Ep. 174 - Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus!
Welcome to this week's episode of tell me more. We're kicking off Advent at First Baptist Arlington. We have a great discussion about all things Advent and also, what it means for the long expected Jesus to come. And it's a great conversation, and we're glad you're listening.
Speaker 2:Hey. Welcome to Tell Me More. I'm back in the studio. Welcome back. It's good to be back.
Speaker 1:Missed you last week.
Speaker 2:I was here.
Speaker 1:We gave you
Speaker 2:I just yielded. We gave you the boot. With my seat.
Speaker 1:We gave you the boot. Yeah. Or you yielded it.
Speaker 2:One of those. We'll let the listener decide.
Speaker 1:You know, you did. You did. You did. We did not have to
Speaker 3:We're glad you're back.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's good to be back, and it's good to yield to someone like Cindy. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a fun episode with Cindy.
Speaker 2:It was
Speaker 1:good. She did a great job. She was nervous about it. She's like, I'm not good in those
Speaker 3:got too much information, though, don't you think?
Speaker 1:She was pretty comfortable sharing.
Speaker 3:Kinda bordered on.
Speaker 1:She was pretty comfortable. If you haven't
Speaker 3:draw a line.
Speaker 1:If you haven't listened, I would recommend you go back, particularly the middle
Speaker 2:drew a line, would she just cross it?
Speaker 1:It's the middle of a sandwich. Think. I think no. I think I think Cindy is a strong,
Speaker 3:independent woman. May the Lord help me.
Speaker 1:And I think the Lord has helped you.
Speaker 3:He has. He's been a while. Okay. Gosh.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 2:So Our spouses are a gift from the Lord to spur us on to holiness.
Speaker 3:That that is right. That is right.
Speaker 1:Three cheers.
Speaker 3:Amen. Three
Speaker 1:cheers for good spouses. If you've got a good spouse, go ahead and tell them today.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Brian Hodges, thanks for holding it down Uh-huh. In our home.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And Kelsey Kelsey was on the platform today.
Speaker 2:She did very well. Yeah. Yeah. So not surprised. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right. No. Pretty yeah.
Speaker 2:She can do it.
Speaker 1:The bar's pretty high Yeah.
Speaker 3:For Kelsey's steering She
Speaker 2:can do it.
Speaker 3:Was all good. We love it. And Advent started. What a great day. And engagement month ended.
Speaker 1:I know. Let's talk about engagement month before we hop into it because we should talk about them both. So we had a I think we had a great engagement month.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Really happy with how everything turned out. And if you didn't pick up a copy of the magazine, we still have a few copies in a box
Speaker 3:somewhere. It's so good.
Speaker 2:Thank
Speaker 3:you. It's really more of a it's almost like a reference manual than just a promotional magazine. You know?
Speaker 2:There is some promotional stuff in there, but there's a lot of information. It's not something we expect you to sit down and read all in one sitting. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But it does have really good content. Yeah. We would like you to sit down and read it. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's it's long But maybe not all in one sitting.
Speaker 3:Information, I think. You know?
Speaker 2:And it's and it was designed to be that way, something that you could kind of keep coming back to to understand. You know, when we talk about Ascent or BWA and the people involved in those things and Mhmm. Just the connections we make missionally, when we go and participate in those places. You'll you'll begin to see those things unfold and hear names as we kind of talk about them. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But really happy with it. Just across the board, I'm I love Advent, but I'm always sad to see engagement month come down. Like, it just makes the the church looks empty to me after all the flags get put away. And Yeah. I love seeing people write prayers on
Speaker 3:the post. At least you replace it, though, with all the decoration.
Speaker 2:Yeah. January is really bleak.
Speaker 1:Right. Yeah. If you went from yep. Yep. Yep.
Speaker 1:We get a stair
Speaker 3:step. Decorations.
Speaker 1:We get a stair step.
Speaker 2:Yes. And the advent decorations are fantastic. They are. So that's not a knock on those.
Speaker 1:Thanks everybody for helping with all that. That was a big
Speaker 2:It was
Speaker 1:a good event. A big group project.
Speaker 3:Yeah. But it was it was a really good I think it was a great month for engagement. Me too. It was holistic. And, I'm really that.
Speaker 3:Sunday school curriculum?
Speaker 1:Do think it went over well?
Speaker 2:I think it went well. I was never able to make it to any classes, but I've heard just good things.
Speaker 1:Of course, the young adult breakfast had it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. The young adult breakfast had little bit. We ended the young adult breakfast packing first response hygiene kits for Texans on mission that will wind up in Jamaica as they continue to respond to the hurricane there.
Speaker 1:Which I think is awesome.
Speaker 2:So good.
Speaker 1:And it's connected to what we're doing.
Speaker 3:It is. Exactly.
Speaker 1:Really projects in themselves are good, but to do it connected to an organization that we're trying to have a deeper relationship with We
Speaker 3:love Texans on Mission.
Speaker 2:We do. And I'm so glad we're doing more and more with them. Mhmm. I love it.
Speaker 1:So, you know, live scent.
Speaker 2:Live scent.
Speaker 1:Be engaged all year round.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. This
Speaker 1:is the goal. Love your neighbors.
Speaker 3:And then It's the basics. Then we shifted gears To Advent.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Then we all went away, ate a lot of turkey, showed back up, the church was decorated.
Speaker 2:Did y'all
Speaker 3:have a great Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2:I had a great Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about cook a turkey? Let's talk about I did cook a turkey. How
Speaker 3:did you how did you do the turkey?
Speaker 2:I brined my turkey in buttermilk and salt and then, I set it out in the fridge. So brines for two days in that and then I pull it out of it the night before I roast it just so the skin can dry so you get a good crisp dry. Yeah. I let it dry. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And then in my roasting pan, I put apples, celery, onions, garlic, bay leaves, herbs Mhmm. The whole cinnamon sticks. And then
Speaker 3:you roast it in the oven. And then I
Speaker 2:roast it in the oven.
