December 17, 2023 • 53 mins
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Can we find real joy amid the glitter and hustle of the holiday season? Brian, Austin, and Neddie, explore the role of joy in Christmas and the Christian life in this latest installment of the Living Reconciled podcast. In this episode we reveal how Scripture sees joy and how the giving, the food, the fun, and the fellowship flows out of the joy we receive in Jesus.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated
to giving our communitiespractical evidence of the gospel
message by helping Christianslearn how to live in the
reconciliation that Jesus hasalready secured for us by living
with grace across racial lines.
Hey, thanks for joining us onthis episode of Living
Reconciled, episode 34.
(00:35):
I am your host, brian Crawford,and I am with my really really,
really, really, really, really,really, really really good
friends, austin Hoyle, nettieWinners.
Co-host of Living Reconciled.
Gentlemen, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh, I'm good, I'm good man.
Um, football is looking goodthis year.
Fantasy football my fantasyfootball is looking really good
this year.
Number one seed in my league,that's good.
I almost almost got a 10-gamewinning streak.
But my wife's cousin barelybeat me by 10 points this time
and now I can't claim that,claim that right of passage.
(01:10):
But there's always next year.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely you can you know, all
streaks will break, and thenyou start them over again.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So there's an opportunity for a new streak and
maybe you know what?
Maybe I can go undefeated nextseason.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely so.
Are you playing fantasyfootball, this, this?
No, I don't play fantasyanything.
Somehow I didn't take you as afantasy football player.
I'm not a fantasy anything.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Do you play fantasy football?
I have dreams, you have dreamsI have dreams.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I have dreams, I have dreams, no fantasies.
This is dream football I playdream football.
That's what I'm saying,absolutely.
I used to play a little fantasyfootball.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I don't play as much anymore these days, so special
thanks to our sponsors NissanAtmos Energy Regions Foundation.
Brown Missionary Baptist Church, christian Life Church, ms
Doris Powell, ms Robert Ward, msAnne Winters.
Thank you so much foreverything that you do.
Because of what you do, missionMississippi is able to do what
we do, and so we appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Today, I want to talk about Before you go in, can I
speak?
Absolutely, I'm really really.
You asked me how I was.
I'm really really really good.
I'm almost as really, reallygood as you are to be with your
really, really, really, really,really good friend.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Absolutely, and the reason why I put so many realies
into my description of myfriends today is because we are
talking about a really really,really, really, really good
topic today.
Last week we talked about envy.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Comparison.
Oh, I thought we were justreally really good friends.
But you just said you put thoserealies in there based on the
topic.
You see you being evaluated onthe topic Austin, did you know
that?
Are you and him and crimetogether?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, I'll start deducting them, depending on how
this whole conversation goes.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I've just lost three realies, right?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
We've already lost a few.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
But here's the good news, though.
Here's the good news therealies.
Once we leave the podcast room,they don't really mean anything
after that.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
That's true.
Yeah, that's true.
Wait a minute.
You mean I lose my, really,when I leave out the door?
No, no.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Austin's making no, no, no, no they just have no
impact upon our eternal lifeAbsolutely Right.
That's the important thing.
That is where we're going.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Until I get to the crossover.
I really really really likehaving really, really, really
really good friends, hey welland I don't want to leave it in
the podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We'll make sure we take this beyond the podcast
studio.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Oh that's nice.
So when you see me in public,you acknowledge me.
You really, really really goodfriends.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
We'll gladly acknowledge this, so you'll talk
to me in public too.
Absolutely Unlike that lasttime we.
You just passed me right by man.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
He promised that he wouldn't bring that up.
Here we go, I know man, here wego.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And then I heard you were embarrassed to know me.
Here we, no, no, no, I'm joking, that never happened.
No, no, I would not ignoreAustin in public.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So we're talking about Christmas Joy today.
We were talking, we talkedabout last week Christmas envy
and Christmas comparison and howthey can serve as roadblocks.
I want to talk a little bitabout Christmas Joy today.
My family and I have spent sometime in reading Advent
devotionals and one devotionalstood out to me recently.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Is that joy?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Absolutely, absolutely, in fact.
It sparked joy in our house.
Here's how it began, thisdevotional that we read.
I thought it was reallyimportant.
When I was younger, christmasseemed to have split personality
.
Religious Christmas was deepand serious.
It was weeks of waiting andcandles in the dark and four
stands of hems.
It was an extra church servicesand listening to Luke two
(04:47):
before opening gifts.
It frowned on things likecommercialism, santa Claus and
saying happy holidays.
Secular Christmas, on the otherhand, was bright and glittery.
It was lights and party andkitchen countertops loaded with
cookies and chocolate.
It was snowmen with black hatsand reindeer with red noses.
It was cousins to play with ina mountain of presents under the
tree, some from Santa.
(05:09):
It can almost make you wonder ifChristians know how to have fun
.
Is Christianity just a bunch ofrules keeping you from the real
pleasures of life?
Don't buy too much, don'tbelieve in magic, don't drink
too much, don't have sex withyour boyfriend, don't swear,
don't gamble.
But if you dig into this even alittle bit, the lie gives way.
The lesser amusements we turnto for happiness a new car, sex,
(05:31):
alcohol, perfectly clean houseall those lesser amusements
deliver a burst of bliss thatquickly wanes.
Secular Christmas, with itsenthusiastic sparkles, dumps us
into the cold gray of January.
But Christian joy is muchweightier, much more durable,
because it comes from a cleanconscience washed by Jesus's
(05:54):
blood.
When you hear those words aboutChristmas and the secular
Christmas versus the ChristianChristmas, and how sometimes
Christian Christmas can almostcome off boring, and secular
Christmas can come off with allsorts of joy and happiness, even
though it might be short lived,what comes to mind, gentlemen?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
What comes to mind for me is that when you describe
Christmas in the dull as youput it boring way, it's like,
okay, maybe four hours, and thenit's on to the party.
Man, that's what I was thinkingLike go to church on Sunday
morning, then go home and watcha Heasons football game and jump
(06:38):
and shout louder that afternoonthan you did Sunday morning.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Almost like we're trying to just kind of get
through the Christian elementsof our Christmas so that we can
get to the real fun part ofChristmas.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, let's do the Luke 2 and get it over with, and
let's talk about the story ofChristmas and what it means.
And, you know, with the CharlieBrown or one of the commercials
, you just say talk, talk, talk.
When do we eat?
It's like man, when are we goingto get to the opening presents?
When are we going to get to thereal stuff, the real Christmas?
(07:18):
Let's get over to it.
And so I think many times wetake the joy out of Christmas
rather than put joy intoChristmas, because we have all
these roofs and thou shalt doand thou shalt don't, and if you
do, you know you've been gnarly, so you don't get in, right?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
right.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I'm sorry I had to toss that in there, but you know
so.
The joy at Christmas is justthe freedom to enjoy your
relationship with Christ andwith one another.
We've detached it, We'vedetached the joy.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
so that we have our quote unquote Christian part and
then we'll have our quoteunquote fun part, rather than
understanding that there aresome.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
That's why I can put the two together.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Right and, if you want, there's some fun and some
enjoyment that should beinterwoven into our Christian
experience, because theChristian experience should be
all of life, which means that itincludes room for laughter and
it Includes room for a jovialexperience in yeah and the and
(08:20):
the and the and the laughterthat makes makes your stomach
hurt, and the and the goodcookies and the in the lights,
and the, and all of these thingsthat we talk about in terms of
fun man right, all of these funElements.
how have we gotten to a placewhere we detach ourselves From
the fun when it comes to theChristian experience?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, I don't know.
That hasn't necessarily been myexperience, though.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Talk to me, about me, because I hadn't.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I hadn't seen Christmas necessary.
In the light may be to somedegree, you know, especially for
our children.
We've done that whole thingwhere you know Christmas isn't
your birthday, it's Jesus'sbirthday.
So, we actually haven't beeninvesting so much in the Present
aspect for all of our children.
So Christmas for us has notbeen a time of Immense spending.
(09:06):
We kind of just we haven't, forour children, instilled that
aspect.
But that doesn't mean it's anyless fun.
We see family, we are able to,to find that kind of joy of
being together, of havingnothing, nothing, a fettered,
you know nothing, nothingkeeping us from being able to
truly just enjoy each other'scompanies.
(09:26):
You know, even even assometimes, like when we were
back down on the coast but mywife and I were both Pastoring
churches on the coast, we wouldoftentimes our, our Christmases
were filled with just churchstuff all the time.
You know church services in theevening at both of our churches
.
And then there was two yearswhere Our two churches adopted a
(09:50):
homeless ministry.
For Christmas morning we justwoke up and we went and we
cooked breakfast and cookedlunch for our two churches.
Just this homeless ministry.
C-sure Forgot it, c-sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah one of the oneof the homeless ministers down
there.
I forgot the proper name of it,sure, but it was just it was.
(10:11):
It was.
It was a good time, our kidsloved it, we loved it and you
know, that's just kind of howwe've approached Christmas.
And in our house yeah, you knowit hasn't necessarily been the
party that Nettie's talkingabout that as a meme or not
having a sense of abiding joy.
Yeah, in our lives that's justhow we've chosen to do things at
(10:32):
our house.
I'm not trying to say, I'm nottrying to Jesus-juke anybody and
say that you know, this is theway it has to be, yeah, but I'm
just saying this is the way thatmy family has decided to to
practice and celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
No, I mean, I don't think you're Jesus-juke and at
all to basically say that ourlives should be, that our lives
as Christians should carry anexperience of joy, and Certainly
doing the time in which we arecelebrating the arrival of
Christ should joy be prominent.
In fact, when we read passageslike Proverbs, chapter 17, it
says verse 22 a joyful heart isGood medicine, but a broken
(11:10):
spirit dries up the bones.
Last week we read Proverbs 14and 30 and it talked about envy
drying up the bones in aPeaceful heart bringing life to
the body.
Now we hear about joy andhappiness bringing life to the
body, and and and the Sorrow andthe sadness and the brokenness
that we can sometimes allow toallow to overtake our lives can
(11:32):
can actually dry up Our lives,and so when you hear passages
like that in the scripture,right.
A joyful heart is good medicine.
How do you, how do you Processthat as Christians in your own
life and particularly doing thisseason?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh, for me, I processed and I'm with John
Calvin in this, in the sensethat how he approaches joy, in
that.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
He's knocking his head on the mic, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I know, because I'm quoting John Calvin and I'm a
Methodist quoting John.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Calvin.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
That's what.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Calvin does is he focuses on the assurance of
God's grace, that's it as as thefoundation.
So this union with Christ is thefoundation for For all of our
joy, and it gives us thesalvation of this firm
foundation, of this assurancethat we know that we're given
this gift From from God and thuswe are able to then live this
(12:31):
Christian life with a sense ofgratitude, with a sense of joy.
So so.
