← Don't Miss This Study
Loading summary
Transcript20 lines
- [00:02]
A
Hi there. Welcome to Don't Miss this, a scripture study podcast with Dave Butler and Grace Freeman.
- [00:07]
B
Each week we point out things in the scriptures that we love and think you don't want to miss.
- [00:11]
A
Thanks for listening. Hi there. I'm Dave Butler.
- [00:20]
B
I'm Grace Freeman.
- [00:21]
A
Welcome to Don't Miss this, our weekly scripture study class. You guys. Merry Christmas. This is the Christmas episode, which means next week is the Introduction to the Old Testament. So Christmas twice in a row is basically what I'm trying to say to you. That Introduction to the Old Testament comes out, I think, on December 22nd.
- [00:40]
B
So it really is double Christmas.
- [00:41]
A
Yeah, yeah. And no one will watch it probably that week. It's fine. No one should.
- [00:45]
B
No one should.
- [00:46]
A
But January's coming and we're having Christmas right now. So we're going to do Christmas, and hopefully this is coming out in enough time. You can listen to it, watch it, get some ideas for how you could spend that Sunday before Christmas, maybe even Christmas Eve. And just a couple little thoughts about the Christmas story that's just going to help. Think about it in a new way. Think about it differently. And particularly just bringing Jesus and the spirit of Jesus into your. Into your home, which is really the message of Christmas. Right? Yeah. I mean, that was the message of Christmas. The message of Christmas was that God came down, that he came into our lives. He came into our world and into the mess of our world and into the imperfect of our world. I mean, the circumstances that Jesus chose to be born in are his first sermon, the people he decided to come to, and the situation he decided to come to was his. Was his first sermon, and his second sermon was who was invited, you know? Yeah, that. Were you about to say something?
- [02:00]
B
No, you just paused.
- [02:02]
A
And I was like, oh, is it my turn? Yeah, but. Right. Don't you think the sermons of his birth. Now I'm really wanting to list out all of the sermons of his. Of his birth. We have two so far. But yeah, that second. That second sermon of Christmas is everyone is invited. Right. Think of the people who are a part of that. Nobody has it all put together. You've got Joseph who was doubting at first. Like, I don't even think this is right. You've got Mary who's in this situation that nobody understands. Literally nobody understands her situation. And they're. You're right. And. And that could be the Christmas that you're in right now where you're just like, I am feeling a kind of hurt and a kind of confusion that nobody can really understand. Right. Or you've got the shepherds who are the overlooked and the outcasts and the forgotten and the. And the right bottom of the social totem pole people. And they are invited. And then you have the kings who. Everybody assumes their life is going fantastic because of the kind of life they live and the address of where they live. And they have money and they have everything put together and nobody knows the burdens that they are carrying also. And so that sermon of Christmas is everybody was invited. Everybody was invited into the story and maybe more rather that first sermon which Jesus came into all of their stories. And I love that. And I can't remember why I was saying that. Oh, because the lesson will be bringing the spirit of Christ into, into your home. I was thinking about this the other day. I love that Jesus comes as a baby because babies are so approachable and, and there's no requirement. They're just little. And if someone is trying to think about their relationship with Christ, it can start as a baby and you can grow into it and you can, you can approach him just softly and gently like you would a baby. There's. Babies have no expectations of you. You don't have to be a certain way for a baby to. For a baby to like you. And so I love that the first picture that we have on earth of Jesus is as a baby because he's like, I have no expectations. And we're going to grow in this relationship with, you know, with each other. And there's just. And so, I don't know, so cute and approachable and just eat, you know, I was about to say easy. And every new mom out there is like, yeah, that is a lie. So anyways, the sermons of Christmas, which, those are just bonus for today, but we wanted to share some thoughts and share an idea of something that you could do together as a. Just on your own. Something to think about at the end of this year at Christmas time or maybe together with roommates or a family or maybe you have an extended family that likes to do some sort of devotional thing or whatever on Christmas. This fits, I think, really well on Christmas Eve. If you read the story, you know, from Luke 2, you have a chance for people to kind of share some of their feelings about Jesus on Christmas Eve or the Sunday before Christmas.
