December 17, 2025 • 50 mins
Loneliness can feel loud during the holidays, even when the room is full. We start with the laughter of a kids’ Christmas program and move into the deeper ache so many carry—feeling overlooked, crowded by responsibilities, and unsure how to find our way back to Jesus. The good news is simple and strong: you don’t have to clean the room before you open the door. Confession is the hinge that swings it wide.
We get practical about making space for God when life is packed. Try a five-minute daily rhythm in Scripture and prayer and watch it grow. Lead brief, honest family devotions—just a paragraph, a question, and a follow-up tomorrow. Don’t have all the answers? Model how to find them. We talk calendars and bank statements as mirrors of what we love, and we give permission to skip a practice, end a binge, or silence a notification so your soul can breathe. Community matters too: make the call, tell the truth without oversharing, and be the voice on the other end when someone else is struggling.
At the heart sits the manger—whether you picture a stable or a crowded lower room—where the Savior chose rejection so you could be welcomed. He prepares a room with your name, not down the street but in the Father’s house. Present stress and private doubts are real, but they don’t compare to the glory ahead or the presence offered now. If you need a friend today, start with Jesus and reach for a brother or sister. Then tell us how it’s going. Subscribe, share this with someone who feels alone, and leave a review to help others find their way home.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim.
And we are in week two of ourChristmas series, I'll Be Home
for Christmas.
And uh, Tim, before we jump intothe Christmas series, um on
Sunday we had Freshwind Kids dothe uh their Christmas
performance for the year, andman, I just thought they did
(00:48):
such a great job.
SPEAKER_03 (00:50):
Oh, I I thought you were gonna deny that they were
there and singing Christmascarols because you've been Mr.
Christmas hater.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
I've been walking around with sticks of dynamite
blowing up the whole Christmasstory, the whole nativity story,
you know.
SPEAKER_03 (01:05):
So do you think there was a camel?
Sure.
Just say there was a donkey.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
Just say it.
There was probably a donkey inthe lower room.
That would be common.
Did they take a donkey fromNazareth to Bethlehem?
Doubtful.
I don't even know if that'sdoubtful.
We just don't know.
We don't know.
We don't know.
That's 50-50.
Could go either way.
It would make sense to travelwith one.
But if you're pregnant, I stilldon't know if you're like, you
(01:35):
know what I'd love to do rightnow?
Climb up on that donkey.
SPEAKER_03 (01:40):
Well, I'm you know, I've I've been going through
this series, and as youcompletely displace the nativity
and everything we think aboutit, um I know you got your you
got your sources, and it justhappens to be the Bible, but I'm
not buying it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Yeah, you know, I'm I'm wondering, I'm I'm dropping
these little nuggets in here.
Um, you know, hopefully helpingpeople learn something, teaching
something new, uh, gettingpeople interested.
Like, oh, I didn't think aboutthat.
And so you put those things inthere thinking, man, if I can
get people to be interested,they'll go and look and read
their Bibles more, and thatwould all be great.
(02:20):
But they're what I'm probablydoing is losing everyone for the
rest of the sermon.
SPEAKER_03 (02:24):
Next year he'll be saying, There was no lights on
Christmas.
Get those lights off your house.
SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
We'll come back.
Christmas 2026.
It's uh yeah, there's someinteresting stuff in there.
But for real, thought the kidsdid just a fantastic job um
coming and singing, and Ithought they brought a lot of
joy to the church on Sunday.
SPEAKER_03 (02:46):
It was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun seeing themall up there and stretched uh
all the way across the stage,and uh just so many kids and
parents excited to be there andand uh grandparents.
It was a great time.
We had a great time.
SPEAKER_01 (03:00):
Yeah, we built those uh had Don out in the barn last
year building those risers, andwe got to the that meeting right
before um the Christmas program,and we walked back there, and
I'm like, we're not gonna fit onthese risers.
Oh no, what what do we do?
Um, so we had to rearrange thestage a little bit, get them all
up there, spread them out, andyeah, there had to be at least
(03:25):
uh probably close to three timesthe amount of kids up there this
year as compared to last year.
SPEAKER_03 (03:30):
So and it was great that we sent them back to class
before you you know destroyedour traditional Christmas for
us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
So that was good too.
I I tell people all the timelisten, we have kids' ministry
for a reason.
Get your kids out of this room.
SPEAKER_03 (03:46):
I think um what let me say this that the nativity is
a montage of everything thathappened, okay?
It's not what happened.
Okay, so let's just everybodyrelax.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
And I'm not telling anyone to take their nativities
down.
You know, don't go home and youknow, Dave, he built uh he built
that nativity for me for myhouse.
You you can leave yournativities up in the yard, you
can leave them on the mantle oror on your entry table.
It's all fine.
It it's it's good.
Might not happen that way, butit's good.
SPEAKER_03 (04:27):
Sometimes, you know, I've told you your whole career,
and just there's some things youjust want to leave alone.
And you're like, not Christmas.
SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
Not Christmas, no.
There wasn't a donkey.
No, we tell our team here at thechurch all the time, everything
you say needs to be true.
Not everything true needs to besaid.
And here I go trouncing all overthat.
SPEAKER_02 (04:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
So jumping back in, uh, week two, I'll be home for
Christmas.
Um, I told you before we startedhere, you know, I've I've been
feeling real nostalgic thisyear.
We had our um our staffChristmas party uh last week,
and Joy and I were over at uhSam's Club picking some stuff up
for the party, and we walkedpast past this Christmas
(05:08):
sweater, and it said Joy on it,which is perfect.
My wife is Joy, and I'm like,babe, you need this.
And I was like, honestly, itkind of reminds me of my grandma
Lynn.
You have to buy it.
I'm sitting there thinking, whatis wrong with me?
Yeah.
Here, babe, you know what I'dlove for you to do?
I'd love for you to buy thisshirt that reminds me of my
grandma.
(05:29):
She did buy it though.
And she was romantic.
It's romantic.
Made me very proud.
Um, and so we got the newChristmas sweater.
But I've I've been in thisweird, weird season this year
for Christmas where I've justfelt way more nostalgic, I
guess.
Um, and so that's that was kindof the whole genesis of the I'll
be home for Christmas idea.
(05:50):
But um man, it's uh apart fromme blowing up Christmas week by
week, it's been uh it's beenneat to kind of talk about some
of these themes about just theLord inviting us back home.
SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
Yeah, I I I think we forget about uh who he is
because I think it's a tendencyfor our whole culture to get in
our little echo chambers.
Um we do that in our minds, uhnot just online, but we you
know, my family thinks thisabout me, or or I don't fit into
(06:26):
my wife's family, or they nevertalk to me, or um, all those
things.
And uh one thing one thing I'velearned um in my life is if no
one will talk to you, do all thetalking.
And that's it's been good forme.
I I mean you can make a switchon that right there, and just
don't let anybody speak and youtake over the conversations.
(06:47):
But um that doesn't work foreverybody.
I want you to uh um think aboutthis.
The holidays are s for somepeople are the most lonely times
of year, and that's because umall the water that's under the
bridge, and uh you don't thinkyou can reconnect to the people
that you love, and I know youlove them, you just can't stand
(07:09):
them.
And uh that's you know, that'spart of being in a family, and w
we have a culture now that uhwants to put up boundaries, and
you know, I can't stand forthat, and this, that, and the
other thing.
And uh but instead of doing thatto the culture, we do it to our
families.
We always gotta make room uh forour family.
(07:30):
And I and that's what the Lorduh what you were talking about,
making room uh for the Lord inyou, not just your your family.
If you don't want to be alone,you know, you need Jesus and
you'll never never be leftalone.
But it is a it is a lonely timeof the year.
I I was talking to my dad uhyears ago, and he said, Yeah, I
(07:54):
I got off the boat in SanFrancisco after the war and
there was um he said millions ofpeople everywhere and I was so
alone so alone.
You know, coming out of theNavy, uh brothers fighting with
each other, and then okay, it'sover, go on.
(08:16):
And he said, I was standingthere, and I never felt so
alone.
And so um there's that happeningall around us, all around us.
Keep your eyes open for thosepeople who are feeling alone and
don't let them be alone.
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
Have a great opportunity, yeah, uh, around
Christmas to to jump into thosesituations.
Um because if you're feelinglonely, here's what I can
guarantee someone else isfeeling alone just like you.
Um and if you two got together,you wouldn't be alone anymore.
SPEAKER_03 (08:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:49):
Um and so I am uh I'm encouraged by what God is
doing in this series.
Um and and I, you know, just twoweeks in, um it's been it's been
really cool to see how howpeople have responded to to the
message each week.
Um and so we're we'reencouraging you uh be a part of
(09:10):
this.
Um and it's uh life is one ofthose things where it does, it
gets overcrowded and you feelleft out.
I shared that story about um youknow my cousin Megan and and I
love Meg.
I was I she was walking out onSunday, I was like, hey, thanks
for letting me talk about y'allall sermon long.
But uh Meg was awesome, youknow, and I got to grow up and
(09:33):
and I did, but I I felt growingup, man, she gets to be with all
the cool groups, all the coolpeople doing all the cool
things, and I felt like I wasalways on the outside of that.
Um and I, you know, I didn'tlive a terrible life, and I had
parents that loved me and allthat stuff, but I just never
felt like I could connect withthose groups of people, and it's
(09:54):
who I thought I wanted toconnect with, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (09:57):
Yeah, and that's that's one of the things that
you really need to look at inyour own life is is what you're
seeing over there really whatyou're desiring?
Um, because it might becompletely different than what
you think it is.
It might be worse.
I mean, we made movie aftermovie after movie about you know
the unpopular kid becomingpopular and and what that cost
(10:20):
him.
Right.
And uh so we need to be verycareful about what we're looking
at because as uh Carol Burnett,you probably don't know who that
is.
Very familiar.
Yeah, she was a uh comedian uhfrom ages past, but she she
wrote a book called uh The Grassis always greener around the
(10:42):
septic tank.
Well, that that is certainlytrue.
So uh we need to be careful whenwe're uh comparing our lives to
others, um, that uh there'ssomeone in your life right now
that you're overlooking whileyou're thinking I'm being
(11:04):
overlooked.
And uh we need to uh we need torecognize those things.
Given a little bit of yourself,uh you'll reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
That's right.
I think for a lot of us, youknow, some of the the loneliness
we we feel, especially aroundChristmas, we don't feel seen.
We do, we show up at theChristmas parties, the family
parties, and and you feel leftout, you feel you know, on the
side of whatever.
Um and then just in our own lifesometimes I feel like we're just
(11:34):
like I I don't feel at peace, Idon't feel at home here.
Um and I think we just get sobusy, man, with with
responsibilities, withexpectations, with noise, this
pressure to perform.
And and before long we look upand you know I I've talked to so
many people over the years thatI mean I just don't feel uh
(11:57):
close to Jesus anymore.
I don't feel like I'm growing inmy faith anymore.
SPEAKER_03 (12:02):
Um I don't think uh people intentionally want to
push Jesus out.
