for us.

[35:18] We might have plans for our lives. We might think they're good plans, but we can't see around the corner. Jesus knows the end from the beginning. And He knows the best plans for you and me because He knows us better than we know ourselves.

[35:30] And He said to us, He has these plans for us, not to harm, but to give us hope. Last one. Why should we follow Jesus? Who's got John 14?

[35:41] Caitlin. So Caitlin, why should we follow Jesus?

[35:55] Because Jesus is the way to heaven. The way to heaven. And did He tell us that? I am the way and the truth and the life.

[36:06] No one comes to the Father except through me. Thank you very much, Caitlin. Why should we follow Jesus? Because He is the way. You sang that so early, didn't you?

[36:18] You sang, because He is the way to heaven. And He's the only way to heaven. So if we want to know that we're safe in this world, because Jesus will be with us, even when we go through difficult things.

[36:30] And if we want to know about how safe we will be when we die, so that we'll go to heaven and not to hell, then we have to follow Jesus. Some people will say, there's lots of ways to heaven.

[36:43] Don't believe Him. Jesus said, I am the way, the only way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, says Jesus.

[36:55] But everyone who trusts in Him will get to heaven. He is the way to heaven. So boys and girls, let's listen to Jesus. Let's trust Jesus.

[37:06] And let's obey Jesus. As He says to us. What does He say to us again? You must follow me. Pardon? You must follow me.

[37:17] Pardon? You must follow me. Pardon? You must follow me. Thank you. You must follow me, says Jesus. Thank you. You must follow me, says Jesus. You must follow me, says Jesus.

[37:28] Amen.