Revive Our Hearts

Dannah Gresh: Do you ever find yourself turning the stories of Bible characters into moral lessons rather than gospel truth? Here's Barbara Reaoch.

Barbara Reaoch: What we really need to be messaging is that God prevails in His plan regardless of imperfections in people. His promises prevail no matter how powerful worldly leaders appear to be.

Dannah Gresh: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Surrender: The Heart God Controls, for October 6, 2026. I'm Dannah Gresh.

Did you know that Revive Our Hearts has a blog? Yep, we do. Every week you can read multiple new posts at ReviveOurHearts.com/blog. Several years back, the most read post on that blog was by a woman named Barbara Reaoch. The topic was teaching the gospel to younger children.

It certainly struck a chord with parents. I love how it showed the desire people have to effectively pass on biblical truth to the next generation. Today we'll hear from Barbara on that same topic. This sweet friend of Revive Our Hearts has gone to be with the Lord since sharing this teaching, but I'm so grateful we still get to share her wisdom with you.

Yesterday we heard how important it is to be honest with kids about an important biblical truth. That is, we are all sinners. We can't do good or be good on our own. I've been in the church literally all my life, for which I am so thankful, and I've seen a lot of children's Bible storybooks and children's curriculum in the church.

One of the problems that sometimes comes up is an emphasis on external behavior. But Barbara has reminded us of the reality that apart from Christ, we are dead in sin, and on our own, we really can't be good. Now, if we stopped right there, we'd all be in a hopeless mess. That leads to Barbara's second point, which we're about to hear.

In her later years, Barbara headed up the children's outreach for Bible Study Fellowship, BSF. We're listening to a message that she gave to BSF children's leaders. Here's Barbara.

Barbara Reaoch: Here's tool number two: Teach about God's plan for sending Jesus. A Bible lesson or a Bible story that is gospel-centered is one that teaches about God's plan for sending Jesus. Now, this doesn't mean you turn every lesson into a story about Jesus and the cross.

But our kids do benefit from hearing how this slice of Scripture that you are in right now fits into the big gospel pie. They need to be reminded of the big picture view of God's plan through Christ, and it runs all the way through the Bible. As you study, you will find it, and you will be able to highlight it.

So, here's a simple way of remembering the main points of the gospel plan for sending Jesus. We'll just use J-E-S-U-S to help you remember that. "J" is for: Jesus left His home with God in heaven to become a man and show us who God is. Jesus shows us that God is our loving Father who rightly tells us to live for His honor.

"E" is that ever since the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, sinned, all of us are born into this world with sin in our hearts. We do not honor God because we want to honor ourselves more than anything.

"S" is for sin. Sin in our hearts separates us from God. We can't know or love God when we are separated from Him and deserve His just judgment of hell. Only God can help us, and He does. God loves us so much that He sent Jesus.

Jesus lived a sinless life in our place, and Jesus died in our place as He took the punishment for sin by dying on the cross. Then three days later, up He came. "U" is for up. He came back to life. Jesus rose from the grave and came back to show us that He is stronger than everything, even death.

God promises that everyone who turns to Him and trusts in Jesus is forgiven of the sin in their heart. They will never be separated from God again but spend eternity with Him in heaven. And He gives a special gift to them now. "S" is for Spirit.

The Holy Spirit from God is Jesus right with you all the time. Everyone who turns to God and trusts in Jesus has the Holy Spirit living in them. That's how close He is. And the Holy Spirit teaches you about temptation and gives you the power to say no to sin and yes to what is right.

So as you prepare, ask yourself: What do I see about God, and what am I seeing about God's plan for sending Jesus? Here's a little sidebar. Guard against just saying "gospel" when you want to throw that in your Bible story or Bible lesson. We sometimes just try to call it that, and we assume that everybody knows it.

But no, that's not it. So avoid just popping in that word "gospel" and letting that account for what you really want to say. Don't rely on a pamphlet, as good as they are and as wonderful as you want everyone to read the "Am I Sure" pamphlet because it is a very helpful and wonderful tool. But don't rely on it.

