Tara-Leigh Cobble & Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: What A Savior: The Life & Character of Jesus | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron

December 16, 2024

Kirk Cameron is joined by Tara-Leigh Cobble and Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth for a Christmas celebration reflecting on the Gift of the season: Jesus.

#PersonalStory #Salvation #Author #Purpose #RelationshipwithGod #SeekGod #Bible #Religion #Jesus #Christmas #Character #TalkShow #Savior #Convert/Conversion #KirkCameron #Incarnate #TakeawaysWithKirkCameron #Tara-LeighCobble

Closed captions

Show Timecode

Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | Tara-Leigh Cobble & Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: What A Savior: The Life & Character of Jesus | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | December 16, 2024

...
00:00:00.633 --> 00:00:00.356
Kirk cameron: christmas is coming.
00:00:00.824 --> 00:00:02.025
It's my favorite time of year as we celebrate the gift that our
00:00:02.125 --> 00:00:05.762
Savior gave us in coming to earth for us.
00:00:05.862 --> 00:00:06.563
Today, we're gonna discuss the life and character of jesus with
00:00:10.033 --> 00:00:13.136
Both of our guests.
00:00:13.136 --> 00:00:14.471
There is no one else like jesus, what a savior.
00:00:14.471 --> 00:00:17.941
These discussions are just what we need to ring in the christmas
00:00:17.941 --> 00:00:21.377
Season, so let's get to it right now on "takeaways."
00:00:21.377 --> 00:00:25.348
Tara-leigh cobble: jesus is the only bridge between a holy god
00:00:25.348 --> 00:00:28.751
And fallen mankind.
00:00:28.751 --> 00:00:30.320
There's no other possible bridge.
00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:32.755
Nancy demoss wolgemuth: if we can step back and just remind
00:00:32.755 --> 00:00:35.425
Ourselves of the wonder of what this season is about, it
00:00:35.425 --> 00:00:40.964
Will--it'll change--it changes everything about our lives, not
00:00:40.964 --> 00:00:44.567
Just one day of the year, but 365 days of the year.
00:00:44.567 --> 00:00:47.904
Kirk: merry christmas, everybody.
00:00:50.273 --> 00:00:51.841
Our first guest is tara-leigh cobble.
00:00:51.841 --> 00:00:54.310
You know tara-leigh for her chronological one-year bible
00:00:54.310 --> 00:00:58.148
Reading plan and accompanying daily podcast, "the
00:00:58.148 --> 00:01:00.950
Bible recap."
00:01:00.950 --> 00:01:02.285
Well, today we'll be discussing details of the christmas story
00:01:02.285 --> 00:01:05.822
From the perspective of the gospel of luke.
00:01:05.822 --> 00:01:09.259
Tara-leigh, thanks so much for joining us on "takeaways."
00:01:09.259 --> 00:01:11.394
Tara-leigh: thanks for having me, kirk.
00:01:11.394 --> 00:01:12.762
Kirk: well, i'm so excited about this because christmas is--i
00:01:12.762 --> 00:01:16.366
Don't know, for me, christmas is something that took on such a
00:01:16.366 --> 00:01:21.004
Huge perspective-changing meaning to me when i came to
00:01:21.004 --> 00:01:25.141
Faith as a 17-year-old, formerly an atheist.
00:01:25.141 --> 00:01:28.978
So, i didn't know what the christmas story meant.
00:01:28.978 --> 00:01:32.248
And when i would see a baby in the manger and the three wise
00:01:32.248 --> 00:01:35.952
Men and the star of bethlehem, it was, like, this weird
00:01:35.952 --> 00:01:38.855
Religious fairy tale.
00:01:38.855 --> 00:01:40.857
Because to me, christmas was just always about the tree and
00:01:40.857 --> 00:01:43.326
The apple pie and all the great smells and songs and going to
00:01:43.326 --> 00:01:47.230
The beach on sunday mornings and getting presents from
00:01:47.230 --> 00:01:49.766
My parents.
00:01:49.766 --> 00:01:51.100
Tara-leigh: yeah, that does represent a big
00:01:51.100 --> 00:01:52.835
Perspective shift.
00:01:52.835 --> 00:01:54.170
Kirk: yeah, it does. do you like our christmas set?
