WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 So, at the moment in our morning services we are working through ten parables in Luke. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:14.480 A parable is just a story that Jesus told in order to teach us some important things. 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.120 And today we are going to look at the first parable that we read, we actually read two, 00:00:18.120 --> 00:00:21.800 but we're going to look at the first one, the parable of the persistent widow. 00:00:21.800 --> 00:00:23.800 I'll read it again quickly. 00:00:23.800 --> 00:00:29.039 Jesus told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 00:00:29.039 --> 00:00:30.039 He said, 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:35.240 In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man, 00:00:35.240 --> 00:00:39.119 and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:44.079 Give me justice against my adversary, for a while he refused. 00:00:44.079 --> 00:00:46.039 But afterward he said to himself, 00:00:46.039 --> 00:00:48.840 Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:52.960 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:57.039 so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. 00:00:57.039 --> 00:01:00.719 And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says, 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:05.319 and will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:06.879 Will he delay long over them? 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.039 I tell you he will give justice to them speedily. 00:01:10.039 --> 00:01:17.879 Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:19.920 So this is the story of the persistent widow. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:23.280 I want to ask the boys and girls a question first of all. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.960 Do you know what persistent means? 00:01:27.960 --> 00:01:29.680 What do you think? 00:01:29.680 --> 00:01:31.480 Any ideas what persistent means? 00:01:31.480 --> 00:01:32.480 No? 00:01:32.480 --> 00:01:33.480 No? 00:01:33.480 --> 00:01:34.480 No? 00:01:34.480 --> 00:01:35.480 No? 00:01:35.480 --> 00:01:38.680 So, do you ever go to a toy shop or a sweet shop and ask your mum and dad for stuff 00:01:38.680 --> 00:01:39.680 and say, 00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:42.640 Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:44.799 please do you do that? 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:51.079 Well, that's a wee bit like what persistent means. 00:01:51.079 --> 00:01:55.959 Sometimes persistent can kind of be like I kind of in a sort of not so good way where 00:01:55.959 --> 00:01:57.439 we're a bit demanding. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:01:59.679 Where would I wee bit like, I really want it. 00:01:59.679 --> 00:02:00.679 I want it. 00:02:00.679 --> 00:02:01.679 I want it. 00:02:01.679 --> 00:02:04.879 And it can be a bit pushy, maybe a wee bit too much. 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:11.479 But in other ways, persistent can be a really good thing because to be persistent just means 00:02:11.479 --> 00:02:17.960 that you're not going to give up and you keep on working and keep on going. 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:19.840 It's a bit like practicing something. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:24.159 Practicing a sport or practicing a musical instrument or trying to get better and better 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.599 at something or always trying to help people. 00:02:26.599 --> 00:02:30.759 To be persistent in a good way just means to never give up. 00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:37.199 And this parable in many ways is all about not giving up. 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:41.360 And there's four important things in this parable that I want us to look at together 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.840 and we're going to just go through them one by one quite quickly. 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:49.039 So number one and boys and girls, I want you to learn all of these and hopefully we'll 00:02:49.039 --> 00:02:51.560 be able to remember them all. 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:52.560 Four important things. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:03:02.000 Number one, sometimes it seems that God doesn't listen to our prayers. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.759 That's an important thing to remember. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:06.560 Sometimes it seems that God doesn't listen to our prayers. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:10.599 So praying as I'm sure you know is a really important part of being a Christian. 00:03:10.599 --> 00:03:13.079 Now prayer is just very simple. 00:03:13.079 --> 00:03:15.680 It's just talking to God. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.599 And the reason we do it is because as Christians we are in a relationship with God. 00:03:20.599 --> 00:03:21.840 God is our friend. 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:23.240 God is your friend. 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:25.000 God the Father is our Father. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:26.920 Jesus is our brother. 00:03:26.920 --> 00:03:33.000 And God the Holy Spirit is the one who comes alongside us to help us and to comfort us. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:40.960 If you think about it, all friends should talk and all families should talk. 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:48.439 And by praying we're just talking to God because God's our friend and we are in His family. 00:03:48.439 --> 00:03:55.520 And I want you to remember that you can talk to God about anything, absolutely anything, 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:01.400 whether that's your schoolwork or your friends or your family or stuff you've got to do if 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:02.760 things are worrying you. 00:04:02.760 --> 00:04:06.480 Sometimes when you're young, through the day you can feel really good and everything seems 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:11.439 excellent and then you can go to bed at night and things can seem not so good. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:12.759 Do you ever worry at night? 00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:14.399 Do you ever feel a bit scared at night? 