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December 21, 2023 20 mins

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As our family huddles close, with the Action Bible's vivid illustrations before us, we invite you to join the warmth of our Christmas celebration. Our kids, Adelaide and Ryan, lend their voices to the cherished nativity story, as we traverse from the bustling streets of Bethlehem to the tranquil manger scene, punctuated by our playful banter and the occasional giggle over a reading mishap. Together, we uncover the profound joy and enduring message tucked within the tale of Jesus' birth, making it a family affair that extends an open invitation to our listeners to find the same wonder and meaning this Christmas.

The spirit of the season sparkles as we unwrap our favorite Christmas memories and traditions. The anticipation of gift-giving, amplified by the convenience of modern apps like DrawNames.com, mingles with lively debates on the merits of pine-scented versus hassle-free trees. Through candid family anecdotes and heartfelt tips, we craft an episode that is as much about the laughter-filled chaos of holiday gatherings as it is an earnest reflection on the significance of this time of year. Tune in for a special community holiday message, and a nudge to celebrate with gratitude, as we wish you joy and connection, until we meet again in the coming year.

The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story (Action Bible Series) https://a.co/d/bcjkmoL

https://www.drawnames.com/

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the two fish podcast Christmas
edition.
I'm Nick, I'm Aaron and thisweek we're sitting down with a
couple of special guests andread through the birth of a
savior.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's right to fish community.
We are through Thanksgiving andnow we are into Christmas.
It flew by it did.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
And this season is always super busy Everyone's
doing Christmases, everyone'swrapping up the end of the year
with work, taking vacations butthe important part of this
season is, of course, the birthof our savior, which is at the
foundation of our faith.
So this week we have twospecial guests.
They were with us, I think, twoyears ago.
Yeah, it's our kids.

(00:47):
We have Adelaide and Ryan.
How are you guys?
Good, so they're here with usthis week to read through the
Christmas story and, like mostepisodes, aaron and I usually
tend to read from differentversions of the Bible.
I'm ESV or die.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
I'm an IV or NLT normally.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
Yeah, so, and we always recommend, you know,
having a couple of Bible readingthrough different versions, but
we have a special version thisweek Ryan has offered the action
Bible.
Yeah, it looked kind of likeGod's redemptive story.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Looks like a graphic novel.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
Yeah, that's the word .

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Graphic novel.
It's fun to read.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Yeah, I definitely recommend it if you'd like to
see, like, what it actuallylooks like.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Back in our day it would have been called like
almost like a comic book.
A comic book, would you call it?

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Adelaide, a graphic novel.
Graphic novel Christian I meancomic book is more like super,
is more like superheroes andstuff.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Well, jesus is the superhero of our faith.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
I didn't really like that yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
No, I know what you mean.
So.
So we're going to read out ofthe graphic novel Christian, the
Christian book award, theaction Bible, and we're going to
the Christmas story, the birthof Jesus.
So, ryan, lunch, kick us off.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
It's like a.
Is it a Matthew version of itor is this just the action Bible
version?

Speaker 1 (02:16):
It's?
It's based on Matthew 1 18through 211, and Luke 2 1
through 20.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
So they kind of combined kind of combines it
together.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
All right and tells the story.
So here we go, ryan.
Why don't you start us off?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Joseph believes the angel and Mary's Mary, even
though her pregnancy seemsshameful to others.
One day, the news comes thatthe Roman Empire cast are on our
good as they want to a concess.
Everyone must go to hishometown to be continued, even

(02:57):
though Mary's baby is due.
Now Joseph and Mary have to gofrom North to Bethlehem,
exhausted.
We've traveled a long way.
My wife is very tired.
We need a place to stay.
I'm sorry, but Bethlehem iscrowded because of the census.

(03:19):
We don't have any more emptyrooms.
Exhausted, mary and Joseph haveno choice but to stay in a
stable.
They're they're surrounded byanimals.
Mary gives birth to Jesus.
She keeps her baby warm in amanager full of hay.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
A manager keeps him in the manager.
All right, we should laugh.
Keep going.
We'll make a couple corrections.
We need that one.
Start that one over.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Okay, it's a manger, I'm an manager.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
I'm an manager, okay, um.
Exhausted, mary and Joseph haveno choice to stay, but to stay
in a stable.
They're surrounded by animals.
Mary gives birth to Jesus.
She keeps her baby in a major,major food buffet.