But here, let me be the oldpastor and uh push into this a
little bit because this isimportant.
Um if you feel like Jesus hasfallen out of your life, you
don't feel like you're as closeas him anymore.
A lot of times we don't invitehim in because you know
(12:25):
something inside uh is not gonnaalign itself with Jesus.
So we get this idea that I don'twant to invite him into my life
um because I got this otherthing going that he won't
approve of.
So I I want to make sure thatyou guys get that.
It's just not I forgot abouthim.
It's like he's not compatiblewith the way I've started to
(12:49):
live.
And and and by saying, you know,I'm not gonna let him into my
life because I'm gonna do this,it's it's like you know, you're
you're drinking and the pastor'scoming over, so you throw the
booze in the garbage.
That's all you gotta do.
You're gonna invite Jesus in,just throw the booze in the
(13:11):
garbage.
Whatever it is that you're umyou're worried about him not
relating to you, let me tell yousomething.
Jesus relates.
I he's been watching us forsince we got started, since Adam
and Eve, and he knows what'sgoing on in our hearts and
minds, and he's like, I stillwant to come over.
I still want to come over.
Let me in.
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
I think you're on to something.
And Jesus said it.
I I quoted it um in my my sermonon Sunday when when we were
talking about this.
You you can't serve two masters,right?
And Jesus said it this way, hesays, because here's why you'll
grow to love one and hate theother.
And so you have those things,you're like, Man, I it's not
(13:54):
like I'm trying to push Jesusout, I just have this thing.
But you'll grow to resent Jesusbecause he's incompatible,
right?
SPEAKER_03 (14:02):
And it's pressure, right?
SPEAKER_01 (14:04):
And so to open the door and let him in means I'm I
might have to lay this thingdown, or I'm not gonna get to to
to do it as often as I want,whatever it is.
Um, and so you'll grow toresent, oh man.
I know I'm supposed to be atchurch, but the Browns are
playing in London today, right?
And and you'll grow to resentit.
(14:25):
He he requires too much of me.
And and he says, You you willlove that thing, but your love
for it will cause you to hatethe other thing.
And you know, in that scripture,you know, he ends up saying you
can't learn serve both God andmoney, but you could replace
money with a lot of thingsthere.
Um for a lot of us it's money,some of us it's power, for some
(14:46):
of us it's greed or pride.
For some of us, it's our anger,our unforgiveness, our
bitterness.
You know, it it feels good.
You know, we just got done withthat whole series talking about
malice and slander, those thingsfeel good.
They do.
He says, You'll you'll grow tolove that, but you know I don't
want that in your life.
Right.
I I've actually told you youneed to rip those things out,
(15:09):
and so you'll end up hating mebecause of it.
But then the reverse of that ishe says, Man, if you if you will
pursue me, well then I will giveyou the desires of your heart.
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
I'll replace those with things that you love even
more.
Right if you'll if you'll letme.
Jesus didn't say this onaccident.
He said, if you want to followme, deny yourself, pick up your
cross, and let's go.
So deny yourself means I'm gonnadeny what I want over Jesus, I'm
(15:42):
gonna invite him in.
And pick up your cross ispicking up the fact that you
want this other thing reallybad, and it's gonna be a battle,
and you're gonna have to carryit as you follow him.
But as you follow him, it'll geteasier and easier and easier to
deny that and say yes to him.
And I um you know, confession isso important in a Christian
(16:06):
life, and if there's somethingkeeping Jesus out, you just need
to confess it and and then tosay, Lord, because as soon as
you do, as soon as you agreewith him that that's the wrong
thing, he starts training you towant to please him.
And uh that's the first step isto confess it.
Confess it.
(16:27):
Confess it.
Confess it.
And uh and then let the Lord in.
And and as many times as ittakes, the Lord is gonna lead
you out of that.
He wants to.
He wants to be part of yourlife, even though that other
thing is incompatible with him.
He still says, I can help youlet that go.
(16:50):
Right.
And give you joy and peaceinstead of this pressure that or
this this angst that we haveagainst each other.
I don't have that.
You have it, you feel it from mebecause you're just feeling your
own angst.
But I don't have that.
All you gotta do is lay it downand let's go.
I'm not gonna be bitter, I'm notgonna make you pay, I'm not
(17:12):
gonna do any of that.
I just want you to lay it downand follow me.
SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
That's so good.
We think, yeah, I I gotta getall this cleaned up, I gotta,
you know, straighten myself up.
Because God's mad at me.
Right.
And that's the tension thatyou're you're saying.
We all feel.
And he's like, I'm not holdingthat stuff against you.
You know, we we want to livelives pleasing to the Lord.
We do.
I think if you're a follower ofJesus, you want to live a life
(17:39):
that's pleasing to the Lord.
You got these hangups, you gotthese things, you got your
temptations and proclivities andall this stuff, but we want.
We want to live a life pleasing.
Well, listen, God wants you tolive a life pleasing to the Lord
more than you want to live alife pleasing to the Lord.
Amen.
He's not trying to hold thesethings against you until you
straighten up, you know.
(18:00):
That's not who he is.
You know, on Sunday in thesermon, I was like, God's not
looking for a perfectly cleanroom.
You know, he's not waiting foryou to get your life together,
get the house in order.
He's just saying, open up thedoor.
SPEAKER_03 (18:13):
His side of the relationship is completely pure,
completely loving, completelyencouraging, completely
affirming.
You're just putting that upagainst him because that's the
way you feel against him.
And all those uh angst are umthings we deal with in the
(18:34):
Christian life every day.
This is nothing new.
This is what we do.
Lord, I love this more than you.
And the Lord says, Well, let'sfix that.
And we're like, Well, not rightnow.
Let's wait a little bit, youknow.
Let me enjoy it to where and youknow, God can say to you, uh,
well, you can go, you can takeit, you can do it until you hate
(18:56):
it, but I'll be here.
I haven't changed the way I loveyou.
I haven't changed the way I feelabout you.
I'm just outside and I want tocome in.
You know, you seem lonely inthat.
Now, we talked about that for afew minutes, and that's good,
because we need to talk aboutthat, because that's where I'd
say 60 of the people 60% of thepeople are.
(19:17):
But there is 40% of Christiansout there right now who's let
life take over their life, andthey don't have room for Jesus
because they didn't put theboundary up and said he's most
important.
It's more of a priority thingthan a values thing.
(19:37):
Values, I value this more thanJesus.
Now we got this angst, butpriority is no, he's he, I love
Jesus.
He's in my life.
I, you know, this is what Iwant.
But these other things havedropped him down to three or
four or five when he should benumber one.
And um that's where you find outyou don't have enough time to
(19:59):
read his.
Word.
You don't have enough time.
Now we tell you all the time,and my wife complains about this
all the time, Ryan.
So I just want you to know thatwe say, just spend five minutes
with him.
The reason we want you to spendfive minutes with him is because
we trust him to reach out andpull you in.
That's what we're trying to getyou to do.
(20:20):
Get in his word.
You know, find out what he says,what he's saying to you.
You know, we want you to do thatbecause we know that one day, if
you do this on a consistentbasis basis, you're going to
say, What does he mean by that?
And you're going to open up uhthe Bible and cross-reference
and start digging down to figurethat out what it is.
And that's what we're prayingfor the Holy Spirit to do with
(20:42):
you.
The truth is, um, you need toinvest your life in Jesus, in
his word, studying his word,learning new things.
And um, I mean, all the way tothe point where you can defend
your faith, that's where youneed to go.
Um, we just want you to getstarted because we know he's
(21:03):
gonna lead you in that in thatdirection.
And uh, but when we get busy andthere just doesn't seem enough
time, you know, you started, ohman, I'm busy.
I'm well, if I'm gonna do mydevotion, I'm gonna have to get
up 20 minutes earlier, andyou're doing that, and then
suddenly you're like, Well, Ineed to really check my um
(21:25):
stocks before it opens up atnine, so I'm gonna I'm gonna do
that.
So that means if I'm gonna do mydevotion, I'm gonna have to get
up another 20 minutes earlier.
And pretty soon you're lookingat, okay, I get up at 4 30.
And uh so it's important that weuh get our priorities straight.
Whether you're going to spendtime with Jesus in the in the
(21:46):
morning or the evening or onyour lunch break, whatever it
is, it needs to be consistentand it needs to be all the time.
If you did not do that with yourwife, she probably wouldn't be
your wife anymore.
You know, hey, I'm gonna giveyou five minutes at 4 30.
And then I I got stuff to do.
SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
Yeah, on the car ride to work, that's all you get
all day.
You know, I'll do a little audioversion and then I'm done for
the day.
Right.
Yeah.
As you our our desire, man, ifif you'd spend an hour or two or
three with the Lord every day,golly, as you're pastors, we
would love that for you.
Yeah, we love it.
(22:27):
I understand that's a that's abig ask in the beginning.
And and those of you who havehave done that, you've you've
grown to love the Lord that way,you can testify that you have
tasted it and seen the Lord, andHe is good.
It is good.
I mean, David, the psalmist, hesaid, as the deer pants for
(22:48):
water, I long for you.
Right.
And here's Jeremiah said, I wantto eat eat this book.
Yeah.
And what Pastor Tim's saying isso true.
We're confident that if you'llstart with five minutes, and
man, it'd be great if it was 15.
It'd be great if it was 30, butif you'd start with five, here's
what I know his word neverreturns void.
(23:11):
It is faithful to produce fruitin due season.
It's going to happen.
If you'll just show up for fiveminutes every day, then you'll
start all of a sudden you'regonna you're gonna learn to love
this thing and and you're gonnacrave it.
Hey, Davis, man, it's sweeterthan honey.
Yeah, there's nothing else likeit in the world.
(23:31):
And all of a sudden, fiveminutes ain't gonna be enough.
And you're gonna be like, man,if I have to get up at 4:30 to
do this, shoot uh easy, easytrade-off.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll do it.
You'll want it that much.
SPEAKER_03 (23:43):
And pretty soon your Netflix binge night will be uh
right now media binge night.
And uh you'll see the Lord startworking in your life, and you're
like, oh no, I, you know, Idon't want to be that religious
freak.
No, you're not being a religiousfreak.
You're having a relationshipwith somebody, and you're
getting to know them.
And back when you were datingyour wife or you were dating
(24:05):
your husband, you wanted to bewith him all the time.
And that's that's what the kindof relationship the Lord is
looking for with us.
So we don't have to be alone.
Uh, it's about your values.
Number one, 60% of you gotsomething that don't align with
Jesus and it embarrasses you,and he th you think he's mad at
you, but you're mad at yourself,is what's going on.
(24:28):
And 40% of you is uh, I gottaget my kids to soccer.
I can't let them down.
And um, so that's taken up allmy time.
It's taking up all your time?
No, come on.
Right.
We can we can think better thanthat.
And just take Jesus from numberfive and slap him up on top
again and say, I want to make apriority, you're out there.
(24:50):
It doesn't have to be this biguh I I was gonna say come to
Jesus moment, but it is a cometo Jesus moment.