00:04:14.399 --> 00:04:18.079 And sometimes you go to bed and you're like, oh, I'm not sure about that. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:20.759 And things that don't bother you during the day all of a sudden bother you at night. 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:23.879 I remember that used to happen to me when I was wee. 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:27.800 When I would go to bed at night, all sorts of things would worry me. 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:29.839 I used to worry all sorts of daft stuff. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:33.680 I used to worry about my kids, my parents getting a new car because I loved their car. 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:38.120 I don't go to bed at night really nervous about a new car. 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:43.160 But it was a VW camper van, so come on, it was a cool car. 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:46.360 But I was terrified of all these things and at night they would worry you. 00:04:46.360 --> 00:04:50.960 And I remember talking to my parents about it and my parents said, pray to God. 00:04:50.960 --> 00:04:55.399 And do you know, I remember it was amazing that when I prayed, even though I was tiny, 00:04:55.399 --> 00:05:00.840 I remember that kind of horrible feeling and worry would always get better when I prayed. 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:05.479 So please never ever forget that you can always talk to God and always pray. 00:05:05.479 --> 00:05:10.000 But sometimes it's easy to think that God's not listening. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:15.079 You think, well, God's so busy and so big and there's so many people and he's probably 00:05:15.079 --> 00:05:17.319 not that concerned about me. 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:21.039 And that's especially true when we maybe ask for specific things in prayer. 00:05:21.039 --> 00:05:26.559 So maybe you've prayed for something that you maybe wanted to happen and it hasn't happened. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.480 Maybe you've prayed about something that you didn't want to happen, but it has happened. 00:05:31.480 --> 00:05:34.560 And sometimes you think, well, this doesn't seem to make sense. 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:38.600 We say to pray about stuff and then it doesn't seem to go the way I wanted to go. 00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:40.319 I didn't want that to happen and it did happen. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:43.199 Or I wanted this and it didn't happen. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:45.399 Is God not listening? 00:05:45.399 --> 00:05:46.399 What's going on? 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:50.000 Well, Jesus is telling us, one of the things Jesus is telling us in this parable is that 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:51.759 that's not true. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:55.240 When we think that God's not listening, that's not true. 00:05:55.240 --> 00:06:02.480 He says, you should pray always and not lose heart. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:07.319 And that's teaching us a very important lesson about prayer, that God doesn't always answer 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:11.800 our prayers straight away or in the way that we want him to. 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:16.920 And overall, I think there's, you could say, this is maybe a bit of a, this is just making 00:06:16.920 --> 00:06:21.480 it very simple, but I think it's true that there's really three ways in which God answers 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:22.980 prayer. 00:06:22.980 --> 00:06:33.840 Sometimes he says, yes, sometimes he says, no, and sometimes he says, not yet. 00:06:33.840 --> 00:06:39.560 But whatever his answer, it will always be for our good. 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.720 Sometimes he says, no, because what we want isn't actually good for us. 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.560 So I want you to know, what did you have for breakfast today? 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:48.240 Please tell me, what did you all have for breakfast? 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:50.240 Reza, what did you have? 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.360 Wheatavix, excellent choice, what else did you, what did you guys have for breakfast 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:54.360 over this side? 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:56.160 And I think, what did you have? 00:06:56.160 --> 00:07:01.600 Nice, Waffles, excellent, that's good, well done, Angie, good, excellent. 00:07:01.600 --> 00:07:06.680 Patrick, sorry, moment of glory for you. 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:09.360 What else did you have for breakfast, everybody? 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:10.360 What did you have? 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:15.000 Wheatavix with banana, excellent, that sounds lovely. 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:16.000 These are good breakfasts. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:19.560 So, see if you said to your mum tomorrow morning, she said, what do you want for breakfast? 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:25.480 See if you said, Haribos, what do you think they would say? 00:07:25.480 --> 00:07:30.199 No, that's terrible, isn't it? 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:34.959 So if your parents say no to Haribos for breakfast, why do you think they're saying no? 00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:38.720 Do you think it's because they don't like you and they're like, I want to spoil their 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:41.240 day by not giving them Haribos for breakfast? 00:07:41.240 --> 00:07:43.240 Why do you think they say no? 00:07:43.240 --> 00:07:45.199 Why do you think? 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:53.879 They're going crazy because they're having too much sugar, exactly, exactly. 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:57.680 Haribos are lovely, but they're not really the best thing to have for breakfast. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:03.919 And when your parents say no, it's because saying no is actually good for you. 00:08:03.919 --> 00:08:07.959 And so, I think that's a really important thing to remember. 00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:12.919 Other times God will say no because the thing that we want now is maybe not something that 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.319 we're going to want later in our lives. 00:08:15.319 --> 00:08:16.520 That's a really important thing to remember. 00:08:16.520 --> 00:08:18.160 Grownups need to remember that as well. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:23.759 Sometimes we want stuff now and we don't realize that later in life we're actually not going 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:25.000 to like that so much. 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:33.240 So I want you to think about the stuff you like to watch on Telly. 00:08:33.240 --> 00:08:40.720 And I want you to think, if I could only watch one TV program ever again, what would that 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:41.720 be? 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:42.720 Okay? 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:44.960 So I've got some examples. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:45.960 Okay? 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:46.960 Let's see. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:48.960 Do you know what all these things are? 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:51.399 Pepper pig, who likes pepper pig? 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:55.440 Yes, excellent, excellent. 00:08:55.440 --> 00:08:57.279 Who's that middle one? 00:08:57.279 --> 00:08:58.279 Blaze. 00:08:58.279 --> 00:09:00.279 Blaze, who likes Blaze? 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:02.519 Yeah, Blaze is very cool. 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:07.040 At the end, who have we got at the end there? 00:09:07.040 --> 00:09:08.040 Popper troll. 00:09:08.040 --> 00:09:09.040 Do you like Popper troll? 00:09:09.040 --> 00:09:11.200 Yeah, that's good. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:13.240 And then here in the middle, who's this? 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:15.240 The blue suit, do you know who that is? 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:17.240 That's the suit. 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:18.240 What's that? 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:19.240 That's the suit. 00:09:19.240 --> 00:09:21.320 No, that's the second one down. 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.320 It's a bit older for older kids. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:27.320 That's, well, the grownups know that is surely. 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:29.040 It's a modern, do you know that? 00:09:29.040 --> 00:09:30.440 There's a modern version of this. 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:31.440 It's very cool. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:34.200 So that's Thunderbirds are go there. 00:09:34.200 --> 00:09:36.480 In the middle, who likes Match of the Day? 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.440 Yeah, maybe, yeah, yeah, likes football. 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:40.440 Good. 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:42.560 What's the one on the left there? 00:09:42.560 --> 00:09:43.560 Strictly come dancing. 00:09:43.560 --> 00:09:44.560 Who likes strictly? 00:09:44.560 --> 00:09:46.760 Yeah, no, I don't like it. 00:09:46.760 --> 00:09:48.960 What about this one? 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:49.960 What's that one? 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:50.960 Britain's Got Talent. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.960 Do you watch Britain's Got Talent? 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:53.960 Yeah, yeah. 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:56.320 Middle one on the bottom, who's that? 00:09:56.320 --> 00:09:57.720 SpongeBob, SpongeBob. 00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:02.840 The last one, what's that? 00:10:02.840 --> 00:10:05.680 Coronation Street. 00:10:05.680 --> 00:10:10.280 So imagine that you could only pick one of these, right? 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:14.639 So you could only watch one TV programme ever again, right? 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:16.879 I want you to think about that just so quickly. 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:17.879 Who would pick Peppa? 00:10:17.879 --> 00:10:20.199 It's the one programme they could only watch ever again. 00:10:20.199 --> 00:10:22.039 Okay, Annie, good choice. 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:23.439 Blaze, who would pick Blaze? 00:10:23.439 --> 00:10:24.439 It's the one programme. 00:10:24.439 --> 00:10:25.439 Yes, excellent. 00:10:25.439 --> 00:10:27.639 Who would pick Paw Patrol? 00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:29.639 Okay, good. 00:10:29.639 --> 00:10:30.639 Thunderbirds are go. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:32.639 Yeah, good choice, yes. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:33.639 Match of the Day? 00:10:33.639 --> 00:10:36.120 Yes, someone would watch that, yes. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:37.120 Strictly come dancing. 00:10:37.120 --> 00:10:38.639 Look at that, yes. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:40.879 Britain's Got Talent. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:43.279 Yeah, yeah. 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:46.279 SpongeBob. 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:48.159 Good choice, Fraser. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:50.279 Coronation Street. 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:56.559 You'd have to be crazy to pick that programme. 00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:00.799 It's just a subtle rebuke. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:04.319 Or maybe not so subtle. 00:11:04.319 --> 00:11:08.480 So the important thing I want to say here is, right, you need to think about how 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.680 old you are. 00:11:10.680 --> 00:11:13.680 And this is especially for the older ones, right? 00:11:13.680 --> 00:11:22.720 When you were maybe in Kresge or in preschool, you would have maybe said Peppa Pig or Blaze. