After teaching a parable, Jesus often said, "Whoever has ears, let him hear." In other words, "This is important, so you better listen up," and what could be more important than the good news of the kingdom of God?
This family devotional provides a unique opportunity for parents to help their children "listen up" and hear the gospel as Jesus himself shared it. Jesus told simple stories using everyday activities and objects that point to surprising spiritual truths about life in his kingdom. In the parables children (and adults!) will learn to treasure the gospel.
Children love stories, and the parables provide a wonderful opportunity to engage their imagination and help them understand and live out the good news of the kingdom of God. This thirteen-week family devotional is designed to help families explore the parables that Jesus taught through reading selected parables, activities, discussion questions, and "fun facts."
Each five-day session includes Bible reading, discussion questions, a fun activity, and songs.
Also available is Listen Up: Jesus's Parables for Sunday School curriculum.
"Listen Up cracks open a treasure chest of resources that preschool, elementary, and middle school teachers will love to use! Unpacking the parables, master-teacher Marty Machowski has crafted age-appropriate lessons loaded with activities for every type of learner. This beautifully designed curriculum is aimed at the heart and easy to use, whether this is your first year of teaching or your fortieth. Watch your students clap their hands, lift their voices, and engage their hearts and minds with the good news of Jesus Christ."
Champ Thornton, Pastor and author of The Radical Book for Kids, and Pass It On: A Proverbs Journal for the Next Generation
"Marty is a parent's best friend when it comes to figuring out how to creatively and competently do what we really want to do, which is talk with our kids about what matters most the word of God."
Nancy Guthrie, Author of Dinner Table Devotions and Discussion Starters
"If I ever had to return to my child-rearing years, I'd certainly want to take Listen Up with me. It is a book of family devotions, written in a lively, vivid style. It presents an accurate account of Jesus's parables and applies them well to the lives of every participant. Machowski includes excellent suggestions for object lessons, group activities, prayer, and 'going deeper,' while keeping the actual meetings under ten minutes! I can't imagine that anyone would follow the book's directions without becoming a better disciple of Jesus."
John M. Frame, Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando, FL
"Machowski has designed yet another magnificent resource for families. In this new devotional guide he teaches parents and kids how to listen to what God says to us in the parables. The Word of God is alive! We need help to see and understand, and that is what Machowski's devotional guides aim to do. It is wonderfully fitting for this parable genre that Machowski's illustrations shine as brilliant aids for our apprehension of the living Word."
Gloria Furman, Author of Missional Motherhood and Alive in Him
"Biblically faithful. Gospel rich. Theologically insightful. Practical. Creative. Engaging. These are some of the words that came to mind as I read through Marty Machowski's Listen Up I learned things I didn't know about the parables, and repeatedly found myself thinking, 'Parents and their kids are going to benefit so much from this book!' Marty has obviously done his homework and excels at using the whole Bible to help us understand what Jesus is saying in the parables. Best of all, he consistently points us not only to the words of Jesus, but to Jesus himself as the only Savior of the world."
Bob Kauflin, Director of Sovereign Grace Music
"God gifted Marty Machowski with love for the Bible and profound creativity. In Listen Up, he employs these gifts to share Jesus's parables with the next generation. Children will be engaged by the fun facts and interactive activities. More importantly, they'll learn to listen to, treasure, and build their lives on the Savior's words."
Jared Kennedy, Pastor of Families at Sojourn Community Church Midtown, Louisville, KY
Listen Up is the latest book from pastor and author Marty Machowski. This family devotional is based on the parables Jesus taught and contains thirteen chapters to be completed over the course of a thirteen week period. Each chapter has content for five days so there is something to go through with your family almost every day of the week. Reading Listen Up reminded me of my family devotions growing up and made me especially grateful for the attention to detail that went into making this book. Regarding the book's title, Machowski explains, "Our book is called Listen Up because it is important to both hear the words that Jesus taught and apply them to your life by following what they say, " (pg. 6-7). Each devotion is divided into four sections titled, Listen Up, Think About It, Talk About It, and Pray About It. I enjoyed the overall consistency because it creates a structure that helps children know what to expect. The first devotion for each week has additional sections titled, Get Ready and Get Set. The Get Ready section gives families an overview of what they can expect to learn that week. The Get Set section contains an activity that serves as a visual aid that accompanies the content for that week. I really liked each Get Set section and I believe that the visual aids will serve as effective reinforcements when it comes to children recalling the lesson for the week. Another feature of Listen Up that I greatly appreciate is that Machowski includes the Scripture passage for each devotional within the book. I believe that this will provide a smooth flow to family devotion time and eliminate the distraction of going back and forth between books. The subtitle of the book is 10 Minute Family Devotions on the Parables which is a great help because it gives parents an idea of how long each reading should take. In the Introduction to the book, Machowski offers this helpful encouragement to parents, "Don't feel pressure to perform incredible devotions each session. we don't win our children by entertaining them, the Spirit of God wins our children for Christ as we are faithful to share the good news of Christ with them. So rather than looking to be fantastic, just look to be faithful," (pg. 5). This sentiment greatly encouraged me and made me even more thankful for this resource because I know it will be a great help as I point my daughter to Christ. Listen Up is practical, simple, and deeply truthful and I'm excited to give it my highest recommendation.