Quite literally.
It is, it is, I I just I got mypriorities messed up, and it
happens to everybody, you know,when you're getting ready to go
backpacking, you know, it startsa month before, you know.
(25:13):
There's backpackers who gottheir stuff down to a um to
exactly what they they take, andthis is who they are when they
backpack and they go out to seethe country.
But that's only like 20% ofbackpackers.
The other 80% are like, oh, Iwant to take this and I want to
take that, and it's all aboutthe stuff and getting ready.
(25:35):
And um we get into those ideasthat uh we're getting ready,
we're getting ready, and thenyou know, the trip seems to be
really less important than thegetting ready.
And I think that's what we dowith life.
I want my kids to get ready,we're getting ready, we're
getting, we're gonna, we'regetting ready, we're getting
(25:55):
ready, and then you go on thevacation and then it's over, and
you're like, we need to begetting ready for something
else.
And when you do that, you youfocus on that thing and you
start to lose uh your presenceof mind in the present.
No, my priorities can't changefor this thing I'm really
excited about.
(26:16):
I gotta keep my priorities andbe excited about that thing at
the same time.
Right.
Does that make any sense?
Did I make any sense when I saidthat?
SPEAKER_01 (26:23):
I gotcha.
And I I know as you as you startto think through this, um, you
know, you talked about you knownot being able to fit it in.
And I know that's a commonexcuse.
I just don't know when to fit itin.
And then I read that stat onSunday.
You know, the average Americanspends five hours a day, over
(26:44):
five hours a day on theirsmartphone.
Well, just take a little bit ofthat time and and give it to the
Lord, you know, and spend it inhis word.
And in prayer.
And in prayer.
You know, we have the time.
It's just putting it, likeyou're saying, in the right
priority.
I I gotta put this at top at thetop.
And we do it already.
You're already doing this withyour doctor's appointments.
(27:06):
You're already doing this withwith your work meetings, you're
putting it on the calendar.
Put it on the calendar.
The things I I tell people allthe time, you want to know
what's really important to you.
Look at your calendar and yourcheckbook or your online banking
app, I guess.
Most people probably don't careon a checkbook anymore.
But you look at your yourcalendar and your bank account,
and you'll find out what's apriority to me.
(27:27):
And all of a sudden it's it is.
It's, oh man, look, my calendaris full of my kids' sports
schedules and all the stuff, andmy bank account, it's all those,
you know, differentsubscriptions that we have, and
you know, feeding our kids toand from all these games.
I gave people on permission,like just take a day off.
SPEAKER_03 (27:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:44):
Just take a day off.
And yeah, that means your kiddoesn't go to practice tonight.
They're gonna be fine.
And the coach isn't gonnaunderstand, and maybe he doesn't
start them in that game.
Whatever.
You know, it sports is and Ithis is a guy who played sports
all through middle school andhigh school.
I love sports, watch sports,watch the Browns.
Just oh my gosh, it was soembarrassing Sunday.
(28:06):
It was like the first quarter,it's like, we know that game's
over.
But I watched it all the way tothe end.
That's who I am.
I love sports.
The reality is unless your kidslike uber special, and that's
the problem, all of us think ourkids are uber special.
SPEAKER_02 (28:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
But the truth is, it'd be great if they were a
great athlete.
It's more important if they're abetter person and that they love
Jesus.
And so let's prioritize it.
We got to show them that.
And and I'll tell you this, Iknow in seasons of life it looks
different.
You know, when your kids aregrown and out of the house and
you're retired, it's you can getup in the morning and you can
(28:46):
spend two, three hours a day inGod's word, and that's awesome.
When your kids are little andthey're at home and they have
all this stuff going on, you'relike, when do I fit it in?
For me, honestly, one of thesweetest moments of my day is
every night before we go to bed,we open up God's word.
We were in, I think what did Itell you last time?
First Peter, I think we weretalking about.
(29:06):
Right now we're in the book ofJohn, and I just start John
chapter one, and I read aparagraph or two.
You know, your Bible hasheadings.
If you can finish a full sectionheading, that's great.
But sometimes I'm like, we don'teven have time for that.
So we're getting a paragraph in.
And then I just ask my kids,what stuck out to you here?
What do you guys think aboutthat?
(29:27):
And then you get to talk to,well, what did he mean when he
said this?
Oh, well, this is what's goingon in that situation.
And I get to have those fewminutes right before we go to
bed.
And we have had just someabsolutely amazing devotional
times with our kids.
And then we're not reading anyextra books.
I'm not pulling out anycommentaries, we're just talking
about it.
And you're like, well, you're apastor, you can ask, you know,
(29:48):
answer your kids' questions.
Uh, what if I can't do that?
And I don't know the answer.
That's okay.
SPEAKER_03 (29:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:54):
Tell them, hey, I don't know.
That's great.
And then spend some of that fivehours a day you're on your phone
doing some research.
Hey, what does it mean in Johnchapter one when it says, in the
beginning was the word and theword was with God?
What is this all about?
And then you've you're on yourphone, you're doing it anyways.
We're just redirecting it.
(30:15):
And then you go back to your kidand say, hey, this is what that
meant.
And now you've modeled for themwhat it looks like to approach
God's word, to have questionsand not know, and then to go and
do some study.
You've now modeled that for yourkids.
You don't have to have all theanswers.
Just do the research.
Tell them you don't know.
Do the research and come backand say, hey, this is what I
(30:36):
found out.
I told my kids the other day wewere studying.
Um, I can't remember if it wasin 1 Peter, John, but it was a
pretty tough passage.
And I said, here's what I wantyou all to do.
I want I want each of you totell me what you think this
passage means tomorrow.
So I want you to do a little bitof research, and I want you to
look some stuff up, and then Iwant you to tell me what you
(30:56):
think it means.
And we get to talk through that.
Great opportunities, and it'sit's not three hours long, it's
15 minutes.
SPEAKER_03 (31:04):
And when you're thinking like that, that's too
much.
You're forgetting that um thisis about having a relationship
with Jesus.
He's gonna be completelyinvolved in all of that.
Matter of fact, Paul says thatit's the Holy Spirit that
teaches you the deep things ofGod, not your mommy and daddy,
and not your pastor.
You know, that the Holy Spiritis gonna teach you that, and he
(31:25):
wants to.
And by opening the word of God,you're just inviting him into
the room.
And that's what we're talkingabout, not being alone.
Now, it's it's tough um whenyou're alone and you are being
overlooked.
And uh you feel you you get intothat little pity thing, God,
(31:46):
what can you do for me here?
Well, let me tell you what hecan do for you here.
He said, Well, you got brothersand sisters, uh billion of them
all over the world.
Um, and I guarantee you thatsome of them are prime probably
praying for you, saying, Lord,if there's anybody who feels
alone, you know, let them findsomebody.
So God is looking to answer yourprayer in your angst, He He's
(32:11):
He's looking for you to beaffirmed.
So there's a brother and sisterout there, call somebody in the
church.
Call somebody and say, I'mfeeling alone.
And uh, well, let's go getcoffee.
And you're like, Well, you know,that's not gonna scratch my
itch.
I need someone to listen to mycomplaints and let me rant to
and so forth and so on.
Well, we just talked about that.
(32:33):
Nobody's got time for that, youknow, but they got time to be a
friend, got time to come see ya.
And uh one thing that I learneduh way back in college, I worked
for uh Thomas Road BaptistChurch and their oh now I can't
remember the name of their TVshow, but I worked the Suicide
(32:55):
Hotline in college and peoplewould call and um we had a um
counselor on staff, and but wehad this thing to walk through
with them and depending on adecision tree type thing, and if
they were really struggling,then they would step in.
And uh so it wasn't like, oh,here's a 17-year-old kid, you
(33:19):
know.
Most of those people who calledjust wanted there's someone on
the other end of that line, andI need to talk to somebody.
unknown (33:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:27):
And I'd talk to them, and sometimes, and our
counselor said, if they want totalk all night, talk all night.
You don't have to take a bunchof calls.
There's not a quota here.
If somebody calls and they needto hear another voice, you be
that voice.
And we'd pray with them andencourage them.
And that's what we need to be toour brothers and sisters who are
struggling, especially duringthe holidays when things seems
(33:48):
to I isolate you.
You know, there's so much tokeep up with who's getting
presents and how much they cost,and I don't want to go to that
party because everybody's gonnabuy everybody a two hundred
dollar gift and I got twentybucks for everybody.
Um there's someone that you knowthat you can call.
(34:09):
And uh just give them a call.
And um and I know it's like,well, that's the point.
You know, I I try to talk tothese people or whatever, and
they you know, they don't wantto hear from me.
They don't know you're having aproblem.
They don't know that you needsome help.
There's people in your life,even if it's not the church,
(34:30):
that want to help you.
And you're like, Well, I don'twant to talk to them.
There you go.
Here we go.
Don't build those fences.
Uh, because God has Jesus issaying, Hey, I'm I'm here with
you.
Uh let's get some other peopleto come over.
And uh we'll we'll sharetogether where two or three are
gathered together, he's in intheir midst.
(34:52):
So don't be don't isolateyourself.
This world is about isolation.
Uh the internet isolates people,video games isolate people, um,
where you don't have to dealwith people.
And if you get to the pointwhere people are too heavy for
you, then you're always going tofeel alone.
But God can uh navigate thatstuff for you, and um, you'll
(35:14):
figure out some things aboutyourself and about other people
that'll fill you with joy.
You know, it doesn't have to bethis way, it might not be the
way you think it should be, likeyou in high school popular and
have these friends and go tothese parties.
It might not be that way, butit'll have joy and it'll have
peace.
SPEAKER_01 (35:34):
That's right.
I talked to uh a guy just thispast week who's just really been
going through some stuff and andhe called.
And man at one, I was so glad hecalled because there's a lot of
guys who would let their pridekeep them from that.
Yeah.
Um, and and I think as men we wewrestle with that.
Um man, how how am I gonna call?
(35:56):
How am I gonna bring this up?
They're gonna think this aboutme.
Um so one, I was glad he calledme.
And and he's like, Man, if Ijust he he just came out.
I I feel alone.
If I had someone just give me apat on the back and say it's
gonna be okay.
And I was like, hey, it's gonnabe okay.
I can promise you it's gonna beall right.
(36:16):
And I'm gonna be here and I'mgonna walk through this season
with you.
Um and you know, he's he'strying wrestling with some
stuff, and I was like, man,here's what I want you to know.
You're not the only person inthis, you know, and that's
that's one of the benefits to totalking with people and sharing
with people.
Um, and I'm not saying to unloadevery deep dark secret to to the
next person you see, you know,um, just vomit all over them.
SPEAKER_03 (36:40):
Hey, a lot of times that's what you think will fix
you, but that's there that comeswith a lot of regrets.
So let me warn you on that.
Um just try to be a friendbecause you need a friend.
Yeah, and then one day you mighthave a friend that you can you
can do that to.
But the Lord is your um dump.