Speaker 1:Luke made a turkey for our staff friendsgiving.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Mhmm. I can make a turkey.
Speaker 1:And I texted him the next day because I thought I might bake a turkey. Like, I considered baking a turkey. Mhmm. And I said, Luke, I think I might have to bake the Thanksgiving turkey. Do you have a recipe?
Speaker 1:Because you it was a really good turkey that I ate that you made the day before. Luke sends me no less than eight paragraphs on how to deal with this turkey. Oh, Luke. It started with yeah. Buy a bunch of buttermilk.
Speaker 1:Put it in a bag. A bag, a tub. I don't know.
Speaker 3:A bag.
Speaker 2:Two gallon Ziploc bag will hold the average turkey.
Speaker 1:Really? That's good to know. Yeah. I mean, obviously, I didn't get that far. Spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:So paragraphs and paragraphs.
Speaker 2:Responded when she was like, I can't do that.
Speaker 1:And I no. I said no turkey is worth that much effort.
Speaker 2:And I said turkey is worky.
Speaker 1:Turkey is worky. Yeah. And so I ended up texting my family. It was a small gathering that I hosted. Went to several Thanksgivings that were all delicious.
Speaker 1:But, so I hosted a smaller one with just my dad's, my my uncle, my aunt and uncle, my mom and dad, and me and Ryan, the kids. And my uncle, the next day said, you know, I make a mean meatloaf, and I said, bring it. That's great. What do you need from me? And so my uncle it was a really good meatloaf.
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 1:It was an extremely good meatloaf, but I didn't have to use my new my new knowledge about just
Speaker 2:But now you know how to roast a turkey.
Speaker 1:I mean, I guess it's good to know. We've tried smoking a turkey before.
Speaker 3:But I have a picture of mine. Smoked one.
Speaker 1:Oh. Would you wanna show the camera?
Speaker 3:Yeah. No. I don't know that it would work. I don't think you can see it. But, anyway,
Speaker 2:for those for those listening at home, it
Speaker 1:looks really good. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. We not great at smoking.
Speaker 1:We dried it out the one time we I think we'd spatchcock it next time if we smoked
Speaker 2:a turkey. Spatchcocking, by the way,
Speaker 1:is where
Speaker 2:you cut out the backbone and break the chest bone.
Speaker 1:You kinda make it flat. You flatten that turkey.
Speaker 2:That's the way to do
Speaker 1:it? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And which is what Josiah came over, and he did that. He
Speaker 1:He flattened it
Speaker 3:in the brine, and then he came, and he did that. He cut the backbone out and flattened it out and make make makes it easier to smoke it. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:I think it cooks more evenly too.
Speaker 2:It does.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's it's better. So we I we did it several years ago. We tried to smoke the turkey. When we were doing before the kids, when we used the smoker more Mhmm.
Speaker 1:Back when we had lives outside of keeping three toddlers alive.
Speaker 2:Do not try to spatchcock a frozen turkey.
Speaker 1:I don't know how you would.
Speaker 3:You have to dry it out. Yeah. You have
Speaker 2:to dry it it's thawed if you have any freeze in there.
Speaker 1:Hard to do. You're gonna cut yourself. You yeah. That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So
Speaker 1:We had a great Thanksgiving. We had four family gatherings.
Speaker 2:That's a lot. We have one.
Speaker 1:I saw everybody I related to twice. Yeah. We did it.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It was so fun, though.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It was. It's actually for having that many family interactions.
Speaker 2:Wasn't there a birthday party
Speaker 1:in there? Yeah. That was one of the gatherings. We hosted the boys' third birthday at our house. Sweet.
Speaker 3:Speaking of Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1:Were, no children there, really. It was one one other child. All the adults that loved them came by. Most of the adults that loved them, I should say. And it was there are a lot
Speaker 2:of people that love those boys.
Speaker 1:It was a pretty full house. About 25 people maybe in our houses feels pretty full. Mhmm. It was sweet. And everybody it was like everybody that walked up, they were like, you know, another it was, like Peggy came.
Speaker 1:Peggy Kulis was like, they call her Peeps because that's her grandma. They're like, Peeps is here. And I'm like, yeah. And then, you know, it'd be my parents. And they'd be like, Grammy and grandpa are here.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And they're like, well, Christy and Bob are here. I mean, just everybody that they love. They just kept being like, everyone's here at once. And I'm like Right.
Speaker 1:And I tried to explain, you're gonna have a party. Who do you wanna come? But they Sweet.
Speaker 3:So fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Bocaine and Sherry, they're here. And I'm like, they're all here for you, and that was kind of this little mind blowing moment. And you get to eat cake and do whatever you want, and they they spend all the time.
Speaker 3:That's funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we officially have three three year olds. They will. Let's just can we just take a second for that?
Speaker 3:Well, those those birthday parties are going are going to even be more fun in the days ahead. They are.
Speaker 1:My aunt my aunt Edie, who's part of our church, her neighbor has teen kids, and they had they outgrew a bounce house. They had bought their kids a bounce house ten years ago for, like, fun. And she was like, do y'all want it? Yes. So Edie took it on our behalf.
Speaker 1:We brought it over for their birthday party. So they wake up from nap that day, and there's a bounce house in the driveway or back or back our driveway comes around back, kinda like your house, Luke. Yeah. And we had it blown up, and they were like, do do we get to go jump on it? And I was like, you sure do.
Speaker 1:That didn't tell them we own this now. They don't need to know that. It's gonna go live in eaties. But, I mean, if you're a three year old and you wake up and there's just an inflated bounce house in your backyard Awesome. I think we peaked.
Speaker 1:Right? Mhmm. I think that's the best state of life.
Speaker 2:They're living.
Speaker 1:And they got to eat as much pizza as they wanted in cake for dinner.