This is an excellent book for weekly family devotional time. I hove no children left at home, but I’ve enjoyed using it in my morning devoted time. This guide gives one lots to think and pray about. It gives the parent daily activities to guide children through each chapter. These aren’t fluff devotionals. They go deeper. You’ll also find fun facts such as how Dijon mustard was created. This devotional guide of the parables can be geared to all ages of children. Thank you, Mr. Machowski, for the insight you given us with this book.
This is an excellent book for weekly family devotional time. I hove no children left at home, but I’ve enjoyed using it in my morning devoted time. This guide gives one lots to think and pray about. It gives the parent daily activities to guide children through each chapter. These aren’t fluff devotionals. They go deeper. You’ll also find fun facts such as how Dijon mustard was created. This devotional guide of the parables can be geared to all ages of children. Thank you, Mr. Machowski, for the insight you given us with this book.
If you are looking for a family devotional study to do, Listen Up is a 13-week family devotional that focuses on Jesus’ parables. This is a really nice set up and I like that it encourages families to work together and discuss what Jesus taught. We hear stories all the time, either by reading or watching T.V., etc., and this is a great way to get into deeper detail of what the greatest story teller of all time had to say to us. There are activities listed as well that helps make the parable resonate deeper, for example to make cookies for a neighbor. All the activities make word pictures to help younger children to grasp the concept being taught, but this is for older tweens and teens as well. This is a nice, well thought out and planned teaching tool.
"Listen Up" is a 13-week study on Jesus's parables - but with a twist. This is specifically written to be used for family devotions. Each chapter contains five nights of Scripture reading, discussion prompts, and insightful questions meant to draw out both parents and children. Occasionally there are suggested activities to enhance your understanding of a particular story, but for the most part each of the nightly topics could be covered in about 10 minutes. I have enjoyed reading the book and getting a clearer picture on some of the parables myself. For example, in Week 5 Machowski tells us, "The parables are designed to help us examine our own lives." That makes a lot of sense, but I don't think I'd ever heard it put quite that way before! The truths are written simply and clearly. Chapter 8 opens with: "This week we will learn that God is the most generous giver of all, so we can trust Him to give us what we need and follow His example in sharing what we have with others." This is an important lesson and one we cannot hear too often, even as adults. There's a solid emphasis on evangelism within the home as well as reaching out to others. The goal really is to have Truth sink deep into the hearts of our young ones, making sure they know this is all about what's inside and not an act that someone can put on. I found this quote from Week 3 to be quite thought-provoking: "Treasuring Jesus is not just about the words we say, or how good we took on Sunday. Treasuring Jesus is about what's inside your heart; do you really love Jesus and want to live for Him?" I would certainly recommend this for families everywhere who desire to grow closer to Jesus together. The questions and discussion prompts always promote parents sharing from their own life experiences, which is sure to help make these things more real for their children. What a great resource!
If you are looking for a family devotional study to do, Listen Up is a 13-week family devotional that focuses on Jesus’ parables. This is a really nice set up and I like that it encourages families to work together and discuss what Jesus taught. We hear stories all the time, either by reading or watching T.V., etc., and this is a great way to get into deeper detail of what the greatest story teller of all time had to say to us. There are activities listed as well that helps make the parable resonate deeper, for example to make cookies for a neighbor. All the activities make word pictures to help younger children to grasp the concept being taught, but this is for older tweens and teens as well. This is a nice, well thought out and planned teaching tool.