And don't use catchphrases like "ask Jesus into your heart." Know the gospel for yourself so that you can teach the important connection in this passage of Scripture that you're studying this week to the sum truth that you know about Jesus Christ. And as you prepare to teach, ask yourself: What is it in this passage that lets me know about God's plan for sending Jesus? It will come out; you will be able to communicate.

Kids strive to be accepted. Now, the world plays on this need by using behavior modification to create acceptable kids. We talked about that earlier. But we do, too. We do it very subtly by making kids feel that God's love and acceptance is based on whether they behave or not.

Kids are wired to want to figure it all out and then just do what they have to do. It's kind of like they are saying, "Okay, just tell me what I have to do to get to heaven and avoid hell, and I will do it. No problem." And they get into that works mentality and just figure, like with everything else in their life, they're going to have to work to earn it.

But here's the moralistic statement that they end up saying about themselves: "I obey God and therefore I'm accepted." Or they think that they couldn't ever possibly do it right and therefore they will never be accepted by God.

So, this is how teaching can be twisted toward moralism in both our preschool and our school program Bible stories and Bible lessons. Let me just give you a couple of examples. When we go to the Old Testament, I think we find it the hardest. We want to teach about the characters. We want to tell them about Noah and Abraham and Moses.

It's really easy to get focused with our attention on what these characters did right, what they did wrong, or use the passage to teach a moral lesson. Now, the kids translate that to mean, "Okay, if I'm good like Noah, God will think of me as righteous. Or God is pleased with me or not pleased with me based on how I act."

What we really want to message is that God did not choose these people because of their character, but because of His grace. Just like the rest of us, the Bible, in fact, is very faithful in recording the scathing sins of each one of these people that typically make us feel pretty uncomfortable if we've relied on these people to give us good moral lessons.

Noah gets drunk. Abraham lies. Moses gets angry. And what we want to realize is that God is faithful to tell us about their weaknesses because it underscores His grace in saving and using sinful people.

And what we really need to be messaging is that God prevails in His plan regardless of imperfections in people, and His promises prevail no matter how powerful worldly leaders appear to be. So the point is that when we teach these Old Testament passages about Noah, Abraham, Moses, whoever, Joshua, whoever, remember that God is always the hero. People are always imperfect, and God is always the hero.

Now, when we teach about Jesus, it may sound kind of funny to say this, but it is possible to teach about Jesus and never teach the gospel. It is surprisingly easy to talk about Jesus and connect His life to moralism instead of gospel-centered teaching.

We tell kids things like, "You need to act like Jesus. Just love like Jesus, just forgive like Jesus, just tell the truth like Jesus." And kids end up connecting the dots that, "Okay, I'm right with God as long as I imitate Jesus. Imitating leads to pleasing God."

The reality is that we will fail on every count of trying to imitate Jesus because of our issue in our heart. Jesus did not have sin in His heart. He lived perfectly. We will not. So the gospel-centered teaching says Jesus is the one who lived the perfect life. Jesus pleased God for us.

He loved perfectly, He forgave perfectly, He never lied, He never cheated. Jesus never sinned. He did for us what we can never do ourselves. And when you teach a child about Jesus in this way, they begin to delight and glory in Jesus as their substitute. And they learn to draw into your teaching about what it means to be in Christ and to be part of God's family.

Now, obedience to God's commands is to be taken very seriously, knowing that disobedience has serious consequences. We do want to be faithful about teaching that. But obedience to God's commands is based on being in Christ and living in the power of His Holy Spirit, not on trying to imitate or trying to act like Jesus on my own steam.

But with God's Spirit living in us, which is what happens when I am in Christ, I am then transformed by His Holy Spirit and given His empowerment to then live more and more like Christ with then eventual lasting changes in my behavior.

And then in the Epistles, and we are teaching about growing in Christ, we have to kind of get it straight in our minds first, or again, we will teach kids that Christianity is about what we do. And our applications focus on religious acts: Bible study, consistent attendance, church membership.