So, when I hear a joyful heartand or versus a broken Spirit,
for me I'm looking at this andI'm saying that the joyful heart
can only come from a deep andabiding relationship with Christ
Mm-hmm and with God, andknowing that we have that
(12:52):
relationship and that is thebest joy that we can have.
That broken spirit, that brokenheart comes from that Either
either doubting, either notfully knowing, either just, or
or just flat out knowing For afact that you're not In union
with Christ right, or doubtingwhether you're in union with
(13:12):
Christ right, doubting we'reunion with this ultimate good,
with this, this creator, withthis life bringer right or
losing sight of the benefits ofhaving that union with Christ.
Yeah, losing sides of.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely,definitely there's.
There's definitely times ofebbs and ebbs and flows, yeah,
that we have sometimes whenwe're a Christian, we always may
not feel in our hearts that weare assured of that, but there
(13:36):
are times that we can ask Godfor that assurance, which is a
and which is once again I'mdelving into, I guess, method of
stuff.
We would say that's a secondblessing, yeah, of that
assurance that we're there, weresaved, but yet we can receive
that assurance as a secondblessing with Christ.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
You know, I got carried away with your
discussion.
I forgot what was it first.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
We got deep in the Methodist waters.
That's what yeah, well, calvinwaters too, we went to Calvin,
we went to Methodist and nowwe're.
Now we're in the waters.
Hey, real quick, real quick.
Before we jump too deep, let'stake a quick break and then we
will come back, because there'sa couple of other things that I
want to run by you.
We particularly want to hearback from netty winners in terms
of how he's processing and histhoughts on John Calvin and
(14:20):
We'll take a quick pause andthen we will come back with more
on this episode of livingreconciled.
Living reconciled is a work ofmission Mississippi, but it is
not our only work.
From days of dialogue andprayer meetings to consultation
for schools, businesses andchurches, mission Mississippi is
eager to help you, your team,your church and your community
live reconciled Every month.
Join us for our weekly prayerbreakfasts on Tuesdays and
(14:43):
Thursdays at 6 45 am, ourbi-weekly statewide connection
meetings on Fridays at 10 am anda focused time of prayer on the
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To get details on any of ourupcoming events or to learn how
you can invite us to your church, business or school, visit our
website at mission Mississippidot org and click on the events
(15:04):
button or call us at 601 3536477.
Hey, thanks again for joiningus on this episode of living
reconciled, episode 34.
Your host, brian crawford, withmy really, really, really,
really, really, really, really,really good friends austin
winners, austin winners andnetty winners.
(15:24):
I've just combined, combinedthem.
They're.
They're such good friends thatthey're at a hall.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
He just sees it as the same person.
I just see you as the sameperson netty hoyle austin
winners.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Gentlemen, how are you?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
How are you Go have a daughter in front of our names?
So I think that works.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
I was, I was doing.
Hey man, you got you guys, manyou guys are just so intertwined
, and so netty has a new a newson.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
His name is austin austin winners.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
I'm his white son.
Welcome to the family, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, so.
So, dad, what's your view onright?
What's your view on johncalvin's view on joy right?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
How did I get?
I was I was gonna get my viewon a virtue.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
We'll share your view on.
A joyful heart Does good like amedicine, but broken spirit
Drives the bones when I thinkabout the joyful spirit, I think
about what paul says.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
He says that I am, I find myself and I've learned how
to be content.
Yeah, and whatever circumstance, that's joy.
Yeah, he said, I am okay whenthere's not enough.
Yeah, and man, I'm okay whenthere's too much, because I
believe in that.
He's saying listen, god G isnot caught off, god by surprise
(16:45):
in the circumstance.
He knows my circumstance, heknows my condition and he's
allowing this to happen to meand I need to be content and
patient and calm and collectedin in this situation.
When I think about the brokenspirit or broken heart, I think
about all these greatexpectations.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Of anticipation, like like christmas man.
It's like we go through thecommercialism I think you make,
we got these great expectations,man.
It's like a drum roll For awhole year, yeah.
And then the drum stops and thebox open and you go like, is
this anti Climatic or what?
(17:23):
Yeah, it's just it.
You know you get throughopening the prayer and then you
sit there and you're looking ateach other like man, right, and
then the other end of thatbroken spirit is like, really,
it's just all I'm gonna get.
I was expecting so much more.
(17:47):
I was expecting a car.
Here you come with a bicycleand it done even have any bells
and whistles on it, and so I'mso disappointed, I'm so saddened
by this and that thought ofhaving joy in Jesus don't even
get into the room.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well, that's the trick, right?
The subtle trick has been ourjoy has been repositioned,
whereas Christmas is supposed tobe a time where joy flows from
our relationship and our unionwith Christ and as it flows from
that, it manifests itself inthe giving, it manifests itself
(18:25):
in the festival.
But now what's happened is thejoy has been repositioned so
that it flows from the festival,not from Christ, but it flows
from the festival and it doesn'tflow to the gifts, or it
doesn't flow from Christ tomanifest in itself in gifts.
It flows from the gifts.
And so, even though we'll haveChrist, if we don't have the
(18:46):
gifts, we don't have joy,because our joy has been
repositioned.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, you know.
I appreciate sermon one timefrom the passage where a devil,
no room in the end but Jesus.
If of Mary and Joseph, ourfuture sermon says Christmas
just ain't Christmas withoutChrist and we get carried away
with the festival or whateveryou're talking about with the
celebrative things or whatever.
(19:12):
Who define all this stuff?
How is defined that if you justget the right gift the diamonds
, the car you know, who plants alexicon in the snow meaning
lexicon in the snow and come outthe next morning, there's a big
lexus.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know.
So Is that the lexus commercial?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah, I'm thinking what would this kid do if he
opened the door and and?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
the lexus wasn't there.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, and he's like no bowing.
He's like, oh, he goes anddigging the snow and there's a
little lexicon he put in there.
So what is he gonna do?
He hollets for mom and dad tocelebrate the fact that the new
lexus is there.
But what happens if the lexusis not there?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Right, mom, dad, because there's because there's,
because there's many peopleRight who are gonna open their
doors and the lexus will not bethere.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
There you go, the lexus will not be there.
But they were fully expecting,anticipating all of this
wonderful joyful of getting anew car and a new whatever.
And they opened the door andthere's, that's nothing.
You're trying to break a spirit.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Right, right, right.
I was thinking about the prophetHabakkuk when we were talking
about this and reflecting onthis a little bit, where he
talks about this idea where theChaldeans have come along,
they've been used as a tool inGod's hand to punish God's
people, so to speak, and theyhave this kind of roller coaster
(20:43):
relationship where they've hadmuch and then they come down to
not having much at all.
And as he's looking at thefuture and the way ahead, he has
these last words in Habakkuk,chapter three, that he says.
He says, though the fig treeshould not blossom and there be
no fruit on the vines, thoughthe yield of the olives should
(21:06):
fail and the fields produce nofood, though the flock should be
cut off from the fold and therebe no cattle in the stalls, yet
I will exult in the Lord, Iwill rejoice.
Rejoice in the God of mysalvation.
The Lord is my strength, and hehas made my feet like hind's
feet and makes me walk on myhigh places.
(21:27):
And so what Habakkuk isbasically saying is though I
walk outside and I open the door, and the Lexus is not there,
big or small, or the gifts arenot there.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I still got the joy.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I still rejoice.
Why?
Because the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob is my God.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
He's saying yesterday , today and forevermore.
I'm reminded of the fishmanPeter.
The Bible says when he got tothe shore he forsook the
greatest catch of fish inhistory and followed Jesus.
For me, that says listen, Idon't need to be dragging this,
(22:09):
it's harding and holding on tothis fish.
When I got the guy right there,man.
Whenever I want to fish, allhe's doing is say dip your neck,
dip your bucket, there you go,and then he's pointing me when
he says that so I'm the guywho's.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, he's the guy.
Oh, you're the guy, you're theguy.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So, so, so, so.
So think about this, just thinkabout this during Christmas,
right, right, the Jesus thatwe're gonna, we walk out there
and see that Lexus by the way, Idon't mean to give any
promotion to this, but we walkout there and see this great
expectation of whatever it is bea Lexus, boat or whatever else
(22:50):
it is Is that when we see that,oh, pray the Lord, god answers
prayers, man, he blessed meforever and a day, and so forth,
and so on.
So if you walk out there andyou don't see it, hey, is it
still true?
There you go, right.
And my point is that, hey, ifI'm depending on Jesus to bless
(23:14):
me with a catch or whatever the,then my joy is complete.
Yeah, without the thing orthings, because he's able to
give me what I need, just what Ineed.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And sometimes what we need is the opportunity and
empowerment to be a witness, andfor me, I think that's what's
when we have the greatest joy.
You know, that type ofheartwarming witness that we can
offer to persons, no matterwhat they're going through, and
it's almost like it's seeingChristmas, you know, is the
(23:50):
Christmas season the place wherewe're deriving our joy, or is
the Christmas season a placewhere we get to enact and live
out our joy through?
Because we're so, we have somuch gratitude for what?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
we're doing.
Christmas should be every day,yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Exactly, I mean, I think that's part of the point.
Absolutely, I think that's partof the point.
It's a special time of yearwhen we can set aside time to be
able to express our joy andexpress our gratitude to God.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
And we do that together.
And we do that together andthere's nothing wrong with
particular times of focus.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, exactly, we do that.
We do that in Easter,absolutely.
You know, we have differentholidays.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
We do that in wedding anniversaries Throughout the
year.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
And I think it's because I do it on birthdays.
Yeah, see but every day can'tbe my birthday.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
We can't celebrate as if every day is my birthday,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
And if you're born on February 29th, you only get a
birthday over four years, right?
So no, but I'm Joe Pitch.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Are you that lucky person that gets?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Maybe that's what happened to Jesus.
I mean, don't they say thatJesus was born sometime in the
spring and maybe he was one ofthose?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
unlucky few.
What is happening?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
What is happening?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
You're losing it now man, what were you saying now?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You know, maybe he was born February 29th and they
just said well, we got to givehim a real birthday.
So they decided it's December25th.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Oh my goodness, is that right?
We're going to talk aboutfour-leaf clovers.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I was about to say if you guys keep down this road,
I'm going to start calling youNettie Hoyle and Austin Winters.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, I do have Irish blood in me, so I'm perfectly
fine with a four-leaf cloverconversation, or it's a
three-leaf.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I forgot.
So to Austin's point 2Corinthians, chapter nine verse
six.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
That is point about the four-leaf clover.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Not about the four-leaf clover In a few
minutes.
I need to close out with JohnWesley.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Not about the four-leaf clover, but about
giving, so to speak, flowingfrom joy.
Paul says this.
Now this I say he who sowedsparingly will also reap
sparingly.
He who sows bountifully willalso reap bountifully.
Listen to this.
This is the most important parthere for us today.
Each one must do just as he haspurposed in his heart, not
grudgingly or under compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver.