Speaker 3:Yeah. What a day. And who won the wrestling match? Ryan or the three boys?
Speaker 1:We almost forgot the wrestling match. We actually did it the day after the real birthday.
Speaker 2:Oh, yes.
Speaker 1:And they were so tired. It's a terrible video because because they're just like this limp, I'm tired on the couch and Ryan basically picks each of each one of them up off the couch, puts them on the ground, does a three, like a three second tap, puts them back on the couch. I have the video.
Speaker 2:Ryan won.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, again, those are going to I've told you all that. I've said that in here. Yeah. Whenever we think that the next year might be the one where they beat them, we're gonna run out, like, the Arlington High Wrestling They will come. Match or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The day will come.
Speaker 1:And you can all be invited. But we're gonna charge we did talk about this because we're gonna put a QR code up for the college fund or something. That's your price
Speaker 2:of entry
Speaker 1:if you come in. So yeah.
Speaker 2:I love it. Yes. So
Speaker 1:okay. Enough about that.
Speaker 3:And here we are. And and that and then that leads to
Speaker 1:Advent. My kids had a birthday.
Speaker 2:Advent's here. Now. Jesus is coming. Amen. Amen.
Speaker 2:What
Speaker 1:a great start yesterday.
Speaker 2:Oh my
Speaker 1:gosh. That's indicative of the Advent season.
Speaker 3:Love
Speaker 1:it. It was full, but it was meaningful. Mhmm. I mean, not to this this has nothing particular. Well, it has everything to do with Jesus coming, but also nothing to do with particularly with Advent.
Speaker 1:Two beautiful baptisms yesterday. I mean, we're really doing some things. It's really wonderful.
Speaker 3:It was a sweet day.
Speaker 2:And whatever service you go to, I would encourage you to just go and watch the other one because the music and the services is so phenomenal even if it's not your style of choice.
Speaker 3:It really is.
Speaker 2:It's powerful. Good things are happening. Mhmm. So watch your opposite servants.
Speaker 1:Yes. Engage with it. Because, again, it's not all about preference. Mhmm. Just go be with what you're
Speaker 3:having for church. Yeah. Parents, the children of our church, the global kids that, this little booklet that's handed out every Sunday morning, it's just really, really good, and I'm so grateful.
Speaker 2:I'm a fan
Speaker 3:of this.
Speaker 1:Thanks engagement team.
Speaker 3:It's so good. It is. Yeah. And it's connecting what we're learning in quote, unquote big churches, our little ones call it. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And, how to help shape these children.
Speaker 1:And giving them a sense of the world. Yeah. Mean, this is about Yeah. Christmas around the world. It is.
Speaker 1:And your kid can scribble on that Mhmm. Instead of mindlessly scribbling on something else.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. So And and learn. It's it's really, really good. And
Speaker 2:We have a good team.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And then All around. There are just so many things happening during the I mean, this podcast is actually
Speaker 1:brought to
Speaker 3:you by
Speaker 1:Let's do it. Do
Speaker 2:it. It. It.
Speaker 1:Do Do
Speaker 2:this Saturday
Speaker 1:This Saturday, the sixth.
Speaker 2:Yes. Yes. Is Christmas adventure.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. What's that?
Speaker 2:It is an event for families and kids. If you have grandkids, bring them.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You can preregister to win door prizes. Woah. Also how we kind of get an idea of how many people showed up.
Speaker 1:A little peek behind
Speaker 2:the So go ahead and preregister if you're a church member or even if you're not and you're out there listening. But we'd love for you to come.
Speaker 1:Bring your kids. Bring your neighbors. Bring your grandkids.
Speaker 2:Invite people. It's such a good event.
Speaker 1:It is. Yeah. That's good.
Speaker 2:Our preschool and children's and young families team put so much work into just making it an awesome awesome time. We'll have hundreds and hundreds of people on our campus Saturday afternoon.
Speaker 1:Three to five? Three to five? Event. I think that's right because we're looking it up. It's really fun.
Speaker 1:Our kids are just now I mean, each year they like can experience more of it because they're so little, there's like I mean, last year. I'm just going back to last year. Little snowball fights for the littler kids. There's pony rides. There's crafts.
Speaker 1:Rides. There's the Christmas story, so you can experience
Speaker 3:Pastor's time.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Mhmm. It's just really sweet.
Speaker 2:And it's sweet.
Speaker 1:So
Speaker 2:So that's Saturday. Then
Speaker 1:Well, then it's pretty much Christmas. Oh, just kidding.
Speaker 3:Not not quite. December 7.
Speaker 1:Obviously, obviously, every Sunday morning is gonna be a banger, so don't miss the Sunday morning experience. But the next Sunday, the fourteenth Yes. Is is our Christmas worship program.
Speaker 2:The king
Speaker 1:The king.
Speaker 2:A family Christmas musical. That's right. Is its title.
Speaker 1:Great.
Speaker 2:That's at 5PM
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:On Sunday the fourteenth. Mhmm. You don't wanna miss it.
Speaker 1:No. It's our Christmas program.
Speaker 2:I've heard them rehearsing. You don't wanna miss it. It's going
Speaker 3:to be awesome. It's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yep. We overheard them last night. I mean, yesterday during church.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:It's gonna be great, and it's obviously family friendly. It's in the title. Mhmm. So come be a part of it. Don't miss it.
Speaker 1:We're we're excited for that. And it's at five. It's at five for a of reasons, but one is you can invite somebody and easily go to dinner afterwards. Yes. Like, that kind of Mhmm.
Speaker 1:It's at five. Like, it's not too late in the day. I I think for young families, obviously, we're after nap time, which I appreciate.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And you can come be a part of it and still get to bed on time or, you know, we're trying to be thoughtful in our planning of that. And so, just come. It's come packed sanctuary. It'll be super great. We'd love them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And then TMS, the master singers has a
Speaker 1:They have their Christmas program. They're working on it today. They're working really hard on that.
