Context for Kids

This has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year on social media so far but the last two weeks have been the worst so far. Sometimes, when grownups and kids are in front of a computer and can't be punched, the say the most terrible things you can imagine to others--things they wouldn't ever say if they were in front of the person. And if they would say those things in person, they need Jesus really bad. So, we are going to talk about body shaming and insults and how we should treat one another.   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/06/13/episode-173-grownups-behaving-badly-on-social-media/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/-jjdFK_LUZ8

Yeah, everyone calls it the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man but when we look at what Jesus was telling His audience of mostly poor Jews, it was a funny and outrageous story about a very rich man who is so rotten that he ends up getting thrown into the canyon where all the trash of Jerusalem is burned. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/06/08/episode-172-the-rich-man-on-the-trash-heap/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/zqwC_7i3ZtM

I love the Doctor Pimple Popper TV show because she has something in common with Jesus in the work she does to reunite people with their communities! Jesus healed people and no one did it better than Him but sometimes we forget that the most important thing about many of His miracles is that He got people back together with their families! Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/05/23/episode-171-the-miracles-of-jesus-and-why-it-isnt-good-to-be-alone/   YouTube: https://youtu.be/ciy2tIX2bh0

How do we love like Jesus? We're going to talk about the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, how goats aren't evil, and what it looks like to love the least of these in school and church. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/05/07/episode-170-sheep-goats-and-the-love-of-jesus/   YouTube:  https://youtu.be/BhKgIiGHnE0

Before we go back to Genesis and tackle the ever growing family of Abraham, we need to understand love as Jesus taught it. Otherwise, we might make the mistake of thinking that God approves of the nonsense those guys get into. Case in point—selling your little brother as a slave is not okay. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/05/02/episode-169-love-and-the-good-samaritan/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZUjw_df4TEw

Love is a very complicated thing in the Bible and so we are going to treat it very seriously. The Bible shows us that God's love is emotional and active and also very interested in justice and mercy. And of course, we can't talk about love without mentioning Mister Rogers! Transcript:  https://contextforkids.com/2025/04/25/episode-168-being-like-jesus-what-is-love/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/f8GG7YuiGzE

What is joy and how is it different from happiness? This week, I teach the kids about my own journey from sorrow to joy and we'll talk about Jesus's joyful life. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/04/03/episode-167-being-like-jesus-joyfulness/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayDINsXL8Qk

What does Paul mean when he talks about peace? What does Jesus have to say about peacemakers? Is peace a feeling or an action or both? To learn about this we will have to travel all the way from Galilee to Galatia and then to Rome. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/03/26/episode-166-being-like-jesus-peacefulness/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/orlaG6H0SJA

Abraham just found out on the Mountain of the Lord that God will provide. God was getting ready to make His final promise to Abraham and He swears by Himself that absolutely everything He ever promised to Abraham is a done deal and will happen through Isaac and his descendants. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/01/22/episode-165-abraham-and-the-mountain-of-the-lord/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/HFBAbXGSsiQ

When is a sacrifice not a sacrifice? That's the big question this week as the Angel of the Lord interrupts the sacrifice of Isaac. And what does this have to do with Jesus? We will also be discussing the ancient concept of the heavens in ancient Near Eastern context.   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/01/14/episode-164-god-saves-isaac/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/8NRh5pNcZXs

Wait a minute—Isaac notices a red flag. They have the sacrificial knife, the coals for a new fire, and the wood, but there is no animal for the slaughter. As Han Solo would say, “I've got a bad feeling about this,” and Isaac is finally alone with his father and able to ask the question his father doesn't want to answer. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2025/01/07/episode-163-isaacs-scary-question/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/9vAf94KTA7s

Last time we were with Abraham, he had a terrible decision to make. Was he going to sacrifice Isaac in the Land of Moriah or was he going to refuse, or at least argue with God about it? Abraham's response is even more confusing than God's request--absolutely nothing for three whole days. We are starting to see hints about Jesus in this story, and so we will talk about the "type" of Isaac and the "antitype" of Jesus both carrying wood on their backs. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/12/18/episode-162-father-abraham-said-nothing-ru-serious/ YouTube (longer version): https://youtu.be/qQKLk8UmszU