(25:52):
Is this a steward's?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
message man.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
No, no, no, no.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
The gi no hold on, hold on.
I can't shout now.
The giving is the joy Is comingfrom joy, Exactly.
Exactly, it is the joy so whathappens in Christmas right is a
product of the joy, Is a productof the joy, the giving.
In other words, I got toreceive something.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yes, and so joy is a gift, and thus we give because
we've been given.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Have you read in the latest that they've been Joy is
a gift and because we havereceived joy, we are giving
right from that joy.
What happens how we twist theChristmas season is that, oh my
goodness, I got to have All ofthis in order to have joy.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I got to have all these things in order to have
joy, so that I get out ofChristmas with happiness and joy
, exactly.
I'm not-.
I'm entering into it withhappiness and joy so that I can
help others also come unitedwith Christ, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
That that that continuum on to say thanks.
Be to God for the gift.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yes, indeed, indeed.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Yes, and so.
So you know, when the baby wasborn, in a manger, in the crib
or whatever those people came,did they celebrate him or
celebrate Is that?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
the crib or whatever, which is whatever Jesus was for
it's manger crib whatever.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well, you know, I see displays-.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Water bed, water bed, whatever Jesus-.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
You know, hallclaws or whatever you know, did they
do what we do today?
Is that the model?
Is that the example?
I think that the kings saidlet's go worship him.
Right, somebody said let's goworship him.
Let's go bow down before him,let's go recognize him, and with
that, for that day, part of theworship and part of the
(27:47):
celebration was the brain gifts,not so much to him but on to
God, but that sprung from joy.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
There you go.
That sprung from joy and thoseguys was excited about that
sprung from joy.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
It was so excited they counted it as such a
privilege and honor andcelebration that they man, we
gotta bring a gift you knowthat's exciting, you know we get
to do this thing of knowingthat this is the savior that we
long for, that we've beenwaiting for Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
How it?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
has come, let us celebrate.
You know we do what we pass outcigars or whatever you know.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
take a shot of bourbon or whatever you do so we
do not condone the smoke I wasabout to say where is this going
?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
We're talking about bourbon and cigars now.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I was interested.
I was about to say y'all, weonly have 20 seconds left.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
My Baptist brothers and sisters are listening.
Y'all be careful with this.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I apologize for you the illustration of how we
celebrated New Bird.
We get excited and we useabbreviations Libriations, right
.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Hey, let's take a quick pause, as it relates to
the podcast for our radiolisteners.
This wraps up our radiobroadcast, but the good news is
is that this is a podcast and soyou can go out to any podcast
subscriber and you can downloadliving or subscribe to living
reconcile podcast and you cancontinue this episode with us,
and we would love for you tocontinue this episode with us
(29:19):
for our radio listeners whowon't be doing that today.
We wish you a God bless beforeour podcast listeners will see
you on the other side of thisbreak.
Living reconciled is a work ofMission Mississippi, but it is
not our only work.
From days of dialogue andprayer meetings to consultation
for schools, businesses andchurches, mission Mississippi is
eager to help you, your team,your church and your community
(29:41):
live reconciled Every month.
Join us for our weekly prayerbreakfasts on Tuesdays and
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(30:03):
website at missionmississipiorgand click on the events button
or call us at 601-353-6477.
Hey, thanks so much for joiningus on this episode of Living
Wrecking Sound, episode 34.
I'm your host, brian Crawford,with some bonus content with my
good, good, good friends NettieWinters, austin Hoyle.
(30:25):
We're talking about the joy inChristmas and this has been a
really, really interestingdiscussion.
When we left on the other sideof the break, we were talking
about 2 Corinthians, chapternine, and Paul's words about
giving from a cheerful place,and that in and of itself
signifies that giving shouldcome from joy and not to joy.
(30:50):
In other words, I'm not givingin order to get joy through the,
through the source of gifts andin hopes that when I give,
you're going to give mesomething and receiving that
that's going to make me have joy, but rather it should come from
joy, and we talk about thisfrom joy being our rootedness in
Christ and our relationship inJesus and the fact that he has
(31:13):
arrived and come to earth, andthat, in and of itself, has
brought forth joy.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Go ahead, austin, and I'm just, I'm hearing your
description and I also want tosay there's a there's a
reciprocity between joy andgiving as well, that, even if
you don't necessarily have joyin your heart right now, don't,
don't not give just because youdon't.
You're not giving out out outof the sense of joy, because
taking and oftentimes if youtake on the posture of joy, god
(31:41):
bless you with amen.
So taking on that posture, notposturing Amen, not not lying,
not manipulating necessarily, oftrying to say I have a state
that I don't actually have, butif you just humbly ask God for
joy and you take on that postureof joy, that may be an avenue.
Amen To joy, and I think that's, I think that's fine.
(32:01):
There's there's, there's a justthe you know, a slight nuanced
difference, I think, and how wesometimes understand joy
deriving from certain things.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, no, no, no, you're 100 and that posturing
our hearts 100 percent 100percent.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
You know, I think I got this Austin All right, is
that?
What I take from what you justsaid is that sometimes we force
ourselves, fake ourselves intobeing joy.
I won't complain or saysomething like that it's part of
it and I'm gonna be joy.
I don't care what anybody, I'mgonna have a happy Christmas.
(32:39):
I'm gonna.
You know, the thing about thatis there's an insinuation in
that's the make.
That statement doesn'tinsinuation that you can do
something to take away my joy.
You can do something to breakmy heart.
You can do something that'sgoing to not allow me to have a
happy, joyful whatever the termyou want to use Christmas.
And we're so busy making sureeverybody have a merry Christmas
(33:04):
.
Whatever that means is that weforget about the fact that we're
supposed to have a merryChristmas because of Christ,
irrespectively or iris, whateverthe word is about whether or
not I got to give, and sometimeswe give, even sometimes we
don't give with the expectationto receive them, but we give to
(33:26):
fulfill some emptiness orsomething you know I promise
myself when I get money.
I'm going to do this and I'mgoing to do this.
Like, really, is this bringingyou joy?
Is this part of joy?
Forgiving?
Is that I do it simply becauseof the joy within me to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
But to Austin's point , that, even taking that, that
point about, we've talked aboutthis just collectively in our
own private time of dialogue,where you take one of these
words and you switch a letterout, you know, from I got to do,
I get to do, and all of asudden that is a paradigm shift,
or shattering shift, so tospeak.
(34:05):
Perspective just moving fromget got to do this, got to do
that to I get to do this.
In other words, moving fromobligation to opportunity and
life.
Life in and of itself is allthese opportunities that the
Lord has afforded us.
But I think to your point,austin, is that there are people
out there who are saying tothemselves oh so, since giving
comes from joy and I don't haveany joy, I shouldn't give and I
(34:29):
shouldn't give any expectationsfrom God, right or anything like
that.
You're right, you know you.
You're just saying I don'tcurrently have it and you adopt
that nihilistic mindset that Inever will Right and the reason
I try God can actually bless uswith joy in our obedience to him
.
Yeah, so pursuing joy through,in other words, we're giving but
(34:54):
we're not giving because we'repursuing joy in terms of that
reciprocity from people.
Oh, if I give.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I'm going to give you a gift back.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
It's an obedience, but we're saying an obedience to
God, even though I'm notfeeling it in this moment.
In obedience to God, I'm goingto pursue joy in God by giving,
with the hope that, because Godis who he says he is, he's going
to restore joy to me.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
What is the thing about feeling it?
What's that?
What feelings got to do with it?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Not, feeling joy.
Well, there's assurance, youknow, I'm just saying there's
assurance of God's blessings inour lives.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
And you know I got that.
But.
I'm saying I don't feel youknow some emotion again is go
back to this thing of how wedefining happiness and joy
Because I don't.
I don't feel like my emotionsand things that I want, as you
say, I want to let so becauseI'm being dictated to by my
(35:49):
feelings.
So I decide, well, I'll neverhave it, you know.
And so joy is a spontaneousthing that comes I mean the gift
of giving and other things.
That's a spontaneous thing thatcomes out of the joy.
So again, I don't think weunderstand many times that
(36:10):
people will manufacture somekind of joy.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, or a pretence.
I definitely think that's true.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
We go from one extreme to the other, and so I
help people say oh, I get somuch joy out of Christmas, I
want to go to the mailbox.
I want to open the letters,yeah, and I just love giving and
cooking and all this otherstuff.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I would just ask that person how are you the rest of
the year?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
but there are some people that do get that kind of
joy.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I mean every time.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I hear Nettie describe these moments.
I picture him as like the greenlittle grinch that's going
around still in Christmaspresents for Mother.
The tree, yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Why they talk about it.
They know the joy Give it.
I got my arms up.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
So if Nettie Winters comes to your house around
Christmas lock the door.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
He's going to steal your joy.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
He's looking for all of the happy people.
I'm not going to steal it, Iwant to give some.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I'm going to steal it .
Yeah, he's looking for thosereally excited people.
Yeah, that's going around.
It's really excited aboutChristmas.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
The reason why you do not have Alexis outside your
house.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Nettie's been at your house and he's taken it already
.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Thanks guys.
I know we went from beginningof this podcast.
We were really really, really,really, really really good
friends and when we went to therest of the story time.
It became my good, good, goodfriend.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Well, for a second there.
When he said I'm talking aboutbonus content of the podcast, I
was talking.
He was about to say and theseare my bonus friends.
This is like they're not reallyour friends, but I get to hang
out with them every once in awhile.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Yeah.
So this thing of joy, how do Iavoid these pitfalls that we're
talking about that manufacturedjoy, or I don't feel the joy, I
don't know how to be joyful.
How do we avoid that?
Yeah, here's a great they gowith that Bible again.
Man, he's a lot of scripture.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Here's a couple of different ways in which we can
look at that.
Number one number one, psalm 16,and it says, verse eight I have
set the Lord continually beforeme because he is at my right
hand.
I will not be shaken.
Therefore, my heart is glad andmy glory rejoices.
(38:38):
My flesh also will dwellsecurely.
I think about that passage.
It comes to mind because itbasically is saying I have set
the Lord before me, I have putmy gaze on God.
And so, in the midst of when weread Habakkuk, habakkuk is
(39:00):
envisioning the destruction andthe devastation and the lack and
the gloom around him.
And yet he says though the figtree is not producing and though
the olive branch is notproducing, and though there's
such lack of production aroundme, my hope is fixed and my hope
is set on God.
The Psalm is saying the samething.
I've set my gaze on God.
(39:20):
And because I've set my gaze onGod, rejoicing is what follows.
I'm reminded of Second Samuel,I believe.
Where is the Second Samuel?
Six, the return of the Ark tothe city where David is leading
the processional dancing,because the presence of God has
returned.
Of course, there was a seasonwhere they touched the Ark.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
How about dance like David did?
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Right, they touched the Ark and of course the Lord
strikes the individual whotouches the Ark, strikes him
dead, and all of that.
