Speaker 1: Pastor Chad. Good morning to you, sir. I hope you're will.
Speaker 2: Good morn Tom.
Speaker 3: I'm doing great.
Speaker 2: How about yourself?
Speaker 1: Doing great? No complaints? You know Christmas and you and
Speaker 1: I have talked about this. We talked about it right
Speaker 1: and before Thanksgiving on how holidays can be very, very
Speaker 1: stressful to people. But you suggest that actually Christmas time
Speaker 1: can help us deal with stress.
Speaker 2: Well, definitely can.
Speaker 3: And even if you have a cursory knowledge of Christmas
Speaker 3: and the story of what God did at Christmas, it's
Speaker 3: a story that God came and adapted himself to us.
Speaker 3: So think about God as a multi dimensional being beyond
Speaker 3: time and space, and he was willing to come in
Speaker 3: the form of a child, and just think, if that's true. Right,
Speaker 3: I believe it's true, But if someone doesn't. If it
Speaker 3: was true that the God who made all the universe
Speaker 3: and holds all the planets and all the atoms adapted
Speaker 3: to you in such a dramatic way, then you might say, wow,
Speaker 3: I mean, idd did that for me, and maybe I
Speaker 3: could adapt slightly to my crazy uncle or my cousin
Speaker 3: or my relative is driving me crazy. So it's kind
Speaker 3: of a call to adapt, which is if God adapted
Speaker 3: to me, maybe I can adapt to others.
Speaker 2: It's also call for reconciliation.
Speaker 3: Where you think about what family doesn't need a little
Speaker 3: bit more reconciliation. Somebody not to hold some bitterness, somebody
Speaker 3: to maybe get over something significantly happened, but it's time
Speaker 3: to move on. While the whole story of Christmas is
Speaker 3: the story of reconciliation, God wanted to reconcile with us,
Speaker 3: and honestly, we weren't taking the first step, so he
Speaker 3: took the first step. I had that I haven't talked
Speaker 3: to my sister in law for fifteen years after a
Speaker 3: big conflict that happened. I'd reconcile it with my brother,
Speaker 3: as we mentioned four or five months ago, but not
Speaker 3: my sister in law and my wife and I decided,
Speaker 3: you know what, this is the year we're going to
Speaker 3: do it. And honestly, because it's the right thing to do,
Speaker 3: not quite the motivation we needed.
Speaker 2: It'll be good for you.
Speaker 3: Maybe what really motivated us to hit FaceTime video and
Speaker 3: have that conversation was, you know what, God adapted, and
Speaker 3: God reconciled with us when we did a whole lot
Speaker 3: worse to him. Let's do it and so after about
Speaker 3: an hour conversation, for the first time in fifteen years,
Speaker 3: you know, we've now got a full path for families
Speaker 3: to get together again for Christmas.
Speaker 2: And it was tough.
Speaker 3: It was a tough conversation, and yet we felt like
Speaker 3: the spirit of Christmas is I want to do unto
Speaker 3: others what God.
Speaker 2: Did to me.
Speaker 1: I want to tack a couple of well known actors
Speaker 1: that you've talked about recently in some of your sermons
Speaker 1: here and around Christmas. Let's start with Jimmy Stewart and
Speaker 1: his father who sent him Psalm ninety one when he
Speaker 1: went off to war. And then Jimmy Stewart talking about
Speaker 1: why he got so cheerful during the filming of Its
Speaker 1: A Wonderful Life.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know Jimmy Stewart, we know him often from
Speaker 3: Its Wonderful Life those other wonderful movies. He was a
Speaker 3: brigadier general as well and disembalming in World War Two,
Speaker 3: and he had a lot of PTSD, so that you
Speaker 3: know shows up in some of the movies. But when
Speaker 3: he went off to war, his father was a real
Speaker 3: strong Christian believer in God in the Bible, and so
Speaker 3: he sent a little personal note that said, Hey, in
Speaker 3: the middle of this madness, I want you to know
Speaker 3: you can trust God to be your tower, your refuge,
Speaker 3: and the one that will guide you in the midst
Speaker 3: of this. He saved the stem a copy of Psalm
Speaker 3: ninety one. It's kind of the source of strength you
Speaker 3: would have in the middle of the madness of war.