00:01:54.170 --> 00:01:55.572
Tara-leigh: beautiful.
00:01:55.572 --> 00:01:56.906
Kirk: that's right, we've got all the great christmas
00:01:56.906 --> 00:01:59.576
Decorations, which are trappings for some, but we're representing
00:01:59.576 --> 00:02:02.712
The gift of all gifts, and that is our savior, jesus christ.
00:02:02.712 --> 00:02:08.685
Well, i love that you're helping us to see jesus as savior in
00:02:08.685 --> 00:02:13.289
This book called, "knowing jesus: a 10-session study on the
00:02:13.289 --> 00:02:17.961
Gospel of luke."
00:02:17.961 --> 00:02:20.396
Before we get into luke's perspective on jesus as savior,
00:02:20.396 --> 00:02:23.666
Can you share with us one of your favorite
00:02:23.666 --> 00:02:25.535
Christmas memories?
00:02:25.535 --> 00:02:27.470
Tara-leigh: i come from a big family, six kids, which you know
00:02:27.470 --> 00:02:30.940
How that goes.
00:02:30.940 --> 00:02:32.308
And i'm the youngest of six, so when i came into the family,
00:02:32.308 --> 00:02:35.945
It's all these aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters, and
00:02:35.945 --> 00:02:39.449
Just so many people.
00:02:39.449 --> 00:02:40.783
My grandparents were still alive.
00:02:40.783 --> 00:02:42.485
And i lived in east tennessee, we would sometimes get snow
00:02:42.485 --> 00:02:45.622
On christmas.
00:02:45.622 --> 00:02:46.990
So just those family times together as a kid were just some
00:02:46.990 --> 00:02:50.226
Of the sweetest.
00:02:50.226 --> 00:02:51.594
And my family always sat and read the christmas story.
00:02:51.594 --> 00:02:55.531
It used to be that my grandfather would do it, and now
00:02:55.531 --> 00:02:57.500
My dad does it, and we sit down and everyone hears the story of
00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:00.770
The savior's birth.
00:03:00.770 --> 00:03:02.472
Kirk: that's the best--christmas traditions are the
00:03:02.472 --> 00:03:04.474
Absolute best.
00:03:04.474 --> 00:03:06.342
We have this tradition in our house now where we read the
00:03:06.342 --> 00:03:08.311
Christmas story, but we also read "'twas the night before
00:03:08.311 --> 00:03:10.813
Christmas," and i was so excited when all of our little kids were
00:03:10.813 --> 00:03:14.784
Tiny and i would read, "'twas the night before christmas," and
00:03:14.784 --> 00:03:17.086
I put a pipe in my mouth and i would wear just, like, a big
00:03:17.086 --> 00:03:20.223
Jacket and have a fireplace going.
00:03:20.223 --> 00:03:21.858
We'd roast chestnuts over the--i was going for the whole bing
00:03:21.858 --> 00:03:24.227
Crosby vibe and the whole "night before christmas."
00:03:24.227 --> 00:03:27.196
And we still do this and my kids, now that they're 28 and
00:03:27.196 --> 00:03:30.333
27, they still have me do this.
00:03:30.333 --> 00:03:32.035
And we get to do it in tennessee, so we have these
00:03:32.035 --> 00:03:35.571
Beautiful white christmas and, i mean, it's great.
00:03:35.571 --> 00:03:38.708
Tara-leigh: oh, i love that. i love that.
00:03:38.708 --> 00:03:40.209
Kirk: well, how has your understanding the big picture
00:03:40.209 --> 00:03:45.615
Story of scripture and the bible helped to shape your
00:03:45.615 --> 00:03:50.787
Understanding of christmas?
00:03:50.787 --> 00:03:53.756
Tara-leigh: for me, it has been that the more i have gotten to
00:03:53.756 --> 00:03:56.793
Know the whole story of jesus, not just the story of his birth,
00:03:56.793 --> 00:04:00.129
But all of the prophecy leading up to his birth, all the people
00:04:00.129 --> 00:04:03.433
Awaiting his birth, all the things that happened after his
00:04:03.433 --> 00:04:06.102
Birth, just the whole story of scripture, genesis to
00:04:06.102 --> 00:04:09.138
Revelation, i've fallen in love with him more, which then makes
00:04:09.138 --> 00:04:14.110
His birth all the more magnificent and all the
00:04:14.110 --> 00:04:17.146
More meaningful.