(04:26):
The same night, some shepherdsare watching their sheep on the
hill outside of Bethlehem.
Suddenly, a great lights splitsthe night.
What is happening?
God saved us.
Don't be afraid.
I bring good news for you inthe whole world.
Today, of the city of David, asavior has been born to you.

(04:51):
You will find the baby lying ina manger.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
All right.
So let's pause there and kindof talk about a little bit.
So Joseph and Mary go toBethlehem, caesar's the Roman
emperor, and they're going for acensus to be counted, and she's
pregnant with baby.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Jesus.
Suddenly, the sky is filledwith a choir of angels singing
praise to God.
Glory to God in the highest andpeace to peoples on earth.
The angels leave and once againdarkness falls upon the hills.
Let's go to Bethlehem.
We must see the child of Godfor ourselves.
The shepherds hurry off toBethlehem.

(05:32):
The crowded town of Bethlehemsleeps lovingly.
Mary has wrapped her baby instrips of cloth and put him in a
manger.
That's where the shepherds findhim.
An angel told us that thesavior has been born.
We have to tell everyone thisgreat news.
In a land far east, wise mensee something strange in the sky

(05:53):
.
That new star is brighter thanall the rest and must have some
special meaning.
It's a sign that the king ofJesus has been born.
Let's go to Jerusalem and findthe king.
After months of travel, the wisemen reach Jerusalem.
We have come to worship thebaby king of Jews.
Where can we find him?

(06:14):
He must be mistaken.
No king has been born hererecently.
When the wise men inquire atthe palace, king Heroid, who has
committed more than one murderto protect his throne,
impatiently comes up with a planLook for the child in Bethlehem
.
When you find him, come backand tell me where he is.

(06:34):
Of course I want to worship himtoo, and when I find that child
I'll kill him.
No one is going to be king ofthe Jews except me.
Following Heroid's instructions, the wise men travel from
Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
The star they have seen in theeast continues to guide them.
Look, the star is over thathouse.
Our long journey is finished.

(06:55):
This is where the child lives.
Mary and Joseph are surprisedto receive rich foreigners in
their humble house.
We have come to worship thechild, except our gifts of gold,
incense and myrrh.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
So there you have it.
We have read through theChristmas story.
That section there, read byAdeline, talks about the wise
men and how the star appeared tothem, and they followed that
star to find Jesus.
And Heroid tried to use thethree wise men to capture Jesus
before trying to kill him beforehe ever becomes king.

(07:31):
Right Before he was reallyknown to the world.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
So from the beginning he was being chased.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
And Youth Group.
We talked about this how longthe star would have stayed to
guide them on how it could havethey could have just seen it
once and it could havedisappeared.
Or if it stayed through thewhole entire night and they
followed it the whole time.
And then we also talked abouthow there could have been more

(07:59):
wise men, but only three wisemen brought gifts.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
They probably had a crew of people with them
traveling with them.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (08:07):
They said like was it a one day?

Speaker 2 (08:08):
journey.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
I don't know it's from a land far out, so I'd
assume it'd be a long travel,which would bring in the
question how long was the starthere one day?
Or was it there before and theymet that night?
Or was it that they see it thatnight and traveled?

Speaker 2 (08:26):
after.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
And then they didn't show up till maybe three years
later.

Speaker 4 (08:29):
Oh, we did talk about that, I think because there's
something that says a child inorder to an order for them to be
killed.
I think, in the way that theking wanted to kill him, they
had to be under two years oldand they said, like they talked
about how the reason he wasn'tkilled is because he must have

(08:51):
been two years old.

Speaker 3 (08:53):
Well, my thing about the star is I think it actually
stayed there because and itdidn't disappear because in the
book it says right here thatthey found the star way over
there and they followed it.
So if they followed it wasstill in the sky and then it was
over the house, so it wouldhave been there the whole time.

(09:13):
Yeah, yeah, could be, so thatit could guide them to the house
of where baby Jesus was laying.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
Those are both good theories.
We'll have to ask him when weget there.
Hey, was that star there thewhole time?

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Now, I think, I think that's an interesting point,
like we can reflect on that andsay sometimes we we see
something and then it goes awayand we don't follow it, but
sometimes we need to stick tothat path.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
That's true.
And then the section before wasthe shepherds.
They were out tending theflocks, which I think is it's at
night, and then all of a sudden, this bright light comes and
it's an angel, which would bepretty scary.
I would imagine your firstinstinct to be to freak out,
which is what they did.
And they are in the angels likeno, don't worry, I come with

(09:59):
good news.

