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 here on day nine, excited to talk about how this changes everything. I have a couple special guests with me here today, helping us pick apart this subject for today. And what is your name and grade?
[00:00:31] Speaker C: My name's Evan, and my grade is first grade. My name is Ryder and my grade is third grade.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: All right, so we have a set of brothers here ready to help us dig in. All right, so a couple questions for you guys before we dig into the scripture for today. Evan, what are you looking forward to most about Christmas this year?
[00:00:47] Speaker C: I like opening my presents and looking what's in my stockings.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Yeah, you're like, what is even going to be in here? This is going to be the best thing ever. All right, Ryder, what are you looking forward to most about Christmas this year?
[00:01:00] Speaker C: I think I like the same thing.
[00:01:02] Speaker B: The same thing? Yep. We're on the same page pretty much. Those are good things. All right, writer, what is something that is more fun to do with people at Christmas than to do on your own?
[00:01:12] Speaker C: I like to decorate my house for Christmas with my family.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: That is pretty fun. Evan, how about you? What do you like to do with other people rather than by yourself?
[00:01:21] Speaker C: I like to make sugar cookies with my grandma and decorate my house.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Yeah, you know, a lot of people have said making sugar cookies. That's been a popular answer. Feel free. Feel free to bring me some of yours so I can taste test them. I figure if I get one of everybody's, I'll be able to figure out who makes the best sugar cookie here in next gen. All right, and so when you guys think about God says that he's with us, Right? When you imagine that he's with you, where do you imagine Him? Like, where do you imagine him being? What do you think, Evan?
[00:01:51] Speaker C: Right now he's, like, with us, thinking about what we should say.
[00:01:58] Speaker B: Mm, yeah. How about you, writer?
[00:02:01] Speaker C: I think he's inside of us, like, helping us make the right choices.
[00:02:05] Speaker B: Yep. Yep. And so you see that God is, like, with you, right? And he's like, in this moment, he's helping you think through the podcast and just process this information. I love that so much. All right, so let's look at the passage. We are looking at Isaiah 61, and we're going to really just focus on verse one. For today.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Superclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: Great reader. I love that verse. That's actually a very special verse because we see what the spirit of the Lord does right when he's actually. Which is, like, ties in so much of what you guys just said that he's like, in you and he's by you. And this is, like, how we see where he is, because this is what he does. So when is the last time that you heard good news? Do you remember? You're like, oh, that's good news.
[00:02:57] Speaker C: At church.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: At church. Okay. How about you? Any kind of good news?
[00:03:01] Speaker C: I heard that it was going to snow more today, and I felt happy. And that made you happy?
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Some of us had other feelings about that news, but for you, that was good news. All right, so most news comes in the shape of bad things that have happened to the world. And just scrolling through social media or other news sources, oftentimes we see that life can be pretty tough. And during Isaiah's time, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were falling apart. God's chosen people had chosen to live in selfish and sinful ways, far from God. And the consequences of their sin was that the nation of Israel cracked and crumbled and other nations defeated it. The people were spread out all over the earth.
Israel needed good news.
Isaiah communicated what God had said. God had given him the task of bringing good news to the poor. Israel was poor. Its people were brokenhearted spiritually and some physically. When Isaiah wrote this, many were actual prisoners. Today is no different for us. We often choose sin, shame, and selfishness. And our hearts can be poor and brokenhearted. It often feels like we are in a spiritual and physical prison. The best news is the good news of Jesus Christ. God shows us that while he loves us, while we don't deserve us, he cares about the poor, the lonely, and the brokenhearted. Faith in Jesus brings liberty and freedom from the prison of sin. When you give your life to Christ, you are set free. There is no greater news than this. So, gentlemen, let's think through this. What does it look like in spiritual terms to be poor, brokenhearted, or prisoner?
[00:04:35] Speaker C: It's like you are sinning against God and you're not making the right choices.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: Mm. Yep. Any thoughts you have, Evan?
[00:04:43] Speaker C: I think the same thing as.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: Yeah, you're like, no, I just pretty much echo that, right? You're like, to be brokenhearted means that you're choosing to build your own kingdom instead of building God's kingdom, that you're doing what you want to do, how you want to do it when you want to do it, rather than letting the Lord speak into what that is. And that kind of. Those kind of choices, they just continue to, like, bind us up in a prison of our own selves. So in what specific ways does faith in Jesus bring you freedom?