SPEAKER_01 (37:01):
Yeah, so don't you know we we do that whole vomit
mouth thing, and we just here'severything I've ever done.
We confess it all, blah.
Yeah, and we think I'm gonnafeel better, and then we leave
like, oh no, what have I done?
SPEAKER_02 (37:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
So I'm not saying to get into a situation like that.
Um, but man, you you you tellpeople, man, I I've been
wrestling with this thing.
We are recording this podcast.
It's 1221 Pest Tim.
We need you to pray for thechurch.
SPEAKER_03 (37:27):
Let's do it.
Father, we want to lift up ourchurch as we go into this uh
dual service thing, Lord.
We have no idea what's gonnahappen, but we know that you
love these people and you'veprepared us to receive more.
And Lord, we want to make roomfor them, just like we're
talking about today, making roomfor you in our lives.
And I I pray that we'll not onlydo that with you, but we'll do
(37:50):
it with this church.
Lord, I pray that you'll puteverybody in the same mindset.
We need room for more.
And Lord, I pray that thischurch will serve you in that
way in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (38:04):
Man, this alarm has been awesome because there's
been so many times I've been onthe phone with people in the
church, and that alarm goes off.
I'm like, hey, we gotta stop.
You need to pray.
And so I've I've had a lot ofpeople praying.
I've caught a lot of people thatdidn't have their alarm set too.
Yeah, they were like, oh man,this is not good.
I'm on the phone with thepastor.
My alarm wasn't set.
Don't invite Ryan into your lifefor round 1221.
Yeah, no, you want to call afterthat.
(38:28):
Um, but man, it you you getthose opportunities.
You you call somebody and you'llfind out, man, I'm not the only
one dealing with this.
I'm not the only one who's who'sexperiencing this or been
through something like thisbefore.
Solomon said there's nothing newunder the sun.
And I think the one of thegreatest lies the enemy tells us
is man, you're the only one.
(38:48):
You're the only one.
SPEAKER_03 (38:50):
I think I think that's our culture.
How are you doing?
Good.
And you see, you no, no,especially if you're gonna
invite someone.
You know, we tell you all thetime, uh, don't try to clean
yourself up to invite Jesus in.
Let invite him in and let himhelp you clean it up.
You just preach that.
Yep.
And uh, when you're invitingother people into your life,
(39:11):
it's the same way.
You don't have to clean up forthem.
But when they say how you'redoing, you just need to tell the
truth.
Say, you know what, I'm kind ofsad.
And uh, well, what's going on?
And don't dump everything true,everything you say must be true.
SPEAKER_01 (39:28):
Not everything true must be said.
SPEAKER_03 (39:31):
I'm feeling kind of lone.
And uh, oh well, I'm so glad tobe here with you, you know.
Actually, I feel like I'moutside of the festivities this
year myself.
I've had to work and my kids,you know, put up the decorations
without me, and and you know,and my job has just been so
demanding this year that wehaven't gone sledding, we
(39:54):
haven't done anything that wenormally do, and I feel like I'm
out in the snow and my Familieshaving a family, and I'm not
part of it anymore.
You never know what you're gonnarun into.
And you might be end up with theperson who's doing the
encouraging instead of themencouraging you.
But if you don't reach out,you'll never know.
unknown (40:14):
That's right.
SPEAKER_01 (40:15):
What an amazing gift God has given us in his church,
man.
There is people here, likePastor Tim Sain, who are gonna
be there.
Um for man, as long as I canremember, you've called us as a
church a tribe, you know, afamily of families.
And when stuff comes up whenyou're going through something,
there's people here to comealongside and and to encourage
(40:36):
you to pray with you.
But even beyond that, man, Jesussaid, I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you.
So even on those those days,those long nights when it it
feels lonely and you're not surewho to call.
Um, I think was that castingcrowns?
Not a big fan of their music,but they did have a song, I
think, called Cry Out to Jesus.
SPEAKER_03 (40:57):
Um I love that guy's voice.
I'm not a big music guy, so Idon't listen to a lot of it, but
I he's got a weird voice.
I like weird.
SPEAKER_01 (41:05):
It is.
It's a little different thaneverybody else.
Um, but man, you can you can cryout to Jesus in those moments.
God is not afraid of your mess.
You know, he's uh I I actually Ilove this in John chapter one.
John wrote this.
He says, He came to his own, andhis own people did not receive
him.
That's the kind of guy he camehere, even though we weren't
(41:27):
asking.
I Paul goes on to say, Man, isit Paul or Luke?
Might be in the book of Acts,actually.
So that'd be Luke writing it.
Um, but how we we weren't askingfor him, you know, he came at
just the right time, scripturesays, when when we weren't even
asking for a savior, that's whenJesus said, All right, now I'm
gonna come.
And I think if we were God,we're like, no, I want them to
(41:49):
know that they're in a mess andthey need me.
And when they finally look upand say, God, I've just screwed
it up.
Will you come say, then I'llsave them?
And God's like, no, I'm notwaiting for that.
They're not even asking for me.
They they are in activerebellion against me.
And he says, Now I'm gonna come.
Now's the right time to send myson.
SPEAKER_03 (42:09):
And you know what?
Jesus was rejected so you couldbe accepted.
That's right.
And that's a cool pastor phrase.
Just if you didn't catch that.
SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
He was rejected on Sunday.
SPEAKER_03 (42:21):
But I'll give you credit for you, beat me to
quoted by Pastor Tibbs.
Quoted by Ryan.
We need to, we need to be umunderstand that that's what
happened.
We were talking before this.
If big if, capital I, capital F,if Ryan is right, and there was
(42:43):
no donkey, and there was nobarn, and there was no, if he's
right, that's big if.
Don't don't quote, don't wrap meinto his type criticism.
It's very rarely wrong.
SPEAKER_01 (42:56):
I tell my wife that all the time.
You think I've just picked arandom Tuesday to be wrong for
the first time?
That doesn't go well, gentlemen,by the way.
SPEAKER_03 (43:05):
So if if he's correct, and this was Joseph's
family's house, and the wholefamily was upstairs because
Joseph shows up with a pregnantwoman that he's not married to,
and this whole thing is off therails, and they said, Why don't
(43:26):
you sleep downstairs?
There's no room for you up here.
That is Jesus the rejected so wecould be accepted.
So think about that for aminute.
Although he was in a barn with amanger and a donkey before we
get too far off the rails there.
He he started his life rejected,rejected um by their social
(43:52):
network, by his family.
He was rejected.
Yeah.
And he said, This is what mylife is gonna be.
I'm gonna come uh for you sothat you could be accepted in
me.
And now the scripture says weare born of God, we are adopted
into his family with all rights,the same last name.
(44:16):
We are we are his.
(44:47):
We're not going there again.
SPEAKER_01 (44:48):
No, I'm not going there again, I promise.
All right.
However, you want to picture it,you could picture it.
We've heard it so many timesthat we just assume that this is
the way it had to be.
God didn't have to bring his soninto the world this way.
unknown (44:59):
No.
SPEAKER_01 (45:00):
He could have chosen a palace, he could have chosen
the kings of or the pharaohs ofEgypt.
I mean, he could have donewhatever he wanted with the with
all the wealth and andeverything.
He's God.
And yet he chose this, the mosthumble method, whether it was in
a barn or in the basement ofsomeone's house, the savior of
(45:21):
the world, laid in a manger,meant to feed animals.
He chose this.
And and I read the scripture onSunday.
He he chooses the things thatthe world considers to be
foolish or weak so that he canshame the wise and prove how
strong he is.
That's he's he's been doing itfrom the very beginning.
(45:42):
He takes the things thateveryone else counts out and he
says, watch what I can do here.
And when he does it, here'shere's why.
Because then he gets all theglory.
You can't stand back and belike, Well, he did it because he
came from a place of privilege.
He was born in a barn.
I'll I'll give it to you.
You know, and no, this he he hasbeen doing all of this.
(46:05):
So, like you said, if we we canhave a seat at his table.
How amazing that that that's thekind of God we serve.
He says, I've done all this sothat I can make room for you.
SPEAKER_03 (46:18):
And what would change today in your life if
you're listening to this podcastif you made room for him?
Not someday, but today.
If you just said, God, I'm gonnaget home from work right now and
I'm gonna I'm gonna give youfive minutes.
Even if I have to go in thebathroom to get it, I'm gonna go
(46:42):
and give you five minutesbecause I need a friend.
I need a friend that's made aplace for me.
And I think we forget about thefact that Jesus He says to his
disciples, and he says to us, Hesaid, I'm I'm gonna go and make
a place for you.
That's right.
Uh my father's house has manyrooms.
(47:04):
You're not gonna be in your ownmansion down the street.
We're gonna be together.
And I'm I'm preparing a room foryou.
SPEAKER_01 (47:13):
I got a Catalymo with your name on it.
There you go.
Not not gonna be stuck in thebasement no more.
SPEAKER_03 (47:18):
Right.
You get it.
You're gonna come home.
Right.
You're gonna come home one dayand you're gonna see what I've
done for you.
And um when the world saysthere's no room for you, you
don't belong here, uh, you'renot part of us, whether it's the
world talking about your family,talking about um your friends,
(47:43):
or if you just feel alone.
It might even be at work.
When the world says there's noroom, God says, I've got room.
Come on home.
SPEAKER_01 (47:52):
Yeah.
I man, I love how Paul said it.
He says, I I consider that ourpresent sufferings are not worth
comparing to the glory that'sgoing to be revealed in us.
It's it's easy to get caught upin this present day and our
present mess and the chaos andthe busyness of life, just the
mundane.
Um and Paul says, Man, I look atall this and I'm like, it ain't
(48:17):
even worth comparing what Godhas prepared for.
I mean, no eye has seen, no earhas heard, no mind could even
conceive scripture says what Godhas prepared.
Paul's, I don't even what are wesitting here even comparing it
for?
There's there's nothing elselike it.
And yeah, this is tough.
And God says, You know what?
Even in those tough moments, I'mnot gonna leave you.
(48:37):
I'm never gonna forsake you.
I'm gonna be right there.
I've given you my church to comealongside you and and build you
up and support you and encourageyou.
And I'm preparing a place.
I have already gone ahead toprepare a place for you so that
where I am, you can be forever.
That's the kind of God I am.
And so this Christmas, we'resaying, come on home.
(48:59):
Come on.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (49:02):
Father, I want to thank you for this whole series,
come home.
I think we get so busy or we getwrapped up in something we know
that you don't approve of, thatwe forget that we got a father
who loves us no matter what'sgoing on.
(49:22):
A father that though he don'tcondone our actions, he accepts
us just the way we are.
And Lord, I pray that thisChristmas, even though Ryan's
trying to mess up her nativity,that we'll lean in to the gift
(49:45):
you gave us in Jesus, that we'lllean in and choose to have a
relationship so that he canbless us, that he can give us
joy, and we can live with peace.
In Jesus' name.
unknown (50:02):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (50:03):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(50:27):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
Welcome and thanks for joining us on this episode
of the Midweek Podcast, broughtto you by a Fresh Wind Church.