We can unlock that and unpackthat at a later time, but
nevertheless they put the Ark inanother place and say, hey, if
that's gonna happen, we wannaavoid it, we wanna stay away
from it.
And then there's finally theseason.
The season finally arrives.
(40:06):
The parade man when they canbring the Ark to the city and
when they go and they get theArk and the Ark comes back to
the city, David is so excited.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
He's pumped.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
He's pumped.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
And why is it?
It's because the presence ofGod is there.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
There you go, exactly .
Speaker 1 (40:22):
The presence of God.
And so at the site and at thereturn of the presence of God
comes joy.
Luke two behold, I bring yougood news of great joy.
And what is that good news of?
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Glad tidings man Right.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
what is that glad tidings.
What is that good news of greatjoy Christ has come.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
The presence of God Emmanuel.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
God with us.
He is now here, and with thatcomes joy.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
And so that gaze?
Yeah, y'all hear that there.
Yeah, y'all hear that idea.
I Christmas every day.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Every day.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Y'all come see me and bring the gifts Every day.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Where were you going to say I'm sorry?
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
I like that every day man Christmas every day.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Every day, every day.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I think I was going to say.
And what we do with that joy iswe live it out.
That's right Every day.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
You bring the gifts.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
He wasn't going to say anything too far.
I might have thrown in the JohnWesley quote or something but
I'm not going to now for that.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
he's saying right.
Thank you so much for that.
Yeah, no, no problem, noproblem.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, married Christmas.
And whoever needs me to quoteany theologian, I can just let
me know a couple of minutesbefore the next episode Now I'll
do it and that he will be veryappreciative of that, absolutely
.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
I want to go back to the point you made Brian about
when you quoted Samuel and someother places.
There's a passage that says thejoy of the Lord, that's our
strength, that's our strength,and the strength of the Lord is
my joy, right?
The second part, the strengthof the Lord is my joy, not the
(42:01):
strength of my gift In the senseof some box, wrapping paper on
it or in some individual thatwears a red suit.
My joy is in the Lord.
And because of the Lord I havestrength and I have contentment
(42:22):
and I don't want to miss thisthing of contentment.
See, so often I think thebroken spirit, the broken heart
and things you talk about, thedepressions and other things
comes out of the fact that we'rejust not content.
We're not content in the Lordbecause there'll be some.
(42:43):
I ought to get something out ofit.
I ought to get some kind ofsurge or charge or whatever.
We always experience it.
We jumpin' off cliffs and youknow, conkin' the mountain, the
fastest car, the greatest fancyfootball team, that's mine.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
That's mine.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
So we're always competing and we always want
more.
At what point do we startwanting more, stop wanting more?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
When we find our satisfaction in Christ.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
When I say want more, I want more Christ, of course.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
But at what point do we get satisfied?
I would satisfy when we finallyfind our satisfaction in Christ
.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Do we go to the wedding in Canaan?
They celebrate for five days,sounds good to me.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Let's talk about joy, right, even when we talk about
where is joy in the life of theChristian, where can joy be
found in Christianity?
It is not mere coincidence thatthe very first miracle that
Jesus works Come on somebody Isthe transformation of water into
(43:59):
wine at a wedding feast.
That's been ongoing for days ondays, and so there's a
celebration, and thatcelebration, that transformation
of water to wine, is intendedto show us, number one, that of
course, this is the Christ, andthe Christ has arrived.
But it's also intended toforeshadow for us that he is
(44:22):
preparing us for another feast,another wedding, another
marriage, the church in thegroom, who's the Christ uniting
forever in a marriage feast thatwill forever continue.
And so, all within ourChristian understanding of even
the arrival of Jesus and hisconfirmation and his affirmation
(44:47):
to the world that I am theChrist, all in our understanding
of that is joy, thisproclamation that comes with joy
.
And so there is.
I say all that to say that whenwe, when Christians, when we
hide that, whether it be in ourChristmas expression or whether
(45:08):
that be in our daily expression,we are reducing in some way,
what does it mean to actuallylive out the Christian life?
Right To live out the Christianlife is to live it out in a
sense of joy, is to live it outin a sense of David.
David says, hey, I'm dancinguncontrollably almost wide
(45:29):
because the presence of God hascome and, in the same way, that
should be consistent with theChristian life that I have a joy
unspeakable.
Why?
Because the presence of God hascome and now lives in me, and
so, yes, this Christmas holidays, while you may not have the
Lexus that's parked out front,man, listen go inside.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
We've probably got everybody not thinking what is
this Lexus?
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Right next week we'll be like we'll be talking about.
Hey, thanks for joining LivingReckon South, sponsored by Lexus
.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Sponsored by.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Lexus.
We mentioned Lexus so much atthis point.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I know it, we need to start mentioning these songs,
right, but when you think aboutthis idea of the Christmas
cookies and the candy and theoven cooking and all this food,
it should be springing from thisjoy that we have in Christ and
so it's like man, I'mcelebrating, not the cookies.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I'm celebrating the fact that Jesus is ours and we
are His All right and I've kindof got a concluding thought of
the difference of what it is joyversus what we talked about
last week envy.
So oftentimes when we're envious, we're envious sometimes of
those who have joy or those whowe look at it having joy Because
(46:50):
we're on the outside looking atit.
We like what joy looks like, welike the big holidays, we like
the big family gatherings, welike to have that food and for
so many of us, especially ifyou're operating and looking at
joy from an envious perspective,that's what joy looks like and
that's the extent of what joylooks like.
You know, outside looking in,and those who are oftentimes
(47:11):
envious aren't looking at thevery fact that this joy is
coming from a deep and abidingrelationship with Christ.
But they like all of theoutside aspects of joy.
They like having a person thathas a countenance that is good
and fair, countenance that iskind, that is gentle and all
that, and they want that forthemselves.
Because I think a lot of timesyou know what's keeping people
(47:33):
from being kind and gentle andhaving that type of good, fair
countenance is internal, isn'tallowed, you know and they look
at someone who has that and theysay, I want that too.
Where does that come from?
And they're envious and theytry to replicate that based on
being from the outside lookingin.
They try to replicate that fortheir own lives and oftentimes
(47:55):
they may not reach it.
Because, they're coming at itfrom a perspective or from a
direction that isn't going to behelpful and isn't pointing
towards the prevalence of Christ.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Isn't this a golden opportunity to Austin right when
people observe that joy in ourlives, that we give them the
source right To be a witness.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
We give them the reason for that joy, as Paul
would tell us to be prepared togive a reason for the hope.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
And in a sense there's very much some of that
as well there in terms of beprepared to give a reason for
that joy that you live in andthat you walk in.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
Yeah, and also without that reason.
Oftentimes I think we see a lotof people kind of going through
the basic outward lookings ofwhat they think joy looks like.
And that's the whole point thatyou have people, year after
year after year, they do thesame thing over and over again,
(48:52):
even though it has stoppedgiving them joy and even though
it has stopped being a productof joy, and that is exclusive,
because they're looking afterwhat they have either had in the
past or what they see otherpeople as having.
So it becomes kind of thisoutward expression of a desire
that they want to have.
They don't necessarily have it,but yet it is something that
(49:13):
they're chasing after,absolutely Right.
I mean, we see all the time, orwe hear all the time about how
families, they come together forthe holiday seasons and they
have fights, even though they'retrying to replicate what
they've done in the past, andmaybe relational reasons why
they don't.
But it also may be becausethey're pursuing joy in a way
(49:34):
that doesn't lead towards thattype of long, lasting, abiding
relationship with Christ.
Right, right.
Amen, I know, I just jumbled alot of thoughts in there, no
good thoughts, all good thoughts, all good thoughts.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
I wanted to share this final quote, really
interesting way of looking atjoy in and of itself.
He says life is serious all thetime, but living cannot be.
You may have all the solannessyou wish in choosing neckties,
but in something important suchas death, sex and even religion,
you must have mirth or you willhave madness.
(50:11):
You must have jovial times, youmust have times of levity, you
must have times oflightheartedness, you must have
times of laughter.
And if you do not have laughter, if you do not have joy, if
it's all all straight laced andall you know, straight tight
lipped, and if that's the life,then that life is bound for
(50:34):
madness.
And so our hope and our prayerthis holiday season, this
Christmas season, this Adventseason, is that your homes would
be filled with joy, andhopefully you've heard today
that it does not require anabundance of gifts or Nissan,
new Nissan's out front, or newLexus is out front, but
(50:56):
hopefully you've learned that.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
That existence would look good and I know it, I know
it.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
But hopefully you've learned that Christ is the
source of the of, source of thatjoy, and from that joy flows
all the festivities flows, allthe food flows, all the fun, not
to joy, but from the joy that'salready rooted and founded in
Christ.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
You're saying that I can have a joy for Christmas and
don't have to go through thecommercial stuff of buying gifts
and all these thingsthreatening and frantic and and
panicking and all of thosethings that brings people into
these stages of madness as youtalked about earlier.
You mean I can just relax,become and take in the joy of
(51:42):
just enjoying the presence ofGod, as David did.
And when I do that, I can dancelike David.
Speaker 1 (51:50):
I would encourage you before you even go out and buy
one gift.
I would encourage you to restin that joy.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
Well, I'm resting in that joy.
I just hope the people thatexpect the gift of me are
resting in the joy.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
The people that are listening in.
They're saying rest in that joythat it did Make sure you go
get that gift.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
I'm just saying I'm going to rest in that joy
through the 31st.
So I'm not going out, I'm goingto rest in that joy.
And I guess my final thoughtsbefore we two now is this is the
second time he's lying.
I was like no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Those were concluding thoughts.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
Oh this is a final.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
This is different.
This is the final thought Ifyou wake up and you go outside
and you were expecting Alexisand and you believe Sanad didn't
bring you one, maybe Sanaddidn't forget you and maybe it's
just at Nettie's house.
I'm done.
Speaker 1 (52:44):
I am Brian Crawford, with my good friends.
I think to be a Nissan, with mygood friends Nettie Hoyle and
Austin Winters, signing offsaying God bless, god bless, god
bless.
Thanks for joining LivingReconciled.
If you would like moreinformation on how you can be a
part of the ongoing work ofhelping Christians learn how to
(53:06):
live in the reconciliation thatJesus has already secured,
please visit us online atmissionmississippiorg or call us
at 601-353-6477.
Thanks again for listening.
This is Living Reconciled, a podcast dedicated
to giving our communitiespractical evidence of the gospel
message by helping Christianslearn how to live in the
reconciliation that Jesus hasalready secured for us by living
with grace across racial lines.
Hey, thanks for joining us onthis episode of Living
Reconciled, episode 34.
(00:35):
I am your host, brian Crawford,and I am with my really really,
really, really, really, really,really, really really good
friends, austin Hoyle, nettieWinners.
Co-host of Living Reconciled.
Gentlemen, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Oh, I'm good, I'm good man.
Um, football is looking goodthis year.
Fantasy football my fantasyfootball is looking really good
this year.
