Jesus said, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. Mark 10:13
Lost and Found
Long ago and far away there lived a shepherd that had 99 sheep. Until 1 day a mother sheep had a little baby lamb. So now that shepherd had 100 sheep. That little lamb was so soft, and so white, and so fluffy that the shepherd named it snowflake.
Now, Snowflake looked good; but Snowflake was not good. He had a sassy mouth and didn't want anyone to tell him what to do. His ma-ma told him, "Snowflake, the shepherd loves you and knows what's best for you, so you better learn to listen to him, or 1 day you're going to be really, really sorry". But Snowflake did not believe her.
One day the shepherd said, "Come on sheep." So all the sheep got in a line behind him and followed him up a steep, winding, rocky path that led to a high mountain park. There they all had a great time playing in the grass, eating the sweet clover, smelling the beautiful flowers, and drinking from the cool, clean, quiet waters of a stream.
But the shepherd looked far into the distance. And he saw a little black cloud; so he knew that a big, bad storm was coming. The sheep didn't know about the storm; but the shepherd knew. Then the shepherd said, "Come on sheep." So the sheep got in a line behind him and followed him back down the mountain path, (all except for 1 who hid behind a rock.)
When the shepherd and the sheep were out of sight Snowflake came out from behind the rock and had fun playing all by himself. There was no one to tell him what to do, no one to share with and he didn't have to hear his mom scold him for getting all muddy.
But the wind began to blow; it started raining; and soon it grew colder with the rain turning to snow. Then the sun went down: and through the darkness he heard a wolf howl. Snowflake was scared and missed the shepherd and the sheep. He wanted to go home, but he didn't know how to get there. He was lost and ran around baaing for help.
As he raced around in the darkness he slipped over the edge of a cliff. He would have landed on the sharp rocks below, except that there was a sticker bush growing out of the side of the cliff and he landed on it. There he hung: bleeding, wet, dirty, cold, scared, hungry, helpless and crying for the shepherd.
In the meantime the shepherd had arrived back at the farm with the sheep. He was busy putting the sheep in the barn. He counted them as they went through the door 1 by 1 to be sure they were all there. He discovered 1 was missing. It was that naughty little lamb, Snowflake!
The shepherd was cold, hungry and tired. He wanted to go into his house; have a warm dinner; read a good book, and go to bed. But he didn't. Instead he went out into the terrible storm, with the wind blowing snow and ice in his face. He made his way through the darkness climbing the steep, winding rocky mountain path trying to find his lost sheep. He called, "Snowflake, where are you? " The shepherd slipped and fell many times as he stumbled through that awful night. But in spite of the pain and suffering he endured, he kept searching for his rebellious, troublesome lamb.
Finally he heard a faint little baa. He looked down over the cliff and there was his lost lamb, hanging in the sticker bush: bleeding, wet, dirty, cold, scared, hungry, helpless and crying for help. The shepherd took his long stick with a hook on the end, (called a staff.) and put the hook around Snowflake's neck and pulled him up. Then he carried him back down the trail. When he got back to the farm, he did not go to the barn; and he did not punish Snowflake. The good shepherd had already paid for the disobedience of the bad lamb by the suffering he went through as he searched for and rescued it.
The shepherd brought his precious lamb into his own house; he washed the dirt and blood off of him, gave him warm food, and comforted him. Then he called up his friends and said, please come to my house for a party to celebrate, because I'm so happy that my sheep who was lost is now found.
Long Ago and Far Away...Story One
This is a story that really happened to real people, in real places. It’s all recorded, in the oldest and most amazing book in the whole wide world. It was written by Someone who is above time and space!
Long ago and far away, before the beginning of everything: God was already there. God is good, all good, all the time; and goodness likes to share. So, God decided to make people who could love and be loved by Him and each other. But before He made people, He prepared a wonderful place for them to live in that had everything in it that they could possibly need.
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and empty; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light.” And there was light. And God saw the light that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And He called the light day and the darkness He called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day.
And in the very first week ever: by the power of His word, God created heaven and earth, land and water, plants and trees, the sun moon and stars, fish and birds, sea creatures and land animals. And He commanded every living thing to reproduce after their own kind, and it was so. (Actually, it’s still so. That’s why chickens don’t have kittens; horses don’t have puppies; and elephants don’t have lambs).
Now that everything was ready God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them be in charge of all the fish, birds, animals and bugs. So, The Lord God formed a man out of the dirt from the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The Lord God prepared an amazing, adventure garden for the man to live in, care for and enjoy. The name of it was, ‘The Garden of Eden’. Eden means pleasure or fun. It was filled with fascinating trees and flowers, birds and bees, tame animals, and rivers of water.
The trees were beautiful to look at and good for food. The Lord God put 2 special trees in the middle of the garden: The Tree of Life and The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. And He commanded the man saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: Except for ‘The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil’. You shall not eat from it, because in the day that you eat from that tree: you shall surely die.”
