Unwrapping the best gift this holiday season

Speaker 1 (00:00): Well, I am so excited. It is the week of Christmas. And I want to share one of my favorite Christmas songs that I sing all year long, because I think this is how we're feeling. See if you can guess this song, I'm not going to sing because I want you to stay tuned, but these are the lyrics. Listen, carefully, haul out the Holly, put up the tree before my spirit falls again, fill up the stocking. I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again. Now for, we need a little Christmas, right? This very minute candles in the window. Carols at the spinet. Yes, we need a little Christmas, right? This very minute. It hasn't snowed a single flurry, but sent a deer. We're in a hurry. It goes on to say for I've grown a little leaner, grown, a little colder, grown, a little sadder, grown a little older, and I need a little angel sitting on my shoulder. Need a little Christmas. Now, if that's how you're feeling, stay tuned. Because today we're going to talk about needing that little angel.

Speaker 1 (01:12): Welcome to episode 30 of the well-versed woman podcast. I'm Renee teller and I'm Theresa Morgan. You see Renee and I are two perfectly imperfect women who have a heart to share our faith and our life's journeys with you. How we've grown. Our faith is through the love of God. And if you stay tuned, we're going to share exactly how that's done and the love of God will bring you more peace than you ever thought possible. But before we get started, we're going to start this episode the same way we do every week, we're going to be still and quiet and ask God to open our eyes, to see our ears, to hear and our hearts to be open to what he would have to say today. We take 20 seconds. Every episode, close our eyes, take some slow deep breaths and just ask God to be with us. So here we go. Our 22nd starts right now.

Speaker 2 (02:31): [inaudible]

Speaker 1 (02:31): That's it. That's our 20 seconds. And I know you're feeling better already think about, and I encourage you to take more time every single day. And even in the middle of your day, I've actually set an alarm so that in the middle of the, my day, I remembered to stop and just be still and breathe and ask God to continue to take over my day. It'll change your life. I promise you. But about that song, how often I sing that song in the middle of the summer. Oh, we need a little Christmas, right? This very minute. Why do you think that is true? So why do you think that song we need a little Christmas resonates with so many of us? Yeah,

Speaker 3 (03:14): Yeah. You know, absolutely Renee. When we think of Christmas, we think of the miracle of God coming into earth, breaking through that round, coming to sacrifice himself on that cross. And when we can put ourselves in remembrance of this special gift that we have titled enabled Christmas, it's a celebration. I know for me, Renee, that begins. It's like a firecracker in my heart. When I bring to mind, when I call to mind Christmas, that God came, that he loves us, that he came and sacrifice. And because of that sacrifice, I have right. Standing with him in the joy that that brings uplifts my mood, uplifts my spirit, and allows me then to live in this world with the love that he showed that now I can show to others.

Speaker 1 (04:19): No, it's amazing. That's exactly how we all feel. And I guess when I say it's amazing, Theresa, I think about the impact of that day on the entire world, we were talking earlier about really Christmas is a day, celebrated the world over. And how is it that this little baby that came so innocently and poorly and born in a barn, born in a barn with animals and hay and placed there for his first bad, how can that have become what it is today that thousands of years later, we're still talking about that event. We're still talking about the significance of that. It just seems so simple to me that it could only be because of exactly what it was. It was God incarnate in the form of man,

Speaker 3 (05:21): Absolutely. Renee. When I think about this precious gift laying in that manger in a barn, you know, I think it's such a beautiful representation that this gift is for all the rich, the poor, those who so socially, economically are prospers. Those who are not, he came for all, he, you know, he shed his blood for all. And that's really the message of Christianity is that we needed a savior because we were dead in our sins, in, in our trespasses, in when that gospel goes forth. That began in that manger that this little baby grew up shed. His blood died on the cross and Rose triumphantly. So that mankind could be reconciled back to God. Wow. He is the greatest gift of all.

Speaker 1 (06:20): You know, I think about this gift giving process. And I come from a family of, you know, Christmas lovers. I mean, we all love it, but I think I've told the story before how we would go to grandma's house. And because there was, you know, grandma had a lot of grandchildren, the room where the tree was, you couldn't walk in because there were so many gifts and the commercialization of Christmas has got a bad rap. But the reality is that believers and non-believers the world over have embraced this gift, giving concept, which in and of itself is a beautiful thing. If we flip it around and look at it that way that the actual act that even people who don't believe in Jesus are Christmas. Jesus go through the ritual of the gift giving process. And it kind of blows my mind. And you're exactly right. It was the idea that this gift, this free gift of God himself coming in the form of man was what started this whole gift giving process.

Speaker 3 (07:34): That's right. Renee. And I love that. You mentioned the free gift. You know, Jesus was and is our gift of reconciliation and eternal life. You know, if we look in the Bible and our first, our first scripture of today is found in Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine. The Bible says for, by grace, you have been saved through faith in that, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Isn't that beautiful in Romans six 23 says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ. Jesus, our Lord. So beautiful. We can see that this, uh, concept of gift giving is all through the Bible and is the bedrock of our salvation. God saw an earth that was doomed really for how. And he said, I am going to come and save them myself because the Bible teaches. We're all sinners. We've all fallen short of the grace and the glory of God. So he knew what he had to do. And out of the love, out of the deep love that he has for each one of us, all of mankind all over the earth, when the gospel goes forward in people put their faith in this gospel, they are saved and that beautiful reconciled back to God.