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.360 But now that you're older, you would maybe think, oh, I don't think I really would like 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:28.879 to spend the rest of my life watching Peppa. 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:33.000 And as you get even older, you think, oh, well, no, I really wouldn't want to choose 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:38.879 Paw Patrol now that I'm in P7 as my favourite thing. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:44.120 And the key point I'm trying to say here is that stuff that we really want now is not 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:48.200 necessarily stuff that we're really going to want later. 00:11:48.200 --> 00:11:50.960 And God knows that. 00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:55.840 And that's why sometimes He says no when we pray. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:00.440 And often we can find that, that things we want at one stage in life, we don't want 00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:01.799 later in life. 00:12:01.799 --> 00:12:06.879 Some people pray for a job, some people pray for an opportunity to do something, some people 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:13.639 even pray for a girlfriend that later on they look back and think, well, actually, I'm 00:12:13.639 --> 00:12:16.839 glad that God said no. 00:12:16.839 --> 00:12:19.799 Sometimes God says no. 00:12:19.799 --> 00:12:25.759 But sometimes God can also say not yet as well. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:31.879 And part of the reason He does that is that it's because waiting can be very, very good 00:12:31.879 --> 00:12:35.720 for us. 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:39.159 Waiting can make you more appreciative. 00:12:39.159 --> 00:12:41.519 Waiting can make you wiser. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:43.720 Waiting can make you more patient. 00:12:43.720 --> 00:12:50.279 And sometimes waiting can actually make you stronger. 00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:57.879 I think the key point to remember in all of this is that when it comes to prayer, it's 00:12:57.879 --> 00:13:03.879 not really about God wanting you to have amazing stuff. 00:13:03.879 --> 00:13:14.600 What it's really about is God wanting to make you into an amazing person. 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:20.000 The second thing that we learn from this parable is that sometimes it feels like everything's 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:22.399 a bit unfair. 00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:25.360 So it can feel like God does not answer your prayers. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:28.799 And it can also feel like everything around us is unfair. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:34.080 If you look at this story that Jesus told, there's a lot of unfair stuff in it. 00:13:34.080 --> 00:13:43.519 So you have this judge who is not a very fair person, doesn't fear God, he doesn't respect 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:47.039 other people, he basically doesn't care what anybody else thinks. 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:53.279 And you have this poor widow who is being wronged by somebody else. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:56.679 When it says there, give me justice against my adversary, that's just a fancy way of saying 00:13:56.679 --> 00:13:59.679 that somebody's being bad to me. 00:13:59.679 --> 00:14:03.120 This poor widow is saying somebody is being bad to me. 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:04.879 And it's all very, very unfair. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:07.159 And often things can be unfair in life. 00:14:07.159 --> 00:14:11.120 I think in this past year you did the story of Joseph, didn't you? 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.919 Did you use Joseph in kids' church at some point? 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:14.919 Yeah? 00:14:14.919 --> 00:14:18.799 When Joseph, tons of unfair stuff happened to him. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:21.879 So he was treated really unfairly by his brothers, wasn't he? 00:14:21.879 --> 00:14:22.879 What did they do to him? 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:23.879 Can you remember? 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:24.879 Can you remember? 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:29.879 They threw him in a pit and then they sold him, didn't they? 00:14:29.879 --> 00:14:32.199 And he went to Egypt. 00:14:32.199 --> 00:14:35.199 And there in Egypt Joseph was treated really badly. 00:14:35.199 --> 00:14:38.559 He got thrown into jail because a lady told lies about him. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:42.839 And then he was in jail and there was a butler there, the King's Cupbearer. 00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:47.879 And he said, if you help me get out of jail, I'll help you. 00:14:47.879 --> 00:14:51.840 But what happened once he went back out of jail? 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:55.360 He forgot all about Joseph for a long time. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:14:58.920 And so there's lots of unfair stuff for people in the Bible. 00:14:58.920 --> 00:15:02.560 There's lots of unfair stuff for us. 00:15:02.560 --> 00:15:07.160 And sometimes for children, things can seem very unfair. 00:15:07.160 --> 00:15:12.800 Now, I want to ask you boys and girls, are you very, are you good at doing a, a, a, a 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:15.079 that's not fair face? 00:15:15.079 --> 00:15:16.079 Okay? 00:15:16.079 --> 00:15:17.599 Do you think you can do it? 00:15:17.599 --> 00:15:18.599 Right, let's, let me see. 00:15:18.599 --> 00:15:20.599 Show me your that's not fair face. 00:15:20.599 --> 00:15:22.000 Oh, excellent. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:24.159 I knew you would be good at me. 00:15:24.159 --> 00:15:25.159 Excellent. 00:15:25.159 --> 00:15:26.159 Good. 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:27.159 Can you do a not fair? 00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:28.159 Can you do it? 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:29.159 Let's see. 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:30.159 That's good. 00:15:30.159 --> 00:15:31.159 If something happens, not fair. 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:32.159 I found one online. 