Number one seed in my league,that's good.
I almost almost got a 10-gamewinning streak.
But my wife's cousin barelybeat me by 10 points this time
and now I can't claim that,claim that right of passage.
(01:10):
But there's always next year.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely you can you know, all
streaks will break, and thenyou start them over again.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So there's an opportunity for a new streak and
maybe you know what?
Maybe I can go undefeated nextseason.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely so.
Are you playing fantasyfootball, this, this?
No, I don't play fantasyanything.
Somehow I didn't take you as afantasy football player.
I'm not a fantasy anything.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Do you play fantasy football?
I have dreams, you have dreamsI have dreams.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I have dreams, I have dreams, no fantasies.
This is dream football I playdream football.
That's what I'm saying,absolutely.
I used to play a little fantasyfootball.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
I don't play as much anymore these days, so special
thanks to our sponsors NissanAtmos Energy Regions Foundation.
Brown Missionary Baptist Church, christian Life Church, ms
Doris Powell, ms Robert Ward, msAnne Winters.
Thank you so much foreverything that you do.
Because of what you do, missionMississippi is able to do what
we do, and so we appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Today, I want to talk about Before you go in, can I
speak?
Absolutely, I'm really really.
You asked me how I was.
I'm really really really good.
I'm almost as really, reallygood as you are to be with your
really, really, really, really,really good friend.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Absolutely, and the reason why I put so many realies
into my description of myfriends today is because we are
talking about a really really,really, really, really good
topic today.
Last week we talked about envy.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Comparison.
Oh, I thought we were justreally really good friends.
But you just said you put thoserealies in there based on the
topic.
You see you being evaluated onthe topic Austin, did you know
that?
Are you and him and crimetogether?
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Yeah, I'll start deducting them, depending on how
this whole conversation goes.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
So I've just lost three realies, right?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
We've already lost a few.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
But here's the good news, though.
Here's the good news therealies.
Once we leave the podcast room,they don't really mean anything
after that.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
That's true.
Yeah, that's true.
Wait a minute.
You mean I lose my, really,when I leave out the door?
No, no.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
Austin's making no, no, no, no they just have no
impact upon our eternal lifeAbsolutely Right.
That's the important thing.
That is where we're going.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
Until I get to the crossover.
I really really really likehaving really, really, really
really good friends, hey welland I don't want to leave it in
the podcast.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
We'll make sure we take this beyond the podcast
studio.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Oh that's nice.
So when you see me in public,you acknowledge me.
You really, really really goodfriends.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
We'll gladly acknowledge this, so you'll talk
to me in public too.
Absolutely Unlike that lasttime we.
You just passed me right by man.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
He promised that he wouldn't bring that up.
Here we go, I know man, here wego.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
And then I heard you were embarrassed to know me.
Here we, no, no, no, I'm joking, that never happened.
No, no, I would not ignoreAustin in public.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
So we're talking about Christmas Joy today.
We were talking, we talkedabout last week Christmas envy
and Christmas comparison and howthey can serve as roadblocks.
I want to talk a little bitabout Christmas Joy today.
My family and I have spent sometime in reading Advent
devotionals and one devotionalstood out to me recently.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
Is that joy?
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Absolutely, absolutely, in fact.
It sparked joy in our house.
Here's how it began, thisdevotional that we read.
I thought it was reallyimportant.
When I was younger, christmasseemed to have split personality
.
Religious Christmas was deepand serious.
It was weeks of waiting andcandles in the dark and four
stands of hems.
It was an extra church servicesand listening to Luke two
(04:47):
before opening gifts.
It frowned on things likecommercialism, santa Claus and
saying happy holidays.
Secular Christmas, on the otherhand, was bright and glittery.
It was lights and party andkitchen countertops loaded with
cookies and chocolate.
It was snowmen with black hatsand reindeer with red noses.
It was cousins to play with ina mountain of presents under the
tree, some from Santa.
(05:09):
It can almost make you wonder ifChristians know how to have fun
.
Is Christianity just a bunch ofrules keeping you from the real
pleasures of life?
Don't buy too much, don'tbelieve in magic, don't drink
too much, don't have sex withyour boyfriend, don't swear,
don't gamble.
But if you dig into this even alittle bit, the lie gives way.
The lesser amusements we turnto for happiness a new car, sex,
(05:31):
alcohol, perfectly clean houseall those lesser amusements
deliver a burst of bliss thatquickly wanes.
Secular Christmas, with itsenthusiastic sparkles, dumps us
into the cold gray of January.
But Christian joy is muchweightier, much more durable,
because it comes from a cleanconscience washed by Jesus's
(05:54):
blood.
When you hear those words aboutChristmas and the secular
Christmas versus the ChristianChristmas, and how sometimes
Christian Christmas can almostcome off boring, and secular
Christmas can come off with allsorts of joy and happiness, even
though it might be short lived,what comes to mind, gentlemen?
Speaker 3 (06:16):
What comes to mind for me is that when you describe
Christmas in the dull as youput it boring way, it's like,
okay, maybe four hours, and thenit's on to the party.
Man, that's what I was thinkingLike go to church on Sunday
morning, then go home and watcha Heasons football game and jump
(06:38):
and shout louder that afternoonthan you did Sunday morning.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Almost like we're trying to just kind of get
through the Christian elementsof our Christmas so that we can
get to the real fun part ofChristmas.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yeah, let's do the Luke 2 and get it over with, and
let's talk about the story ofChristmas and what it means.
And, you know, with the CharlieBrown or one of the commercials
, you just say talk, talk, talk.
When do we eat?
It's like man, when are we goingto get to the opening presents?
When are we going to get to thereal stuff, the real Christmas?
(07:18):
Let's get over to it.
And so I think many times wetake the joy out of Christmas
rather than put joy intoChristmas, because we have all
these roofs and thou shalt doand thou shalt don't, and if you
do, you know you've been gnarly, so you don't get in, right?
Speaker 2 (07:35):
right.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
I'm sorry I had to toss that in there, but you know
so.
The joy at Christmas is justthe freedom to enjoy your
relationship with Christ andwith one another.
We've detached it, We'vedetached the joy.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
so that we have our quote unquote Christian part and
then we'll have our quoteunquote fun part, rather than
understanding that there aresome.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
That's why I can put the two together.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Right and, if you want, there's some fun and some
enjoyment that should beinterwoven into our Christian
experience, because theChristian experience should be
all of life, which means that itincludes room for laughter and
it Includes room for a jovialexperience in yeah and the and
(08:20):
the and the and the laughterthat makes makes your stomach
hurt, and the and the goodcookies and the in the lights,
and the, and all of these thingsthat we talk about in terms of
fun man right, all of these funElements.
how have we gotten to a placewhere we detach ourselves From
the fun when it comes to theChristian experience?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yeah, I don't know.
That hasn't necessarily been myexperience, though.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Talk to me, about me, because I hadn't.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
I hadn't seen Christmas necessary.
In the light may be to somedegree, you know, especially for
our children.
We've done that whole thingwhere you know Christmas isn't
your birthday, it's Jesus'sbirthday.
So, we actually haven't beeninvesting so much in the Present
aspect for all of our children.
So Christmas for us has notbeen a time of Immense spending.
(09:06):
We kind of just we haven't, forour children, instilled that
aspect.
But that doesn't mean it's anyless fun.
We see family, we are able to,to find that kind of joy of
being together, of havingnothing, nothing, a fettered,
you know nothing, nothingkeeping us from being able to
truly just enjoy each other'scompanies.
(09:26):
You know, even even assometimes, like when we were
back down on the coast but mywife and I were both Pastoring
churches on the coast, we wouldoftentimes our, our Christmases
were filled with just churchstuff all the time.
You know church services in theevening at both of our churches
.
And then there was two yearswhere Our two churches adopted a
(09:50):
homeless ministry.
For Christmas morning we justwoke up and we went and we
cooked breakfast and cookedlunch for our two churches.
Just this homeless ministry.
C-sure Forgot it, c-sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah one of the oneof the homeless ministers down
there.
I forgot the proper name of it,sure, but it was just it was.
(10:11):
It was.
It was a good time, our kidsloved it, we loved it and you
know, that's just kind of howwe've approached Christmas.
And in our house yeah, you knowit hasn't necessarily been the
party that Nettie's talkingabout that as a meme or not
having a sense of abiding joy.
Yeah, in our lives that's justhow we've chosen to do things at
(10:32):
our house.
I'm not trying to say, I'm nottrying to Jesus-juke anybody and
say that you know, this is theway it has to be, yeah, but I'm
just saying this is the way thatmy family has decided to to
practice and celebrate Christmas.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
No, I mean, I don't think you're Jesus-juke and at
all to basically say that ourlives should be, that our lives
as Christians should carry anexperience of joy, and Certainly
doing the time in which we arecelebrating the arrival of
Christ should joy be prominent.
In fact, when we read passageslike Proverbs, chapter 17, it
says verse 22 a joyful heart isGood medicine, but a broken
(11:10):
spirit dries up the bones.
Last week we read Proverbs 14and 30 and it talked about envy
drying up the bones in aPeaceful heart bringing life to
the body.
Now we hear about joy andhappiness bringing life to the
body, and and and the Sorrow andthe sadness and the brokenness
that we can sometimes allow toallow to overtake our lives can
(11:32):
can actually dry up Our lives,and so when you hear passages
like that in the scripture,right.
A joyful heart is good medicine.
How do you, how do you Processthat as Christians in your own
life and particularly doing thisseason?
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh, for me, I processed and I'm with John
Calvin in this, in the sensethat how he approaches joy, in
that.
Speaker 1 (11:56):
He's knocking his head on the mic, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
I know, because I'm quoting John Calvin and I'm a
Methodist quoting John.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
Calvin.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
That's what.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Calvin does is he focuses on the assurance of
God's grace, that's it as as thefoundation.
So this union with Christ is thefoundation for For all of our
joy, and it gives us thesalvation of this firm
foundation, of this assurancethat we know that we're given
this gift From from God and thuswe are able to then live this
(12:31):
Christian life with a sense ofgratitude, with a sense of joy.
So so.
So, when I hear a joyful heartand or versus a broken Spirit,
for me I'm looking at this andI'm saying that the joyful heart
can only come from a deep andabiding relationship with Christ
Mm-hmm and with God, andknowing that we have that
(12:52):
relationship and that is thebest joy that we can have.
That broken spirit, that brokenheart comes from that Either
either doubting, either notfully knowing, either just, or
or just flat out knowing For afact that you're not In union
with Christ right, or doubtingwhether you're in union with
(13:12):
Christ right, doubting we'reunion with this ultimate good,
with this, this creator, withthis life bringer right or
losing sight of the benefits ofhaving that union with Christ.
Yeah, losing sides of.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely,definitely there's.
There's definitely times ofebbs and ebbs and flows, yeah,
that we have sometimes whenwe're a Christian, we always may
not feel in our hearts that weare assured of that, but there
(13:36):
are times that we can ask Godfor that assurance, which is a
and which is once again I'mdelving into, I guess, method of
stuff.