Speaker 2:And when is that?
Speaker 1:That's when we wanna go watch the next Wednesday night, the seventh. Perfect.
Speaker 2:Wednesday, the seventeenth at
Speaker 3:Sixth? Sixth o'clock. Alright. Doctor
Speaker 1:Rose, you usually participate in that. You're usually kind of a narrator
Speaker 3:or have a word. Speaker. Yep.
Speaker 1:Yes. So
Speaker 3:06:00. Let's be
Speaker 1:there Mhmm. To support that. So those would be the biggest blocks of our Advent season. And then, of course, Christmas Eve, which is maybe the big block.
Speaker 2:Right. What time are our Christmas Eve services?
Speaker 1:I have to work backward to get this right. So we last year, we realized just we're always growing, always learning. The last year, we realized that we were a little bit insensitive. I mean, I think we said that. We did not consider those that work Christmas Eve and get off at five, say, and so and we left them out.
Speaker 1:I mean, we didn't mean to. It was just it's an oversight, but we learned. And so this year, we're we're having one at six, so that's our latest one. Mhmm. And then we'll have a 04:30 and a three.
Speaker 3:That's correct.
Speaker 1:Does that feel right?
Speaker 2:Did I feel right?
Speaker 1:For me to work backwards
Speaker 3:on Not only that, this year, we're going back to real candles.
Speaker 1:Woah. You heard it here. We are.
Speaker 2:We are. It's gonna be lit.
Speaker 1:That's right. So if you were here hey. Oh, don't miss it. Don't miss it.
Speaker 3:Just straight fire. We will actually have little electric
Speaker 1:Can we get another one in
Speaker 3:there? Candles.
Speaker 1:Feel the burn.
Speaker 3:Kids if they want to.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. Feel the burn.
Speaker 1:I think that's important, doctor Wells.
Speaker 3:We do have those for the little ones.
Speaker 1:The little ones, though, the battery operated Yeah. Is still available if you're afraid of the fire.
Speaker 3:But we will have real candles this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And that'll be really sweet. Can I I've never been to a Christmas Eve at First Baptist Arlington?
Speaker 2:Is that right?
Speaker 1:I've never been. Are you gonna continue your streak this year? No. There's a church vote on Sunday. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And if I if that passes, then I will have a new title and I feel like with a new Mhmm. Level of responsibility, I probably ought to start showing up to Christmas Eve at first possible. And I want to. That's part of it.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's so fun.
Speaker 1:But y'all know, I mean, I've always wanted to, but there's a lot of family commitments on Christmas Eve, Particularly, my husband's family, they that Christmas Eve is their Christmas. Mhmm. And so it's just always there's always a lot to Mhmm. Consider. And so we this year, we just told the family, hey.
Speaker 1:It's time. We're gonna start the kids are a bit older. We want to do Christmas morning at our house. Yeah. We're just gonna be here.
Speaker 1:So this will actually be my eleventh Christmas at First Coast Arlington and my first Christmas Eve.
Speaker 3:Here we go.
Speaker 1:So come find me. We can get a selfie.
Speaker 3:Here we go.
Speaker 2:If you find, like, a first Christmas thing that you would put in, like, a
Speaker 1:picture for the baby,
Speaker 2:yeah, I will give you a dollar. This is for the first person who does it. This is
Speaker 3:not for everyone who does Katie's first Christmas.
Speaker 2:Katie's first person who does this brings a Katie's first Christmas sign goat and takes a picture of
Speaker 1:my wedding. Christmas I'll give you a dollar. I'll be 40 years old. Yeah. I worked here ten and a half years
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And I will experience it at first resort, like, for the first time. I've always dreamed it. With real fire. I've always tried to be a part of it. Like to
Speaker 2:you that your first one is with real fire, though.
Speaker 1:Also, props to my family because we told them all, hey. I just it's gonna it's new this year. We just need to be here. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, anyone can be here with us. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:But this is what we're doing, and everyone was like, oh, that totally makes sense. Thank you.
Speaker 2:So good.
Speaker 1:Sometimes family's so good. Yeah. That that was a real win.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 1:Because you don't know how that's gonna go over.
Speaker 3:There you go. Anyway.
Speaker 2:Okay. So Christmas Eve, and then on the twenty eighth, we have Oh, one service. Service. No bible study. No coffee.
Speaker 2:Service is at Ten. Ten.
Speaker 1:Because it's neither contemporary or traditional.
Speaker 3:It's just one service.
Speaker 1:It's just one family church family service. There'll also be childcare, that normal if your if your kid normally goes to child worship care
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:During worship, we'll have that. Right. But otherwise, there's no kids programming. Mhmm. There's no it's we're just all together, worshiping together at ten.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Bring your own coffee. There will be no coffee.
Speaker 1:There'll be no coffee. Mhmm. Moment of silence. There's a moment of silence.
Speaker 2:I know. But, you know, I'm happy that we can let our kitchen staff have that day.
Speaker 1:Yes. That's the point. It's just a it's a a little bit
Speaker 3:of a They will have been through an incredibly busy season.
Speaker 1:Yes. They will have earned a little bit of a reprieve.
Speaker 2:So
Speaker 1:And then we'll come back in the New Year with just There we go. A lot of flourishing Yep. Fervor.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. Excited
Speaker 2:about Speaking of flourishing, do y'all have a call today?
Speaker 1:Oh, you wanna talk about it?
Speaker 3:We do. We we are meeting with our Harvard research team today.
Speaker 1:Kate Long and company are Zooming with us. They have compiled our survey, our our individual church survey. Do you know how many people took that survey? Luke, take a guess. I know we talked we talked about it broadly, but we have a real
Speaker 2:It was around 1,200.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. Like twelve eighty seven,
Speaker 3:which is a lot 1,300 people.
Speaker 2:So good, y'all.