00:15:32.159 --> 00:15:33.159 I thought it was quite good. 00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:34.159 It's not fair. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:35.159 It's not fair. 00:15:35.159 --> 00:15:36.159 Yeah. 00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:37.159 Sometimes we feel like that. 00:15:37.159 --> 00:15:38.159 That's not fair. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:45.639 And sometimes it can be the silliest things that make us feel like that. 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:51.600 I remember I shared a very, very funny story that was told actually by Alastair I and he 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:56.839 was saying there was two children in the back of a car and they were squabbling and they 00:15:56.839 --> 00:16:00.000 got really annoyed with each other and they were getting annoyed with each other all the 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.000 time. 00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.439 And then one of them got really annoyed and the people said, what's wrong? 00:16:03.439 --> 00:16:07.159 And he said, they looked out of my window. 00:16:07.159 --> 00:16:11.600 And they gave me the silliest things. 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:15.480 Sometimes we can fight over really silly stuff. 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.240 Sometimes there's things that are really, things that are unfair. 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.480 But it's not just silly stuff. 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.039 Sometimes there's really serious things that are unfair. 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.559 Any of you think of things that are kind of unfair? 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:27.959 Just know that's not good. 00:16:27.959 --> 00:16:31.039 Like serious things, not just silly things, but serious things. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:35.879 What stuff do you maybe learn a bit in school or think about that's unfair? 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:37.439 What do you see? 00:16:37.439 --> 00:16:40.120 Yeah, that's right. 00:16:40.120 --> 00:16:41.120 People don't behave badly. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.120 People shout at it. 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:43.120 That's not good. 00:16:43.120 --> 00:16:44.200 That's not very good at all. 00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:47.399 What about stuff to do with like around the world? 00:16:47.399 --> 00:16:49.000 What stuff's unfair all around the world? 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:50.559 Can you think of anything? 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:54.200 Some people don't have clean water. 00:16:54.200 --> 00:16:55.200 Some people don't have clean water. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.279 That's a great example. 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:57.439 Some people don't have enough to eat. 00:16:57.439 --> 00:16:59.600 Some people don't have homes. 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:01.919 And some people treat other people really badly. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:08.359 So these things can be really, really unfair. 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:12.599 Bullying is another example of something that's really unfair. 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:16.119 Gossiping and talking about people in a bad way. 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:18.599 All of that stuff is unfair. 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:21.000 All of that's teaching us a very important lesson. 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:25.319 And it's a lesson that I want you all to learn and to remember. 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:31.839 That is that sin is never fair. 00:17:31.839 --> 00:17:38.039 Sin has mucked up the world and it makes life very unfair. 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:42.679 God made the world to be a brilliant place to live, but sin has mucked that up. 00:17:42.679 --> 00:17:44.599 And so now people don't have enough to eat. 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:46.079 People treat each other badly. 00:17:46.079 --> 00:17:47.079 People get sick. 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:54.639 And the biggest unfairness of all is that people die. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:02.759 Because God didn't make us to die, He made us to live, and sin has wrecked that. 00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:09.640 And one of the biggest tricks that the devil can play on us is to make us think that sin 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:12.640 will feel fair. 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.759 The devil likes to make us think that sin will feel fair. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:20.759 So if someone hurts us, so if someone maybe does something at school that upsets you or 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:26.119 if your brother or sister gets in your nerves or breaks something or hurts us, we can think, 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:28.960 I need to get them back. 00:18:28.960 --> 00:18:34.440 And if someone lies about us, we think, well, I'm going to lie about them and that will 00:18:34.440 --> 00:18:36.539 feel fair. 00:18:36.539 --> 00:18:39.640 We think if I get this person back for the wrong that they've done to me, it's going 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:42.440 to make me feel fair. 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:48.599 But in the end, sin doesn't ever make us feel fair. 00:18:48.599 --> 00:18:52.559 It makes us feel guilty. 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:57.719 And if you look at the things that God tells us not to do in the Bible, when He says, don't 00:18:57.719 --> 00:19:02.519 lie, don't steal, don't be selfish, don't be aggressive, don't be greedy, don't be lazy, 00:19:02.519 --> 00:19:09.000 these are all basically saying, don't do stuff that's unfair. 00:19:09.000 --> 00:19:14.959 And so when things feel unfair, always remember that that's the effect that sin has had on 00:19:14.959 --> 00:19:15.959 the world. 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:19.759 It's easy to think that just more sin will make it fair. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:27.120 Now, I need two volunteers, okay, two volunteers to come and help me with something. 00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:30.960 Okay, Abby, I become, I need one more. 00:19:30.960 --> 00:19:31.960 Excellent. 00:19:31.960 --> 00:19:36.640 I become, I don't know which Flanagan you are, which is terrible. 00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:39.079 So what's your name? 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:40.079 What's your name? 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:41.079 Connor. 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:42.079 Excellent. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:43.519 So you just stand over here, right? 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:45.440 So at Abby, you stand here, right? 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.360 See this square here on the floor, right? 00:19:47.360 --> 00:19:48.840 That's your square, right? 00:19:48.840 --> 00:19:51.640 Right, Connor, you stand here. 00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:55.000 See this square in here, that's your square, right? 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:56.000 That's your square. 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.360 Keep it tidy, right? 00:19:58.360 --> 00:19:59.360 Okay. 00:19:59.360 --> 00:20:04.799 Okay, so Abby, take a handful of that and put it onto his square. 00:20:04.799 --> 00:20:09.480 Oh, look what she did to your square. 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:12.279 What are you going to do? 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:16.160 Well done. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:20.000 How does that feel? 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:21.000 Horrible. 00:20:21.000 --> 00:20:23.000 Look at that. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:30.720 So one of them threw paper in another person's square, and so in order to be fair, you get 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:32.440 it back. 00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:33.839 But what's the end result? 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:35.519 Is everything good? 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:37.519 No. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:39.240 What is everything? 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:40.639 It's a terrible mess, isn't it? 00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:45.600 You made a terrible mess of my floor. 00:20:45.600 --> 00:20:47.400 Isn't that terrible? 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:51.480 And so you can see that you can easily think, oh, well, if I just get Abby back, then it's 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:52.480 going to be fair. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.960 But actually, it's not fair. 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:55.960 It just makes a mess. 00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:59.840 What do we actually need in this situation? 00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:04.520 What do we need to do with all this stuff? 00:21:04.520 --> 00:21:08.560 Clean it up exactly and take all of the rubbish away. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:11.159 That would make it better, wouldn't it? 00:21:11.159 --> 00:21:14.359 And that's exactly what Jesus has come to do with sin. 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:17.519 He hasn't come to throw more across at other people. 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.599 He's actually come to clean it up. 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:24.399 And that's something that we must all always remember. 00:21:24.399 --> 00:21:27.279 So don't ever think that more sin will be fair. 00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:30.359 More sin just means more mess, doesn't it? 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:31.359 Yeah. 00:21:31.359 --> 00:21:34.799 I'm starting to think that this was a terrible idea. 00:21:34.799 --> 00:21:39.119 Anyway, thank you very much, excellent. 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:40.119 Good job. 00:21:40.119 --> 00:21:43.119 Round of applause for Abby and Bernard. 00:21:43.119 --> 00:21:44.119 Excellent. 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:58.639 By the way, Derek is a clean freak, so do not tell him that I did that. 00:21:58.639 --> 00:22:03.559 If we just add more sin to sin, it doesn't make things fair. 00:22:03.559 --> 00:22:06.159 It just makes things worse. 00:22:06.159 --> 00:22:09.720 What we need is someone to come and just take it away completely, and that's what Jesus 00:22:09.720 --> 00:22:11.480 did. 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:15.399 So the parable teaches us that sometimes it feels like God doesn't listen to our prayers. 00:22:15.399 --> 00:22:18.200 Sometimes it feels like everything is unfair. 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:25.839 But the parable also teaches us that in truth, God is always listening, and God is always 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:26.839 fair. 00:22:26.839 --> 00:22:31.480 Now, whenever you read a parable, you have to be a wee bit careful that you don't read 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:33.319 too much into it. 00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:37.960 In this parable, the judge is unfair. 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:40.839 He's mean, and he's a bit grumpy. 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:45.439 And he only helps this woman because he's fed up of her pestering her. 00:22:45.439 --> 00:22:50.879 So does that mean that God is grumpy and mean, and only answers our prayers because he's 00:22:50.879 --> 00:22:51.879 fed up? 00:22:51.879 --> 00:22:53.399 Is that what it's saying? 00:22:53.399 --> 00:22:56.159 No, not at all. 00:22:56.159 --> 00:23:01.200 Jesus is actually making a contrast where he's saying, if even a grumpy judge will help 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:06.360 a widow, so too, how much more will God? 00:23:06.360 --> 00:23:09.680 That's why we should never give up, because God is not grumpy. 00:23:09.680 --> 00:23:11.120 He's not selfish. 00:23:11.120 --> 00:23:14.319 He's amazingly kind and caring. 00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:20.160 And the two things that we've been reminded of here is first, that God is always listening 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:21.160 to us. 