So, this year, I want to talk about Advent, which is a season on a lot of liturgical calendars but is often misunderstood as being another name for Christmas--which it isn't. Advent is a word meaning "the arrival of an important person or event" and because Advent almost always (but not this year) overlaps with Hannukah and many scholars believe Jesus was conceived in the winter and born during the Fall Festivals, I would like to think that the Light of the World was indeed conceived during Hannukah, beginning a nine-month season of waiting with anticipation for His birth for Mary and ourselves looking even more forward to His second coming.  Let's tell a "what if" story based on the Gospel of Luke to see what the beginning of Mary's wait might have looked like. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/12/04/episode-161-jesus-the-hannukah-king/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/S-S7AomkCh8

This week we are looking at the difference between being sad and being ungrateful. I am also talking to the kids about why Jesus was all He had to be and how anything less wouldn't have been enough to save us. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/11/26/episode-160-thankfulness-and-the-dayenu-of-jesus/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q5F9PL4dXOA

This week, we are beginning the last chapter of Torah Portion Vayers, where God says something shocking to Abraham in order to test him. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/11/20/episode-159-abrahams-terrible-test/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/ekW1OgGhoWM

Genesis 12 begins next week and we have two more things we need to learn before that. First of all, we are going to talk theology with typology, which is a fun and clever way to discover clues about Jesus all the way through the entire Bible. Then we get serious and talk about human sacrifice but don't worry--I am not going to be gross about it. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/11/12/episode-158-types-antitypes-and-human-sacrifice/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/U4Hz5T8QHu8

To better understand the Akeida in Genesis 22, we need to have some background on the olah offering—also translated as the whole burnt offering or ascending offering. What was it? How was it different from other sacrifices? Why did they believe that God needed smoke in order to smell it? This lesson is going to give us a lot of ancient Near Eastern context!   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/10/31/episode-157-what-is-an-olah-offering/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ad-8iFZnUpI

Oh my gosh, we start Genesis 22 in two weeks and can you believe it? The Bible hasn't mentioned love even once! Is that a problem? Not really. Love will be mentioned for the first time in chapter 22. And it isn't even God's love. This week we will talk about how God has been showing His love and faithfulness and loyalty in a lot of ways even though the word isn't mentioned—and when we really want to see God's love in action, there is no better lesson than the life of Jesus. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/10/23/episode-156-being-like-jesus-love-part-1/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/jJDlLUgeo7w

Wow, here we are at the end of Genesis chapter twenty-one at last! Before taking a break for the Fall Festivals, we're going to look at the consequences of not being trusted as well as not being trustworthy—as both Abraham and Abimelech know very well. And we'll be talking about sheep, wells, and planting trees in the middle of the desert! Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/09/25/episode-155-abrahams-stolen-well-and-a-new-covenant/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLiDI1wuJEU

Oh man, I hate this portion of the Bible. It's so messy and sad and frustrating. Abraham is upset about Sarah wanting Ishmael gone forever—I mean, of course he is! God hasn't chimed in but when He does, it's shocking so we will need to get an explanation. God isn't done with Hagar or Ishmael yet, and Hagar is going to get one more visit before she exits the Biblical account of her life. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/09/18/episode-154-do-whatever-sarah-says/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/pqYl7zMx-9o

A huge theme in ancient writings (and especially the Bible) is the difference between foolish and wise people. When we aren't aware of it, we are tempted to look at everything people are doing in the Bible as examples of what is good and right but the Bible isn't that sort of book. It's a book about God being wise and putting up with humans—when even the best of them do some incredibly foolish things. The contrast shows us how patient and kind God is. Another word for patience is long-suffering because that's what best describes God and how He must suffer in dealing with our nonsense! So, what does it mean to be a fool in the Bible and in our lives today. What does it mean to be wise? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/09/04/episode-153-the-fools-and-the-wise-in-the-bible/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/PZFYw7uqAGE