Each week, our team brings younew content to help you take
steps towards Jesus and discovermore in Christ.
Today's episode is hosted byPastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
Hey, welcome back to the Midweek Podcast.
Pastor Ryan joined as alwayswith Pastor Tim.
And we are in week two of ourChristmas series, I'll Be Home
for Christmas.
And uh, Tim, before we jump intothe Christmas series, um on
Sunday we had Freshwind Kids dothe uh their Christmas
performance for the year, andman, I just thought they did
(00:48):
such a great job.
SPEAKER_03 (00:50):
Oh, I I thought you were gonna deny that they were
there and singing Christmascarols because you've been Mr.
Christmas hater.
SPEAKER_01 (00:58):
I've been walking around with sticks of dynamite
blowing up the whole Christmasstory, the whole nativity story,
you know.
SPEAKER_03 (01:05):
So do you think there was a camel?
Sure.
Just say there was a donkey.
SPEAKER_01 (01:13):
Just say it.
There was probably a donkey inthe lower room.
That would be common.
Did they take a donkey fromNazareth to Bethlehem?
Doubtful.
I don't even know if that'sdoubtful.
We just don't know.
We don't know.
We don't know.
That's 50-50.
Could go either way.
It would make sense to travelwith one.
But if you're pregnant, I stilldon't know if you're like, you
(01:35):
know what I'd love to do rightnow?
Climb up on that donkey.
SPEAKER_03 (01:40):
Well, I'm you know, I've I've been going through
this series, and as youcompletely displace the nativity
and everything we think aboutit, um I know you got your you
got your sources, and it justhappens to be the Bible, but I'm
not buying it.
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Yeah, you know, I'm I'm wondering, I'm I'm dropping
these little nuggets in here.
Um, you know, hopefully helpingpeople learn something, teaching
something new, uh, gettingpeople interested.
Like, oh, I didn't think aboutthat.
And so you put those things inthere thinking, man, if I can
get people to be interested,they'll go and look and read
their Bibles more, and thatwould all be great.
(02:20):
But they're what I'm probablydoing is losing everyone for the
rest of the sermon.
SPEAKER_03 (02:24):
Next year he'll be saying, There was no lights on
Christmas.
Get those lights off your house.
SPEAKER_01 (02:29):
We'll come back.
Christmas 2026.
It's uh yeah, there's someinteresting stuff in there.
But for real, thought the kidsdid just a fantastic job um
coming and singing, and Ithought they brought a lot of
joy to the church on Sunday.
SPEAKER_03 (02:46):
It was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of fun seeing themall up there and stretched uh
all the way across the stage,and uh just so many kids and
parents excited to be there andand uh grandparents.
It was a great time.
We had a great time.
SPEAKER_01 (03:00):
Yeah, we built those uh had Don out in the barn last
year building those risers, andwe got to the that meeting right
before um the Christmas program,and we walked back there, and
I'm like, we're not gonna fit onthese risers.
Oh no, what what do we do?
Um, so we had to rearrange thestage a little bit, get them all
up there, spread them out, andyeah, there had to be at least
(03:25):
uh probably close to three timesthe amount of kids up there this
year as compared to last year.
SPEAKER_03 (03:30):
So and it was great that we sent them back to class
before you you know destroyedour traditional Christmas for
us.
SPEAKER_01 (03:36):
So that was good too.
I I tell people all the timelisten, we have kids' ministry
for a reason.
Get your kids out of this room.
SPEAKER_03 (03:46):
I think um what let me say this that the nativity is
a montage of everything thathappened, okay?
It's not what happened.
Okay, so let's just everybodyrelax.
SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
And I'm not telling anyone to take their nativities
down.
You know, don't go home and youknow, Dave, he built uh he built
that nativity for me for myhouse.
You you can leave yournativities up in the yard, you
can leave them on the mantle oror on your entry table.
It's all fine.
It it's it's good.
Might not happen that way, butit's good.
SPEAKER_03 (04:27):
Sometimes, you know, I've told you your whole career,
and just there's some things youjust want to leave alone.
And you're like, not Christmas.
SPEAKER_01 (04:35):
Not Christmas, no.
There wasn't a donkey.
No, we tell our team here at thechurch all the time, everything
you say needs to be true.
Not everything true needs to besaid.
And here I go trouncing all overthat.
SPEAKER_02 (04:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:48):
So jumping back in, uh, week two, I'll be home for
Christmas.
Um, I told you before we startedhere, you know, I've I've been
feeling real nostalgic thisyear.
We had our um our staffChristmas party uh last week,
and Joy and I were over at uhSam's Club picking some stuff up
for the party, and we walkedpast past this Christmas
(05:08):
sweater, and it said Joy on it,which is perfect.
My wife is Joy, and I'm like,babe, you need this.
And I was like, honestly, itkind of reminds me of my grandma
Lynn.
You have to buy it.
I'm sitting there thinking, whatis wrong with me?
Yeah.
Here, babe, you know what I'dlove for you to do?
I'd love for you to buy thisshirt that reminds me of my
grandma.
(05:29):
She did buy it though.
And she was romantic.
It's romantic.
Made me very proud.
Um, and so we got the newChristmas sweater.
But I've I've been in thisweird, weird season this year
for Christmas where I've justfelt way more nostalgic, I
guess.
Um, and so that's that was kindof the whole genesis of the I'll
be home for Christmas idea.
(05:50):
But um man, it's uh apart fromme blowing up Christmas week by
week, it's been uh it's beenneat to kind of talk about some
of these themes about just theLord inviting us back home.
SPEAKER_03 (06:05):
Yeah, I I I think we forget about uh who he is
because I think it's a tendencyfor our whole culture to get in
our little echo chambers.
Um we do that in our minds, uhnot just online, but we you
know, my family thinks thisabout me, or or I don't fit into
(06:26):
my wife's family, or they nevertalk to me, or um, all those
things.
And uh one thing one thing I'velearned um in my life is if no
one will talk to you, do all thetalking.
And that's it's been good forme.
I I mean you can make a switchon that right there, and just
don't let anybody speak and youtake over the conversations.
(06:47):
But um that doesn't work foreverybody.
I want you to uh um think aboutthis.
The holidays are s for somepeople are the most lonely times
of year, and that's because umall the water that's under the
bridge, and uh you don't thinkyou can reconnect to the people
that you love, and I know youlove them, you just can't stand
(07:09):
them.
And uh that's you know, that'spart of being in a family, and w
we have a culture now that uhwants to put up boundaries, and
you know, I can't stand forthat, and this, that, and the
other thing.
And uh but instead of doing thatto the culture, we do it to our
families.
We always gotta make room uh forour family.
(07:30):
And I and that's what the Lorduh what you were talking about,
making room uh for the Lord inyou, not just your your family.
If you don't want to be alone,you know, you need Jesus and
you'll never never be leftalone.
But it is a it is a lonely timeof the year.
I I was talking to my dad uhyears ago, and he said, Yeah, I
(07:54):
I got off the boat in SanFrancisco after the war and
there was um he said millions ofpeople everywhere and I was so
alone so alone.
You know, coming out of theNavy, uh brothers fighting with
each other, and then okay, it'sover, go on.
(08:16):
And he said, I was standingthere, and I never felt so
alone.
And so um there's that happeningall around us, all around us.
Keep your eyes open for thosepeople who are feeling alone and
don't let them be alone.
SPEAKER_01 (08:31):
Have a great opportunity, yeah, uh, around
Christmas to to jump into thosesituations.
Um because if you're feelinglonely, here's what I can
guarantee someone else isfeeling alone just like you.
Um and if you two got together,you wouldn't be alone anymore.
SPEAKER_03 (08:48):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (08:49):
Um and so I am uh I'm encouraged by what God is
doing in this series.
Um and and I, you know, just twoweeks in, um it's been it's been
really cool to see how howpeople have responded to to the
message each week.
Um and so we're we'reencouraging you uh be a part of
(09:10):
this.
Um and it's uh life is one ofthose things where it does, it
gets overcrowded and you feelleft out.
I shared that story about um youknow my cousin Megan and and I
love Meg.
I was I she was walking out onSunday, I was like, hey, thanks
for letting me talk about y'allall sermon long.
But uh Meg was awesome, youknow, and I got to grow up and
(09:33):
and I did, but I I felt growingup, man, she gets to be with all
the cool groups, all the coolpeople doing all the cool
things, and I felt like I wasalways on the outside of that.
Um and I, you know, I didn'tlive a terrible life, and I had
parents that loved me and allthat stuff, but I just never
felt like I could connect withthose groups of people, and it's
(09:54):
who I thought I wanted toconnect with, you know?
SPEAKER_03 (09:57):
Yeah, and that's that's one of the things that
you really need to look at inyour own life is is what you're
seeing over there really whatyou're desiring?
Um, because it might becompletely different than what
you think it is.
It might be worse.
I mean, we made movie aftermovie after movie about you know
the unpopular kid becomingpopular and and what that cost
(10:20):
him.
Right.
And uh so we need to be verycareful about what we're looking
at because as uh Carol Burnett,you probably don't know who that
is.
Very familiar.
Yeah, she was a uh comedian uhfrom ages past, but she she
wrote a book called uh The Grassis always greener around the
(10:42):
septic tank.
Well, that that is certainlytrue.
So uh we need to be careful whenwe're uh comparing our lives to
others, um, that uh there'ssomeone in your life right now
that you're overlooking whileyou're thinking I'm being
(11:04):
overlooked.
And uh we need to uh we need torecognize those things.
Given a little bit of yourself,uh you'll reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_01 (11:14):
That's right.
I think for a lot of us, youknow, some of the the loneliness
we we feel, especially aroundChristmas, we don't feel seen.
We do, we show up at theChristmas parties, the family
parties, and and you feel leftout, you feel you know, on the
side of whatever.
Um and then just in our own lifesometimes I feel like we're just
(11:34):
like I I don't feel at peace, Idon't feel at home here.
Um and I think we just get sobusy, man, with with
responsibilities, withexpectations, with noise, this
pressure to perform.
And and before long we look upand you know I I've talked to so
many people over the years thatI mean I just don't feel uh
(11:57):
close to Jesus anymore.
I don't feel like I'm growing inmy faith anymore.
SPEAKER_03 (12:02):
Um I don't think uh people intentionally want to
push Jesus out.
But here, let me be the oldpastor and uh push into this a
little bit because this isimportant.
Um if you feel like Jesus hasfallen out of your life, you
don't feel like you're as closeas him anymore.
A lot of times we don't invitehim in because you know
(12:25):
something inside uh is not gonnaalign itself with Jesus.
So we get this idea that I don'twant to invite him into my life
um because I got this otherthing going that he won't
approve of.
So I I want to make sure thatyou guys get that.
It's just not I forgot abouthim.
It's like he's not compatiblewith the way I've started to
(12:49):
live.
And and and by saying, you know,I'm not gonna let him into my
life because I'm gonna do this,it's it's like you know, you're
you're drinking and the pastor'scoming over, so you throw the
booze in the garbage.