We would say that's a secondblessing, yeah, of that
assurance that we're there, weresaved, but yet we can receive
that assurance as a secondblessing with Christ.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
You know, I got carried away with your
discussion.
I forgot what was it first.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
We got deep in the Methodist waters.
That's what yeah, well, calvinwaters too, we went to Calvin,
we went to Methodist and nowwe're.
Now we're in the waters.
Hey, real quick, real quick.
Before we jump too deep, let'stake a quick break and then we
will come back, because there'sa couple of other things that I
want to run by you.
We particularly want to hearback from netty winners in terms
of how he's processing and histhoughts on John Calvin and
(14:20):
We'll take a quick pause andthen we will come back with more
on this episode of livingreconciled.
Living reconciled is a work ofmission Mississippi, but it is
not our only work.
From days of dialogue andprayer meetings to consultation
for schools, businesses andchurches, mission Mississippi is
eager to help you, your team,your church and your community
live reconciled Every month.
Join us for our weekly prayerbreakfasts on Tuesdays and
(14:43):
Thursdays at 6 45 am, ourbi-weekly statewide connection
meetings on Fridays at 10 am anda focused time of prayer on the
third Thursday of the month at7 am.
To get details on any of ourupcoming events or to learn how
you can invite us to your church, business or school, visit our
website at mission Mississippidot org and click on the events
(15:04):
button or call us at 601 3536477.
Hey, thanks again for joiningus on this episode of living
reconciled, episode 34.
Your host, brian crawford, withmy really, really, really,
really, really, really, really,really good friends austin
winners, austin winners andnetty winners.
(15:24):
I've just combined, combinedthem.
They're.
They're such good friends thatthey're at a hall.
Speaker 2 (15:30):
He just sees it as the same person.
I just see you as the sameperson netty hoyle austin
winners.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
Gentlemen, how are you?
Speaker 2 (15:37):
How are you Go have a daughter in front of our names?
So I think that works.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
I was, I was doing.
Hey man, you got you guys, manyou guys are just so intertwined
, and so netty has a new a newson.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
His name is austin austin winners.
Speaker 3 (15:55):
I'm his white son.
Welcome to the family, yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, so.
So, dad, what's your view onright?
What's your view on johncalvin's view on joy right?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
How did I get?
I was I was gonna get my viewon a virtue.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
We'll share your view on.
A joyful heart Does good like amedicine, but broken spirit
Drives the bones when I thinkabout the joyful spirit, I think
about what paul says.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
He says that I am, I find myself and I've learned how
to be content.
Yeah, and whatever circumstance, that's joy.
Yeah, he said, I am okay whenthere's not enough.
Yeah, and man, I'm okay whenthere's too much, because I
believe in that.
He's saying listen, god G isnot caught off, god by surprise
(16:45):
in the circumstance.
He knows my circumstance, heknows my condition and he's
allowing this to happen to meand I need to be content and
patient and calm and collectedin in this situation.
When I think about the brokenspirit or broken heart, I think
about all these greatexpectations.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
Of anticipation, like like christmas man.
It's like we go through thecommercialism I think you make,
we got these great expectations,man.
It's like a drum roll For awhole year, yeah.
And then the drum stops and thebox open and you go like, is
this anti Climatic or what?
(17:23):
Yeah, it's just it.
You know you get throughopening the prayer and then you
sit there and you're looking ateach other like man, right, and
then the other end of thatbroken spirit is like, really,
it's just all I'm gonna get.
I was expecting so much more.
(17:47):
I was expecting a car.
Here you come with a bicycleand it done even have any bells
and whistles on it, and so I'mso disappointed, I'm so saddened
by this and that thought ofhaving joy in Jesus don't even
get into the room.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Well, that's the trick, right?
The subtle trick has been ourjoy has been repositioned,
whereas Christmas is supposed tobe a time where joy flows from
our relationship and our unionwith Christ and as it flows from
that, it manifests itself inthe giving, it manifests itself
(18:25):
in the festival.
But now what's happened is thejoy has been repositioned so
that it flows from the festival,not from Christ, but it flows
from the festival and it doesn'tflow to the gifts, or it
doesn't flow from Christ tomanifest in itself in gifts.
It flows from the gifts.
And so, even though we'll haveChrist, if we don't have the
(18:46):
gifts, we don't have joy,because our joy has been
repositioned.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Yeah, you know.
I appreciate sermon one timefrom the passage where a devil,
no room in the end but Jesus.
If of Mary and Joseph, ourfuture sermon says Christmas
just ain't Christmas withoutChrist and we get carried away
with the festival or whateveryou're talking about with the
celebrative things or whatever.
(19:12):
Who define all this stuff?
How is defined that if you justget the right gift the diamonds
, the car you know, who plants alexicon in the snow meaning
lexicon in the snow and come outthe next morning, there's a big
lexus.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
You know.
So Is that the lexus commercial?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Yeah, I'm thinking what would this kid do if he
opened the door and and?
Speaker 1 (19:40):
the lexus wasn't there.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Yeah, and he's like no bowing.
He's like, oh, he goes anddigging the snow and there's a
little lexicon he put in there.
So what is he gonna do?
He hollets for mom and dad tocelebrate the fact that the new
lexus is there.
But what happens if the lexusis not there?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Right, mom, dad, because there's because there's,
because there's many peopleRight who are gonna open their
doors and the lexus will not bethere.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
There you go, the lexus will not be there.
But they were fully expecting,anticipating all of this
wonderful joyful of getting anew car and a new whatever.
And they opened the door andthere's, that's nothing.
You're trying to break a spirit.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Right, right, right.
I was thinking about the prophetHabakkuk when we were talking
about this and reflecting onthis a little bit, where he
talks about this idea where theChaldeans have come along,
they've been used as a tool inGod's hand to punish God's
people, so to speak, and theyhave this kind of roller coaster
(20:43):
relationship where they've hadmuch and then they come down to
not having much at all.
And as he's looking at thefuture and the way ahead, he has
these last words in Habakkuk,chapter three, that he says.
He says, though the fig treeshould not blossom and there be
no fruit on the vines, thoughthe yield of the olives should
(21:06):
fail and the fields produce nofood, though the flock should be
cut off from the fold and therebe no cattle in the stalls, yet
I will exult in the Lord, Iwill rejoice.
Rejoice in the God of mysalvation.
The Lord is my strength, and hehas made my feet like hind's
feet and makes me walk on myhigh places.
(21:27):
And so what Habakkuk isbasically saying is though I
walk outside and I open the door, and the Lexus is not there,
big or small, or the gifts arenot there.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I still got the joy.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
I still rejoice.
Why?
Because the God of Abraham,Isaac and Jacob is my God.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
He's saying yesterday , today and forevermore.
I'm reminded of the fishmanPeter.
The Bible says when he got tothe shore he forsook the
greatest catch of fish inhistory and followed Jesus.
For me, that says listen, Idon't need to be dragging this,
(22:09):
it's harding and holding on tothis fish.
When I got the guy right there,man.
Whenever I want to fish, allhe's doing is say dip your neck,
dip your bucket, there you go,and then he's pointing me when
he says that so I'm the guywho's.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah, he's the guy.
Oh, you're the guy, you're theguy.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
So, so, so, so.
So think about this, just thinkabout this during Christmas,
right, right, the Jesus thatwe're gonna, we walk out there
and see that Lexus by the way, Idon't mean to give any
promotion to this, but we walkout there and see this great
expectation of whatever it is bea Lexus, boat or whatever else
(22:50):
it is Is that when we see that,oh, pray the Lord, god answers
prayers, man, he blessed meforever and a day, and so forth,
and so on.
So if you walk out there andyou don't see it, hey, is it
still true?
There you go, right.
And my point is that, hey, ifI'm depending on Jesus to bless
(23:14):
me with a catch or whatever the,then my joy is complete.
Yeah, without the thing orthings, because he's able to
give me what I need, just what Ineed.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
And sometimes what we need is the opportunity and
empowerment to be a witness, andfor me, I think that's what's
when we have the greatest joy.
You know, that type ofheartwarming witness that we can
offer to persons, no matterwhat they're going through, and
it's almost like it's seeingChristmas, you know, is the
(23:50):
Christmas season the place wherewe're deriving our joy, or is
the Christmas season a placewhere we get to enact and live
out our joy through?
Because we're so, we have somuch gratitude for what?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
we're doing.
Christmas should be every day,yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
Exactly, I mean, I think that's part of the point.
Absolutely, I think that's partof the point.
It's a special time of yearwhen we can set aside time to be
able to express our joy andexpress our gratitude to God.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
And we do that together.
And we do that together andthere's nothing wrong with
particular times of focus.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Yeah, exactly, we do that.
We do that in Easter,absolutely.
You know, we have differentholidays.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
We do that in wedding anniversaries Throughout the
year.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
And I think it's because I do it on birthdays.
Yeah, see but every day can'tbe my birthday.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
We can't celebrate as if every day is my birthday,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
And if you're born on February 29th, you only get a
birthday over four years, right?
So no, but I'm Joe Pitch.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Are you that lucky person that gets?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Maybe that's what happened to Jesus.
I mean, don't they say thatJesus was born sometime in the
spring and maybe he was one ofthose?
Speaker 1 (24:53):
unlucky few.
What is happening?
Speaker 2 (24:55):
What is happening?
Speaker 1 (24:56):
You're losing it now man, what were you saying now?
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You know, maybe he was born February 29th and they
just said well, we got to givehim a real birthday.
So they decided it's December25th.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Oh my goodness, is that right?
We're going to talk aboutfour-leaf clovers.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
I was about to say if you guys keep down this road,
I'm going to start calling youNettie Hoyle and Austin Winters.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Well, I do have Irish blood in me, so I'm perfectly
fine with a four-leaf cloverconversation, or it's a
three-leaf.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
I forgot.
So to Austin's point 2Corinthians, chapter nine verse
six.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
That is point about the four-leaf clover.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Not about the four-leaf clover In a few
minutes.
I need to close out with JohnWesley.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Not about the four-leaf clover, but about
giving, so to speak, flowingfrom joy.
Paul says this.
Now this I say he who sowedsparingly will also reap
sparingly.
He who sows bountifully willalso reap bountifully.
Listen to this.
This is the most important parthere for us today.
Each one must do just as he haspurposed in his heart, not
grudgingly or under compulsion,for God loves a cheerful giver.
(25:52):
Is this a steward's?
Speaker 3 (25:55):
message man.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
No, no, no, no.
God loves a cheerful giver.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
The gi no hold on, hold on.
I can't shout now.
The giving is the joy Is comingfrom joy, Exactly.
Exactly, it is the joy so whathappens in Christmas right is a
product of the joy, Is a productof the joy, the giving.