[00:05:09] Speaker C: Like, maybe reading the Bible will help you.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: Okay, so, like, if you. Why would that help you? Like, how do you feel? Like, if you're reading the Bible and you begin to see how does that bring you freedom? What does it remind you of? What does the Bible teach us?
[00:05:21] Speaker C: Instead of, like, sinning, you can follow those rules and help you make the right choices, right?
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Like, the Bible kind of, like, sets out another path, right? Like, hey, here's a new way you can walk. If you want to be a new creation, you have to put your trust and your faith in Jesus alone. You become a new creation, and then you walk a new path in order to be able to build God's kingdom instead of being yours. And when we walk that new path, when we're a new creation, when we function kind of under this new identity, that's what brings freedom for our hearts. And they're not any longer brokenhearted. They're kind of bound up, right? And he sews them up and he makes them new so they reflect him. I totally agree with that. And I think that for me, seeing that Jesus, having faith in Jesus, it brings me freedom because I don't have to act like a slave to, like, some of those old tendencies that, like, my flesh wants me to do. It's like, no, I have freedom to be able to act in a new way and to choose to not sin because I have the power of the Holy Spirit in me. What are some ways that you guys see that in your life you have the choice to be able to make the right choice. That is one of freedom. Like, what are some ways that you feel like you can overcome? What are some choices that you feel like you make that you see that you're like, oh, no, I see that God is with me. I'm making the right choice.
[00:06:32] Speaker C: Sometimes when you can see that somebody's hurt, like, that's happened to me a few times I've seen that people are hurt on the playground or something. So you can always just go up to them and say, are you okay? And then usually after you do that, you'll know, like, you feel good inside. And that's when you know, like, you make the right choices. That's what you do.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: Yeah, because maybe at the beginning, it was like a little like, apprehensive. Like, ooh, should I go say something to them or should I not? Right. You're like, no, I should go take care of them, even if it's a little awkward, and I want to take care of them. Even I want to think about them more than thinking about myself in this moment. Right. And so then you do it, and then you're like, yeah, your heart is, like, at peace. Right. You're like, no, that's exactly what I should have done. That's a great example of how you're like, I can follow God's way instead of just following what I want to do. Evan, what do you think freedom feels like?
[00:07:21] Speaker C: Like, you are, like, free, like, from a city that you are, like, a prisoner.
[00:07:30] Speaker B: Mm. It's, like, opposite of being a prisoner. Right. What do you think it feels like to be a prisoner?
[00:07:36] Speaker C: Bad.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Bad. Right? Yeah. Do you get to make your own choices?
[00:07:40] Speaker C: No.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: No.
Do you get to go wherever you want to go?
[00:07:44] Speaker C: No.
[00:07:44] Speaker B: No. Do you have to do what other people say to do?
[00:07:46] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Yeah. Right. And so it's kind of like freedom's probably, like, the opposite of that. Right. Like, I get to make my own choices. I can do what I want to do. And I'm actually not just whatever I want to do, but all within the way that God has designed the story and the ways that he's told me what to do. And I get to have freedom in that. I love that so much. All right, so as we close out today, I would just love for one of you to close us in prayer. We wanted to be able to talk to God about all the ways that he's forgiven us, and he set us free, and we have this freedom in Him. And we wanted to continue to be reminded that what our life was like before Jesus, and that now we're different. We're new creations. We're living a life in Jesus Christ. And we pray that all of our listeners today are able to help remember that you are no longer a slave. You're no longer living with the title of brokenhearted. You're no longer living in that identity. But you have the opportunity to be able to live as one whose heart is bound up by the word and power and spirit of Jesus. And you are alive in Christ. So, Ryder, will you go ahead and close us in prayer for today?
[00:08:47] Speaker C: Dear Lord, I pray that I thank you that today we had snow. And I thank you that you can always forgive us and that you are inside us and you can help us make the right choices.
Thank you for that. Amen.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Amen. All right, thank you for joining us again today. And can you guys close our podcast by wishing our listeners a Merry Christmas?
[00:09:21] Speaker C: Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas.
[00:09:25] Speaker B: All right, we'll see you guys back again tomorrow.
[00:09:42] 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.
