Forevergreen | Tim Henderson

Morning, guys. As Rachel said, this is VBS Sunday, as you can probably tell. And so we're gonna do something a little bit special this week. I'd like to invite all the kids, whether you guys were at VBS or not, come on down. We got a bunch of seats in the front row reserved just for you. So come on down, and we're gonna watch a movie together. We're gonna let the families watch it too. The kids come on down, pile in the front here. Hopefully we have enough room. And if there are any littles out there that find that a little bit intimidating and mom or dad need to help them be comfortable, you're welcome to come down too. We just wanna make sure we got room for the kids.

Alright, I'm glad you guys are here.

So, did you guys have fun at VBS?

What were some of your favorite things?

Getting outside and playing is a ton of fun. Snacks are always great. We love food. Projects—I saw you guys making pyramids out of spaghetti and marshmallows. Some of those were pretty impressive.

Silent disco. I saw people having fun with that. You guys looked really cool doing that too.

Dancing was very popular. That's a big win every year.

Science—doing all the science work.

Handy Dandy with Randy and Andy. Those guys are so funny.

Blob tag. I don't know what that means, but it sounds awesome. It's a tag game? Okay, that sounds really good.

Well, what we're gonna do now, you guys, we're gonna watch a movie. So if you watch these here on the screen, the movie is about thirteen minutes long. You're gonna get cozy, get comfy, and we're gonna enjoy this. And I think this is a fantastic show. We're gonna watch it, and then I wanna talk to you guys about it a little bit. Okay?

It's called Forever Green.

---

Kids, what would you guys think of the movie? Do you like it? What did you think about it?

The tree—we love that tree. That was a great tree, wasn't it?

He was savage? Yeah.

You like that little bear? I liked it too.

You guys, when I first saw that movie a couple months ago, I loved it, and I immediately wanted to show it to you guys. So I've been waiting weeks and weeks and weeks to have some excuse to show it. And I think VBS gives us a great chance to take a look at it.

Do you guys remember in the very beginning of the movie when the bear first showed up? How was he feeling when the movie started?

He was scared and he was hungry. See, bears in the winter should be asleep. For some reason, he was awake and he was hungry and there was just no food to eat.

Do you think he ended up feeling safe? What did the tree do to help that little bear not feel scared and hungry anymore?

He rescued him. Yep. He rescued him and he fed him. He was falling off the cliff when he was trying to get those little berries. And then the tree ripened the pine cone and gave him the seeds so he'd have food to eat.

When I watched that movie the first time, I liked it first because I just liked the bear and I was concerned for the bear. But then when I saw how great that tree was, I really started to like it. I realized this is a really great tree.

But, you know, as the story went on, I began to think about not just how great the tree was, but about how much I was like that bear.

What was it that made the bear get all grouchy and grumpy and disobedient? It was those potato chips. He was happy, eating the good food that the tree gave him. But as soon as he got a taste of those potato chips, he just wanted more.

That part of the movie reminded me of me. Because there are times in my own life where there's something that I just want, and I want what I want, and I don't want anybody to tell me no. And just like in The Bear, for me, sometimes when I'm being disobedient and grouchy, bad things happen that I just couldn't foresee.

What was the bad thing that happened for this bear after he ate the potato chips? Fire. He didn't see it. In fact, it wasn't even just when he went to the garbage dump, but he specifically rejected the pine cone. And that is what led to everything else.

That part of the movie was really very sad. I'll tell you honestly, I've watched that movie—I think that was probably the thirteenth time I've watched it. And I cried every single time. There are sad things in that movie.

The Tree's Sacrifice

So the bear rejects the good food and goes after the garbage. Why do you think the tree was willing to die in order to save the bear? Because he loved him. That is a good tree.

I think maybe the most important scene in that movie was when the tree breaks himself off to lay down to form a bridge to reach the bear and bring it back. The bear reminds me of me, but the tree reminds me of Jesus. The tree is like Jesus. Jesus loves us, and it's because he loves us that he's willing to lay down his life in order to make us safe.

When I saw that movie, I think the reason I like it so much is because it helps me see in a new way, in a fresh way, in a kind of surprising way how great Jesus is. That tree is so great, and I just want to be with him. I want to be like him. I want to love him.

There is the scene when the bear realizes that the tree has fallen and will not be coming out. He digs his claws into the bark to try to pull him up, but it's in vain because he's far too little, and he'd never be able to do it. But he realizes in that moment how much he loves the tree and how much he's going to miss the tree.

New Life

My favorite part was at the end when the bear is so sad because the tree has died, and then the leaves move a little bit, and he sees this little sapling growing out of his teddy bear pine cone. There's a moment he's in so much sorrow, but he realizes that in some way, this tree that has died is about to come back to life. He's going to live through this new tree.

So what does he do when he sees this pine cone with a tree growing out of it? He takes it. That's so interesting because there are a lot of saplings in this movie. In the very beginning, he stomps on a tree just accidentally. He doesn't think anything of it. Then he grows a little tree, and he treasures it and cares for it and protects it from the porcupines. Then he crushes it because he's angry. But then at the end, there's another one, and he takes it and protects it and plants it and cares for it through the winter, spring, summer, and fall. And it grows to be a great tree.

That tree is not just like Jesus in that he died, but he's also like Jesus in that he comes back to life. My favorite thing about this movie is that at the very end of it, once the bear realizes all that the tree had done for him, and once the tree through this new little tree has come back to life, it becomes his favorite thing and his favorite place. And that bear lives in that tree. He lives in the branches. He raises his children in that tree so that they will know him true.

And you guys, that is exactly the way that I feel about Jesus.

He is so great, so marvelous, so wonderful that all I wanna do is live in his branches and obey him and love him and enjoy his love for me. I wanted to make sure that my children know that he is so wonderful so that they would live in his branches, so that everyone I meet, everywhere I go would learn just how great he is.

And you guys, I don't know if it was obvious to you or not, but that is what all of VBS was about. We did a lot of fun things, a lot of silly games, a lot of fun activities. You had a lot of chances to play with your friends, and all that stuff's super important to us because we want you to love coming to church. We want you to love spending time with the people of God. We want you to love the things that you learn.

And the center of all of it, what we want you to love most of all is Jesus because he loves you, loves you, loves you, loves you. He is like that tree and he gave everything that he had to rescue you so that you would spend your whole life living in his branches, enjoying him, and inviting other people to come with you.

And so I hope that as the rest of the summer plays out and you guys get to play with your friends, you'll remember the things that you did at VBS, the fun that you had, and the lessons that you learned, and that you'll remember this video about the tree and the bear. And in fact, if you wanna watch it again, mom and dad, the name of it is forevergreen, one word. You can find that on YouTube. I've watched it countless times, and every time I do, I notice something different. There is so much insight packed into that film. So hope you guys might choose to watch that again and let the sweetness and the beauty of the gospel capture your hearts.

I'm gonna pray for you, and then we're gonna sing another song.

Lord, we love you. We thank you for these dear kids, for the fun that we had all week long, for all the work behind it. And, Lord, I pray just like that tree went and rescued that bear, that you'd rescue these kids, that they would live in your branches and love you forever. We thank you so much that you love them. Amen.