"Listen Up" is a 13-week study on Jesus's parables - but with a twist. This is specifically written to be used for family devotions. Each chapter contains five nights of Scripture reading, discussion prompts, and insightful questions meant to draw out both parents and children. Occasionally there are suggested activities to enhance your understanding of a particular story, but for the most part each of the nightly topics could be covered in about 10 minutes. I have enjoyed reading the book and getting a clearer picture on some of the parables myself. For example, in Week 5 Machowski tells us, "The parables are designed to help us examine our own lives." That makes a lot of sense, but I don't think I'd ever heard it put quite that way before! The truths are written simply and clearly. Chapter 8 opens with: "This week we will learn that God is the most generous giver of all, so we can trust Him to give us what we need and follow His example in sharing what we have with others." This is an important lesson and one we cannot hear too often, even as adults. There's a solid emphasis on evangelism within the home as well as reaching out to others. The goal really is to have Truth sink deep into the hearts of our young ones, making sure they know this is all about what's inside and not an act that someone can put on. I found this quote from Week 3 to be quite thought-provoking: "Treasuring Jesus is not just about the words we say, or how good we took on Sunday. Treasuring Jesus is about what's inside your heart; do you really love Jesus and want to live for Him?" I would certainly recommend this for families everywhere who desire to grow closer to Jesus together. The questions and discussion prompts always promote parents sharing from their own life experiences, which is sure to help make these things more real for their children. What a great resource!
My perception of this new devotional release by Marty Machowski is that it is on target theologically. I see the family grouping to use this book to include upper elementary and upwards to adults. Though conceived and written for parental lead devotions, it can be used as a personal devotional for older teens though it is obviously a "guided" study. The first take-away I got from Listen Up is that when instructions are given in the Bible for us to hear ("he that hath ears to hear.....") is not simply an act of hearing. But we are to hear what is being said, listen to our heart, and act on what we hear. True hearing involves doing or acting on what we hear. This is in the first week's lesson where the action word is "listen." Each week has a focus..... listen, build, treasure, follow, etc. The first parable addressed in the study is that of the sower as presented in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In this five day lesson plan, we learn that the parables are given to explain Christ's teachings to those with open hearts and yet some interpretation is hidden to those with closed hearts. Each five day plan has a Get Ready and Get Set introduction that can be read on Sunday in preparation for the other five days lessons. Having a five day plan seems to allow for the busyness of Sunday and Wednesday (usually quite busy days for chuch folks) and using the five non-church days or evenings to have family devotions. Several versions of the Bible are utilized throughout Listen Up. The passages are not lengthy so you can read your preferred version (mine is the KJV) or you can use that printed in the book itself. As with other materials I have had the opportunity to review for New Growth Press and the author, Marty Machowski, I am quite impressed and pleased to recommend this devotional book. There is a lot of good, sound information to be gleaned from Listen Up. This is not a cute devotional book for young children and there are no illustrations or cute activities. This is straight-forward teaching that is interesting and valuable.
My perception of this new devotional release by Marty Machowski is that it is on target theologically. I see the family grouping to use this book to include upper elementary and upwards to adults. Though conceived and written for parental lead devotions, it can be used as a personal devotional for older teens though it is obviously a "guided" study. The first take-away I got from Listen Up is that when instructions are given in the Bible for us to hear ("he that hath ears to hear.....") is not simply an act of hearing. But we are to hear what is being said, listen to our heart, and act on what we hear. True hearing involves doing or acting on what we hear. This is in the first week's lesson where the action word is "listen." Each week has a focus..... listen, build, treasure, follow, etc. The first parable addressed in the study is that of the sower as presented in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In this five day lesson plan, we learn that the parables are given to explain Christ's teachings to those with open hearts and yet some interpretation is hidden to those with closed hearts. Each five day plan has a Get Ready and Get Set introduction that can be read on Sunday in preparation for the other five days lessons. Having a five day plan seems to allow for the busyness of Sunday and Wednesday (usually quite busy days for chuch folks) and using the five non-church days or evenings to have family devotions. Several versions of the Bible are utilized throughout Listen Up. The passages are not lengthy so you can read your preferred version (mine is the KJV) or you can use that printed in the book itself. As with other materials I have had the opportunity to review for New Growth Press and the author, Marty Machowski, I am quite impressed and pleased to recommend this devotional book. There is a lot of good, sound information to be gleaned from Listen Up. This is not a cute devotional book for young children and there are no illustrations or cute activities. This is straight-forward teaching that is interesting and valuable.
A clear and concise tool for Christian families. If you are a parent or someone who wants to pass on the truth of God’s Word in Jesus Christ onto the next generation, then let Listen Up: 10-Minutes Family Devotions on the Parables by Marty Machowski contribute to that legacy.