Hurray! Isaac is weaned and has passed through the very dangerous first three years of life in the ancient world. Abraham throws a big party to celebrate but not everyone is happy. What happens when seventeen-year-old Ishmael expresses his anger over being replaced by a toddler? Why did Sarah even think that her solution was okay? In talking about the rejection of Ishmael, we'll also have a conversation about the rejection of the Messiah and the difference between what is normal vs what is good. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/08/28/episode-152-sarahs-disturbing-demand/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/tNZTet_2qgU

We've been waiting for ten chapters, since Sarah was introduced at the end of chapter 11, and finally Isaac is here. But why is the story so short??? In fact, why are all the stories about Isaac so short? For someone we've been anxiously waiting for so long, he doesn't get nearly as much attention as his father Abraham and his son Jacob. Sometimes the mysteries tell us just as much as the long stories do. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/08/22/episode-151-shes-having-a-baby-and-shes-ninety/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/MghzUjfDcPA

Few things are less understood and acknowledged than God's incredible patience, and there's no better time to discuss the patience of God than when we are beginning to wrap up the story of Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, and Hagar. Impatience wrecked their family peace while God's patience leads to Jesus! And Jesus shows us God's patience in how He dealt with His very annoying disciples.   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/08/14/episode-150-being-like-jesus-patience/   YouTube: https://youtu.be/8CN5QHtLefU

Anyone who knows me knows how much I enjoy studying the history of the ancient Near East because it is also the history around the Bible. But what is it? Where is it? And how is it different from the Greco-Roman Near East of Jesus? And does it make any difference?   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/08/07/episode-149-what-is-the-ancient-near-east/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/kRAxGPzjLIU

I have been wanting to do this lesson for a long time and I wish someone had shared all of this with me—or even any of it with me—when I was a beginner. We never read anything without translating it in our own minds, and the Bible is no exception. We read the Bible and decide what it means based on our own lives, understandings, and what we have heard from others. How does the Spirit help us with our reading and what doesn't the Spirit do? Is every thought while we are reading the Bible from God? How does God use Bible reading and Bible study (not the same thing) in our lives? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/07/31/episode-148-what-happens-when-we-read-the-bible/ YouTube:  https://youtu.be/2FNwXGhfRUU

Our last teaching in Genesis 20. Abimelech finally does what he should have done in the first place if he wanted to marry Sarah, and he finds himself in the unpleasant position of having to reward someone who lied to him so that Abraham will pray for him and his household. Although this would have made sense to Abimelech, what are we supposed to think about it? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/07/18/episode-147-abimelech-pays-and-abraham-prays/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Zuo_sYdhGXk

God is getting Sarah back home, but Abraham starts making excuses—can we believe any of them, or is he just trying to keep himself out of trouble? Abimelech is furious, and so are his people when they hear about Abraham's plan. But what are we supposed to think about all of this? And what do we do when a friend tells us to lie if we want to still be friends? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/07/10/episode-146-is-sarah-really-abrahams-sister/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/UnHI2aR4Vo4

Considering the fact that Abimelech has kidnapped Sarah, it's shocking to us that when he tells God how innocent he is, God agrees. But God is most certainly not giving Abimelech a pass and makes a terrifying threat that Abimelech had better do what is right—or else.   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/07/07/episode-145-is-abimelech-really-as-innocent-as-he-thinks/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/fnkgPu079nE

Audio fixed on this--my apologies. I uploaded the parent version. You're not going to believe this but we're going to have a replay of Genesis 12 where Abraham lies to Pharaoh about Sarah his wife and gets her into more trouble. How is this time the same? How is it different? And how is God going to get her out of it this time? And who is Abimelech and who are the mysterious Philistines?   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/06/25/episode-144-abraham-sarah-abimelech-and-the-big-lie/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/-sk7BXt8dj4

We are circling back to talking about what it means to become more like Jesus again because, as we will see again next week when we start Genesis 20, Abraham has a real problem with lying when he is scared and not trusting God. What did Jesus do when He was afraid? What does the Bible tell us about lying and when is it the right or wrong thing to do? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/06/12/episode-143-becoming-like-jesus-honesty/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/WzRuQjsi4Lg