(Remember that God chose to make man in His own image; and that gave man freedom to make his own choices. God did not make man to be a puppet. Puppets can be fun; but they cannot choose to give or receive love; because they are just a body with no soul and spirit inside of them. God made man to reflect His goodness by loving and being loved by Him and each other. We were created for friendship; and that requires freedom which risks failure!!!)
And The Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. So, I will make a special helper for him who can match him. Then God brought all of the animals and birds to Adam; so he could give each of them a suitable name. As he looked them over and named them; he saw that each one had a mate; but there was no one like him.
So God put Adam into a deep sleep; and as he slept; God took a rib out of him; and closed up the flesh of his bleeding side. From that rib, God made a woman. She was a corresponding, complementary, opposite of the man; so that they fit perfectly together like 2 pieces of a puzzle that belong together. They were a perfect match!!!
When Father God brought Adam’s bride to him; he was so happy that he burst into song. He sang, ‘Wow, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man’. (That was the very first wedding song!) And The Lord God said, “Therefore, shall a man leave his father and mother; and bond with his wife: and they shall be one flesh,” And they were both naked, the man and his wife; and they were not ashamed. They were married to each other; and they were to have children that would reproduce the life and love that God had given to them. God had blessed them and told them to be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth. He gave them authority over all the fish, birds, animals and bugs that God had created. God gave people the title deed to the earth. The Lord God not only provided everything they would need, He made them king and queen of the whole wide world. Wow, what a wedding present!!!
God saw that everything He had made was very good. Then, on the 7th day of the first week, God ended His work; and rested, enjoying it all. So He blessed the 7th day, and set it apart; because He had rested from all His work of the creation.
The first married couple undoubtedly had a fabulous time, getting to know each other while exploring the wonderful world their Creator had given them. But there is more to the story of where we came from. Listen carefully.
Before God made the world, He made strong, smart spirit beings called; angels whose purpose was to serve God and His future family of people. The Bible tells us in Job, that these angelic, spirit beings celebrated by shouting and singing; when they saw God’s amazing creation. God had appointed a leader for the angels whose name was Lucifer which means ‘light carrier’ He was the strongest, smartest, and most spectacular of them all. But in time, he became so prideful; that he imagined he could become greater than his Creator. He decided to make war in heaven: and rise above The Almighty God. He convinced 1 out of every 3 angels to follow him to try to take over. But God knows everything, everywhere, all the time. So, He knew what they were up to, and He kicked them out of heaven; and Lucifer the light carrier became the devil the prince of darkness.
The devil decided to persuade people to follow his word, instead of trusting and obeying the word of The Lord God. He spoke to Adam’s wife through a sneaky snake. (We don’t know exactly what that reptile looked like; but The Bible calls it ‘nachash’ which means ‘shining upright creature’.) He asked the woman, “Did God really say you can’t have the fruit from any of these trees?” Now the woman knew that God had said they could freely eat the fruit from all of the trees except for the 1 that belonged to God: ‘The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil.’ But when she answered the snake, she changed God’s word making Him seem stingy. She said, “Well, we can eat the fruit from the trees of the garden, except for the one in the middle of the garden. God said ‘You shall not eat from it, or even touch it, lest you die’.
(Notice that she didn’t mention the name of the tree; and she accused God of not even letting them touch His tree. It looks like she’s doubting God’s goodness and His word; believing that He is unfair to reserve property rights to 1 tree; even though He had freely given them everything else! Who does He think He is: God?)
The snake told her, “You will not surely die! God knows that the day you eat the forbidden fruit, you will be as gods, knowing/judging for yourselves good and evil/right and wrong. The woman considered the lie of the sneaky snake who looked and sounded so smart. Like many of us, instead of being thankful for everything God gave; she started being resentful she didn’t have total ownership and control over everything.
And when she saw that the tree was good for food, pleasant to look at, and desired to make her wise, (having the experience and power to judge right and wrong/good and evil), She took and ate the forbidden fruit; and got her husband to follow her. They disobeyed the 1 and only rule God had given them disrespecting God’s qualifications and right to rule.
Suddenly everything changed. For the first time ever, our first parents were ashamed and scared. They realized that God’s warning was true. And they were discovering what happens when you cut yourself off from your life source. They saw that now instead of reproducing the life and love that God had given to them; they would reproduce sin, which brings destruction and death. When you cut something off from its life source it dies. Like when you cut a branch off of a tree. Their rebellion had cut them off from God. Only God has the power of life in and of Himself. He is self-existent. Everything else is dependent on Him for their next breath.)
They didn’t want to be exposed. So, they tried to cover up and hide. They sewed fig leaves together and made aprons to wear to conceal their nakedness. When they heard the voice of the Lord God as He came walking in the garden in the cool of the day; they knew their fig leaf clothes were not enough protection from the judgment that they deserved. So they hid out in the woods, to avoid the presence of the Lord God.
The Lord called out, “Adam, where are you?” And Adam answered, “I heard your voice in the garden; and I was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat the fruit from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you gave me, handed me the forbidden fruit; and I ate it. The Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” She answered, “The snake charmed and led me astray; and I ate.”