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:24.279 Verse 7 speaks about praying to him night and day. 00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:27.440 You can see it day and night there in the third bottom line. 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:32.160 A great reminder to us that God is always listening, even the tiniest prayer that you 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:38.720 guys say as children, God is always listening to us. 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.680 Sometimes it can be really tough when we feel like no one is listening. 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:47.680 In this parable, the widow would have felt that nobody was listening to her. 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:50.480 And sometimes we can feel like something's wrong. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:53.840 We can feel like maybe our parents aren't listening to us, or our teachers aren't listening to 00:23:53.840 --> 00:23:56.240 us, or our friends aren't listening. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:03.480 And sometimes us grownups can be so busy with stuff that we don't always hear what little 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:06.400 children are saying to us. 00:24:06.400 --> 00:24:13.480 But do you know that that never happens with God? 00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:22.920 Because even if your voice is tiny, God always hears you and is always listening. 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:27.600 The parable also reminds us that God is always fair. 00:24:27.600 --> 00:24:30.680 As Jesus says, God will bring justice for his people. 00:24:30.680 --> 00:24:35.360 Remember we said a moment ago that sin has made things very unfair. 00:24:35.360 --> 00:24:37.800 We must never forget that God is not like that. 00:24:37.800 --> 00:24:43.160 In fact, it's theologically impossible for God to be unfair. 00:24:43.160 --> 00:24:48.039 It's really interesting that Jesus chose a widow as the main character in this parable, 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:51.320 because back in these days, a widow was a woman who had a really difficult time. 00:24:51.319 --> 00:24:55.319 She'd lost her husband, would have probably lost her income, would have been poor, and 00:24:55.319 --> 00:24:57.279 easily forgotten by people. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:02.839 But again and again in the Bible, we're reminded that God cares for widows and for other vulnerable 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:07.359 people, those who are orphaned, those who are sick, those who are lonely. 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:11.119 God never says, oh well, who cares about people like that? 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:14.799 God is always concerned that people are treated fairly. 00:25:14.799 --> 00:25:16.759 In fact, God is concerned even about the little details. 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:21.920 It's a really interesting example that even when it comes to weighing stuff, God hates 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.000 it if people are being dishonest. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:28.960 If you imagine going into a sweetie shop and you said, I want 10 pounds of sweets and they 00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:34.119 gave you a bag that looked big, but in it was only 9 pounds, that wouldn't be fair, would 00:25:34.119 --> 00:25:35.119 it? 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:36.599 God's saying that's awful. 00:25:36.599 --> 00:25:37.839 Do not do that. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:43.240 Always be honest, always be fair, always be true. 00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:48.000 And yet all too often, people are unfair towards others. 00:25:48.000 --> 00:25:51.440 We can see that in lots of parts of the world. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:58.839 There's lots of different ways in which people treat others badly. 00:25:58.839 --> 00:26:05.960 But in the midst of all that, I want you boys and girls to never, ever forget that it's impossible 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:09.240 for God to be unfair. 00:26:09.240 --> 00:26:16.480 All of His laws, His plans, His purposes, His decisions, they will never, ever be unfair. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:23.079 And ultimately, God has promised to put right all the unfairness in the world. 00:26:23.079 --> 00:26:29.640 So when Jesus speaks about justice in this parable, he's pointing us forward to the fact 00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:34.839 that eventually God will bring justice and fairness to the whole universe. 00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:37.000 God's going to put everything right. 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:42.119 You learned about some of Jesus' miracles in Kids Church this year, where He fed people, 00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:47.359 where He healed people, where He restored people who were struggling, who were blind, 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:51.880 or who had all sorts of difficulties in their lives. 00:26:51.880 --> 00:26:57.279 These miracles are a great pointer towards the fact that Jesus has come to put everything 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.319 that's wrong right. 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:02.720 He's come to fix the world. 00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:07.839 Now, this whole idea of justice is a really important thing as well, because justice is 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:09.720 something that everybody wants. 00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:13.480 Even people who don't go to church, even people who say they don't believe in God, they still 00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:15.480 want justice. 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:19.039 Nobody wants to live in a country where wrong is ignored. 00:27:19.039 --> 00:27:20.640 So imagine you were in your class. 00:27:20.640 --> 00:27:23.160 Does anybody here chat in class? 00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:24.160 None. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:25.079 Oh, excellent. 