Were all disciples men? What does the word even mean? What did Jesus have to say about disciples and why He had them in the first place? Was Jesus the only person to ever have disciples? Are you a disciple of Jesus or are you not quite sure? What should we think of when we hear the word disciple? What words did Jesus say about what it takes to be one of His disciples? So many questions. This week we're going to talk about this very important topic because in your life, nothing is more important than becoming a disciple of Jesus so you'd better know what that means and what it doesn't mean. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/06/05/episode-142-are-you-a-disciple-of-jesus/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Bf9OajfN7jk

This week we close out Genesis 19 and say goodbye to Lot. Sometimes it is easy to forget that this chapter of the Bible is about Lot and not about the wicked city he is living in. Lot isn't done with his bad decisions, and some of the worst are yet to come. Why can't Lot just trust God and obey? Why do there always have to be arguments and foot dragging? What can we learn from looking at the end of Lot's life, as far as the Bible story tells us? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/05/29/episode-141-the-end-of-sodom-and-lots-story/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/4YpXKzyiOhs

Lot is super irritating and what he does this week proves that just being unhappy with how people are acting isn't enough to make a difference in a wicked place. No one respects Lot or takes him seriously—not even his future sons-in-law. Lot still isn't willing to leave Sodom, even when his neighbors want him dead but God keeps forgiving Lot and giving him chances to do what is right. We'll also be talking this week about what forgiveness is and isn't. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/05/22/episode-140-angels-to-the-rescue-what-is-forgiveness/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/wOJMOF0guEE

There are a lot of bad dads and moms in the Bible but if Lot isn't the worst one then he is near the top of the list. Being a young girl in the ancient world was a very dangerous thing and sometimes the members of your own family could be your worst enemies. How far will Lot go to obey the hospitality codes of the ancient world? Who is he willing to sacrifice in order to look good? And what can we learn about the men of Sodom from the way they reacted to what Lot tried to do? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/05/15/episode-139-lot-worst-dad-ever/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Yr9yWll9RqU

This week we will be talking about the mysterious angels in disguise, what Lot did to make his neighbors angry, and what a city gate was.  Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/05/06/episode-138-mysterious-strangers-in-sodom/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/b2LMiM2ulJg

The truth is that we know more about angels on tv and in Christian art than we do about angels in the Bible, and so before we dive into our first real encounter with angels in Genesis 19 we're going to see what the Bible does and doesn't say about Angels. And we'll talk about the three most famous angels of all! Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/04/09/episode-137-talking-about-angels-in-the-bible/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/nGEpf1E44xI

Who is the first intercessor in the Bible? Abraham! He went to bat for the people of Sodom, appealing to and reasoning with God's mercy over His sense of justice. This makes him very different from everyone who went before Him--especially Noah! Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/03/27/episode-136-the-one-when-abraham-tries-to-save-sodom/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/3S6g6yZth5M

Last year, we talked about the stories of Esther and Vashti, but this year, we are going to focus on irresponsible King Ahasuerus, Esther's cousin Mordecai, who didn't follow his own wise advice, and the wicked Haman. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/03/20/episode-135-esther-and-the-great-big-mess/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/Fq9diKf9mG8

Do you know what a prophet is? There are many stories going around that make it look like prophets were fortune tellers, but nothing could be further from the truth. God is going to name Abraham a prophet in chapter 21, but in Genesis 18, he is already being treated like one. Understanding prophets and what they are and are not will help you understand much more of the Bible than if you think they are all about predicting the future. And what does all this have to do with Sodom and what God is telling Abraham He expects from his family? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/03/12/episode-134-abraham-the-first-prophet/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/jIWyR6Vxe0s

Most people look at Sarah's laughter in Genesis 18 and think nothing of it. We think of what it looks like in the movies or in our picture books but what does the Bible tell us about Sarah laughing when she heard she was going to finally be a mom? Why are we so confused about what the Bible does and doesn't say and what does it tell us about the story Moses was telling the children of Israel? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/03/05/episode-133-sarahs-mysterious-laughter/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/XHQmICJa-cA

This week we are beginning Torah portion Vayera, which covers the time from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to the Akeida in chapter 22. Today we start out with a very mysterious appearance of three strangers soon after Abraham circumcised all the men in his household. From the very first line, we know that one of the strangers is God but why is He there and how will Abraham react? Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/02/29/episode-132-abraham-and-the-three-mysterious-visitors/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/57C8PgcxFJo

