We are unfinished. This means that although we are justified already, we are still not yet justified. Although we are adopted already, we are still not yet adopted. Although we are citizens of Heaven already, we are not yet citizens of Heaven. Confused? Tune in to this episode and it will become much clearer!

Christians are never alone because we have Christ living in our hearts because of our faith. This week's study is a verse straight from Ephesians that can be extremely comforting or extremely uncomfortable, depending on who you are.

If your country is not at war and you are not in jail then you're free, right? No! Only God gives us freedom and that is through Jesus. This episode introduces the idea of being slaves to sin before Jesus came along. Everyone who believes in Jesus is now free in Christ.

We get benefits by being God’s adopted children! Not only do we get a whole other family, but we also are heirs and get an inheritance! This episode focuses on the promise God has for his children - the gift of an inheritance that will last for all eternity.

We are adopted by God. What does that even mean? Tune in to this episode to find out why God has decided to take us on as his own children and how this affects who we are as followers of Jesus living on this earth.

This episode focuses entirely on God's love for us - God's unconditional love. How is it different from anyone else's love for us, how nothing can separate us from this love and how God's love affects who we are.

How does being justified affect our identity in Christ? This episode we dive into Romans 5:1-2 and discover that being justified gives us peace with God, which changes so much about our whole lives as Christians.

This is the last episode of The Word On The Street Podcast for the year. We have over 4o episodes!!! And some news for next year… The Word On The Street Podcast is joining Eternity Podcast Network!  I am really excited to be working with Eternity News! I can’t wait to bring you more shows in the new year. What is your favourite way of celebrating Christmas? My favourite way to celebrate is the amazing feast with my family. We also like going to carols in the park, looking at fairy lights, decorating the house with gorgeous decorations, doing lots of craft. My kids would say their absolute favourite part are the presents. Gifts are a huge part of Christmas. Do you like giving or receiving the most? QUICK QUESTIONS: What is the best gift you have ever been given? What is the best gift you have ever given anyone? Who gave Jesus gifts when he was born? Would you have been happy with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh? In our family my kids don’t have a lot of money and so they give presents to their siblings on their birthdays or at Christmas from things that they already have. It could be a toy, or some food they’ve made or a voucher for them to give me a massage. It is hard to give presents to people when you don’t have much money. We can be generous with things other than our money. I can be generous with my time, and I can spend it (spend!) doing all kinds of things - things for myself - watch TV - or things for other people (cook something special, do some chores, say something nice to someone or play the game that they want to play. Bible Passage: 1 Kings 17:8-16 How was this woman generous to Elijah? She gave her last bit of food to him, even if that meant starving herself. Sometimes it is really hard to give. I have bought presents for people that my kids have wanted to keep. It was really hard for them to give them away. How hard would it be to give your last bit of food away! Imagine giving away all of your favourite toys. Would you do it? Being generous is sometimes easy. It is easy if we have plenty and what we give is only a small amount. Sharni has about 100 Beanie Boos. To give away one that she doesn’t really like is fairly easy for her. She has only 1x keyboard that she plays every day. This is much harder for her to give away. Bible Passage: Mark 12:41-44 You don’t have to be rich or have a lot to be generous. Jesus is saying that it isn’t the amount that you give that is important. He is saying that anyone can be generous, even poor widows. And even kids. Discussion Questions: Do you find it hard or easy to give things away? Why/why not? Think of something that you have that someone really loves. Do you think that you could give that away? Discuss your thoughts together.

People celebrate all kinds of things for different reasons and in different ways, but most of the time, people celebrate with people they love. In this episode Anna dives into looking at what Jesus says about loving others while we celebrate - while we feast and dine together. Guess what am I celebrating: I’m putting up fairy lights on my roof I’m looking for eggs in the garden I am blowing out candles on a cake I am eating a delicious feast When I turned 12, I organised my birthday party in the Easter holidays and invited 12 friends but and only 2 of my friends could come. It was really hard not to take it personally. I cried. I was devastated. I felt like no one liked me, I had no friends, I was not popular (this was really important to me). I rescheduled it and everyone could come, but the feeling was horrible. I will never forget feeling like I was left out like that. Luke 14:12-14 “When you give a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbours. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.” Inviting people to a celebration, dinner or banquet who are not going to give something back, something like love, good company, presents, entertainment?! That’s crazy! Unheard of! But amazingly loving! Do you know anyone who is poor, crippled, lame or blind? Jesus is listing people in his day who didn’t have any friends. Who is it today who has no friends? People who are bossy, mean, annoying? Can we invite them to our parties? It is much easier to stay where we feel comfortable - with people we get along with, people who are fun, easy to chat with, people who aren’t strange or different from us. There was once a little girl in Kindergarten who was turning 5 and she was allowed 5 friends to celebrate with her. She thought of 4 girls and there was space for one more. There was a boy in her class who was often absent, wore an older style uniform that was different to everyone else’s uniform and was always sad and alone at school, so she invited him. He didn’t come, but she wanted him to feel included. Who was that girl? Yep, that was me. Why would Jesus ask us to include different kinds of people in our celebrations?  John 13:34-35 “But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples.” Including people who are lonely and who don’t have many friends is a really beautiful way to show them love in the way Jesus has commanded us to. Discussion Questions: Is there someone you know who does not like Christmas? Why don’t they like it? What is something loving that you could do for them this Christmas so that they might not feel so sad at Christma? Contact… Facebook: @thewordonthestreetpodcast Instagram: @thewordonthestreetpodcast Website: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com Leave me a Voice Message: https://anchor.fm/annaware/message

Jesus showed his power over nature by calming the storm while he was on the boat, by feeding 5000 people, by helping fishermen catch a ridiculous amount of fish and by walking on water. He showed his power over Satan by casting out demons. He showed his power of sickness by healing people. In this episode you will find out that his power doesn’t stop there! He has even more power than that.  Think of a good friend - Someone you enjoy being with, someone whom you’re really familiar with? You go to their house, you know their family, you have spent a lot of time with them? Imagine they get sick, really sick. What would you do? Would you: take them to the hospital Pray for them Make them stay in bed All of the above? Did you choose D) all of the above? Say you tried to all of those things but the doctor that you needed at the hospital was on away and didn’t get back in time and your friend ends up dying. How would you feel? Sad? Angry? Disappointed? I think I would feel really angry at the doctor for being away. Bible Reading: John 11:1-48 Jesus has power over death. Jesus cares about us very deeply. He cried for his friends.  Jesus can raise people back to life again on earth. Why doesn’t he raise everyone to life again? Why do we have to die at all? Why can’t we all die when we are old and ready to pass on? Jesus can raise everyone to life again but not here on this sinful earth where Satan is wreaking havoc. In verse Jesus spoke to Martha and said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?” Discussion Questions: Mary and Martha saw that their brother was sick and they sent a message to Jesus to let him know. When something bad happens what is it that you do first? How do you feel, knowing that God, who has so much power that He can bring people back to life again, love YOU, cares about YOU and can take YOU to his Father’s House? Are you going to go to The Father’s House? How will you get there? Contact… Facebook: @thewordonthestreetpodcast Instagram: @thewordonthestreetpodcast Website: thewordonthestreetpodcast.com Leave me a Voice Message: https://anchor.fm/annaware/message