That's all you gotta do.
You're gonna invite Jesus in,just throw the booze in the
(13:11):
garbage.
Whatever it is that you're umyou're worried about him not
relating to you, let me tell yousomething.
Jesus relates.
I he's been watching us forsince we got started, since Adam
and Eve, and he knows what'sgoing on in our hearts and
minds, and he's like, I stillwant to come over.
I still want to come over.
Let me in.
SPEAKER_01 (13:33):
I think you're on to something.
And Jesus said it.
I I quoted it um in my my sermonon Sunday when when we were
talking about this.
You you can't serve two masters,right?
And Jesus said it this way, hesays, because here's why you'll
grow to love one and hate theother.
And so you have those things,you're like, Man, I it's not
(13:54):
like I'm trying to push Jesusout, I just have this thing.
But you'll grow to resent Jesusbecause he's incompatible,
right?
SPEAKER_03 (14:02):
And it's pressure, right?
SPEAKER_01 (14:04):
And so to open the door and let him in means I'm I
might have to lay this thingdown, or I'm not gonna get to to
to do it as often as I want,whatever it is.
Um, and so you'll grow toresent, oh man.
I know I'm supposed to be atchurch, but the Browns are
playing in London today, right?
And and you'll grow to resentit.
(14:25):
He he requires too much of me.
And and he says, You you willlove that thing, but your love
for it will cause you to hatethe other thing.
And you know, in that scripture,you know, he ends up saying you
can't learn serve both God andmoney, but you could replace
money with a lot of thingsthere.
Um for a lot of us it's money,some of us it's power, for some
(14:46):
of us it's greed or pride.
For some of us, it's our anger,our unforgiveness, our
bitterness.
You know, it it feels good.
You know, we just got done withthat whole series talking about
malice and slander, those thingsfeel good.
They do.
He says, You'll you'll grow tolove that, but you know I don't
want that in your life.
Right.
I I've actually told you youneed to rip those things out,
(15:09):
and so you'll end up hating mebecause of it.
But then the reverse of that ishe says, Man, if you if you will
pursue me, well then I will giveyou the desires of your heart.
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
I'll replace those with things that you love even
more.
Right if you'll if you'll letme.
Jesus didn't say this onaccident.
He said, if you want to followme, deny yourself, pick up your
cross, and let's go.
So deny yourself means I'm gonnadeny what I want over Jesus, I'm
(15:42):
gonna invite him in.
And pick up your cross ispicking up the fact that you
want this other thing reallybad, and it's gonna be a battle,
and you're gonna have to carryit as you follow him.
But as you follow him, it'll geteasier and easier and easier to
deny that and say yes to him.
And I um you know, confession isso important in a Christian
(16:06):
life, and if there's somethingkeeping Jesus out, you just need
to confess it and and then tosay, Lord, because as soon as
you do, as soon as you agreewith him that that's the wrong
thing, he starts training you towant to please him.
And uh that's the first step isto confess it.
Confess it.
(16:27):
Confess it.
Confess it.
And uh and then let the Lord in.
And and as many times as ittakes, the Lord is gonna lead
you out of that.
He wants to.
He wants to be part of yourlife, even though that other
thing is incompatible with him.
He still says, I can help youlet that go.
(16:50):
Right.
And give you joy and peaceinstead of this pressure that or
this this angst that we haveagainst each other.
I don't have that.
You have it, you feel it from mebecause you're just feeling your
own angst.
But I don't have that.
All you gotta do is lay it downand let's go.
I'm not gonna be bitter, I'm notgonna make you pay, I'm not
(17:12):
gonna do any of that.
I just want you to lay it downand follow me.
SPEAKER_01 (17:17):
That's so good.
We think, yeah, I I gotta getall this cleaned up, I gotta,
you know, straighten myself up.
Because God's mad at me.
Right.
And that's the tension thatyou're you're saying.
We all feel.
And he's like, I'm not holdingthat stuff against you.
You know, we we want to livelives pleasing to the Lord.
We do.
I think if you're a follower ofJesus, you want to live a life
(17:39):
that's pleasing to the Lord.
You got these hangups, you gotthese things, you got your
temptations and proclivities andall this stuff, but we want.
We want to live a life pleasing.
Well, listen, God wants you tolive a life pleasing to the Lord
more than you want to live alife pleasing to the Lord.
Amen.
He's not trying to hold thesethings against you until you
straighten up, you know.
(18:00):
That's not who he is.
You know, on Sunday in thesermon, I was like, God's not
looking for a perfectly cleanroom.
You know, he's not waiting foryou to get your life together,
get the house in order.
He's just saying, open up thedoor.
SPEAKER_03 (18:13):
His side of the relationship is completely pure,
completely loving, completelyencouraging, completely
affirming.
You're just putting that upagainst him because that's the
way you feel against him.
And all those uh angst are umthings we deal with in the
(18:34):
Christian life every day.
This is nothing new.
This is what we do.
Lord, I love this more than you.
And the Lord says, Well, let'sfix that.
And we're like, Well, not rightnow.
Let's wait a little bit, youknow.
Let me enjoy it to where and youknow, God can say to you, uh,
well, you can go, you can takeit, you can do it until you hate
(18:56):
it, but I'll be here.
I haven't changed the way I loveyou.
I haven't changed the way I feelabout you.
I'm just outside and I want tocome in.
You know, you seem lonely inthat.
Now, we talked about that for afew minutes, and that's good,
because we need to talk aboutthat, because that's where I'd
say 60 of the people 60% of thepeople are.
(19:17):
But there is 40% of Christiansout there right now who's let
life take over their life, andthey don't have room for Jesus
because they didn't put theboundary up and said he's most
important.
It's more of a priority thingthan a values thing.
(19:37):
Values, I value this more thanJesus.
Now we got this angst, butpriority is no, he's he, I love
Jesus.
He's in my life.
I, you know, this is what Iwant.
But these other things havedropped him down to three or
four or five when he should benumber one.
And um that's where you find outyou don't have enough time to
(19:59):
read his.
Word.
You don't have enough time.
Now we tell you all the time,and my wife complains about this
all the time, Ryan.
So I just want you to know thatwe say, just spend five minutes
with him.
The reason we want you to spendfive minutes with him is because
we trust him to reach out andpull you in.
That's what we're trying to getyou to do.
(20:20):
Get in his word.
You know, find out what he says,what he's saying to you.
You know, we want you to do thatbecause we know that one day, if
you do this on a consistentbasis basis, you're going to
say, What does he mean by that?
And you're going to open up uhthe Bible and cross-reference
and start digging down to figurethat out what it is.
And that's what we're prayingfor the Holy Spirit to do with
(20:42):
you.
The truth is, um, you need toinvest your life in Jesus, in
his word, studying his word,learning new things.
And um, I mean, all the way tothe point where you can defend
your faith, that's where youneed to go.
Um, we just want you to getstarted because we know he's
(21:03):
gonna lead you in that in thatdirection.
And uh, but when we get busy andthere just doesn't seem enough
time, you know, you started, ohman, I'm busy.
I'm well, if I'm gonna do mydevotion, I'm gonna have to get
up 20 minutes earlier, andyou're doing that, and then
suddenly you're like, Well, Ineed to really check my um
(21:25):
stocks before it opens up atnine, so I'm gonna I'm gonna do
that.
So that means if I'm gonna do mydevotion, I'm gonna have to get
up another 20 minutes earlier.
And pretty soon you're lookingat, okay, I get up at 4 30.
And uh so it's important that weuh get our priorities straight.
Whether you're going to spendtime with Jesus in the in the
(21:46):
morning or the evening or onyour lunch break, whatever it
is, it needs to be consistentand it needs to be all the time.
If you did not do that with yourwife, she probably wouldn't be
your wife anymore.
You know, hey, I'm gonna giveyou five minutes at 4 30.
And then I I got stuff to do.
SPEAKER_01 (22:06):
Yeah, on the car ride to work, that's all you get
all day.
You know, I'll do a little audioversion and then I'm done for
the day.
Right.
Yeah.
As you our our desire, man, ifif you'd spend an hour or two or
three with the Lord every day,golly, as you're pastors, we
would love that for you.
Yeah, we love it.
(22:27):
I understand that's a that's abig ask in the beginning.
And and those of you who havehave done that, you've you've
grown to love the Lord that way,you can testify that you have
tasted it and seen the Lord, andHe is good.
It is good.
I mean, David, the psalmist, hesaid, as the deer pants for
(22:48):
water, I long for you.
Right.
And here's Jeremiah said, I wantto eat eat this book.
Yeah.
And what Pastor Tim's saying isso true.
We're confident that if you'llstart with five minutes, and
man, it'd be great if it was 15.
It'd be great if it was 30, butif you'd start with five, here's
what I know his word neverreturns void.
(23:11):
It is faithful to produce fruitin due season.
It's going to happen.
If you'll just show up for fiveminutes every day, then you'll
start all of a sudden you'regonna you're gonna learn to love
this thing and and you're gonnacrave it.
Hey, Davis, man, it's sweeterthan honey.
Yeah, there's nothing else likeit in the world.
(23:31):
And all of a sudden, fiveminutes ain't gonna be enough.
And you're gonna be like, man,if I have to get up at 4:30 to
do this, shoot uh easy, easytrade-off.
Yeah, absolutely.
I'll do it.
You'll want it that much.
SPEAKER_03 (23:43):
And pretty soon your Netflix binge night will be uh
right now media binge night.
And uh you'll see the Lord startworking in your life, and you're
like, oh no, I, you know, Idon't want to be that religious
freak.
No, you're not being a religiousfreak.
You're having a relationshipwith somebody, and you're
getting to know them.
And back when you were datingyour wife or you were dating
(24:05):
your husband, you wanted to bewith him all the time.
And that's that's what the kindof relationship the Lord is
looking for with us.
So we don't have to be alone.
Uh, it's about your values.
Number one, 60% of you gotsomething that don't align with
Jesus and it embarrasses you,and he th you think he's mad at
you, but you're mad at yourself,is what's going on.
(24:28):
And 40% of you is uh, I gottaget my kids to soccer.
I can't let them down.
And um, so that's taken up allmy time.
It's taking up all your time?
No, come on.
Right.
We can we can think better thanthat.
And just take Jesus from numberfive and slap him up on top
again and say, I want to make apriority, you're out there.
(24:50):
It doesn't have to be this biguh I I was gonna say come to
Jesus moment, but it is a cometo Jesus moment.
Quite literally.
It is, it is, I I just I got mypriorities messed up, and it
happens to everybody, you know,when you're getting ready to go
backpacking, you know, it startsa month before, you know.
(25:13):
There's backpackers who gottheir stuff down to a um to
exactly what they they take, andthis is who they are when they
backpack and they go out to seethe country.
But that's only like 20% ofbackpackers.
The other 80% are like, oh, Iwant to take this and I want to
take that, and it's all aboutthe stuff and getting ready.