Speaker 1:1,287 of our people that you know. Mhmm. Our first ever Sholington people Mhmm. That you know and live life with Mhmm. Willingly did a thing together.
Speaker 2:Amazing.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. So we Incredible. We've actually seen the results. They sent them to us last night, and so we We meeting this morning. We looked over them.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. But we're gonna meet with them this afternoon to kinda get their sense of what it data is interesting. You can read a lot of different ways. You
Speaker 3:know that.
Speaker 2:Well, I can't wait to hear more about it.
Speaker 1:I think everybody's very anxious to see what becomes of it. So Yeah. The first first read is very encouraging. Okay. There are obviously things we need to work on.
Speaker 1:Yep. Everybody knows that.
Speaker 3:But For sure.
Speaker 1:It you know, I think we have a good, steady, faithful people.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 1:Good news survey to tell us that,
Speaker 2:but I
Speaker 1:think so. No.
Speaker 2:But Okay. Twenty minutes in, we should probably
Speaker 1:There was a sermon
Speaker 3:about the sermon yesterday. That this past Sunday?
Speaker 2:I think did you preach?
Speaker 3:And I did my best. I mean, after Cindy preached, I felt like needed to do something.
Speaker 1:Let's love. Good thing we're turning the page on series, you know. Don't try to preach on mission.
Speaker 3:Let's Exactly right.
Speaker 1:Try. Let's try the king. Preach on So, okay. Advent, the theme Mhmm. Is this kingship of Jesus.
Speaker 3:The king.
Speaker 1:King Jesus.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. From I mean, Matthew's gospel, you know, there's as I I shared Sunday morning, there are numerous ways to read Matthew's gospel. You know, it's a it's a big document. I mean, it's 28 pages or chapters. And, and Matthew is a little bit interesting to me in how he shares the story of Jesus because, sometimes he adopts a chronological approach.
Speaker 3:So there's a general chronological scheme of Matthew's gospel, obviously, from the birth of Jesus to the resurrection Mhmm. And commissioning of the church. But along the way, there are times when he seems to, share the story more thematically than he does chronologically, which was, you know, which was okay for certainly back in those days. And but because it's so massive and contains so much, teaching material from Jesus, preaching material, it it's a little hard to get your hands around it. You know?
Speaker 3:And so there are some scholars who say you should do it just really just just do it really simply and and just start off with the person of the Messiah, the proclamation of the Messiah, the passion of the Messiah, and just use those broad categories.
Speaker 1:Okay. Person
Speaker 3:Proclamation. Proclamation and then the passion. And so which I'm I I kinda like the simplicity of that in some ways, but but I don't think that really captures what Matthew intended to
Speaker 1:communicate. Simplistic, you think?
Speaker 3:I think it is. I like it, but I think that it's probably a a tad simplified. Some scholars take the five discourses of Matthew's gospel, and and basically, just you just read through the lens of, narrative material and then the didactic material from Jesus. I think that's a legitimate way to look at Matthew's gospel because I do think Matthew, the the reason Matthew is the first gospel is because of the Jewishness of the gospel and the fact that
Speaker 1:Yeah. Not necessarily first written.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:No. They wanted it they'd be in
Speaker 3:Placed first in the New Testament because it's the bridge from the old covenant to the new covenant. And so, you know, Matthew's a I mean, he is a Jew, and so he's very familiar with the first five books of the Bible, the Torah. And so you could say, even though the five discourses of Jesus in Matthew's gospel don't necessarily coincide per se with the first five books of the Bible. But the symbolism, I think, is very poignant. You know?
Speaker 3:I just don't think you need to miss it. And so some scholars would say, well, this that's the best way to read Matthew's gospel. Look at what he's teaching. I I kind of like that view because I I think at the end of the gospel, you get this statement from Jesus, go make disciples. In the five discourses, just describe the disciples
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Of the new covenant. And so I think that makes sense. Some scholars say, well, one of the ways to read Matthew's gospel is to read it through the lens of Isaiah because there are 10 direct quotations from Isaiah in Matthew's gospel and then numerous allusions to to Isaiah. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And
Speaker 3:and they're somewhat distinct the way Matthew chooses to share the story and the connection between Jesus and the book of Isaiah, somewhat unique to Matthew, actually.
Speaker 1:You spent some time on that yesterday. Mhmm. Isaiah several times.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think that's one way to look at it. So that's why I actually like the latter two very well. I probably lean into the five discourses perspective, But I do think the, the connection to the book of Isaiah is just hard to miss when you read Matthew. And, and so that's why I wanted us to start the advent season with a message from Isaiah that Matthew alludes to because I do think it requires explanation.
Speaker 3:Since we've been reading Matthew's gospel all year long, I talked through it on Wednesdays. It's kinda been underneath everything that we've done. And then this Advent season, the next four sermons are gonna be from Matthew. An another, at the heart of the proclamation of Matthew's story is that Jesus is king. And so most every scholar agrees with that regardless of how you divide it or, you know, the lens that you use to focus through your interpretation, there's no question he's presenting Jesus as king.
Speaker 3:And so we're going to look at the kingship of Jesus over these next four weeks, kind of the the next three Sundays of Advent proper. But then that last Sunday, we're going to finish it up in the last Sunday of the year. And I I love Matthew's take. As I said, he has somewhat of a even though Matthew, Mark, and Luke have a lot of similarity, each one of those men has a unique perspective on Jesus. I mean, like you read Mark, and if you have a red letter edition of the New Testament, there's hardly any red
Speaker 2:in lot of red there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's just Mark is quick. Think the the Greek word euthous, the the the And immediately? Is just it's 39 times in Mark. And so it's just, you know, you just move from one thing to
Speaker 1:on the move.
Speaker 3:He is. And and that's why a lot of times on the mission field, we have used Mark as the first gospel that we translate because it just takes the whole life and ministry of Jesus pretty quickly for for someone who's brand new to this story. But but still, they're all very different, though. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are. And I have a great appreciation for Matthew.
