Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: He is with us.
Merry Christmas.
God is with us.
Merry Christmas.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: Welcome Back to the NextGen Advent podcast. We are so thankful that you are joining us here again today. And we have a couple special guests with us who are gonna help us explore today's topic of he always has. And so, as we jump into the material, go ahead and tell me, what is your name and what is your grade?
[00:00:34] Speaker C: My name is Ava and I'm in 9th grade.
[00:00:37] Speaker D: My name is Avia and I'm in 9th grade.
[00:00:39] Speaker E: My name is Callie and I'm also in 9th grade.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: All right, so we have a band of a few of our 9th grade friends with us here today, helping us explore this topic. And my ninth grade friends, let's talk a little bit about Christmas. And so what are you most looking forward to about Christmas this year? Callie, how about you?
[00:00:55] Speaker E: I'm looking forward to getting together with my family and we always play games at Christmas. And yeah, I'm excited to do that.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: Is there a certain game that you like to play?
[00:01:03] Speaker E: I personally like spoons.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: Mmm. It's kind of violent. Do you feel like you get violent during that game? Yes. Yeah. Okay, I could see that. Via. How about you? What are you looking forward to about Christmas?
[00:01:12] Speaker D: Secretly? I'm looking forward to the presents, but I'm also.
[00:01:15] Speaker B: But we won't tell anyone that.
[00:01:17] Speaker D: No one will know. I'm also looking forward to spending time with family.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: All right, Ava, how about you? What are you looking forward to about Christmas?
[00:01:26] Speaker C: I'm looking forward to on Christmas morning after we open presents, my family likes to go on a hike together.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Oh, that's fun. Do you have, like, a certain place that you go to a hike or you, like, switch up locations?
[00:01:34] Speaker C: Yeah, we just go to a forest preserve.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Oh, that's very fun. That's, like, very refreshing. I want to join you. All right. And so, so many people are looking forward to, like, as, like, I've listened to everyone's answers so far the last couple days, and as we record into the future, it's very fun to hear what people are looking forward to. You're the first person to say hike, and we've been talking a lot about this season, about God with us and how that makes all the difference. But so we're. One of the questions I'd love to hear from you is what is something that is more fun to do at Christmas with other people than to do by yourself?
[00:02:06] Speaker E: Well, one thing I think is before Christmas, when you're getting ready with preparations of food, I think that's really fun to like, bake cookies with people instead of by yourself.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: That's true. I agree. Fia, how about you?
[00:02:18] Speaker D: I enjoy, like, buying presents for other people. Like, going to Target with my siblings.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Big target hall. Yep. Ava, how about you?
[00:02:26] Speaker C: I like wrapping presents with other people. Cause it's kind of boring to just sit by yourself.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: I agree.
One of the things I like, I think almost everything is better to do at Christmas with other people than by yourself. But that's also just my personal opinion. Right? Absolutely. And so when we think about the fact that God is with us, the question I'd love to hear from you guys just kind of process is, where do you imagine that God is? Like, when you're like, okay, God is with me, how do you imagine him being with you? And how do you know that that is true?
[00:02:53] Speaker D: I kind of imagine him just, like, standing right by me all the time. And then, like, I can ask him, not ask him. It's kind of weird.
[00:03:02] Speaker B: No, you can ask Him.
[00:03:04] Speaker D: Like, I can feel his presence in a way.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Yep. Ava, how about you? How do you imagine that God is with you? Like, where is He? What is he thinking about you? What do you think about Him?
[00:03:15] Speaker C: I imagine him, like, kind of being this little thing that just, like, floats around everywhere with you, just, like, follows you around. You could just have it like a little dog that follows you around your house all day, just, like, talking, like.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Near you, like, accessible. Kelly, how about you? How do you imagine that God is with you?
[00:03:30] Speaker E: I imagine him, I don't know, like, over my head sometimes. It just feels like he's always there.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Yeah. And what do you imagine that he's, like, thinking about you when he's, like, near you?
[00:03:40] Speaker E: That he loves me and he cares for me and he's always there.
[00:03:43] Speaker B: Yep. All right, so let's dig into our passage. Today we're going to be looking at pretty much the entire chapter of Isaiah 53, but we're going to pick out verse five and kind of focus in on that via. Would you go ahead and read that for us today?
[00:03:54] Speaker D: Yeah. But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities. Punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
[00:04:04] Speaker B: All right, so let's think through that. Prophets in the Old Testament spoke or wrote what God said. Isaiah wrote down these words from God more than 700 years before Jesus side was pierced on the cross. The prophecy told a story that could only be understood after God's plan for salvation was revealed. Have you ever considered the significance of your Iniquities, as we call them. God has laws and ways in which humanity is commanded to live. When you break his law, you are committing iniquity, or oftentimes we refer to that as sin. On its most base level, sin makes the world unequal. When we commit sin, the punishment we deserve is death. This is why we need a Messiah. This is why Jesus gave up his life. God's grace and goodness was on display in the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His side was pierced on our behalf. Giving your faith and life to Jesus fully means that you are no longer at war with God. Instead, you have peace with Jesus. And Jesus was the punishment that was needed to restore our peace. His death paid the penalty for our sin. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah to bring hope and encouragement to people who were struggling. We have the amazing gift that we can read this text today and fully understand what God meant. We see Jesus in every word. You are also able to see God's goodness and faithfulness that has been shown 700 years before Jesus arrived.
This should bring great hope for your life today. God loves you and he always has. And so, ladies, as we think through this passage and we think through this 700 years, I mean, I can't even really honestly fathom what it's like for those words to be spoken and then for them to kind of just like, float and then for them to find, like, a landing place in the person of Jesus later on. But how do you think humanity is healed by Jesus wounds? And how did Jesus death heal Christians? What are your thoughts?