(25:35):
And um we get into those ideasthat uh we're getting ready,
we're getting ready, and thenyou know, the trip seems to be
really less important than thegetting ready.
And I think that's what we dowith life.
I want my kids to get ready,we're getting ready, we're
getting, we're gonna, we'regetting ready, we're getting
(25:55):
ready, and then you go on thevacation and then it's over, and
you're like, we need to begetting ready for something
else.
And when you do that, you youfocus on that thing and you
start to lose uh your presenceof mind in the present.
No, my priorities can't changefor this thing I'm really
excited about.
(26:16):
I gotta keep my priorities andbe excited about that thing at
the same time.
Right.
Does that make any sense?
Did I make any sense when I saidthat?
SPEAKER_01 (26:23):
I gotcha.
And I I know as you as you startto think through this, um, you
know, you talked about you knownot being able to fit it in.
And I know that's a commonexcuse.
I just don't know when to fit itin.
And then I read that stat onSunday.
You know, the average Americanspends five hours a day, over
(26:44):
five hours a day on theirsmartphone.
Well, just take a little bit ofthat time and and give it to the
Lord, you know, and spend it inhis word.
And in prayer.
And in prayer.
You know, we have the time.
It's just putting it, likeyou're saying, in the right
priority.
I I gotta put this at top at thetop.
And we do it already.
You're already doing this withyour doctor's appointments.
(27:06):
You're already doing this withwith your work meetings, you're
putting it on the calendar.
Put it on the calendar.
The things I I tell people allthe time, you want to know
what's really important to you.
Look at your calendar and yourcheckbook or your online banking
app, I guess.
Most people probably don't careon a checkbook anymore.
But you look at your yourcalendar and your bank account,
and you'll find out what's apriority to me.
(27:27):
And all of a sudden it's it is.
It's, oh man, look, my calendaris full of my kids' sports
schedules and all the stuff, andmy bank account, it's all those,
you know, differentsubscriptions that we have, and
you know, feeding our kids toand from all these games.
I gave people on permission,like just take a day off.
SPEAKER_03 (27:43):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (27:44):
Just take a day off.
And yeah, that means your kiddoesn't go to practice tonight.
They're gonna be fine.
And the coach isn't gonnaunderstand, and maybe he doesn't
start them in that game.
Whatever.
You know, it sports is and Ithis is a guy who played sports
all through middle school andhigh school.
I love sports, watch sports,watch the Browns.
Just oh my gosh, it was soembarrassing Sunday.
(28:06):
It was like the first quarter,it's like, we know that game's
over.
But I watched it all the way tothe end.
That's who I am.
I love sports.
The reality is unless your kidslike uber special, and that's
the problem, all of us think ourkids are uber special.
SPEAKER_02 (28:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (28:24):
But the truth is, it'd be great if they were a
great athlete.
It's more important if they're abetter person and that they love
Jesus.
And so let's prioritize it.
We got to show them that.
And and I'll tell you this, Iknow in seasons of life it looks
different.
You know, when your kids aregrown and out of the house and
you're retired, it's you can getup in the morning and you can
(28:46):
spend two, three hours a day inGod's word, and that's awesome.
When your kids are little andthey're at home and they have
all this stuff going on, you'relike, when do I fit it in?
For me, honestly, one of thesweetest moments of my day is
every night before we go to bed,we open up God's word.
We were in, I think what did Itell you last time?
First Peter, I think we weretalking about.
(29:06):
Right now we're in the book ofJohn, and I just start John
chapter one, and I read aparagraph or two.
You know, your Bible hasheadings.
If you can finish a full sectionheading, that's great.
But sometimes I'm like, we don'teven have time for that.
So we're getting a paragraph in.
And then I just ask my kids,what stuck out to you here?
What do you guys think aboutthat?
(29:27):
And then you get to talk to,well, what did he mean when he
said this?
Oh, well, this is what's goingon in that situation.
And I get to have those fewminutes right before we go to
bed.
And we have had just someabsolutely amazing devotional
times with our kids.
And then we're not reading anyextra books.
I'm not pulling out anycommentaries, we're just talking
about it.
And you're like, well, you're apastor, you can ask, you know,
(29:48):
answer your kids' questions.
Uh, what if I can't do that?
And I don't know the answer.
That's okay.
SPEAKER_03 (29:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (29:54):
Tell them, hey, I don't know.
That's great.
And then spend some of that fivehours a day you're on your phone
doing some research.
Hey, what does it mean in Johnchapter one when it says, in the
beginning was the word and theword was with God?
What is this all about?
And then you've you're on yourphone, you're doing it anyways.
We're just redirecting it.
(30:15):
And then you go back to your kidand say, hey, this is what that
meant.
And now you've modeled for themwhat it looks like to approach
God's word, to have questionsand not know, and then to go and
do some study.
You've now modeled that for yourkids.
You don't have to have all theanswers.
Just do the research.
Tell them you don't know.
Do the research and come backand say, hey, this is what I
(30:36):
found out.
I told my kids the other day wewere studying.
Um, I can't remember if it wasin 1 Peter, John, but it was a
pretty tough passage.
And I said, here's what I wantyou all to do.
I want I want each of you totell me what you think this
passage means tomorrow.
So I want you to do a little bitof research, and I want you to
look some stuff up, and then Iwant you to tell me what you
(30:56):
think it means.
And we get to talk through that.
Great opportunities, and it'sit's not three hours long, it's
15 minutes.
SPEAKER_03 (31:04):
And when you're thinking like that, that's too
much.
You're forgetting that um thisis about having a relationship
with Jesus.
He's gonna be completelyinvolved in all of that.
Matter of fact, Paul says thatit's the Holy Spirit that
teaches you the deep things ofGod, not your mommy and daddy,
and not your pastor.
You know, that the Holy Spiritis gonna teach you that, and he
(31:25):
wants to.
And by opening the word of God,you're just inviting him into
the room.
And that's what we're talkingabout, not being alone.
Now, it's it's tough um whenyou're alone and you are being
overlooked.
And uh you feel you you get intothat little pity thing, God,
(31:46):
what can you do for me here?
Well, let me tell you what hecan do for you here.
He said, Well, you got brothersand sisters, uh billion of them
all over the world.
Um, and I guarantee you thatsome of them are prime probably
praying for you, saying, Lord,if there's anybody who feels
alone, you know, let them findsomebody.
So God is looking to answer yourprayer in your angst, He He's
(32:11):
He's looking for you to beaffirmed.
So there's a brother and sisterout there, call somebody in the
church.
Call somebody and say, I'mfeeling alone.
And uh, well, let's go getcoffee.
And you're like, Well, you know,that's not gonna scratch my
itch.
I need someone to listen to mycomplaints and let me rant to
and so forth and so on.
Well, we just talked about that.
(32:33):
Nobody's got time for that, youknow, but they got time to be a
friend, got time to come see ya.
And uh one thing that I learneduh way back in college, I worked
for uh Thomas Road BaptistChurch and their oh now I can't
remember the name of their TVshow, but I worked the Suicide
(32:55):
Hotline in college and peoplewould call and um we had a um
counselor on staff, and but wehad this thing to walk through
with them and depending on adecision tree type thing, and if
they were really struggling,then they would step in.
And uh so it wasn't like, oh,here's a 17-year-old kid, you
(33:19):
know.
Most of those people who calledjust wanted there's someone on
the other end of that line, andI need to talk to somebody.
unknown (33:26):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (33:27):
And I'd talk to them, and sometimes, and our
counselor said, if they want totalk all night, talk all night.
You don't have to take a bunchof calls.
There's not a quota here.
If somebody calls and they needto hear another voice, you be
that voice.
And we'd pray with them andencourage them.
And that's what we need to be toour brothers and sisters who are
struggling, especially duringthe holidays when things seems
(33:48):
to I isolate you.
You know, there's so much tokeep up with who's getting
presents and how much they cost,and I don't want to go to that
party because everybody's gonnabuy everybody a two hundred
dollar gift and I got twentybucks for everybody.
Um there's someone that you knowthat you can call.
(34:09):
And uh just give them a call.
And um and I know it's like,well, that's the point.
You know, I I try to talk tothese people or whatever, and
they you know, they don't wantto hear from me.
They don't know you're having aproblem.
They don't know that you needsome help.
There's people in your life,even if it's not the church,
(34:30):
that want to help you.
And you're like, Well, I don'twant to talk to them.
There you go.
Here we go.
Don't build those fences.
Uh, because God has Jesus issaying, Hey, I'm I'm here with
you.
Uh let's get some other peopleto come over.
And uh we'll we'll sharetogether where two or three are
gathered together, he's in intheir midst.
(34:52):
So don't be don't isolateyourself.
This world is about isolation.
Uh the internet isolates people,video games isolate people, um,
where you don't have to dealwith people.
And if you get to the pointwhere people are too heavy for
you, then you're always going tofeel alone.
But God can uh navigate thatstuff for you, and um, you'll
(35:14):
figure out some things aboutyourself and about other people
that'll fill you with joy.
You know, it doesn't have to bethis way, it might not be the
way you think it should be, likeyou in high school popular and
have these friends and go tothese parties.
It might not be that way, butit'll have joy and it'll have
peace.
SPEAKER_01 (35:34):
That's right.
I talked to uh a guy just thispast week who's just really been
going through some stuff and andhe called.
And man at one, I was so glad hecalled because there's a lot of
guys who would let their pridekeep them from that.
Yeah.
Um, and and I think as men we wewrestle with that.
Um man, how how am I gonna call?
(35:56):
How am I gonna bring this up?
They're gonna think this aboutme.
Um so one, I was glad he calledme.
And and he's like, Man, if Ijust he he just came out.
I I feel alone.
If I had someone just give me apat on the back and say it's
gonna be okay.
And I was like, hey, it's gonnabe okay.
I can promise you it's gonna beall right.
(36:16):
And I'm gonna be here and I'mgonna walk through this season
with you.
Um and you know, he's he'strying wrestling with some
stuff, and I was like, man,here's what I want you to know.
You're not the only person inthis, you know, and that's
that's one of the benefits to totalking with people and sharing
with people.
Um, and I'm not saying to unloadevery deep dark secret to to the
next person you see, you know,um, just vomit all over them.
SPEAKER_03 (36:40):
Hey, a lot of times that's what you think will fix
you, but that's there that comeswith a lot of regrets.
So let me warn you on that.
Um just try to be a friendbecause you need a friend.
Yeah, and then one day you mighthave a friend that you can you
can do that to.
But the Lord is your um dump.
SPEAKER_01 (37:01):
Yeah, so don't you know we we do that whole vomit
mouth thing, and we just here'severything I've ever done.
We confess it all, blah.
Yeah, and we think I'm gonnafeel better, and then we leave
like, oh no, what have I done?
SPEAKER_02 (37:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
So I'm not saying to get into a situation like that.
Um, but man, you you you tellpeople, man, I I've been
wrestling with this thing.
We are recording this podcast.
It's 1221 Pest Tim.
We need you to pray for thechurch.
SPEAKER_03 (37:27):
Let's do it.