00:27:25.079 --> 00:27:26.079 Very impressive. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:27.079 That's good. 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:32.559 But imagine, imagine that two of you were chatting in class, and you were chatting away in 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:35.480 talking and talking and talking and not working and chatting and chatting and chatting and 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:36.480 chatting. 00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:40.879 And the teacher gave one of you a row, and not the other. 00:27:40.879 --> 00:27:42.879 Would that be fair? 00:27:42.879 --> 00:27:43.879 No. 00:27:43.879 --> 00:27:46.559 That would be like an injustice. 00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:49.759 We all want justice to be done. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:52.000 Everyone wants justice. 00:27:52.000 --> 00:27:56.319 Sometimes though, people want justice so much they're impatient for it, and we can make 00:27:56.319 --> 00:27:59.079 ourselves the judge. 00:27:59.079 --> 00:28:01.720 And we have to be very careful about that. 00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:04.440 Sometimes we can be too slow to correct things that are wrong. 00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:08.200 Sometimes we can be too quick to punish what we think is wrong. 00:28:08.200 --> 00:28:12.279 What we really need is a judge who knows the truth. 00:28:12.279 --> 00:28:18.160 And ultimately, the only one who knows the whole truth is Jesus. 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:22.319 He is the one who is always fair. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:25.799 That brings us to the last thing that we're going to say. 00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:27.799 We must not give up. 00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.960 Instead, we must trust Jesus. 00:28:31.960 --> 00:28:35.319 At the end of the parable, Jesus speaks about the fact that he's going to return, and when 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:39.919 he comes back, he'll bring justice, he'll put right every wrong. 00:28:39.919 --> 00:28:45.759 And so in our longing for justice, we need to be patient and we need to trust God. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:48.519 Is God big enough to put everything right? 00:28:48.519 --> 00:28:49.680 Yes, he is. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:53.399 Is God knowledgeable enough to know the truth about everything? 00:28:53.399 --> 00:28:54.399 Yes, he is. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:57.960 He will have the authority to hold everyone to account. 00:28:57.960 --> 00:28:59.640 Yes, he does. 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:03.759 Jesus is going to come back to put everything right. 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:10.440 But the really important question is, when Jesus comes back, what's he looking for? 00:29:10.440 --> 00:29:11.640 What do you think he's looking for? 00:29:11.640 --> 00:29:16.320 Well, it's so easy to think that Jesus would be looking for people who've never done anything 00:29:16.320 --> 00:29:17.320 wrong. 00:29:17.320 --> 00:29:22.640 And so he's going to come back and he's going to look for the really good people. 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:29.600 It's easy to think that, but it's not true, because those people don't exist. 00:29:29.600 --> 00:29:34.560 When Jesus comes back, he's not looking for people who've never done anything wrong. 00:29:34.560 --> 00:29:38.720 He's looking for people who trust him. 00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:44.600 To trust that he hears us, to trust that he's always fair, to trust that he's listening, 00:29:44.600 --> 00:29:48.840 that he's always listening, to trust that he'll never let us down. 00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:55.119 It's so important that Jesus is not looking for people to impress him. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:58.919 He's looking for people to trust him. 00:29:58.919 --> 00:30:07.319 And no matter how old you are, it's so important you remember that. 00:30:07.319 --> 00:30:09.839 Sometimes we can think that we need to impress God. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:12.559 Just like in school, sometimes when you go to school, you want to impress your friends 00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:14.159 and you want to impress your teacher. 00:30:14.159 --> 00:30:17.559 It's easy to think that we need to impress God. 00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:18.879 It's not true. 00:30:18.879 --> 00:30:20.720 You don't need to impress him. 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:24.720 You just need to trust him. 00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:31.440 So this wee parable has four lessons that I want you to remember. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:36.759 In order to help you remember that, we've put all four things into a wee poem that I 00:30:36.759 --> 00:30:39.119 want you to try and remember and listen to. 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:44.119 So I'm going to read it out and you can just read it in your head as I say it. 00:30:44.119 --> 00:30:47.879 Sometimes it feels that God doesn't listen to our prayers. 00:30:47.879 --> 00:30:51.439 Sometimes it feels it seems like everything's unfair. 00:30:51.439 --> 00:30:53.199 But God is always listening. 00:30:53.199 --> 00:30:55.039 He's always fair and true. 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:57.959 So Lord, I won't give up. 00:30:57.959 --> 00:31:01.799 Instead, I'll trust you. 00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:02.799 Amen. 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:05.119 Let's pray. 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:14.679 Father, we pray that in everything that we do, we would remember that you are fair and 00:31:14.679 --> 00:31:17.119 true and always listening. 00:31:17.119 --> 00:31:22.799 And we pray that in all the changes of life and in all that we go through, we pray that 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:26.679 we would always trust you and always follow you. 00:31:26.679 --> 00:31:32.000 Thank you for your amazing care and thank you that you've come to put everything right. 00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:34.000 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:35.000 Amen.