Now, these are spiritual disciplines and they are tools for growth in Christ. They are not tools to measure our spirituality or our worth in God's sight. So gospel-centered teaching says I don't become a child of God through religious acts.

But once I am God's child, He gives me His Spirit to mature me and I grow to be more like Christ. Just kind of in the same way that healthy food helps my body to grow, the Holy Spirit uses Bible study, prayer, going to church to help me to grow in Christ. So a gospel-centered statement that a student might say would be this: "God accepts me because of Jesus, and because of His love, I want to obey Him and I have the power to do so from Him."

So here's tool number three: Listen to yourself speak and teach kids and ask yourself, "How does my teaching come across? Will my words promote moralism or the gospel?" And how do I even begin to develop questions or comments that I would speak to my children in my classroom or my students that are more gospel-centered and not moralistic?

Well, here's a tip regarding application questions. I've put some on your handout for you to help us work down through this process together. But listen closely to a point of clarification. Questions that put an emphasis on something I must do to earn God's favor are moralistic. "If I do this, God will be pleased." And you can remember that by "M" stands for "me."

Questions that put an emphasis on what God is doing in my mind and heart are gospel-centered, and so you could remember that with a "G" for God.

So we started with the principle: God chose Moses to be His leader. What characteristics do you have that please God? "M." How is God using you to glorify Him? "G."

Peter sacrificed greatly to follow Jesus. Are you willing to give up 10 minutes each day to work on your Bible lesson? "M." When have you sacrificed watching a video to study the Bible and found that God gives you something so much better? "G."

Moses was a leader whose passion for God grew over time. How is your love for God growing as you study His Word? "G." What can you do to show God you love Him? "M."

Paul prayed to God in every kind of situation. Will you commit to daily prayer to God? "M." When have you prayed and God turned your fear into joy? "G."

God had a plan for Moses' life. What are you doing to live according to God's plan for your life? "M." And how does knowing God has a plan for your life change your plans for today? "G."

Jesus showed kindness to His mother while He suffered on the cross. How will you show kindness to someone today? "M." What does Jesus' kindness help you understand about God's love and care for you? "G."

So now you understand the difference between moralism and gospel-centered speaking. It starts with your understanding, and again, I invite you to keep processing this, work with it, and get to the point where you help kids think about what God is doing in their life, not what they are doing to earn God's favor.

You want to teach the truths of the gospel with all your heart to the next generation and to the glory of God. And when the gospel is clear, a child will know that it's not about feeling good about their behavior that saves or fulfills them. It is about God and His glorious plan of redemption through Jesus Christ.

So as you prepare, remember these three things: What does the Scripture passage teach about God? What does the Scripture passage teach about God's plan for sending Jesus? And how am I going to develop application questions or comments that I will have in the classroom that are gospel-centered and not moralistic?

And I'd love to close with just the final segment of this letter from the graduating senior that I began this talk with. She goes on to say, "I just want to take a minute now to thank you who were my teachers. You are the ones who volunteered not only your time and your energy, but also your hearts and minds, and even your souls.

That kid who looked like he was bored and ready to fall asleep? What you just said will awaken in him the realization that he needs to get his heart right with God on a personal issue that he feels like you are speaking directly to.

The kids struggling with homiletics this week? Well, they're actually thanking God that there are people who still care enough about them to teach them how to read and analyze God's Word. I know this because I've been in that seat, wondering when class would be over so I could feel comfortable again with my nominal Christian life.

But in class, I had the blessing of your presence, your insight, and your love. You, my dear teachers, are the people who invested and poured into my life what I needed the most. Thank you for never giving up on me.

Perhaps the best thing I've gotten from BSF is God. There are so many Christian activities out there that give you the Bible teaching, or give you Christian friends, or give you a euphoric feeling about Christianity, but forget to give you God.

And after growing up with BSF, I can confidently say that I know God and know His Word and know how to listen to Him in a way that I most certainly wouldn't have without BSF. And while it breaks my heart to close this chapter of my life as a student in BSF, I am thankful that God has given me a gift that has only just begun."