Speaker 3:I've always loved Matthew. Y'all know I love Luke. I appreciate Luke's perspective historically.
Speaker 1:You'll never get too far away from Luke.
Speaker 3:Luke acts. But Matthew, to me, is just so informative to us. And so and one of the statements in Matthew's gospel is in Matthew two when, you've got this powerful story of of, Jesus as a baby being in peril. His life is in peril because, you know, Joseph and Mary have no way to defend Jesus. They it's not like they, you know, they have no connections.
Speaker 3:You know? They're they're in Bethlehem as guests. And so Right. It's not like they have some kind of, they're gonna appeal to their to the mayor of Bethlehem, so to speak. They they don't have that.
Speaker 3:And so when king Herod decides he's gonna slaughter the infants to make sure that he gets rid of whoever this proposed king is, Well, Joseph has no recourse, and so he's warned by God. And so he you know, the flight to Egypt, Matthew tells that story
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:Which is, again Mhmm. A fascinating story from an imagery perspective because there was a time when the, the the family of Jacob was in peril. And the the scripture tells the story of their flight to Egypt, know, to where they find respite there and their family is able to survive. And then at some point, an angel delivers Israel from Egypt, and they return to the promised land. Well, you get that story in miniature with Jesus, and Matthew tells it.
Speaker 3:An angel in a vision tells Joseph, it's okay to go home. He's a little nervous about Herod's family. And, and so they head back, eventually to Nazareth. And then Matthew says this little somewhat of an offhanded comment, just as the prophet said he would be called a Nazarene. Well, the challenge with that is we can't find in the Old Testament a prophet who directly says that.
Speaker 3:And so that's led, as you might imagine, scholars to to be a little puzzled. But the answer is actually found in Isaiah. So I tried to point that out yesterday that, in Isaiah 11, the text we read, you have these these images painted by Isaiah in this poem of the expected one, the promised one. And he refers to him, he he gives you this powerful picture, if you will, of God's judgment where God judges Judah. You know, Isaiah was a prophet in Judah.
Speaker 3:We talked about that yesterday morning in the sermon. Mhmm. Israel had divided into two nations, Israel and Judah, and he was in the South. And, and so the king that he served was of the line of David. The king in in the North eventually is going to be completely conquered, and, you know, they're going to be distributed and and dissolved really as a nation.
Speaker 3:But the but the kingdom of Judah is gonna survive, and that's Isaiah's world. And so Isaiah is giving counsel to one of the kings who is in the line of David, but God has judged them, and and he's gonna continue to judge them. And God has judged Israel. He's judged and he's gonna judge Assyria who had conquered Israel. And he's going to ultimately judge, excuse me, Judah.
Speaker 3:And so Isaiah paints a picture of the forest being completely destroyed. And he says, you know, God has just leveled it, and all that's left are stumps. And so either the mighty, you know, the elms and the cedars of Lebanon and all that, God's God's judgment on Assyria, God's judgment on Judah, Israel. It's these mighty forests have been torn down, and all that are left now, are these stumps. And so you get to Isaiah 11.
Speaker 3:In Isaiah 11, he says, but wait, I see a shoot
Speaker 2:Mhmm. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Emerging out of one of those stumps. So there's life. Yep. And, it's hidden right now, but because if you were looking for life and all of a sudden you walk up on where a forest used to be and all you see are stumps.
Speaker 2:Not a lot of hope there.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 1:Unless You see.
Speaker 3:Unless you see a shoot.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then he says a branch, different word. Mhmm. Different imagery, really. Different imagery, not sera in Hebrew, of Jesse
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Not of David, which is a fascinating way to put it because at that time in history, you know, he would have been hoping for somebody Yeah. Who would be a son of David because
Speaker 2:David and the king like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So when Jesus goes into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they don't say, you know, son of Jesse. That's not what they asked for.
Speaker 1:That's not good enough.
Speaker 3:No. This is son of David. But but Isaiah says he's going to be a branch of Jesse, which is fascinating, which to me is this is is a message about humility that that God is saying, I'm going to raise up another David, in other words Mhmm. From this particular branch, if you will. And, and so then years later, you know, if you fast forward seven hundred years and, the Assyrians have been destroyed and and conquered and the Babylonians, The Persians have lost their grip on that part of the world, and the Greeks, you know, have taken over the world.
Speaker 3:And, initially, the Romans are in power.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 3:But, evidently, some of the descendants of David in the exile, when they come back home from the exile, they settle this little community in Northern Israel, and they name it Netzer, branch, Nazareth. And, and so best we can tell, at least the research I've done, there was only around 500 people or so who lived there in the first century. And so it's interesting, that Joseph was from that line, that shoot or that branch, if you will, of Jesse, as was Mary. In fact, when when the text says in Luke's gospel that Caesar Augustus declared everybody needed to be counted, but you had to go to your your home, you had to go to where your roots were, your family was. And it says Joseph had to go to Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David.
Speaker 3:Mhmm. And so, you've got these families in Nazareth who've helped settle the city evidently from the line of David. And so, Jesus then ultimately is gonna grow up in Nazareth, the branch. And that's the connection we believe, at least that's what most scholars believe Yeah. Between the Matthew's comment in Matthew two that Jesus would be called a Nazarene.
Speaker 3:And, and so even though it's more of an allusion to the Isaiah's prophecy, Matthew saw it as a fulfillment. But what was even what to me is is just and I love that, but what's just as fascinating is it's it's so when you read the story that way and just look at the branch of Jesse, as I I shared in the sermon yesterday, when Samuel came to Jesse and looked for his sons, and Jesse, you know, parades his sons Mhmm. And a very proud dad. You know?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Here they are. Pick your best.
Speaker 3:He looks at them all and goes, no. No. No. No. No.