And The Lord God talked to the snake; but His real thrust was against the evil spirit that possessed the reptile’s body, “that old serpent called the devil. (Rev. 12:9) (The Bible also calls Satan the dragon. (Rev. 20:12:3-9; Rev. 13:2-11 & Isaiah 27:1). God told the snake, “Because you did this; you are cursed above all animals; and you're going to slither on your belly, and eat dust every day of your life. I will put hatred between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; and it shall crush your head; and you will bruise his heel”
God told the woman that now childbirth would be a royal pain; and that since she had caused her husband to follow her into sin, now she would now follow him. And the Lord God told Adam that the ground would be cursed because of his sin. Sin corrupted God’s perfect creation; so now work would be less rewarding than it had been in Eden; where there were no weeds, thorns and thistles choking out good plants and injuring workers. Laziness, fear of failure or pain, and lack of gratitude took some of the fun out of work. Adam would have to sweat for his food; and when he died the stuff he worked so hard to get would go to someone else or be destroyed. From dirt he was taken and to dirt he would return.
Adam had called his wife a woman; but now he gave her the name Eve which means mother of all living. Not only would she be the mother of every human being; but her promised child would be the savior/rescue hero that would bring new life to all who would trust in Him as their own personal Lord and Savior. Naming his wife Eve showed that father Adam believed and received God’s promise that someday a child of the woman would destroy the power and authority of the devil.
God gave our 1st parents a symbolic picture of what it would cost to free them from the curse of sin and death. Someday a child of the woman would pay for their offenses against God and each other, by suffering death they deserved. So God killed animals, (probably sheep), And after sacrificing them, shedding their life blood; he took their skins and made clothes to cover Adam and Eve. (The Bible says, “Life is in the blood, (Lev. 17:14) and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, (Heb. 9:22) because the penalty for sin is death, (Romans 6:23). Someday a child of the woman would come to die in the place of all sinners as a substitute who would bear the curse, shame and punishment we each deserve for our own violations.
Adam and Eve traded their fig leaves for the skins of sacrificed animals, showing that they believed their sin and shame would be covered by the sacrifice of the promised savior; and that He would trade His righteousness/His goodness for their sin. (Isaiah 61:10)
That promise came true 2,000 years ago when the Son of God clothed Himself in a human body and became one of us so that He could substitute His life for ours and bear the punishment that we deserve for sin. The only way God could justly deliver us from our sin and its consequences is to pay for it Himself; Because violations against the holy infinite God require a holy infinite sacrifice. Sin distorts and destroys friendships between God and others. We were created in God’s image to reflect His goodness by loving Him and each other. Sin violates and corrupts our purpose. Sin is a disgusting betrayal of love that cannot be minimized or ignored. For goodness sake God is really angry about sin. (We may not think our own sin is so bad; but we sure get mad when others sin against us; and we’d like them to pay for the pain and trouble they caused.)
The love of God requires justice (which is fairness) to satisfy our obligation to truth. Love cannot exist without truth. It would be disgusting for God to justify the wicked and condemn the just. (Prov. 17:15) So violations, offenses and tresspasses have to be paid for. Justice/fairness is the dividing line between right and wrong.
So, the holy Son of God, who hates sin with white hot hatred, chose to by faith receive the sin of man upon himself; (HE CLOTHED HIMSELF IN OUR SIN) and suffered the wrath of God poured out in full measure against every sinful evil, of every single person in the whole wide world. He chose to have our sin credited to his account; and his righteousness credited to our account. He did it on account of he loves us that much. The Lord Jesus Christ clothed/dressed Himself in the body of a baby; and when He had grown to be a perfect man; he knelt down in prayer; and freely chose to believe and receive our sin upon Himself; wearing it to the cross where He died to pay the penalty we deserve for our rebellion against our Creator. So that anyone of us can choose to believe and receive his free gift of grace and be clothed/dressed in the righteousness/goodness of our Lord and savior. It was the ultimate gift of love! But, even though Adam and Eve believed and received the good news that the promised Savior would set them free from the guilt and power of sin; they were still living in their sin corrupted bodies, in a sin cursed world; where sin had perverted and distorted God’s good creation, And since man had become his own judge of Good and Evil, the Lord God forced him out of the garden to farm the land he was taken from. God drove him out of the Garden to prevent him from eating from The Tree of Life and living forever in that messed up condition. And at the east of the Garden of Eden, He placed cherubims, (special super angels), with a flaming whirling sword between them to protect the way to The Tree of Life.
In The New Testament we learn that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No man can come to Father God except through The Lord Jesus Christ! John 14:6 At Christmas time we celebrated the fact that THE SON OF GOD BECAME A MAN SO THAT THE SON OF MAN COULD BECOME A CHILD OF GOD. At Easter time we will celebrate the fact that: after The Lord Jesus Christ, the holy son of God died; 3 days later, He came back to life and left His grave proving His Power over sin and death forever.