Speaker 4 (10:01):
I saw this thing like we don't know what the angels
look like, so they could havelooked like genuinely scary?

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Yeah Well, they shouldn't look scary and and
everything a holy light, so theyshould be bright and the way
Jesus sometimes described him ofwhat he wore.
He wore a really nice whiterobe and that means he was holy
just like the angels could havebeen.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
Yeah, interesting.
I know, in Revelation it talksabout angelic beings and they
don't look like they look likein the action Bible, they look a
little more freaky.
So, like you were saying, adela, and that that's probably what
it was, so what is the truemeaning of Christmas?

Speaker 3 (10:48):
Celebrate Jesus's birth and about, about when
Jesus was born and how he wasremembered and how he died for
our sins.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Yeah, that is, I think is the true gift of
Christmas is that we have asavior that was born, that will
eventually like you said, ryandie for our sins.
So we celebrate his birth thisChristmas season because we know
the gift that he was forhumanity.
How do we know he was?
More on Christmas, oh you'regoing to get down a rabbit hole

(11:22):
there and go down.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
That's a good question.
I think I read on it today innine months before March, and
the Bible points to when theangel came to Mary, which was
the six month I believe.
So then you can calculate outnine months later would be when

(11:44):
he would be born, which wouldhave been late, possibly
December, January.

Speaker 4 (11:50):
So they have went with December 25th, so it's not
like we know a matter of fact,this is the day he was born.
This is just the day we chooseto celebrate it.
I think you could say that, yes.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
Yeah, I don't know that.
They have the day pinpointed.
Nowhere in the Bible Does itsay that December 25th December.
I always want to say the 26th.
Nowhere in the Bible does itsay he was born on December 25th
.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
And it never says it has any snow.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Do they have snow in Jerusalem?
I don't know.
Do?

Speaker 4 (12:27):
they even have snow in the Bible.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
There's, I believe, snow is mentioned.

Speaker 3 (12:32):
I mean like it could actually been December 25th,
because if it's been passed downfor so many generations,
because, like ever since then,it's gone down and, down and
down on the same exact day, soit could have actually been like
the 23rd or the 25th.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Yeah, it very well could have been.
The other interesting thingthat you probably don't know is
back then they went by theJewish calendar and not the
Jewish calendar have one lastmonth or something.
I think it has one more month.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
What did they call it ?

Speaker 1 (13:07):
The coldest month in Israel.
Just fact check here Januarytends to be the coldest month,
averaging 57 degrees, so I doubtthey get a lot of snow in
Jerusalem.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
No snow in Jerusalem.

Speaker 4 (13:20):
So Jerusalem is like Florida.

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Like Florida in the winter.
Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah, man, let's stop going to Florida, let's go to
Jerusalem.
So, anyways, there are the twodifferent types of calendars.
I don't think there's anythingin the Bible that gives us a
definite day, but this is theday they have went with?

Speaker 4 (13:40):
What month did the angels came to tell whatever you
said earlier, like the sixmonth mark or something?

Speaker 2 (13:52):
I think part of your answer to your question, adeline
.
If you go to Luke, chapter one,verse 26, the birth of Jesus
foretold, it starts out with inthe sixth month of Elizabeth's
pregnancy.

Speaker 4 (14:07):
Elizabeth.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
That is John the Baptist's mom, ryan's finding it
in the action Bible.

Speaker 2 (14:15):
That is when God sent the angel to Mary.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
So the sixth month of Elizabeth, so it's not
necessarily the time calendar.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Which would have came from Luke, who would have been
a guy that researched it was notfirst hand knowledge he would
have researched it and probablywent to Mary and Elizabeth and
said, hey, what was this timeframe?
Yeah, so somehow we've landedon December 25th, but I don't

(14:45):
know exactly.
And if you go down this rabbithole, like I've been trying to
research and figure out andAdeline is just pointing it out
and asking the questions on thisepisode, which I wasn't really
prepared for, but there was theJewish calendar, which is
different than what we go by now, and I think there's some give

(15:08):
and take.
On the actual day, yeah, butwhat is your favorite thing
about Christmas?

Speaker 3 (15:15):
Um, presents, put up, put up a good fight, but I'm
definitely gonna put up givingpresents.
I mean giving presents forsecond, getting presents for
third.
And number one we all know iscelebrating Jesus and the day
they're celebrating Jesus.
So I think it's a greatreminder about his life he gave

(15:36):
us.