Speaker 3:Is there anybody else? You know? And Jesse's like, well, I have one other son. He's a little you know, he's the young son, but not I mean.
Speaker 2:He's a young sunburned kid.
Speaker 3:Yeah. He's in the sheep pen. I mean Yeah. And Samuel says, well, we'll go get him. You know?
Speaker 3:And he comes out and Samuel's like, this well, this is God says, this is the one. Well and so when you read Isaiah 11, guess what? Jesse has another son turns out. There's there's another one.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And it is, connected to David, but not called David yet. He's not called a son of David yet because he's gonna be born in humility. He's you know, it's just like David was. I mean, nobody knew Jesse, you know, really, before his son became so famous. But then what's interesting is you get to verse 10 in Isaiah 11, and Isaiah says, actually, it's the root of Jesse that's gonna be the banner for the nations.
Speaker 3:Well, now that's a whole another conversation. There's a big difference between a root and a branch. Right. You know? So the very root from which Jesse himself sprang is where the real life is.
Speaker 3:And so to me, that you trace all the way back to the Garden of Eden. That that's why and that's what I wanted to help the church this Sunday morning. When you celebrate Christmas, when Christmas didn't originate in Bethlehem that that night when Jesus was born. Christmas started in the heart of God and was manifested on Earth in the Garden of Eden. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:You know, when God said, to the woman, your seed, is gonna crush the head of the serpent seed. The serpent seed will bruise his heel, but he'll crush the head. And so that that seed, if you will, planted in the human story takes root in the story of Jesse. And, and so it's actually from the root of Jesse that we're going to receive the gift, the Messiah. So this story is woven all the way through.
Speaker 1:And don't think it just got kinda dreamt up one day.
Speaker 2:No. And Matthew is doing so much work
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:In those first couple of chapters.
Speaker 3:Think about that.
Speaker 1:It's ridiculous.
Speaker 3:He's laying the groundwork.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You think about that the genealogy goes back to Abraham. So he's trying to show you this is the fulfillment of the covenant. Exactly.
Speaker 3:You know? He mentions Jesse.
Speaker 2:Yeah. He mentions Jesse. So Matthew wants you to see this is the new and greater David. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And calls David king, king David.
Speaker 2:Yes. Yeah. Exactly. The kingship is there. He wants you to see that Jesus is the new and better Moses.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's part of the Egyptian connection. Yes. It's that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:If you're paying attention, it's actually beautiful. Yeah. He's doing a lot. Yes. It's beautiful.
Speaker 3:And, yeah. I just I just love that, you know. And then Isaiah, you know, and it's interesting. I just I've just spent all summer studying Isaiah along with a colleague at Truett Seminary getting ready to teach this seminar on, Isaiah. And, so I wrote her when I was in my study.
Speaker 3:I think it was Tuesday. I can't remember. And I wrote Rebecca Po Hayes, who's a Hebrew professor at Truett, and she and I did this cohort together at Baylor. And, I just told her, I said, hey. Just want you to know I'm sitting here reading Isaiah, and thanking God for you and your scholarship and the just the way that you helped me shape some of my understanding of Isaiah.
Speaker 3:And, it's gonna have application in my church on Sunday. And, the Lord just weaves those threads together
Speaker 2:as I
Speaker 3:talked about. And but I I love that. I love that you had and so even Paul, in Romans 15, Paul goes back and talks about, this branch of Jesse. And then you go to the end of the Bible, and Jesus has now been resurrected from the dead. He's been ascended now to the father.
Speaker 3:He's enthroned in glory, and now Jesus says, I'm the branch of David now. He he skips over Jesse now because he's he's king. You know, he's he's done his work on this Earth, and, he has accomplished what God sent him to do. And, and that's how the old the the book of Revelation ends with this declaration from Jesus that he really is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. And, and then And then he says, I'm coming.
Speaker 3:And then, you know, John's like, well, even so, come Lord Jesus. You know? So, when I was studying and getting ready for all this back in the summer, just praying over it all, I kept singing this hymn, come thou long, expect Jesus in my head. I just I just couldn't get away from it. And so that's why I titled the sermon that Sunday morning because when you read the first stanza of come thou long, expect to Jesus, to me, West Charles Wesley was communicating the first advent of Jesus.
Speaker 3:And he he somebody asked him, where does this come from? And he well, in Haggai two, there's a statement about the desire of all the nations. And and that's woven into his stanza of this beautiful hymn. Mhmm. But the second stanza of the hymn to me is as much about the second advent of Jesus as is the first.
Speaker 3:And so, I love the fact that he captured Isaiah 11 because Isaiah you know, as God gifted Isaiah to look at the horizon of history and just see that there was a day coming when these stumps, one of them is gonna come to life, and there's gonna be this great fulfillment. This this line of David, you know, is actually gonna, emerge once again. But then he it's like he even looks past that.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And he says, well, actually, day the day what's really coming is the day when, you know, you're gonna you're gonna let your little infant sit at the cobra's den, and he can put his hand in the viper's mouth because the viper's not going to bite him because all this is all this is gonna be renewed and restored, and it's gonna be what it originally was designed to be in the first place.
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 3:And and so you get the second advent of Jesus. Yeah. And so I think Wesley captures that in that second stanza of that beautiful Christmas carol. And, and that kinda led me down a rabbit hole of of just reacquainting myself with the Wesley brothers. I'm I'm much more connected to John Wesley just theologically because I'm I have his journals, and you read the devotionals of John Wesley, and I'm I'm he's one of my heroes.
Speaker 3:I love John Wesley. And, but, you know, Charles wasn't bad. You know? I just haven't done as much research. Charles Wesley.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Charles was interesting because he, he was a poet, and and John said that about him. He said and he was a preacher too. Charles Wesley was a preacher, But he he grew a little bit, you know, they went to they came to The US, went to Savannah. If you've ever been to Savannah, you know, they have the statue of John the picture.