00:04:17.146 --> 00:04:18.481
The more you know him, the more you're grateful that he
00:04:18.481 --> 00:04:20.283
Was born.
00:04:20.283 --> 00:04:21.617
And it really does, like you experienced, from this person
00:04:21.617 --> 00:04:24.087
Who was an atheist to a person who now loves jesus, it means so
00:04:24.087 --> 00:04:28.825
Much more to you.
00:04:28.825 --> 00:04:30.193
It heightens your love for the holiday because the love for the
00:04:30.193 --> 00:04:33.062
Savior who was born, and that we're celebrating on that day,
00:04:33.062 --> 00:04:36.466
That has all been increased.
00:04:36.466 --> 00:04:38.000
Kirk: i remember when i first became a christian, i would pick
00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:41.404
Out verses like john 3:16 or proverbs, you know, "trust in
00:04:41.404 --> 00:04:45.408
The lord with all of your heart and not your own understanding,"
00:04:45.408 --> 00:04:47.810
Or something out of revelation, and you'd think, well, i like
00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:50.046
That verse, or i like that verse, but it's nothing compared
00:04:50.046 --> 00:04:54.283
To understanding the big picture and how those verses fit
00:04:54.283 --> 00:04:58.020
Together and the story that it tells.
00:04:58.020 --> 00:05:00.156
And then you realize, we're actually in the middle of the
00:05:00.156 --> 00:05:02.892
Story as recipients of his kindness and his mercy and
00:05:02.892 --> 00:05:08.131
Forgiveness and grace.
00:05:08.131 --> 00:05:09.499
And then all of a sudden, you're like, this is the greatest story
00:05:09.499 --> 00:05:11.701
In the world.
00:05:11.701 --> 00:05:13.035
Tara-leigh: it just comes alive.
00:05:13.035 --> 00:05:14.404
To me, the difference in how christmas feels is kind of
00:05:14.404 --> 00:05:19.609
Like--have you ever been a plus one at a wedding?
00:05:19.609 --> 00:05:22.011
Kirk: a plus one? yeah, like, somebody's guest?
00:05:22.011 --> 00:05:23.413
Tara-leigh: yeah, yeah, and, like, you're happy for them.
00:05:23.413 --> 00:05:25.348
This is great. the cake is delicious.
00:05:25.348 --> 00:05:27.383
You know you enjoy--you're like, this is great.
00:05:27.383 --> 00:05:30.119
I'm celebrating a marriage.
00:05:30.119 --> 00:05:31.454
But, man, if you know them, if you have walked through things
00:05:31.454 --> 00:05:34.757
With them, if they have been there for you when you've had a
00:05:34.757 --> 00:05:36.893
Hard day, just the relationship, the way that you celebrate that
00:05:36.893 --> 00:05:41.798
Wedding differently when you really know them, that to me is
00:05:41.798 --> 00:05:46.836
The way that christmas has changed when you go from being a
00:05:46.836 --> 00:05:49.405
Person who maybe doesn't believe in jesus to a person who does
00:05:49.405 --> 00:05:52.675
Believe in jesus, but doesn't really know him, to a person who
00:05:52.675 --> 00:05:55.578
Really knows him, who has walked through his word, who has come
00:05:55.578 --> 00:05:59.115
To know him through what he says about himself, not just
00:05:59.115 --> 00:06:02.118
Secondhand.
00:06:02.118 --> 00:06:03.453
And i think for me, christmas, the beauty of it, was so
00:06:03.453 --> 00:06:07.723
Heightened when i came to know jesus firsthand through reading
00:06:07.723 --> 00:06:11.027
His word and not just through what i heard from other people
00:06:11.027 --> 00:06:13.329
In sermons or books or devotionals, and just fell in
00:06:13.329 --> 00:06:16.766
Love with him.
00:06:16.766 --> 00:06:18.100
Kirk: yeah, because it became personal.
00:06:18.100 --> 00:06:19.435
It became personal.