- [05:19]
B
That was always the main theme of Christmas in our house was that Jesus will show up and there's no limits to who he will show up for. And he will show up in every single person's life. And so our Christmas sermons, David's sermons, you thought that they were for no reason, but they did inspire. And what happened is every single Christmas Eve we would have this tradition. And what happened is everyone got a little candle, like a little white candle. That's like kind of key because it like really kept you entertained because you had like the. You got told fire. So that was like really exciting. And everyone had a little candle and we would hold it. And when you're little candle got lit with fire, it was your turn. And everyone would go around and say the name of Jesus that showed up in their life that year and why. And everyone, it was like, honestly, like a little bit of like our family's yearly testimony meeting. And we would turn all the lights out and everyone knew it was coming, and everyone would get their candle. And it is some of my favorite Christmas memories that I have and I will treasure for the very rest of my life is sitting in a circle with my family and at the kitchen table or on the couches and holding our little candles and watching the melt, the wax melt off and all of us listening to each other preach about our year and say who Jesus had been for us that year. And it is a simple tradition. It does not take a lot. You don't even need candles, truly. Just sit around in a circle. But I think that it reminds us every single year what Christmas is all about. And that Christmas isn't just a day of the year. That story and that theme that God is with us is not one moment in the year. It is every day. It's the year building on each other. It's Jesus showing up every single day in our story.
- [07:05]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Because we need it. And that's, that's a lesson of Christmas. Right? The. The Christmas story, when you read Luke 2, actually starts with taxation and a burden on the people. The situation is a really hard, impossible, difficult situation. And Jesus comes into that one because we need his help. And that's like you said, how he'll always be. So you might wanna start with this great Christmas verse, which is in Matthew chapter 1, where Jesus is given a name. It's a prophecy from the Old Testament. Shout out to the Old Testament next week. And it's Matthew 1, verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. And which is interpreted. That's a Hebrew word that means is what he's saying God with us. And then you might have everybody think about in what ways has God been with you this year? In what ways has he shown up. And if you have that Christmas Advent from Good News Brand, there's all those names in there, and everyone can kind of flip through it and find a name. You also might want to take the Living Christ document, and there's 25 names, actually of Christ in that document. So people can look through that and find a name, or maybe they will just think of and know a name that they want to talk about, that this is the way that God has been with us. This is the way he has showed up in my story. This is how he's come into my messy manger situation. So Grace and I both picked one for us this particular year, and we'll share those, and then we'll say Merry Christmas.
- [08:49]
B
Okay, Should I go first?
- [08:50]
A
Yeah, sure. Okay.
- [08:51]
B
The name I chose is from Hebrews 9, 11. And it is but Christ being come, a high priest of good things to come. And the reason I chose it is because I feel like last year, 2024, was, like, the craziest year of my family's life. And it just felt like difficult thing after difficult thing just kept piling on. And by the end of the year, I was just so ready for the year to end. And my dad had gotten cancer, and there was just seemingly bad news, and everything was, like, kind of working out, but mostly nothing really was working out. And by. I remember, like, on New Year's Eve, I, like, was writing in my journal, and I was like, I am just so glad to say goodbye to this year and just restart. And the very last line of my journal was, I hope next year is better. And then I did. It couldn't be that hard to beat this one because it was just terrible. Like, I was like, that is not going to work. And I truly feel like this year, starting on day one of 2025, was Jesus saying, like, don't worry. I am the high priest of good things to come. Good things will come this year. And I watched it with my dad, and I watched it with my family, and I watched it in my personal life and with my classes. And I just feel like over and over and over again, I was reminded that Jesus brings good things. And there was this moment one night that I was in the Dominican Republic and I was on a humanitarian trip, and I was surrounded by all of these kids. And we were all, like, kind of going around and we were all saying miracles that we saw that day. And I just remember sitting there thinking, like, oh, I could have never imagined a year ago at this time how happy I would be today. I could have never dreamt that that would be possible, but it was because of Jesus. Jesus knew what was coming. He knew that was on the way. He knew that in the depths of my darkest days in 2024, that 2025 would come and there would be so many good things that showed up. And this year wasn't necessarily always perfect to me. There was a lot of really sad things that happened and devastating things and things didn't always work out. But I think the good things that did happen reminded me that when bad things did happen this year, I can still look forward to a high priest of good things to come. Not good now, but good things that are on the way.
