Match your Actions with your Beliefs

Short Talk (SHT128) Your actions need to match what you believe © Jane Hulme 2018 SHORT TALK: “Your actions need to match what you believe” Aim of Short talk: Use of Short talk: Main themes: Biblical references: Lectionary: Props: To teach that John the Baptist said to the people in Palestine that their actions needed to match what they claimed to believe, and his words are still relevant today! This is a short All Age talk picking out one issue from the Lectionary Gospel reading of the Sunday main service. The talk stands alone and assumes that the Gospel Bible reading may not yet have been read to the congregation. It could be used for example, for the whole congregation before the children go out to their age specific groups, leaving the adults with a full sermon later. Advent, John the Baptist, Actions, Repentance Luke 3:7-18 Year C – The 3rd Sunday of Advent Have 3 large A3 cards with the following written on them: 1. SELFISH(ononeside)SHARE(ontheotherside) 2. GREEDY,STEALING(ononeside)HONEST(onthe other side) 3. BULLY(ononeside)CONTENT(ontheotherside) .................................................................................................................. Before Jesus began His public ministry amongst the people of Palestine, God sent John the Baptist to prepare them for His arrival. One of the things that John the Baptist said to the people was that their actions needed to match what they claimed to believe;  in other words if they claimed to have turned away from sin and turned to God then they needed to behave like it. WhenthepeopleaskedJohnwhathemeant,hegavethemsomeexamples. Ineed3 people to come and help me please. (Give to your 3 volunteers A3 cards 1,2,3) So let’s begin with the ordinary people, many of whom were behaving selfishly,  let’s hold up our SELFISH card, (Volunteer holds up card 1 showing the word “selfish”)  John told them to SHARE (Volunteer turns around card 1 showing the word “share”)  He told them to share their clothes and their food with people who didn’t have anything. Moving on to the Tax collectors who were greedy and stole money from people,  let’s hold up our GREEDY and STEALING card, (Volunteer holds up card 2 showing the words “greedy” and “stealing”)  John told them to be HONEST in what they collected. (Volunteer turns around card 2 showing the word “honest”) © Jane Hulme 2018 2 To the soldiers of the occupying army, who misused their power and bullied people to give them money,  let’s hold up our BULLY card, (Volunteer holds up card 3 showing the word “bully”)  John told them to be CONTENT with what they had. (Volunteer turns around card 3 showing the word “content”) As we meet together to worship God today, proclaiming that we believe and follow Jesus, then John the Baptist’s words are still relevant for us.  John would tell us that our actions need to match what we claim to believe. So I wonder what John might say to us as we go about our daily lives tomorrow. 1) What do you think John the Baptist might say to a child in the playground who has a massive bag of sweets? (Receive responses and draw out the word “Share”) 2) What might John the Baptist say to a teenager looking after the tuck shop at college? (Receive responses and draw out the word “Honest”) 3) WhatmightJohntheBaptistsaytoabossintheofficewithpeopleworkingforthem? (Receive responses and draw out the words “Don’t be a bully but be content with what you have”) I am sure that we can all think of lots of other examples of how we are to behave as followers of Jesus as we walk the path of love. Where will you be tomorrow morning?  Will you be at school or college, at home or at work? Wherever you are, let your actions match what you have said that you believed about God today. © Jane Hulme 2018 3