00:06:19.435 --> 00:06:20.803
Like, to your point, i've been to a lot of weddings before and
00:06:20.803 --> 00:06:22.772
I'm like, oh, as a kid, this is kind of boring, it's kind of
00:06:22.772 --> 00:06:25.141
Like, when are we gonna get to the cake?
00:06:25.141 --> 00:06:26.609
But then when i got married, all of a sudden this is the most
00:06:26.609 --> 00:06:31.481
Beautiful bride i've ever seen in my whole life.
00:06:31.481 --> 00:06:33.583
This was, you know, it had me in tears with goose bumps and i
00:06:33.583 --> 00:06:36.586
Couldn't believe it.
00:06:36.586 --> 00:06:37.954
And then, when i married my own daughter and i officiated the
00:06:37.954 --> 00:06:44.627
Wedding and i'm handing her to this young man, it takes on all
00:06:44.627 --> 00:06:49.966
New meaning and significance.
00:06:49.966 --> 00:06:51.367
So much deeper, why? because it's personal.
00:06:51.367 --> 00:06:53.603
And that's what you're helping us do here with our relationship
00:06:53.603 --> 00:06:57.173
With christ as savior.
00:06:57.173 --> 00:06:58.941
Now, you specifically are helping us to see jesus as
00:06:58.941 --> 00:07:02.311
Savior through the eyes of dr. luke.
00:07:02.311 --> 00:07:06.249
What's unique about his perspective on jesus?
00:07:06.249 --> 00:07:09.352
Tara-leigh: there are a few unique things about
00:07:09.352 --> 00:07:10.753
Luke's perspective.
00:07:10.753 --> 00:07:12.121
He's a gentile writing to gentiles, so that's different.
00:07:12.121 --> 00:07:14.290
It's a gospel that's not written by a jewish author, or to jewish
00:07:14.290 --> 00:07:18.261
People necessarily.
00:07:18.261 --> 00:07:19.795
It's also interesting to me, his focus.
00:07:19.795 --> 00:07:23.232
Each of the four gospels has a unique focus on who jesus is.
00:07:23.232 --> 00:07:26.936
So, matthew focuses on jesus as king.
00:07:26.936 --> 00:07:30.106
Mark focuses on jesus as servant, and those two feel kind
00:07:30.106 --> 00:07:33.042
Of juxtaposed, but we know how they work together.
00:07:33.042 --> 00:07:35.845
And then when we get to luke, he focuses on jesus as the
00:07:35.845 --> 00:07:40.349
Savior-man, the man who came to be the savior.
00:07:40.349 --> 00:07:43.252
And then john focuses on jesus as god.
00:07:43.252 --> 00:07:45.488
And those two feel kind of juxtaposed, but they
00:07:45.488 --> 00:07:47.657
Work together.
00:07:47.657 --> 00:07:49.025
Kirk: wow, that's really interesting.
00:07:49.025 --> 00:07:50.359
I hadn't thought about all of that.
00:07:50.359 --> 00:07:51.694
Jesus is a king, he's the king of kings, but he's also--he
00:07:51.694 --> 00:07:54.163
Said, "i didn't come to be served, but to"--he was the
00:07:54.163 --> 00:07:56.265
Ultimate servant.
00:07:56.265 --> 00:07:57.600
Now, what were the other two?
00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:58.935
Tara-leigh: savior-man, and then god, yeah.
00:07:58.935 --> 00:08:02.471
Kirk: and then he is god.
00:08:02.471 --> 00:08:03.806
Tara-leigh: yeah, so man and god, and king and servant.
00:08:03.806 --> 00:08:07.610
And so this unique lens that luke has really establishes how
00:08:07.610 --> 00:08:12.448
Jesus is the only bridge between a holy god and fallen mankind.
00:08:12.448 --> 00:08:17.553
There's no other possible bridge.
00:08:17.553 --> 00:08:20.256
And i think of it like this.
00:08:20.256 --> 00:08:22.925
I don't speak spanish, but if i
00:08:22.925 --> 00:08:24.994
Were trying to communicate to somebody who only spoke spanish,
00:08:24.994 --> 00:08:28.030
I would need someone who is fluent in both english and in
00:08:28.030 --> 00:08:30.499
Spanish, right, to be the translator.