Speaker 3:Yeah. True. So which is pretty awesome.
Speaker 1:I've never been to
Speaker 3:Savannah. Do it. But but but it they weren't received very well, to be honest with you, in The US. It was it was not Mhmm. Charles was pretty, disappointed.
Speaker 3:However, on the trip home is, you know, the the the whole influence of the Moravian brethren, both of them in their journals talk about finding their heart strangely warmed. You know? And so both of those men experienced some kind of, I don't know what you wanna call it, conversions. That might not be the right word. Found their hearts
Speaker 2:strangely warm.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Something happened to them. Spiritual renewal. Yes. And so when they get back to England, Charles Wesley just comes alive as a as a poet.
Speaker 3:You know? And and just when you read his story, how the scripture would speak to him, Wesley John Wesley would hear the scripture and preach these fiery sermons, and Charles Wesley would read the scripture and write this beautiful poetry. Mhmm. Yeah. You know?
Speaker 1:Funny that you identify more with, you know, the fiery sermon.
Speaker 3:I know. It's interesting. You know?
Speaker 2:But, I mean, truthfully, if you're out there in the pew and we're singing a hymn and you don't know who wrote it Yeah. And you had to guess Uh-huh. Just guess Charles Wesley.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. Because there's so many that he just wrote.
Speaker 2:So many.
Speaker 3:4,500 hymns published in his lifetime. Another 3,000 that haven't actually been published.
Speaker 1:You're shaped by him even if you don't
Speaker 3:know it.
Speaker 1:Even if you've never heard
Speaker 3:his name. 4,000 tongues to sing or Jesus lover of my soul or hark the herald angel sing or Christ the Lord has risen today. We can keep going. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, come on. And the other thing since we live in Texas, if you hear us talk about the Moravians, they're this missionary group that comes out of Eastern Europe, what's now the Czech Republic.
Speaker 3:That's right.
Speaker 2:If you think about Texas immigration patterns, Central Texas is full of Czechs. Mhmm. The Church of the Brethren is the direct descendant of the Moravian church that influenced the Wesleys.
Speaker 3:Yes. And warm hearted, evangelistic, zealous followers of Jesus, and they connect with John Wesley and Charles Wesley and ignite a fire in them. And those boys go back home, and they're separatists. So they had separated from the church of England even though Charles Wesley, never actually did that. He was in that movement, because the people that stayed in the church were called Puritans.
Speaker 3:You know, they wanted to purify it, but the separatists, you know, felt like we needed to do something different. But Charles Wesley, you know, he he he considered himself an an Anglican till he died. He didn't even though he was a part of the methods
Speaker 2:Yeah. They kicked him out because they thought he was too pious. Yeah. So Yes. Too excited about Jesus.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 3:Get out of here.
Speaker 1:How dare you?
Speaker 3:But, but what a what a great what a great man he was. And so I'm I was that hymn so I'm sitting in my study, and I just can't get that hymn out of my brain. So I have a hymnal in in my study, so that I actually sing from when nobody's there.
Speaker 1:Oh, we love this.
Speaker 3:You know, just
Speaker 2:We love this.
Speaker 3:Just well, me and God. Thank you. And, so sometimes I sing silently, not out loud. But but what's weird about that is it sounds the same in my head as when I do it out loud. You'd think if I could do it in my head, I could sing.
Speaker 1:You hit the notes.
Speaker 3:Oh, yeah. Perfect. But but since I don't know how to do that, it it
Speaker 1:In real life. It doesn't work. Yeah. How about that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. While you're with John and not Charles.
Speaker 3:But so then the next thing, you know, I'm just flipping through that hymnal, you know, just singing all of Charles Wesley's hymns and just kinda got caught up in all of that. And, so
Speaker 1:Love it.
Speaker 3:But We love it. It was and so in both services, Sunday morning Mhmm. We sang the full hymn in the first service, but we sang both services, the invitational.
Speaker 1:Is it Yeah. Is that gonna be
Speaker 3:Sanza and long? No. It's just, I just I just was so captured by it for this first service that it was just powerful to me. And it's a beautiful text, and, and I'm just grateful that we can still say just like in Wesley's mind ever since the writings of Isaiah, Haggai, these prophets, they're expecting someone. Mhmm.
Speaker 3:Of course, he's on this side of the cross, so he knows it's Jesus. But I think his message to us is we're still singing that as Christians come thou long and expected Jesus the second time. So it all fit together in my mind. So I did the best I could to put it in front of the church, but, it it it it helped me launch Advent for myself, I would say. Great.
Speaker 3:So which is yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, we've got an exciting few weeks ahead.
Speaker 2:We do. We really do.
Speaker 3:This coming Sunday, you know, Charles Spurgeon inspired me for the sermon I'm gonna preach Sunday. Really? Another British preacher. Right. Spurgeon preached this famous sermon on, just how Jesus, was born a king, was never a prince.
Speaker 1:Preach it.
Speaker 3:You know? Bridget. And when I read that line from one of his devotionals, I thought, I'll I'll Think on that. Death roll. I love that.
Speaker 3:So that's the topic for this coming season.
Speaker 1:Our producer, Kyle, has let me know that next week is our hundred and seventy fifth episode. What? So just For real? Come ready to party. How's that?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Okay. Should.
Speaker 2:We'll have some fun. Yeah. We will. We've never had fun here before.
Speaker 1:No. We'll try it next week. See how
Speaker 3:it I'll bring the confetti. Okay. Do
Speaker 2:you still have your crown? Your tiara?
Speaker 1:Do you wanna wear it?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah. You should. Alright. I'll be calling it in here.
Speaker 1:See you then. Cheers. See you next time. Bye. Thanks for listening to the tell me more podcast today.
Speaker 1:You can subscribe to this podcast on your app of choice, or you can visit us at fbca.org to find out more information about the podcast and our church. Thanks for listening. Have a good day.