Speaker 3: But after his filming of its wonderful life is that
Speaker 3: moment he gets real tearful. He's crying out God, and
Speaker 3: I need your help. If you're really up there, I
Speaker 3: just need you to step in. And he later Jimmy
Speaker 3: Stewart said he just felt in that moment the hearts
Speaker 3: of so many who feel like in life, let alone
Speaker 3: Christmas time that they don't havingyone to turn to, the
Speaker 3: real sense of emptiness and real sense of you know,
Speaker 3: what's meaning, what's purpose, and that in that moment he
Speaker 3: felt like he was channeling those who didn't have access
Speaker 3: to that purpose and really felt that and he realized
Speaker 3: that's really the call of Christmas, is that we all
Speaker 3: are calling out for God to be with us. And
Speaker 3: even one of Jesus's nicknames is Immanuel, which means God
Speaker 3: with us. If you're going through grieving this Christmas and
Speaker 3: you need some comfort. God with us will be your
Speaker 3: comfort if you're looking for someone who can take the
Speaker 3: manure of life, and life certainly shows a play and
Speaker 3: manure at us and turn into fertilizer for new growth.
Speaker 2: And that's a story of Christmas.
Speaker 3: And he's even born into a cave or an animal
Speaker 3: stall with manure everywhere, and look at the incredible story
Speaker 3: of purpose and meaning that he brings out of the
Speaker 3: manure that he's born into.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Recently, Kevin Kostner, he just released a documentary on Christmas
Speaker 1: where he talks about his faith and you can find
Speaker 1: this on Disney Plus, but basically talk about how he
Speaker 1: walked through the entire Christmas story from start to finish.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really interesting.
Speaker 3: It's a documentary and then Nancy's talking. There's some scenes
Speaker 3: that things are acted out, and in general it was
Speaker 3: really good. One he begins by talking about his first
Speaker 3: acting debut. What's playing an angel or playing one of
Speaker 3: the wise men in a Nativity scene. He had one
Speaker 3: big line, hark, and he missed it because his turmine
Speaker 3: kept falling over his head. He said his love of
Speaker 3: acting began there and he kept just periodically through the play,
Speaker 3: saying hark again again, because you know, I missed the
Speaker 3: big moment.
Speaker 2: But he kind of walks through that.
Speaker 3: Many people have thought that Christmas is a is a
Speaker 3: miss or is a nice story, like a long time
Speaker 3: ago in a galaxy far far away. He kind of
Speaker 3: roots it in the history and shows this really happened.
Speaker 3: It happened in the facts. He shows you kind of
Speaker 3: what was going on during that time period. One of
Speaker 3: the things he highlights is King Herod, and King Herod
Speaker 3: is like a footnote in the Christmas story, and yet
Speaker 3: King Herod is probably one of the most powerful men.
Speaker 2: Who've ever lived.
Speaker 3: They did a great job of describing this historic figure.
Speaker 3: If you've ever been to Israel or heard of Israel,
Speaker 3: you know the Jewish Temple is built on this giant
Speaker 3: mount that was built by King Herod, the guy trying
Speaker 3: to kill Jesus.
Speaker 2: Masada.
Speaker 3: Have you ever heard of or seen pictures of Masada
Speaker 3: massive rocket by the dead sea. The guy built eleven
Speaker 3: swimming pools and a fully functional sauna in the middle
Speaker 3: of a desert at six pc. Guy was an unbelievable engineer.
Speaker 3: He ran this spice factory. I've been to the Herod's
Speaker 3: spice factory, and actually the Wiseman would have gone right
Speaker 3: past that spice factory as part of the trade routes.
Speaker 3: He also built this massive place called Cesri and maritime.
Speaker 3: Bottom line is they did a great job of describing
Speaker 3: him and showing the evidence of Herod as a historic figure,
Speaker 3: that Jesus was born to the days of guy was
Speaker 3: the most powerful man in the world, probably next to
Speaker 3: the Caesar at the time, probably one of those wealthy
Speaker 3: people who ever lived. And he's the one trying to
Speaker 3: kill Jesus. And then they kind of get into his
Speaker 3: mania and all historians show what a maniac he is,
Speaker 3: so scared somebody's gonna take his kingdom from him. He
Speaker 3: killed off his son. They got a scene in the
Speaker 3: documentary where it shows him killing off his son in
Speaker 3: the in the in the hot tub together which he
Speaker 3: killed many of his sons and many of his wives.
Speaker 3: And what of his wives throws herself off, I think
Speaker 3: it's Masada, and kills herself rather than stay with her husband.
Speaker 3: That's also an active there. They want you to see
Speaker 3: this guy who's going after Jesus was tyrannical and was
Speaker 3: suspicious and paranoid. So when those wise men show up
Speaker 3: and say, hey, good news, there's a new king in town.
Speaker 3: I mean, this is like the worst guy you could
Speaker 3: ever say that to. And they also show that, you
Speaker 3: think in the Christmas story we kind of have all
Speaker 3: this nostalgia around it, but there's a lot of tragedy.
Speaker 3: I mean, he then kills off all the boys in
Speaker 3: Bethlehem trying.
Speaker 2: To get after Jesus. So I thought they did a mess.
Speaker 3: This incredible job of showing that God was born into
Speaker 3: this world with pain and suffering and difficulty. He's on
Speaker 3: the run from Herod he had. In the middle of that,
Speaker 3: God enters into our pain and shows that he's willing
Speaker 3: to not.