In other words, I got toreceive something.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yes, and so joy is a gift, and thus we give because
we've been given.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Have you read in the latest that they've been Joy is
a gift and because we havereceived joy, we are giving
right from that joy.
What happens how we twist theChristmas season is that, oh my
goodness, I got to have All ofthis in order to have joy.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I got to have all these things in order to have
joy, so that I get out ofChristmas with happiness and joy
, exactly.
I'm not-.
I'm entering into it withhappiness and joy so that I can
help others also come unitedwith Christ, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
That that that continuum on to say thanks.
Be to God for the gift.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yes, indeed, indeed.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Yes, and so.
So you know, when the baby wasborn, in a manger, in the crib
or whatever those people came,did they celebrate him or
celebrate Is that?
Speaker 1 (27:14):
the crib or whatever, which is whatever Jesus was for
it's manger crib whatever.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
Well, you know, I see displays-.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Water bed, water bed, whatever Jesus-.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
You know, hallclaws or whatever you know, did they
do what we do today?
Is that the model?
Is that the example?
I think that the kings saidlet's go worship him.
Right, somebody said let's goworship him.
Let's go bow down before him,let's go recognize him, and with
that, for that day, part of theworship and part of the
(27:47):
celebration was the brain gifts,not so much to him but on to
God, but that sprung from joy.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
There you go.
That sprung from joy and thoseguys was excited about that
sprung from joy.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
It was so excited they counted it as such a
privilege and honor andcelebration that they man, we
gotta bring a gift you knowthat's exciting, you know we get
to do this thing of knowingthat this is the savior that we
long for, that we've beenwaiting for Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
How it?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
has come, let us celebrate.
You know we do what we pass outcigars or whatever you know.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
take a shot of bourbon or whatever you do so we
do not condone the smoke I wasabout to say where is this going
?
Speaker 1 (28:30):
We're talking about bourbon and cigars now.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
I was interested.
I was about to say y'all, weonly have 20 seconds left.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
My Baptist brothers and sisters are listening.
Y'all be careful with this.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
I apologize for you the illustration of how we
celebrated New Bird.
We get excited and we useabbreviations Libriations, right
.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
Hey, let's take a quick pause, as it relates to
the podcast for our radiolisteners.
This wraps up our radiobroadcast, but the good news is
is that this is a podcast and soyou can go out to any podcast
subscriber and you can downloadliving or subscribe to living
reconcile podcast and you cancontinue this episode with us,
and we would love for you tocontinue this episode with us
(29:19):
for our radio listeners whowon't be doing that today.
We wish you a God bless beforeour podcast listeners will see
you on the other side of thisbreak.
Living reconciled is a work ofMission Mississippi, but it is
not our only work.
From days of dialogue andprayer meetings to consultation
for schools, businesses andchurches, mission Mississippi is
eager to help you, your team,your church and your community
(29:41):
live reconciled Every month.
Join us for our weekly prayerbreakfasts on Tuesdays and
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(30:03):
website at missionmississipiorgand click on the events button
or call us at 601-353-6477.
Hey, thanks so much for joiningus on this episode of Living
Wrecking Sound, episode 34.
I'm your host, brian Crawford,with some bonus content with my
good, good, good friends NettieWinters, austin Hoyle.
(30:25):
We're talking about the joy inChristmas and this has been a
really, really interestingdiscussion.
When we left on the other sideof the break, we were talking
about 2 Corinthians, chapternine, and Paul's words about
giving from a cheerful place,and that in and of itself
signifies that giving shouldcome from joy and not to joy.
(30:50):
In other words, I'm not givingin order to get joy through the,
through the source of gifts andin hopes that when I give,
you're going to give mesomething and receiving that
that's going to make me have joy, but rather it should come from
joy, and we talk about thisfrom joy being our rootedness in
Christ and our relationship inJesus and the fact that he has
(31:13):
arrived and come to earth, andthat, in and of itself, has
brought forth joy.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Go ahead, austin, and I'm just, I'm hearing your
description and I also want tosay there's a there's a
reciprocity between joy andgiving as well, that, even if
you don't necessarily have joyin your heart right now, don't,
don't not give just because youdon't.
You're not giving out out outof the sense of joy, because
taking and oftentimes if youtake on the posture of joy, god
(31:41):
bless you with amen.
So taking on that posture, notposturing Amen, not not lying,
not manipulating necessarily, oftrying to say I have a state
that I don't actually have, butif you just humbly ask God for
joy and you take on that postureof joy, that may be an avenue.
Amen To joy, and I think that's, I think that's fine.
(32:01):
There's there's, there's a justthe you know, a slight nuanced
difference, I think, and how wesometimes understand joy
deriving from certain things.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Yeah, no, no, no, you're 100 and that posturing
our hearts 100 percent 100percent.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
You know, I think I got this Austin All right, is
that?
What I take from what you justsaid is that sometimes we force
ourselves, fake ourselves intobeing joy.
I won't complain or saysomething like that it's part of
it and I'm gonna be joy.
I don't care what anybody, I'mgonna have a happy Christmas.
(32:39):
I'm gonna.
You know, the thing about thatis there's an insinuation in
that's the make.
That statement doesn'tinsinuation that you can do
something to take away my joy.
You can do something to breakmy heart.
You can do something that'sgoing to not allow me to have a
happy, joyful whatever the termyou want to use Christmas.
And we're so busy making sureeverybody have a merry Christmas
(33:04):
.
Whatever that means is that weforget about the fact that we're
supposed to have a merryChristmas because of Christ,
irrespectively or iris, whateverthe word is about whether or
not I got to give, and sometimeswe give, even sometimes we
don't give with the expectationto receive them, but we give to
(33:26):
fulfill some emptiness orsomething you know I promise
myself when I get money.
I'm going to do this and I'mgoing to do this.
Like, really, is this bringingyou joy?
Is this part of joy?
Forgiving?
Is that I do it simply becauseof the joy within me to do that.
Speaker 1 (33:44):
But to Austin's point , that, even taking that, that
point about, we've talked aboutthis just collectively in our
own private time of dialogue,where you take one of these
words and you switch a letterout, you know, from I got to do,
I get to do, and all of asudden that is a paradigm shift,
or shattering shift, so tospeak.
(34:05):
Perspective just moving fromget got to do this, got to do
that to I get to do this.
In other words, moving fromobligation to opportunity and
life.
Life in and of itself is allthese opportunities that the
Lord has afforded us.
But I think to your point,austin, is that there are people
out there who are saying tothemselves oh so, since giving
comes from joy and I don't haveany joy, I shouldn't give and I
(34:29):
shouldn't give any expectationsfrom God, right or anything like
that.
You're right, you know you.
You're just saying I don'tcurrently have it and you adopt
that nihilistic mindset that Inever will Right and the reason
I try God can actually bless uswith joy in our obedience to him
.
Yeah, so pursuing joy through,in other words, we're giving but
(34:54):
we're not giving because we'repursuing joy in terms of that
reciprocity from people.
Oh, if I give.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
I'm going to give you a gift back.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
It's an obedience, but we're saying an obedience to
God, even though I'm notfeeling it in this moment.
In obedience to God, I'm goingto pursue joy in God by giving,
with the hope that, because Godis who he says he is, he's going
to restore joy to me.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
What is the thing about feeling it?
What's that?
What feelings got to do with it?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Not, feeling joy.
Well, there's assurance, youknow, I'm just saying there's
assurance of God's blessings inour lives.
Speaker 3 (35:27):
And you know I got that.
But.
I'm saying I don't feel youknow some emotion again is go
back to this thing of how wedefining happiness and joy
Because I don't.
I don't feel like my emotionsand things that I want, as you
say, I want to let so becauseI'm being dictated to by my
(35:49):
feelings.
So I decide, well, I'll neverhave it, you know.
And so joy is a spontaneousthing that comes I mean the gift
of giving and other things.
That's a spontaneous thing thatcomes out of the joy.
So again, I don't think weunderstand many times that
(36:10):
people will manufacture somekind of joy.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, or a pretence.
I definitely think that's true.
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
We go from one extreme to the other, and so I
help people say oh, I get somuch joy out of Christmas, I
want to go to the mailbox.
I want to open the letters,yeah, and I just love giving and
cooking and all this otherstuff.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I would just ask that person how are you the rest of
the year?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
but there are some people that do get that kind of
joy.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
I mean every time.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
I hear Nettie describe these moments.
I picture him as like the greenlittle grinch that's going
around still in Christmaspresents for Mother.
The tree, yeah.
Speaker 3 (36:54):
Why they talk about it.
They know the joy Give it.
I got my arms up.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
So if Nettie Winters comes to your house around
Christmas lock the door.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
He's going to steal your joy.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
He's looking for all of the happy people.
I'm not going to steal it, Iwant to give some.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
I'm going to steal it .
Yeah, he's looking for thosereally excited people.
Yeah, that's going around.
It's really excited aboutChristmas.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
The reason why you do not have Alexis outside your
house.
Speaker 1 (37:26):
Nettie's been at your house and he's taken it already
.
Speaker 3 (37:31):
Thanks guys.
I know we went from beginningof this podcast.
We were really really, really,really, really really good
friends and when we went to therest of the story time.
It became my good, good, goodfriend.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Well, for a second there.
When he said I'm talking aboutbonus content of the podcast, I
was talking.
He was about to say and theseare my bonus friends.
This is like they're not reallyour friends, but I get to hang
out with them every once in awhile.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Yeah.
So this thing of joy, how do Iavoid these pitfalls that we're
talking about that manufacturedjoy, or I don't feel the joy, I
don't know how to be joyful.
How do we avoid that?
Yeah, here's a great they gowith that Bible again.
Man, he's a lot of scripture.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Here's a couple of different ways in which we can
look at that.
Number one number one, psalm 16,and it says, verse eight I have
set the Lord continually beforeme because he is at my right
hand.
I will not be shaken.
Therefore, my heart is glad andmy glory rejoices.
(38:38):
My flesh also will dwellsecurely.
I think about that passage.
It comes to mind because itbasically is saying I have set
the Lord before me, I have putmy gaze on God.
And so, in the midst of when weread Habakkuk, habakkuk is
(39:00):
envisioning the destruction andthe devastation and the lack and
the gloom around him.
And yet he says though the figtree is not producing and though
the olive branch is notproducing, and though there's
such lack of production aroundme, my hope is fixed and my hope
is set on God.
The Psalm is saying the samething.
I've set my gaze on God.
(39:20):
And because I've set my gaze onGod, rejoicing is what follows.
I'm reminded of Second Samuel,I believe.
Where is the Second Samuel?
Six, the return of the Ark tothe city where David is leading
the processional dancing,because the presence of God has
returned.
Of course, there was a seasonwhere they touched the Ark.
Speaker 3 (39:43):
How about dance like David did?
Speaker 1 (39:45):
Right, they touched the Ark and of course the Lord
strikes the individual whotouches the Ark, strikes him
dead, and all of that.