- [11:05]
A
No, it's awesome. All right. And the name I picked is, I don't really know if it's a name that people give to Jesus generally, but it comes from Matthew 9 and you could have people pick scriptures or you could just come up with, with a name. You just found scripture. So. And it's at the end of this day and it talks about Jesus going into all the different villages and, and the synagogues and, and it says healing every sickness and every disease among the people. And there's this verse, it says, verse 36, Matthew 9. It says, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as a sheep having no shepherd. And if you click or look in the footnotes of that word fainted, it means that they were harassed. And I just think that that is. Oh, I've always thought that's such a great description of what life is like sometimes where you just feel like, I feel like I'm just being harassed, like I am being bullied by mortality. And you faint because of it and you feel scattered and you just don't know, you know what to do. And I love that this verse teaches us that when he saw all of those situations, he was moved with compassion. And compassion is that word that's just on a soul deep level where he just says, I just have the, the, the root, the Hebrew, Greek of compassion is actually womb love. The way a mother looks at a newborn baby is the imagery of that word that when he sees our situations, he looks at them with those kind of eyes and with that kind of heart and with that kind of intention to help that his first emotion, his knee jerk emotion is compassion. And then it says he comes in and heals. It's interesting for it to say heals every sickness and every disease among the people, which is a prophecy of what he'll someday do and is doing sometimes, when there isn't healing and when there isn't a solution yet and when there isn't an answer yet. I have found a God of compassion, one who just almost seemed to just wrap me up and say, I know how you feel and I know how things are and I love you and we'll get through this together. That's how that word comes out. And where I've seen him most this year as someone with compassion on the situations and the things that were happening. So this is just the beautiful thing is Jesus is all of these things. He's every good thing. And the angels were right when they said, we have good news unto you. Whoever reads that. It's a singular word unto you in your particular situation, in your particular story is born a savior, a healer, a compassionate one, a high priest of good things to come, an advocate, a teacher, a gift, whatever it is the word that you choose. But the angels were telling the truth to the shepherds and to all of us that Jesus is born. He came into our stories, and as we look back on this past year, it's good to remember the way he's been in our stories, the way he has been. Emmanuel God with us. So I hope that's a really sweet experience that you get to take the time by yourself or together with a small group and just kind of go step back into the manger for a minute. Right? Just step back into the simplicity of the story of Jesus. That's. That's how Christmas began. It began with just that little family and Jesus in the center and everything sprung from that, which is fantastic, and we love everything that sprung from it. But it's so great to step into the manger at least one time this Christmas season and just focus on that little approachable baby who is God with us. So we hope you have a fantastic Christmas. We'll see you next week. Remember, grab all your resources for the Old Testament year. Get them now. So you just have them so that when January starts, you're just ready to go. You can get them pick them up at Deseret Book if you want to pick them up local. Or you can get them online at Ezra book or@goodnewsbrandco.com and snag all those and just be ready to go and check your newsletter if you want to print out your timeline. But we'll go over all those things next week. So until then, have a merry, merry Christmas.
- [16:10]
B
Oh, Merry Christmas.
- [16:13]
A
If you want to follow along in everything we're doing, you can find us on Instagram at Don't miss this study, at this Week's Grace and at MrDave Butler.
- [16:20]
B
And if you want to support, subscribe to the app or get our weekly newsletter, all of the information can be found@don'tmissthisstudy.com See you next week.