Parables of Jesus Part 0: Introduction to Series

This free Bible lesson is an introduction to an 8 part series about the Parables of Jesus. This lesson will explain what parables are and how Jesus used them to teach big lessons.

This lesson is part of a summer series titled "Jesus Makes a Splash: Lessons from the Parables of Jesus".

This lesson comes from the Seeds of Truth Elementary Bible Curriculum that is free to anyone looking for ideas to "plant seeds" into the hearts of children as they are learning about Jesus. Find more details HERE.

Transcript

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Welcome to the Seeds of Truth podcast, where seeds of biblical truth are planted into the hearts and minds of listeners so they can grow into a relationship with Jesus. I'm your host, Miss Dana. Thank you for joining me today. Let's get started. Hello, friends, and welcome. This is the first episode of an eight-part series about the parables of Jesus. So we're going to learn about what parables are and how Jesus used parables to teach big lessons. So lessons were given to us directly from Jesus when he was here on the earth. Jesus is fully God, but he also lived as a human on earth. And while Jesus lived on the earth as a human, he spent a lot of time teaching his disciples and the people who gathered to hear him speak. So Jesus came to earth to teach people about himself and about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus came to earth to love people. Jesus came to earth to serve people. And the most important reason and the main reason that Jesus came to earth was to save. And Jesus came to save everyone who believes in him. We need Jesus to save us because sin entered the world through Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden when they ate the forbidden fruit. Since the time when sin entered the world, all humanity has been born into a sin-filled world with sin-filled hearts. Remember, sin is anything that we think, do, or say that goes against what God wants us to do. And sin is doing things our own way instead of God's way. Sin separates us from God. Since we are all sinners, that means that when we are born as a sinner, we are separated from God and not are not allowed to have a relationship with him. But the great news is that God wants to have a relationship with us. So he made a plan to send Jesus to earth to live as a human and die on the cross to take our sins away. So why did Jesus have to die on the cross to be able to take our sin away? Well, the Bible tells us in Romans 6.23, when you sin, the pay you get is death. But God gives you the gift of eternal life. That's because of what Christ Jesus our Lord has done. This means that the price for sin is death. So in order to pay for the sins that we commit, death is required. Jesus paid for our sins through his own death. When we believe in Jesus and accept his free gift of salvation, he takes away our sins and saves us. Then we can have eternal life in heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Eternal life means life forever with Jesus. Eternity never ends. It goes on and on. The life that we get to live for eternity with Jesus when we believe in him is perfect and not like this world. When we believe in and follow Jesus, we will want to learn from the lessons that he taught. And that is what we are going to be focusing on in this series. Each episode, we are going to learn about a lesson that Jesus taught when he was here on earth: teaching, loving, serving, and saving us. So have you ever heard the word parable? A parable is a short and simple story that uses everyday situations or ideas to teach a big lesson. Jesus taught using parables a lot when he was living on earth. The lessons that he taught are recorded for us in the Bible. So that means they are also lessons that Jesus wants us to learn too. The Old Testament of our Bible teaches about the time before Jesus came to earth to live as a human. And the New Testament of our Bible teaches us about the time of Jesus' birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, and the time after Jesus went back to heaven. So the first four books of the New Testament are called the Gospels. And the Gospels teach us about the time that Jesus lived here on earth. The Gospel books are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Many truths that we find in the Gospels are recorded in all four of the Gospel books. Some of the truths that we read are recorded in three of the books, some in two, and some only in one of the gospel books. So throughout this series, we're going to be learning about the different parables that Jesus taught when he was here on earth. Jesus taught a lot of parables, so we're only going to focus on a few of them. But I hope that throughout this series you will understand some major truths that Jesus taught when he was here on the earth with us. So I hope to see you very soon. The very first parable that we're going to learn about is called the Parable of the Farmer's Seed. So I will see you then. Until then, God bless. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Seeds of Truth podcast. For more free Bible resources, visit Seeds of Truth Ministries.com.