Good morning. We have another story for you this morning. This one is called The Garden, The Curtain, and The Cross. It's written by Carl Lapperton and it's illustrated by Catalina Echevarria. It's the true story of why Jesus died and rose again. I hope you will enjoy it. A very long time ago, right here in this world, there was a garden. In the garden, everything was wonderful. The world was full of laughing and playing and smiling and fun. There was nothing bad ever. There was no one sad ever. And best of all, God was there. He made it all. He was in charge of it all. And he loved it all. People could see God and speak to God and just enjoy being with God. Hello, Adam. Hello, Eve. Eve, God's here. He wants to walk with us again. How cool is that? Yay. I bet it's going to be ever more amazing than yesterday. It was wonderful to live with God. But then, one day, the people did a terrible thing. They decided they didn't want to do what God said. They decided they wanted a world without God in charge. God calls this sin. Sin spoils things. So sin has no place in God's wonderful garden. God said to the people, you can't live with me in my garden anymore. And he sent them outside. To show the people they had to stay outside, God put some warrior angels in front of the garden. The angels were like a big keep outside. Now things were sometimes bad and people were sometimes sad, but people still kept sinning because they didn't want God to be in charge. So no one could come into God's wonderful place. God said, because of your sin, you can't come in. God wanted people to remember, it is wonderful to live with him, but because of your sin, you can't come in. So he told the people to build a special building called the temple, where he would live. In the middle of the temple was the most wonderful place in the world. The place where God was, where nothing bad and nothing sad. It was very exciting. But then God told the people to put a big curtain around this wonderful place. The curtain had pictures of warrior angels on it. It was a big keep out sign. For hundreds of years, the temple curtain reminded people that God said, it is wonderful to live with him, but because of your sin, you can't come in. Babies became grown-ups and had babies, and those babies became grown-ups and had babies, and those babies became grown-ups and had babies. Hundreds of summers and winters passed by, and the kipo curtain stayed in the temple. Then one day, God's son came to live in this world as a person. He was called Jesus. Jesus always did what God said. Jesus never sinned. And Jesus visited the temple where the kippo curtain hung. Jesus knew that things were sometimes bad and sometimes sad. Jesus said that God had sent him to open the way back to God's wonderful place where there would be nothing bad and no one sad. But people still didn't want to let God be in charge. So they decided to put Jesus on a cross to die. It was the most bad thing that had ever happened. It was the most sad day of all time. But Jesus had a plan. He always planned to die on the cross. What a strange plan. Why would God's son plan to die? On the cross, Jesus took our sin, all the bad things we do, and all the sad things they cause. Jesus took them all from us. And when he did, something astonishing, astounding happened. The curtain tore. God had ripped the keep out sign. God's wonderful place is open again. Because Jesus died, we can go in. After Jesus died, his friends put him in a tomb. They were very sad. For two days, nothing happened. Then the next morning, Jesus' friends went to see his body in the tomb. And it wasn't there! A little later on Jesus' friends were all together and suddenly Jesus was there alive. Suddenly his friends weren't sad. Now they were so so happy. God had brought Jesus back to life so that he could live in God's wonderful place forever. And Jesus has sent everyone an invitation to come and live with Him there too. He tells us, God says, it is wonderful to live with Him. Because of your sin, you can't come in. But I died on the cross to take your sin. So all my friends can now come in. We can live with God forever. There will be nothing bad and no one sad. We will see God and speak to God and enjoy being with God just as he planned. Come on in friends. It is wonderful to live with him. And it's all because of Jesus. We will say every day. Thank you, Jesus. You're amazing, and you can start saying that today. Hello again. I hope that you have enjoyed our story this morning. Just like last week's story, we had some questions on slides at the end. The same instructions are, please pause each slide and work through the questions and the scripture that go along with them. But one word of warning, please do not try to do this all in one sitting. Please break it up and do it over the course of several days. And this is the reason why. The story of this book is the story of the whole Bible, but a lot shorter. You can find the story of how God made his wonderful world and how it was spoiled at the very start of the Bible in the book of Genesis chapters 1-3. The Old Testament tells us how God lived in the temple among his people and explains his plan to send his son. The Gospels show us what happened when Jesus came. Mark 15 verse 25 to chapter 16 verse 8 tells us how he died and came back to life. And, the end of the Bible, Revelation 21-22, gives us a peek at the future, God's wonderful renewed world. Jesus promises that anyone who believes in him will enjoy life there forever. I will come back, then I will take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. I am the way. John 14 verses 3 and 6. So please, work over the course of the next few days the questions and the answers and the scriptures that go along with them. And I hope you really enjoy doing this together as a family. Hope to see you soon. Bye for now.