00:08:30.499 --> 00:08:33.235
That is a very small, pale example of what jesus did in
00:08:33.235 --> 00:08:38.107
Communicating, translating, being the bridge between a holy
00:08:38.107 --> 00:08:41.043
God and fallen man, because jesus is fully god and
00:08:41.043 --> 00:08:45.548
Fully man.
00:08:45.548 --> 00:08:46.882
So he's the only person who can translate and the only person
00:08:46.882 --> 00:08:50.252
Who can connect in that way.
00:08:50.252 --> 00:08:52.221
And luke really highlights that aspect of the relationship that
00:08:52.221 --> 00:08:56.492
Jesus established between us and the father.
00:08:56.492 --> 00:08:58.728
Kirk: is--can we really fully understand what it means that
00:08:58.728 --> 00:09:02.331
Jesus is fully god and fully man?
00:09:02.331 --> 00:09:04.200
Tara-leigh: i think--here's how i think of it.
00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:06.335
I think we can't fully understand it on this side of
00:09:06.335 --> 00:09:08.971
Eternity, but i think we can understand it more.
00:09:08.971 --> 00:09:12.441
So the trinity, the father, the son, and the holy spirit, all
00:09:12.441 --> 00:09:17.013
Fully god, unique and distinct, but they work together.
00:09:17.013 --> 00:09:21.684
They have a shared will and a character and purpose.
00:09:21.684 --> 00:09:24.086
But i do think we can understand it better.
00:09:24.086 --> 00:09:25.955
And i think the scriptures, luke particularly, helps us see
00:09:25.955 --> 00:09:30.860
A--pull back some of the layers of that onion to really reveal
00:09:30.860 --> 00:09:34.730
More of what it means that jesus came embodied as god, embodied
00:09:34.730 --> 00:09:39.735
As a man.
00:09:39.735 --> 00:09:41.070
Kirk: i wanted to ask you about luke's particular focus on jesus
00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:46.175
As a humble servant and why he focuses on that in the cultural
00:09:46.175 --> 00:09:52.148
Context of his day.
00:09:52.148 --> 00:09:54.450
Was that not what people were expecting?
00:09:54.450 --> 00:09:57.653
Tara-leigh: surely not, and i think it's so interesting to me,
00:09:57.653 --> 00:10:01.257
Not only did jesus humbly come to earth to be this
00:10:01.257 --> 00:10:05.528
Humble savior.
00:10:05.528 --> 00:10:06.896
To humbly descend from the heavens to earth, you would
00:10:06.896 --> 00:10:09.598
Think, if you are making that kind of massive step down, that
00:10:09.598 --> 00:10:14.403
You're going to at least be in the most prominent family, the
00:10:14.403 --> 00:10:18.140
Wealthiest family.
00:10:18.140 --> 00:10:19.475
Like, at least it's gonna take the edge off, right, you know,
00:10:19.475 --> 00:10:22.545
If i go from heaven to be born in a palace.
00:10:22.545 --> 00:10:26.115
But that's not the path jesus chose.
00:10:26.115 --> 00:10:28.484
That's not the path that was a part of the father's plan.
00:10:28.484 --> 00:10:31.420
Jesus comes to the least of people, and he's born in
00:10:31.420 --> 00:10:38.394
Probably a cave, which is where they kept their animals at the
00:10:38.394 --> 00:10:40.663
Time, in a feeding trough.
00:10:40.663 --> 00:10:43.666
And he's first presented to shepherds, who are lowly people.
00:10:43.666 --> 00:10:51.774
Many of them, they aren't even allowed by the legal traditions
00:10:51.774 --> 00:10:55.177
Of the time to enter--to draw near to god's presence in the
00:10:55.177 --> 00:10:58.481
Temple because they're unclean, they've been touching livestock.
00:10:58.481 --> 00:11:02.351
And so there are just all these elements of jesus, that he
00:11:02.351 --> 00:11:06.021
Becomes the lowest of the low, not the highest of the low, but
00:11:06.021 --> 00:11:09.525
The lowest of the low and is born to a couple that's so poor
00:11:09.525 --> 00:11:14.430
They can't even offer the traditional livestock as an
00:11:14.430 --> 00:11:16.799
Offering in the temple.