Well, I was planning on doing a teaching on patience but that isn't going so well lately so I decided that this was the perfect time to do a lesson on hospitality because that's mostly what Genesis 18 and 19 are about! Just like Honor and Shame and Covenants, once you understand the rules of ancient hospitality, you will know it when you see it and it makes the Bible a lot more interesting. So, until I get a lot more patient, we're back to studying Genesis and beginning Torah Portion Vayera—which starts in chapter 18 and goes all the way to the end of chapter 22. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/02/21/episode-131-hospitality-travel-and-family-in-the-bible/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/HUH8ocjk7vM

Kindness is complicated. It's a lot different than just being nice because Jesus wasn't always nice but He was always kind. Being nice is just being pleasant to people, but kindness is treating people better than we think they deserve to be treated. And that isn't easy when we are angry, sad, in pain, or just plain frustrated. Kindness is going to be really important to understand when we get back to Genesis 18 and 19! Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/02/14/episode-130-being-like-jesus-kindness/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/--gql90WhDI

Well, whenever someone says goodness is how to be like Jesus, it makes me want to say, “Well, duh…” but what does goodness even mean? It means so many different things in English that it makes your head spin. This week we will talk about what “goodness” means in the Bible and how the Holy Spirit works in us to get us closer and closer to being good. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/02/07/episode-129-being-like-jesus-goodness-and-the-holy-spirit/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/IKKwwvTyMw8

What faithfulness means to us today and what the Greek word pistis meant to Paul are sort of the same but also very different. Fortunately, what Paul meant will teach us how much we can trust Jesus and how we want to become people who can be trusted by Jesus.    Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/01/23/episode-128-being-like-jesus-faithfulness/   YouTube: https://youtu.be/IcI7sxNeYmA

Mercy is a huge thing in the Bible and so we would expect Jesus to not only teach about the importance of being merciful but also that He would be merciful. Mercy is a big step up from showing self-control. To show how mercy works, we're going to look at one of the funniest parables about the Ungrateful Servant. It doesn't seem funny at first, but believe me, it's really hilarious once you stop to think about what is going on and how crazy the situation is. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/01/16/episode-127-being-like-jesus-gentleness/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/MSmYNFzHCTI

It's one thing to say that Jesus had every single fruit of the Spirit to perfection, but quite another to look at what that really means when you have the authority and power to do absolutely anything you want. It isn't so much about what Jesus did but what He was capable of. That makes Him even more amazing! Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/01/11/episode-126-being-like-jesus-self-control/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/y0xhF3ElCzY

Have you ever been scared to pray because you don't want to say the wrong thing or because you are afraid that you can't trust God to do what is right or that He will be angry if you are honest? Today, we're going to talk about why we can always be ourselves when we are talking to God. And not only that, but about how having to be perfect in our prayers comes from pagan religions and not from the Bible. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2024/01/01/episode-125-your-prayers-dont-have-to-be-perfect/   YouTube: https://youtu.be/KxlBNUKxwMk

Forgiveness is hard to understand and even harder to do. Grownups ask me all the time about what forgiveness is and isn't, and if it means forgetting and acting like nothing happened or if we can still be careful when someone is dangerous. Learning about the forgiveness from God we have through our King Jesus, and what Jesus told us to do, and how He helps us grow from people who never want to forgive and don't know how to even begin, to people who are able to forgive, helps us to follow God maybe more than any other thing He asks us to do. Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2023/12/27/episode-124-being-like-jesus-forgiveness/ YouTube: https://youtu.be/KG3k-vYPE64

We are about halfway through the story of Abraham in the Bible. His life story in Genesis is traditionally divided into two "Torah Portions"--Lech Lecha and Vayera. As we just finished Lech Lecha, I wanted to toss out all the context and to just enjoy myself telling the first part of Abraham's story the way that extra-biblical Jewish writers did to tell the story more creatively.   Transcript: https://contextforkids.com/2023/11/13/episode-123-the-lech-lecha-story/   YouTube: https://youtu.be/qTLi1VVJWo4