We can unlock that and unpackthat at a later time, but
nevertheless they put the Ark inanother place and say, hey, if
that's gonna happen, we wannaavoid it, we wanna stay away
from it.
And then there's finally theseason.
The season finally arrives.
(40:06):
The parade man when they canbring the Ark to the city and
when they go and they get theArk and the Ark comes back to
the city, David is so excited.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
He's pumped.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
He's pumped.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
And why is it?
It's because the presence ofGod is there.
Speaker 3 (40:21):
There you go, exactly .
Speaker 1 (40:22):
The presence of God.
And so at the site and at thereturn of the presence of God
comes joy.
Luke two behold, I bring yougood news of great joy.
And what is that good news of?
Speaker 3 (40:33):
Glad tidings man Right.
Speaker 1 (40:35):
what is that glad tidings.
What is that good news of greatjoy Christ has come.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
The presence of God Emmanuel.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
God with us.
He is now here, and with thatcomes joy.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
And so that gaze?
Yeah, y'all hear that there.
Yeah, y'all hear that idea.
I Christmas every day.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
Every day.
Speaker 3 (40:55):
Y'all come see me and bring the gifts Every day.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
Where were you going to say I'm sorry?
Speaker 3 (41:02):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (41:02):
I like that every day man Christmas every day.
Speaker 3 (41:05):
Every day, every day.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I think I was going to say.
And what we do with that joy iswe live it out.
That's right Every day.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
You bring the gifts.
That's right.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
He wasn't going to say anything too far.
I might have thrown in the JohnWesley quote or something but
I'm not going to now for that.
Speaker 3 (41:21):
he's saying right.
Thank you so much for that.
Yeah, no, no problem, noproblem.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, married Christmas.
And whoever needs me to quoteany theologian, I can just let
me know a couple of minutesbefore the next episode Now I'll
do it and that he will be veryappreciative of that, absolutely
.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
I want to go back to the point you made Brian about
when you quoted Samuel and someother places.
There's a passage that says thejoy of the Lord, that's our
strength, that's our strength,and the strength of the Lord is
my joy, right?
The second part, the strengthof the Lord is my joy, not the
(42:01):
strength of my gift In the senseof some box, wrapping paper on
it or in some individual thatwears a red suit.
My joy is in the Lord.
And because of the Lord I havestrength and I have contentment
(42:22):
and I don't want to miss thisthing of contentment.
See, so often I think thebroken spirit, the broken heart
and things you talk about, thedepressions and other things
comes out of the fact that we'rejust not content.
We're not content in the Lordbecause there'll be some.
(42:43):
I ought to get something out ofit.
I ought to get some kind ofsurge or charge or whatever.
We always experience it.
We jumpin' off cliffs and youknow, conkin' the mountain, the
fastest car, the greatest fancyfootball team, that's mine.
Speaker 2 (42:58):
That's mine.
Speaker 3 (43:00):
So we're always competing and we always want
more.
At what point do we startwanting more, stop wanting more?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
When we find our satisfaction in Christ.
Speaker 3 (43:17):
When I say want more, I want more Christ, of course.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
But at what point do we get satisfied?
I would satisfy when we finallyfind our satisfaction in Christ
.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
Do we go to the wedding in Canaan?
They celebrate for five days,sounds good to me.
Speaker 1 (43:37):
Let's talk about joy, right, even when we talk about
where is joy in the life of theChristian, where can joy be
found in Christianity?
It is not mere coincidence thatthe very first miracle that
Jesus works Come on somebody Isthe transformation of water into
(43:59):
wine at a wedding feast.
That's been ongoing for days ondays, and so there's a
celebration, and thatcelebration, that transformation
of water to wine, is intendedto show us, number one, that of
course, this is the Christ, andthe Christ has arrived.
But it's also intended toforeshadow for us that he is
(44:22):
preparing us for another feast,another wedding, another
marriage, the church in thegroom, who's the Christ uniting
forever in a marriage feast thatwill forever continue.
And so, all within ourChristian understanding of even
the arrival of Jesus and hisconfirmation and his affirmation
(44:47):
to the world that I am theChrist, all in our understanding
of that is joy, thisproclamation that comes with joy
.
And so there is.
I say all that to say that whenwe, when Christians, when we
hide that, whether it be in ourChristmas expression or whether
(45:08):
that be in our daily expression,we are reducing in some way,
what does it mean to actuallylive out the Christian life?
Right To live out the Christianlife is to live it out in a
sense of joy, is to live it outin a sense of David.
David says, hey, I'm dancinguncontrollably almost wide
(45:29):
because the presence of God hascome and, in the same way, that
should be consistent with theChristian life that I have a joy
unspeakable.
Why?
Because the presence of God hascome and now lives in me, and
so, yes, this Christmas holidays, while you may not have the
Lexus that's parked out front,man, listen go inside.
Speaker 3 (45:53):
We've probably got everybody not thinking what is
this Lexus?
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Right next week we'll be like we'll be talking about.
Hey, thanks for joining LivingReckon South, sponsored by Lexus
.
Speaker 2 (46:02):
Sponsored by.
Speaker 3 (46:03):
Lexus.
We mentioned Lexus so much atthis point.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
I know it, we need to start mentioning these songs,
right, but when you think aboutthis idea of the Christmas
cookies and the candy and theoven cooking and all this food,
it should be springing from thisjoy that we have in Christ and
so it's like man, I'mcelebrating, not the cookies.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
I'm celebrating the fact that Jesus is ours and we
are His All right and I've kindof got a concluding thought of
the difference of what it is joyversus what we talked about
last week envy.
So oftentimes when we're envious, we're envious sometimes of
those who have joy or those whowe look at it having joy Because
(46:50):
we're on the outside looking atit.
We like what joy looks like, welike the big holidays, we like
the big family gatherings, welike to have that food and for
so many of us, especially ifyou're operating and looking at
joy from an envious perspective,that's what joy looks like and
that's the extent of what joylooks like.
You know, outside looking in,and those who are oftentimes
(47:11):
envious aren't looking at thevery fact that this joy is
coming from a deep and abidingrelationship with Christ.
But they like all of theoutside aspects of joy.
They like having a person thathas a countenance that is good
and fair, countenance that iskind, that is gentle and all
that, and they want that forthemselves.
Because I think a lot of timesyou know what's keeping people
(47:33):
from being kind and gentle andhaving that type of good, fair
countenance is internal, isn'tallowed, you know and they look
at someone who has that and theysay, I want that too.
Where does that come from?
And they're envious and theytry to replicate that based on
being from the outside lookingin.
They try to replicate that fortheir own lives and oftentimes
(47:55):
they may not reach it.
Because, they're coming at itfrom a perspective or from a
direction that isn't going to behelpful and isn't pointing
towards the prevalence of Christ.
Speaker 1 (48:08):
Isn't this a golden opportunity to Austin right when
people observe that joy in ourlives, that we give them the
source right To be a witness.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
We give them the reason for that joy, as Paul
would tell us to be prepared togive a reason for the hope.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
And in a sense there's very much some of that
as well there in terms of beprepared to give a reason for
that joy that you live in andthat you walk in.
Speaker 2 (48:31):
Yeah, and also without that reason.
Oftentimes I think we see a lotof people kind of going through
the basic outward lookings ofwhat they think joy looks like.
And that's the whole point thatyou have people, year after
year after year, they do thesame thing over and over again,
(48:52):
even though it has stoppedgiving them joy and even though
it has stopped being a productof joy, and that is exclusive,
because they're looking afterwhat they have either had in the
past or what they see otherpeople as having.
So it becomes kind of thisoutward expression of a desire
that they want to have.
They don't necessarily have it,but yet it is something that
(49:13):
they're chasing after,absolutely Right.
I mean, we see all the time, orwe hear all the time about how
families, they come together forthe holiday seasons and they
have fights, even though they'retrying to replicate what
they've done in the past, andmaybe relational reasons why
they don't.
But it also may be becausethey're pursuing joy in a way
(49:34):
that doesn't lead towards thattype of long, lasting, abiding
relationship with Christ.
Right, right.
Amen, I know, I just jumbled alot of thoughts in there, no
good thoughts, all good thoughts, all good thoughts.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
I wanted to share this final quote, really
interesting way of looking atjoy in and of itself.
He says life is serious all thetime, but living cannot be.
You may have all the solannessyou wish in choosing neckties,
but in something important suchas death, sex and even religion,
you must have mirth or you willhave madness.
(50:11):
You must have jovial times, youmust have times of levity, you
must have times oflightheartedness, you must have
times of laughter.
And if you do not have laughter, if you do not have joy, if
it's all all straight laced andall you know, straight tight
lipped, and if that's the life,then that life is bound for
(50:34):
madness.
And so our hope and our prayerthis holiday season, this
Christmas season, this Adventseason, is that your homes would
be filled with joy, andhopefully you've heard today
that it does not require anabundance of gifts or Nissan,
new Nissan's out front, or newLexus is out front, but
(50:56):
hopefully you've learned that.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
That existence would look good and I know it, I know
it.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
But hopefully you've learned that Christ is the
source of the of, source of thatjoy, and from that joy flows
all the festivities flows, allthe food flows, all the fun, not
to joy, but from the joy that'salready rooted and founded in
Christ.
Speaker 3 (51:19):
You're saying that I can have a joy for Christmas and
don't have to go through thecommercial stuff of buying gifts
and all these thingsthreatening and frantic and and
panicking and all of thosethings that brings people into
these stages of madness as youtalked about earlier.
You mean I can just relax,become and take in the joy of
(51:42):
just enjoying the presence ofGod, as David did.
And when I do that, I can dancelike David.
Speaker 1 (51:50):
I would encourage you before you even go out and buy
one gift.
I would encourage you to restin that joy.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
Well, I'm resting in that joy.
I just hope the people thatexpect the gift of me are
resting in the joy.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
The people that are listening in.
They're saying rest in that joythat it did Make sure you go
get that gift.
Speaker 3 (52:11):
I'm just saying I'm going to rest in that joy
through the 31st.
So I'm not going out, I'm goingto rest in that joy.
And I guess my final thoughtsbefore we two now is this is the
second time he's lying.
I was like no, no, no, no, no,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Those were concluding thoughts.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
Oh this is a final.
Speaker 2 (52:27):
This is different.
This is the final thought Ifyou wake up and you go outside
and you were expecting Alexisand and you believe Sanad didn't
bring you one, maybe Sanaddidn't forget you and maybe it's
just at Nettie's house.
I'm done.
Speaker 1 (52:44):
I am Brian Crawford, with my good friends.
I think to be a Nissan, with mygood friends Nettie Hoyle and
Austin Winters, signing offsaying God bless, god bless, god
bless.
Thanks for joining LivingReconciled.
If you would like moreinformation on how you can be a
part of the ongoing work ofhelping Christians learn how to
(53:06):
live in the reconciliation thatJesus has already secured,
please visit us online atmissionmississippiorg or call us
at 601-353-6477.
Thanks again for listening.
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