Speaker 1 (09:09): It is beautiful Theresa. And it also makes me think of how much time we spend often selecting the right gift for the person, giving a gift that is special and meaningful. You know, in our family, it was like, who's got the gift. That's going to make mom cry. Who's got the gift. That's gonna, you know, be the one that touches her heart. The reality is that none of us would think about giving our children laying down a life for another person and the process. It's so brilliant on the part of God. Isn't it so brilliant that he says, I know how else show them my love. I know how I'll give them that gift that makes them cry. I'll give him my only begotten son, surely, surely that will help them understand the breadth, the depth, the width of my love. Surely something that big will help them understand how much

Speaker 3 (10:19): Absolutely Renee. Absolutely. I think maybe the closest thing we can come to understanding the love of God is the love of a parent to a child, the love of a spouse or a partner from one to another. But God's love for us is perfect. And it's so deep and it's so intimate. I love what the Bible says in Ephesians. Again, chapter two, verses four and five, but God who is rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you have been saved that beautiful by grace. You have been saved. He saw the terrible plight that all of us were in and said, Hey, I see that I'm coming to do something about it because they don't even know they have this huge problem. I'm going to provide a means of reconciliation. I'm going to rectify this thought. I am going to leave in tack their free choice because love demands, freedom of choice.

Speaker 1 (11:33): I encourage you. If this is resonating with you, there are some amazing early episodes of this podcast where we just talk about the need for a savior. Why was there shedding of blood? Why did that have to happen? And, and we talk about that. So subscribe to the channel, hit the button right now, get notified. And maybe in this Christmas season, work back through why that had to be. But this season, we get to talk about that precious little baby that came and lived a human life. Theresa, just like we did. He was a human so that God could allow us to understand that he understands so that we could believe that he understands, instead of just saying Theresa, right. Oh, well, you're God, you can't possibly understand what I, as a human am, experiencing what I have as a human I'm struggling with all. No, no. Let me, let me bring myself into the world. Just like you come into the world from the Virgin, Mary birthing, a baby wrapped him in swaddling clothes. I love now how the thing is with all these babies swaddling them. Well, we've been swaddling way back from the beginning, but that he was a human. He became a human out of that love. It's it's just a beautiful story and why this is such a joyous occasion because who doesn't love a new baby, right? Theresa.

Speaker 3 (13:15): Yeah. It's so true. And I love Renee that how you express so beautifully that, that he did. He came in the Bible, says he was tempted in all things, just like we are, but remained sinless so that he could qualify as the spotless lamb of God to shed his blood. So he knows our weaknesses. He knows the temptations we face in the beautiful, beautiful fact, right? Truth of our Christianity is that God not only left his word, but he also left his precious Holy spirit, that as a Christian, when we invite the Lord into our hearts, the Holy spirit descends upon our spirit and he's there to help us maintain a healthy lifestyle, not only for our benefit, but for the benefit of the kingdom of God and sharing the love of God with others, the world needs hope today, and they just don't need it in words or dialogues.

Speaker 3 (14:25): We see so much of that. Um, the news people are weary. They're saying, what can I trust today? And what I love about Christianity. And I think St Augustine said it share your faith. And if necessary use words, I love that. And I've had people, we had one young girl who couldn't believe, you know, in the truths of the Bible and Christianity, because so many of her friends said they were Christians, but the display of their behavior said another in one day, I, I, you know, I sat with her and I prayed that the Lord would reveal truth in weeks past. And she came and she said, Reese, I'm ready to invite Christ into my heart. And I said, my goodness, what happened? And this is what she said. And I worked with another Christian at the time. And she said, I've watched you and Jeff in now I know it's real.

Speaker 3 (15:21): And she invited the Lord into her heart. What a beautiful, beautiful demonstration of, because being a Christian, cleaning some behavioral patterns up that might not be best for me or someone else watching my behavior. But so through that experience, she was able to feel the tangible love of God through me, through Jeff and she's in the kingdom of God now. So yesterday, this beautiful gift of God that came as a baby in a manger grew up in really showed us how to live this life for the benefit of ourselves in the benefit of others. We are called disciples of God. And I know through my walk, the last 26 years, I'm such in a better place because of the word of God in the precious move of the Holy spirit and assistance in my life.

Speaker 1 (16:24): Love all of this tree stuff, because you're absolutely right. The term Christian has a bad rap. And I love what you shared that share your faith and if necessary use words. Oh my gosh. That again, I'm big. Right? Right. Everyone. I'm big on posted notes on the mirror. That's going to be a posted note on my mirror right now, Teresa, because it is so true. I don't feel a need to go around and tell everyone I'm a Christian. In fact, I don't do it in. Sometimes I get conflicted with it, but this gives me peace that yes, I'm doing the right thing. If they can't see it in me, if they can't say, you know, what is it about Renee? What is it about Theresa? I remember Ryan, just me of when we opened Trillium, which is our fitness and wellness center that we opened out of my mom's cancer journey in terms of what we learned.