Father, we want to lift up ourchurch as we go into this uh
dual service thing, Lord.
We have no idea what's gonnahappen, but we know that you
love these people and you'veprepared us to receive more.
And Lord, we want to make roomfor them, just like we're
talking about today, making roomfor you in our lives.
And I I pray that we'll not onlydo that with you, but we'll do
(37:50):
it with this church.
Lord, I pray that you'll puteverybody in the same mindset.
We need room for more.
And Lord, I pray that thischurch will serve you in that
way in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Amen.
SPEAKER_01 (38:04):
Man, this alarm has been awesome because there's
been so many times I've been onthe phone with people in the
church, and that alarm goes off.
I'm like, hey, we gotta stop.
You need to pray.
And so I've I've had a lot ofpeople praying.
I've caught a lot of people thatdidn't have their alarm set too.
Yeah, they were like, oh man,this is not good.
I'm on the phone with thepastor.
My alarm wasn't set.
Don't invite Ryan into your lifefor round 1221.
Yeah, no, you want to call afterthat.
(38:28):
Um, but man, it you you getthose opportunities.
You you call somebody and you'llfind out, man, I'm not the only
one dealing with this.
I'm not the only one who's who'sexperiencing this or been
through something like thisbefore.
Solomon said there's nothing newunder the sun.
And I think the one of thegreatest lies the enemy tells us
is man, you're the only one.
(38:48):
You're the only one.
SPEAKER_03 (38:50):
I think I think that's our culture.
How are you doing?
Good.
And you see, you no, no,especially if you're gonna
invite someone.
You know, we tell you all thetime, uh, don't try to clean
yourself up to invite Jesus in.
Let invite him in and let himhelp you clean it up.
You just preach that.
Yep.
And uh, when you're invitingother people into your life,
(39:11):
it's the same way.
You don't have to clean up forthem.
But when they say how you'redoing, you just need to tell the
truth.
Say, you know what, I'm kind ofsad.
And uh, well, what's going on?
And don't dump everything true,everything you say must be true.
SPEAKER_01 (39:28):
Not everything true must be said.
SPEAKER_03 (39:31):
I'm feeling kind of lone.
And uh, oh well, I'm so glad tobe here with you, you know.
Actually, I feel like I'moutside of the festivities this
year myself.
I've had to work and my kids,you know, put up the decorations
without me, and and you know,and my job has just been so
demanding this year that wehaven't gone sledding, we
(39:54):
haven't done anything that wenormally do, and I feel like I'm
out in the snow and my Familieshaving a family, and I'm not
part of it anymore.
You never know what you're gonnarun into.
And you might be end up with theperson who's doing the
encouraging instead of themencouraging you.
But if you don't reach out,you'll never know.
unknown (40:14):
That's right.
SPEAKER_01 (40:15):
What an amazing gift God has given us in his church,
man.
There is people here, likePastor Tim Sain, who are gonna
be there.
Um for man, as long as I canremember, you've called us as a
church a tribe, you know, afamily of families.
And when stuff comes up whenyou're going through something,
there's people here to comealongside and and to encourage
(40:36):
you to pray with you.
But even beyond that, man, Jesussaid, I will never leave you.
I will never forsake you.
So even on those those days,those long nights when it it
feels lonely and you're not surewho to call.
Um, I think was that castingcrowns?
Not a big fan of their music,but they did have a song, I
think, called Cry Out to Jesus.
SPEAKER_03 (40:57):
Um I love that guy's voice.
I'm not a big music guy, so Idon't listen to a lot of it, but
I he's got a weird voice.
I like weird.
SPEAKER_01 (41:05):
It is.
It's a little different thaneverybody else.
Um, but man, you can you can cryout to Jesus in those moments.
God is not afraid of your mess.
You know, he's uh I I actually Ilove this in John chapter one.
John wrote this.
He says, He came to his own, andhis own people did not receive
him.
That's the kind of guy he camehere, even though we weren't
(41:27):
asking.
I Paul goes on to say, Man, isit Paul or Luke?
Might be in the book of Acts,actually.
So that'd be Luke writing it.
Um, but how we we weren't askingfor him, you know, he came at
just the right time, scripturesays, when when we weren't even
asking for a savior, that's whenJesus said, All right, now I'm
gonna come.
And I think if we were God,we're like, no, I want them to
(41:49):
know that they're in a mess andthey need me.
And when they finally look upand say, God, I've just screwed
it up.
Will you come say, then I'llsave them?
And God's like, no, I'm notwaiting for that.
They're not even asking for me.
They they are in activerebellion against me.
And he says, Now I'm gonna come.
Now's the right time to send myson.
SPEAKER_03 (42:09):
And you know what?
Jesus was rejected so you couldbe accepted.
That's right.
And that's a cool pastor phrase.
Just if you didn't catch that.
SPEAKER_01 (42:18):
He was rejected on Sunday.
SPEAKER_03 (42:21):
But I'll give you credit for you, beat me to
quoted by Pastor Tibbs.
Quoted by Ryan.
We need to, we need to be umunderstand that that's what
happened.
We were talking before this.
If big if, capital I, capital F,if Ryan is right, and there was
(42:43):
no donkey, and there was nobarn, and there was no, if he's
right, that's big if.
Don't don't quote, don't wrap meinto his type criticism.
It's very rarely wrong.
SPEAKER_01 (42:56):
I tell my wife that all the time.
You think I've just picked arandom Tuesday to be wrong for
the first time?
That doesn't go well, gentlemen,by the way.
SPEAKER_03 (43:05):
So if if he's correct, and this was Joseph's
family's house, and the wholefamily was upstairs because
Joseph shows up with a pregnantwoman that he's not married to,
and this whole thing is off therails, and they said, Why don't
(43:26):
you sleep downstairs?
There's no room for you up here.
That is Jesus the rejected so wecould be accepted.
So think about that for aminute.
Although he was in a barn with amanger and a donkey before we
get too far off the rails there.
He he started his life rejected,rejected um by their social
(43:52):
network, by his family.
He was rejected.
Yeah.
And he said, This is what mylife is gonna be.
I'm gonna come uh for you sothat you could be accepted in
me.
And now the scripture says weare born of God, we are adopted
into his family with all rights,the same last name.
(44:16):
We are we are his.
(44:47):
We're not going there again.
SPEAKER_01 (44:48):
No, I'm not going there again, I promise.
All right.
However, you want to picture it,you could picture it.
We've heard it so many timesthat we just assume that this is
the way it had to be.
God didn't have to bring his soninto the world this way.
unknown (44:59):
No.
SPEAKER_01 (45:00):
He could have chosen a palace, he could have chosen
the kings of or the pharaohs ofEgypt.
I mean, he could have donewhatever he wanted with the with
all the wealth and andeverything.
He's God.
And yet he chose this, the mosthumble method, whether it was in
a barn or in the basement ofsomeone's house, the savior of
(45:21):
the world, laid in a manger,meant to feed animals.
He chose this.
And and I read the scripture onSunday.
He he chooses the things thatthe world considers to be
foolish or weak so that he canshame the wise and prove how
strong he is.
That's he's he's been doing itfrom the very beginning.
(45:42):
He takes the things thateveryone else counts out and he
says, watch what I can do here.
And when he does it, here'shere's why.
Because then he gets all theglory.
You can't stand back and belike, Well, he did it because he
came from a place of privilege.
He was born in a barn.
I'll I'll give it to you.
You know, and no, this he he hasbeen doing all of this.
(46:05):
So, like you said, if we we canhave a seat at his table.
How amazing that that that's thekind of God we serve.
He says, I've done all this sothat I can make room for you.
SPEAKER_03 (46:18):
And what would change today in your life if
you're listening to this podcastif you made room for him?
Not someday, but today.
If you just said, God, I'm gonnaget home from work right now and
I'm gonna I'm gonna give youfive minutes.
Even if I have to go in thebathroom to get it, I'm gonna go
(46:42):
and give you five minutesbecause I need a friend.
I need a friend that's made aplace for me.
And I think we forget about thefact that Jesus He says to his
disciples, and he says to us, Hesaid, I'm I'm gonna go and make
a place for you.
That's right.
Uh my father's house has manyrooms.
(47:04):
You're not gonna be in your ownmansion down the street.
We're gonna be together.
And I'm I'm preparing a room foryou.
SPEAKER_01 (47:13):
I got a Catalymo with your name on it.
There you go.
Not not gonna be stuck in thebasement no more.
SPEAKER_03 (47:18):
Right.
You get it.
You're gonna come home.
Right.
You're gonna come home one dayand you're gonna see what I've
done for you.
And um when the world saysthere's no room for you, you
don't belong here, uh, you'renot part of us, whether it's the
world talking about your family,talking about um your friends,
(47:43):
or if you just feel alone.
It might even be at work.
When the world says there's noroom, God says, I've got room.
Come on home.
SPEAKER_01 (47:52):
Yeah.
I man, I love how Paul said it.
He says, I I consider that ourpresent sufferings are not worth
comparing to the glory that'sgoing to be revealed in us.
It's it's easy to get caught upin this present day and our
present mess and the chaos andthe busyness of life, just the
mundane.
Um and Paul says, Man, I look atall this and I'm like, it ain't
(48:17):
even worth comparing what Godhas prepared for.
I mean, no eye has seen, no earhas heard, no mind could even
conceive scripture says what Godhas prepared.
Paul's, I don't even what are wesitting here even comparing it
for?
There's there's nothing elselike it.
And yeah, this is tough.
And God says, You know what?
Even in those tough moments, I'mnot gonna leave you.
(48:37):
I'm never gonna forsake you.
I'm gonna be right there.
I've given you my church to comealongside you and and build you
up and support you and encourageyou.
And I'm preparing a place.
I have already gone ahead toprepare a place for you so that
where I am, you can be forever.
That's the kind of God I am.
And so this Christmas, we'resaying, come on home.
(48:59):
Come on.
Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03 (49:02):
Father, I want to thank you for this whole series,
come home.
I think we get so busy or we getwrapped up in something we know
that you don't approve of, thatwe forget that we got a father
who loves us no matter what'sgoing on.
(49:22):
A father that though he don'tcondone our actions, he accepts
us just the way we are.
And Lord, I pray that thisChristmas, even though Ryan's
trying to mess up her nativity,that we'll lean in to the gift
(49:45):
you gave us in Jesus, that we'lllean in and choose to have a
relationship so that he canbless us, that he can give us
joy, and we can live with peace.
In Jesus' name.
unknown (50:02):
Amen.
SPEAKER_00 (50:03):
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of
the Midweek Podcast.
We'd love to hear from you.
Let us know how God is usingthis resource in your life or
send any podcast questions ortopic ideas to podcast at a
freshwind.org.
If you would like to supportthis ministry financially and
help us continue offering newresources that equip you to
discover more in Christ, simplytext any amount to the number
(50:27):
84321.
We're so grateful for yoursupport.
Make sure to tune in next weekfor a brand new episode of the
Midweek Podcast.
Be blessed and have a greatweek.
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