Speaker 1 (15:36):
What about you, adeline?

Speaker 4 (15:43):
I feel like they're always like I don't know.
Yeah, I just like them.
And then I like waking up onChristmas morning, because it's
like a magical feeling, and Ilike celebrating Jesus too, nice
.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
I like that magical feeling on magical feeling.

Speaker 4 (15:56):
I mean when you wake up at five o'clock in the
morning and you're not eventired, like why can't I do that
every day?

Speaker 2 (16:04):
That's me that's probably a valid question.
What?
What is your favorite part?
I?

Speaker 1 (16:10):
I I do enjoy seeing all the family.
Some you don't necessarily seeall your family all the time,
but getting together as family,that would.
It can be stressful.
When you got to see your familyand in-laws and cousins and all
that stuff it does getstressful, but at the end of the
day I do enjoy the familyaspect of it.
And then, of course, jesus, andThen one of the Christmases we

(16:34):
always do this is a littletangent here we always do white
elephant gift and you get topick a gift if you win bingo, oh
great.
So we've laid bingo on Christmasand that's super fun.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
Do you do?
You guys do like goofy whiteelephant.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Yeah, usually it's like a ten dollar limit and then
so you buy a get.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
Well, our family sometimes, like you, go to the
drunk juror.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
That's Bailey.
Bailey raids our basement andtries to find a bunch of things
that she can pack together.
I Would rather just go buysomething quick.
Okay, how about you, aaron?

Speaker 2 (17:11):
I would say I Like Christmas morning as well.
I usually take selfies ofeverybody Because everybody gets
up early and you look a littlerough.
So Christmas morning is prettyfun.
And then just getting together.
I would agree, getting togetherfamily and some family you
don't get to see you all thetime is a good part of that.

(17:32):
Yeah, and like Ryan said, thepresents bring in a pretty good
fight.
Even as an adult, you neverknow what you're gonna get yeah
our family now does a.
There's an app Draw, draw names,draw names so you put

(17:53):
everybody's name in there.
You set a dollar limit to thegifts.
Yeah they can put together likea wish list and that's exactly
what we do.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
We just don't have an app and so it makes it super
hard and confusing.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
Yeah, there's an app out there.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
All right, we're gonna have to look that up.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, so if you, if you do that, there is an app out
there to help you guys withthis.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Okay, I Don't know.

Speaker 4 (18:16):
I can look, I haven't pulled up called draw names
calm draw names, calm there yougo.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
That's a good idea, it's free.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
Even better and it draws the person the same for
you.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, the other thing that we do always traditionally
, traditionally during theChristmas season, is we go and
cut down a tree.
Do you guys do that?

Speaker 2 (18:36):
We are doing that tomorrow Nice with another group
of friends.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Cool, we did it on last week, sunday maybe, oh,
monday after work.
We typically always go and cutreal one down, but someone in
our family does not like realtrees.
What do you mean?
Who your mom?
She would route.
She says they prickle and makeher bleed.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
So she doesn't like putting.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
So we do every other year, we do a fake tree.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
That's interesting, but so, once again, I know we
talked about this forThanksgiving episode, but this
is just another great time tomake sure that you you hit that
pause button, you take some timeand think about your motives
during this season.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
I'm currently going through a couple of Divos one is
about Motives and the other oneis about integrity and I think
this is a good time to reflecton those and Just what you are
seeking and your, your dailyactivities and what you're
seeking through this season.
And if you have kids, sit downand, I think, open up a Bible

(19:49):
and and read the Christmas story.
Maybe you'd find an actionBible.
It looks pretty cool.
I have not seen one of thoseYou're also brought to you by
the action Bible.
Yeah, so our other unofficialsponsor, the action Bible.
So, anyways, we hope that thetwo fish community has a very
blessed holiday season.

(20:10):
No matter where you are in thisworld, we hope that you can
take time to reflect on Jesusand what he has done for you.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
That's right.
Hit that pause button in life,but also hit the subscribe and
like button on this episode.
Have a great Christmas.
We'll see you next year on thetwo fish podcast.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Thanks for tuning in this week.
If you enjoyed this episode,hit those like and subscribe
buttons also.
Head over to Two fish podcastcalm to join the rest of the two
fish community and all of oursocial media platforms.
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