Hi everyone, it's Aunt Frenita.
Today's story is called, "Let the Children Come."
The memory verse is from Luke, Chapter 18, Verse 16.
It says,
"Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
Today's message is, children like me, are welcome in God's family.
Can you remember a time when an important visitor came to your town?
What did everyone do? Were there pictures in the newspaper?
Did you stand and wave a flag?
In our story today, someone very important has just come to town. It may have happened like this.
"Have you head the news? Jesus is in town.”
Over and over people in the town told one another the news. “Jesus is here."
Everyone wanted to see Jesus.
Men left their work and hurried to hear Him speak.
Friends and families helped sick people get near Him.
They had heard how He had healed others. Maybe He would heal them, too.
Everyone was amazed as they watched Jesus with the people
They saw blind men and women see again.
They laughed with lame people who could leap and jump again
They saw mothers and fathers and children well again.
Everyone was helped. No one was turned away.
When some of the mothers heard about Jesus, they wanted to see Him too.
They wanted Him to bless their children.
The children were excited! They were going to see Jesus!
Children everywhere loved Jesus. He smiled at them.
He spoke kindly to them and told wonderful stories.
He loved the flowers and other small gifts they brought Him
Soon some of the mothers hurried through the town. They called to their friends, “Come with us to see Jesus.”
Children told their friends, and soon many were hurrying to see Jesus.
But mothers with small children could not go very fast. It took time for the toddlers to walk
Finally, all the mothers and children reached the crowd around Jesus.
They stood at the back trying to look over all the tall people in their way.
Some of the small children may have tried to crawl forward. But they could not get near Jesus.
Everyone wanted to see Him. It seemed as if everyone was pushing, trying to get nearer.
The mothers felt as if it were hopeless.
Could anyone help them see Jesus? Maybe His disciples would help them
The mothers led the children to the disciples. The disciples frowned at them.
They shook their heads.“Go away. Can’t you see Jesus is busy? Can’t you see He is tired?”
Jesus saw what was happening. “Wait!” He said. “Let the little children come to Me. Don’t stop them."
"The kingdom of God belongs to people who are like these little children.’’
The disciples and the crowd were amazed. The mothers and children hurried to Jesus.
He spent a long time with them. He took the children onto His lap and blessed them.
Maybe He told the mothers how much He loved the children.
Maybe He talked about how they could raise their children to love God.
We don’t know what Jesus said to the mothers and children that day.
But we can be sure that He was not angry at them for wanting to be with Him.
He was happy! He was glad to talk with them!
Jesus always loves children and parents. And He wants you to come to Him today.
He wants you to be a part of His family too.
Created and produced by Falvo Fowler
This podcast is read by Frenita Buddy-Fullwood, for gracelink.net
Animation and artwork by Diogo Godoy
Audio is post produced by Faith Toh at Studio Elpizo in Singapore
The theme music is by Clayton Kinney
The audio engineer was Maurice Bailey
gracelink.net