Speaker 2: Watch from a distance.
Speaker 3: But as John Osborne used to say in her song,
Speaker 3: you know what, God was one of us.
Speaker 2: He became the story.
Speaker 3: And so then you get to see Mary and Joseph
Speaker 3: kind of what was like in their lives during those days.
Speaker 3: It gives you a little cultural feel for what it
Speaker 3: was like for their patrol the period, how devastated Joseph
Speaker 3: was when he heard the news and the angel pierce him.
Speaker 3: The really great historic and inspirational pieces to it, and
Speaker 3: quite frankly toward the end, Kevin Costler says, many people
Speaker 3: believe that now he died ROAs from the dead.
Speaker 2: And he says, I'm one of those, So I was.
Speaker 3: Surprised, and how kind of hapt there he was and
Speaker 3: articulating his belief and faith in Jesus' birth, his death,
Speaker 3: and his resurrection.
Speaker 1: Well, for those who are non believers, and look, there
Speaker 1: are a lot of them out there driving around right
Speaker 1: now that might roll their eyes and all that kind
Speaker 1: of thing. But one thing that cannot be disputed is
Speaker 1: that Jesus was a real person who walked this earth
Speaker 1: just like you and I. And if you just read
Speaker 1: about the way he lived his life, and he really
Speaker 1: only ministered of his thirty three years on this earth,
Speaker 1: he really only ministered, I think for about three years.
Speaker 1: So even if you don't believe in, let's say, the resurrection, okay,
Speaker 1: and you think a lot of this stuff is just
Speaker 1: total nonsense, it's a fairy tale, what cannot be disputed
Speaker 1: is that Jesus did live in this world and the
Speaker 1: things that he did while he was here. All of us,
Speaker 1: believer or non believer, can take a lot out of it,
Speaker 1: especially during this time of the year.
Speaker 3: Well, with that a doubt and if you're just a
Speaker 3: facts person again, I see myself as a philosopher and
Speaker 3: a facts guy. You know the Great Isaiah Scroll. We
Speaker 3: have a copy of that because it does he scrolls
Speaker 3: at one hundred and twenty five BC. We know it's
Speaker 3: everything written in Isaiah written at seven hundred BC, but
Speaker 3: we have a complete copy of one twenty five BC.
Speaker 2: That's a fact of history.
Speaker 3: And in that book one hundred years before Jesus, we
Speaker 3: have a copy of it. It predicts he will be
Speaker 3: born into the land of Zebulin enough tally that's the
Speaker 3: area need of ser Galley, That's where I'm side would come,
Speaker 3: where he's going to live. How he's going to be born,
Speaker 3: born of a virgin, predicted one hundred years in advance.
Speaker 3: Who's going to come visit him, Rulers and kings from
Speaker 3: a non Jewish nations, bringing specific gifts of gold and
Speaker 3: of frankinsense that happens. Specifically, he'll be died by being pierced,
Speaker 3: you know, crucifixion. He'll be killed between other criminals. All
Speaker 3: of these are very specific, very detailed predictions. We have
Speaker 3: the writings and the facts of where he's going to live,
Speaker 3: how he's going to die, what he's going to talk,
Speaker 3: how he's going to talk, what his message is going
Speaker 3: to be. So I would just say, if you're a
Speaker 3: person who's into puzzles or archaeology or facts, this is
Speaker 3: more than just a story. There are actual concrete evidence
Speaker 3: that one can look at and one can say, Wow,
Speaker 3: not only do he live an inspiring life, the life
Speaker 3: I wish I could be capable of living, but also
Speaker 3: the facts of history push me to look at the
Speaker 3: preponderance of evidence and say, I need to wrestle with
Speaker 3: whether or not this really happened, because how in the
Speaker 3: world do you predict in that level specificity that many
Speaker 3: details about any one human being hundreds of years in advance.
Speaker 1: Well, it's just so inspiring this time of year, and
Speaker 1: all of us have the things we have to deal with,
Speaker 1: whether it's, as you mentioned earlier, somebody in the family
Speaker 1: that we've had issues with, and we're concerned about what
Speaker 1: might happen around the dinner table, or what might happen
Speaker 1: if we get into a discussion about this or that
Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be. But you know, this
Speaker 1: is just such a wonderful conversation to have this time
Speaker 1: of year and really every day of every year. So
Speaker 1: I wish you and your family, Pastor Chad, a very
Speaker 1: very merry Christmas, and can't wait to be with you
Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all ten services, we'll see it.
Speaker 1: Well, no kidding, all ten of them. They got going on,
Speaker 1: Pastor Chad Oven. We call it plain glass, stained glass.
Speaker 1: We do it every single week.