[00:06:05] Speaker E: Jesus wounds are from when he was on the cross and how he had made the ultimate sacrifice for us which healed our spiritual wounds. And now we can be with God eternally.
[00:06:19] Speaker B: What do you think, Ava?
[00:06:20] Speaker C: God died on the cross and that took, like, all the weight that would be on us for all of our sins that we would, like, have to carry around. So he takes them from us and we're, like, free.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: What do you think that weight feels like, Aviyah?
If you had to bear that on your own, what do you think that would feel like?
[00:06:38] Speaker D: Definitely heavy.
[00:06:39] Speaker B: Heavy, yeah. Do you think that's something that you would be able to.
To do?
[00:06:44] Speaker D: No.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: So people, before they come to know Jesus, they kind of carry that weight around them, right? It's like their job to manage their sins and to try to break free from it and to try with all their might. Right. And then when Jesus steps into our life, he takes that weight, he takes that sin, he takes all that that is, and he Pays for that for us. And so in that way, he heals us. Right. Because he's taking the weight, he's taking the wounds, and everything is giving us freedom and healing instead, which is, like, pretty great trade off, if we're gonna be honest. All right, we wanna look at two passages that kind of talk about this further. Ava, can you go ahead and read for us? Romans 3:23.
[00:07:22] Speaker C: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: All right, And Callie, the other verse we wanted to look at is Romans 6:23. What does that one say?
[00:07:30] Speaker E: It says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[00:07:36] Speaker B: All right, so how do these verses tell us how does our sin impact our relationship with Gadaviya?
[00:07:42] Speaker D: I feel like it kind of pulls us apart and, like, draws us away.
[00:07:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And so it's disconnecting in its essence. Right. Like, sin disconnects us from God. Right. And like you said, it pulls us apart, it draws us away, and it's everything to be able to get, like, between us so that we don't have a relationship with God and we can't know him, we can't go to heaven. Right. And we are not at peace with him in any way. Like, our whole life is just in turmoil when we're not in a relationship with God. How does faith in Christ bring forgiveness? And how does that impact our relationship with God?
[00:08:16] Speaker E: Faith kind of heals the sin. And, like, if it was a cliff from us and God because of sin, faith and forgiveness kind of makes a bridge so that we can be with God again.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Yep. And so that sin would have created that hole Right. Between us. Right. Separating us. And you're right. And so when we have that faith, that's what kind of, like, bridges that chasm for us to be able to obtain God together, get to God, to be able to see, like, and have a relationship with him and honestly, like, have, like, communion and fellowship with him and what that is. And so we know that he has always been there. We know that his wounds have provided this peace. Right. And he took this punishment. It says he's crushed because of our iniquities. The punishment for our peace was on him and we are healed by his wounds. And this is no small act. Right. Like, it's no small act for him to be able to take that punishment and to be able to carry that for us, that we don't have to carry that anymore. And when we think about this, we kind of have, like, a mental Picture of what our sin can look like and how much that costs. And that's something that you and I, when we go about every day, even if we're pretty aware of, like, ooh, I shouldn't have done that. That was probably not what the Lord wanted me to do. Or sometimes we're completely ignorant, right? About, like, what our sin costs us and what that costs Jesus, day after day after day, each one of our sins actually probably adds up to be, like, quite a bit, right? That the Lord is, like, having to cover that he's had to make, right, that he's had to take that punishment upon himself. And so when we think about that, that's just a lot for us to be able to be grateful for, that he is willing to be able to take that punishment. And instead, he provides us peace. And if we're gonna be honest, we kind of get, like, the good end of the deal.
And he is willing to honestly, like, do that on our behalf. And so I just would hope that everyone today, as we're kind of processing through Isaiah 53 and the fact that we see that we're no longer at war with God, instead we have this opportunity for peace because Jesus has restored that for us. That if you have not put your faith and trust in Jesus alone, that today might be the day that you decide to be able to put your faith in Jesus. And, girls, can someone explain to us, how do you do that? How do you put your faith in Jesus?
[00:10:15] Speaker D: What does that look like, accepting Jesus into your heart?
[00:10:18] Speaker B: And how do you do that?
[00:10:19] Speaker C: You pray and ask him to, like, come into your heart.
[00:10:23] Speaker B: Yeah, right. You're like, okay, Jesus, I'm a sinner.
I can. I don't want to carry around the weight of my sin anymore. I don't want to be having this, like, war with you. I want to be at peace with you. Will you take my sin and kept on my faith and trust in you alone to be my Savior? And so again today, I invite our listeners, just as you have this opportunity to be able to process through that, if that's a decision that you haven't made, I just encourage you to consider what is stopping you from making that decision, and what is stopping you from being at peace with God and allowing him to take the weight of that sin so that you can experience that peace. And so, girls, I just thank you for processing this with me today. Will one of you close us in prayer?
[00:11:03] Speaker D: Dear God, thank you for this day. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. And being ever faithful. Thank you. That you would clean us all from sin. And I pray that we can all have an amazing day. Amen.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Amen. All right, ladies, can you close our podcast today by wishing our listeners a Merry Christmas together?
[00:11:25] Speaker C: Merry Christmas.
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Merry Christmas to everyone. We'll see you back here again tomorrow.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Star is shining? Angels sing? Our Savior Born the hope? He brings in a manger?
The King has come? God with us? The Holy One?
Through the silence? Light breaks through? A tiny child? A promise true? In the stillness?
Heaven's near? God with us? We shall not fear?
He is with us?
Merry Christmas.
God is with us?
Merry Christmas.
He is with us?
Merry Christmas.
God is with us?
Merry Christmas.