Speaker 1 (17:33): And I remember saying to, to my team there, that I wanted to people to know that we're Christians by our love. So we were out in a business attracting everyone. We didn't say we wanted just Christians to come to our center, but I wanted people to say that was our mission. What is it about this place? Why do these people love us? Why did these people take such good care of us? And I'll never forget. We had quite a few Jewish members. We were in a part of the city where we were surrounded by the Jewish community, which is beautiful. And I love it. And this one woman, when my mom passed away, had come to our funeral for my mom. And she said to me, the next week in our wellness center, as she wheeled in her wheelchair to the front desk, she said, Renee, I was in the back of the room with the 500 plus people that were at my mom's funeral.

Speaker 1 (18:37): And she said, I never understood, you know, what your faith was about. She said, but after that funeral, I was ready to sign up. And it was the most precious thing. Trey said it was the most precious thing to be able to share the love of God with others, without telling them, you know, we're followers of Jesus. We want people to see it in us. You're absolutely right. And that's just, that's just a beautiful, beautiful testimony. And I love that. You'd said we're disciples of God. And I love the word ambassador. Our job is simply to allow God to pass through. I think of an electrical current, you know, getting this download from above and spewing it out into the world. That that's, it. That's all we need to do. That's why he came. It's why he shared his humanness, God being coming human in that baby that was celebrating this week so that we could understand how to act, how to be, how to exist on planet earth.

Speaker 3 (19:49): It's so very true. You know, especially in this time in the United States with all that is in suing with the election, you know, my siblings and I, uh, have three siblings and, you know, we constantly have a group tax and we're talking about things and this morning it really hit me that Jesus left a commandment, right. You know, he said in John chapter 13, verses 34 to 35, love one another. This is the commandment I give you. And Jesus has disciple. John who wrote the book of first, second and third, John in first John chapter three, verse 23, the writing says, and this is the commandment that we should believe on the name of his son, Jesus Christ in love one another, as he gave us commandment. So I said to my siblings in the text this morning, I, you know, I have to keep my mind on things above. And I know the one thing that I have been commissioned to do as a Christian and that is to love one another. I've believed in the name of Jesus. As the Bible has said in John three six in John, three 16 for God. So loved the world. He gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I have believed on the name of, of God's son, Jesus. In now the great commission I've been commissioned as a Christian to love one another.

Speaker 1 (21:24): It's just so true, Theresa, that, uh, love is the, what we're commanded to do. It's why God sent that baby. It's why he showed us the way as a human here on earth. Can you imagine if we all just shared that love with one another where our world would be? You know what I find so interesting is that this was all prophesied in the old Testament. We have writings improve that, that, that this little baby is the guy. He's the dude. He's the one it way back in Isaiah, right? Theresa. There was, there's a scripture that we've all probably heard if you've been around the Christmas scene at all. But remember that this was prophesied. So even though this baby came in this very insignificant way, there was reasons for it all. But we know in our deepest knower, Teresa, that that baby had this massive impact on the world. And we need to follow that great commandment and the world will be a better place. But what, what did Isaiah say, Theresa? What did he tell us about this baby? That was,

Speaker 3 (22:42): Yeah. I love Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, Renee, it says for unto us, a child is born unto us. A son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder. And his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, Prince of peace. You know, the first time Jesus came, he came as a baby in the manger. He died and shed his blood Rose again, victoriously on our behalf in the wonderful, wonderful promise of God's word is he's coming back. He's coming back in this time. The government will be upon his shoulders and there will be peace on earth. But until then Renee, we March forward and we obey the commands in his word and the leading of the Holy spirit and become well-versed because it is through our faith, that things are accomplished here on the earth right now.

Speaker 1 (23:42): That's right tree. So what a beautiful to end the last word of that scripture. Prince of peace, Prince of peace. I love it. And I also love our favorite well-versed woman's scripture tree. So, which is the foundation for everything that you all have, and we all have to grow this love. And what is that? Theresa? Absolutely. Renee Romans 10 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas. Thank you for listening to episode 30 of the well-versed woman podcast. Can you imagine getting a free well-versed woman journal in the mail for Christmas? All you need to do is subscribe to this channel rate and review it, put your comments down. It just encourages us and encourages other people to listen to this podcast. And by doing that, you'll be helping us spread the word of God, which is a beautiful thing.

Speaker 1 (24:48): We also have a Facebook community that you can ask to join. We'll approve you to come on in, ask us any questions we're in there. Making sure that anything gets answered that you have. And last but not least are the famous show notes. The scriptures themselves that we talked about in this episode are listed in the show notes. If you go to your podcast platform, click on details and start scrolling down. It'll take you to a place where you can print and download the show notes and listen to those scriptures about Christmas. This week, we will see you next week as we continue this holiday spirit, this Christmas spirit of our little baby Jesus coming to the world until next week. We love you. Bye now.