00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:18.167
They have to offer pigeons.
00:11:18.167 --> 00:11:19.769
It's the offering of the poor.
00:11:19.769 --> 00:11:21.837
And the people of the day when they think of a king, they think
00:11:21.837 --> 00:11:26.642
Of high and mighty, they think of riding on a horse.
00:11:26.642 --> 00:11:30.346
They think of all--
00:11:30.346 --> 00:11:31.680
Kirk: all of those pomp and circumstance that accompanies
00:11:31.680 --> 00:11:33.415
A king.
00:11:33.415 --> 00:11:34.750
Tara-leigh: and jesus, in matthew, which talks about jesus
00:11:34.750 --> 00:11:37.153
As king, he says, "my kingdom is not of this world.
00:11:37.153 --> 00:11:41.490
It's a different kind of kingdom."
00:11:41.490 --> 00:11:43.359
And so he establishes that right out of the gate, not being born
00:11:43.359 --> 00:11:46.562
In a wealthy palace, being born to lowly, humble people who are
00:11:46.562 --> 00:11:51.367
Poor and unknown and continued to, throughout his ministry, he
00:11:51.367 --> 00:11:57.706
Keeps drawing near to the lowly, to the broken, to the sad, to
00:11:57.706 --> 00:12:02.344
The poor, to the sick, to those who are outcast.
00:12:02.344 --> 00:12:05.281
And he just--it's like he seeks them out, and not to the
00:12:05.281 --> 00:12:09.752
Exclusion of the wealthy, but it seems he has a real sweet spot,
00:12:09.752 --> 00:12:15.457
The people who are the most aware of their need, whether
00:12:15.457 --> 00:12:19.128
Those be the rich who are aware of their need or the poor who
00:12:19.128 --> 00:12:21.363
Are aware of their need.
00:12:21.363 --> 00:12:22.731
But i think sometimes when you're poor, it's easier to be
00:12:22.731 --> 00:12:24.934
Aware of your needs.
00:12:24.934 --> 00:12:26.302
Kirk: yeah, i think one of the things that i appreciate about
00:12:26.302 --> 00:12:28.504
Somebody who's come to help me is that they can relate to what
00:12:28.504 --> 00:12:31.674
I'm going through, that they understand.
00:12:31.674 --> 00:12:34.043
And i think that maybe jesus coming as a little baby in a
00:12:34.043 --> 00:12:37.379
Manger, being the son of a father and mother who were not
00:12:37.379 --> 00:12:41.350
Very wealthy, not very influential, prominent, maybe
00:12:41.350 --> 00:12:45.654
That would have been harder for him to be recognized as
00:12:45.654 --> 00:12:49.558
The messiah.
00:12:49.558 --> 00:12:50.893
And why did he do that?
00:12:50.893 --> 00:12:52.261
Well, maybe it was because he really wanted people to sense
00:12:52.261 --> 00:12:55.831
That he could relate to the lowest of the low, like
00:12:55.831 --> 00:13:00.336
You said.
00:13:00.336 --> 00:13:01.670
Tara-leigh: i think you're right.
00:13:01.670 --> 00:13:03.038
That's something that is so beautiful about when you're in
00:13:03.038 --> 00:13:05.307
Those spaces, scripture tells us that he knows what it's like to
00:13:05.307 --> 00:13:09.078
Be us.
00:13:09.078 --> 00:13:10.446
He knows how hard it is to be us.
00:13:10.446 --> 00:13:11.780
He has endured all the temptations that we have
00:13:11.780 --> 00:13:13.616
Endured, and that really does connect our heart to his, to
00:13:13.616 --> 00:13:18.287
Feel known by him.
00:13:18.287 --> 00:13:19.655
Kirk: well, we have so much more to talk about in your book
00:13:19.655 --> 00:13:22.124
Right now.
00:13:22.124 --> 00:13:23.459
Tara-leigh is gonna stick with us to talk more about the
00:13:23.459 --> 00:13:25.794
Depiction of jesus as savior in the book of luke.
00:13:25.794 --> 00:13:28.831
So don't go away, we'll be right back.
00:13:28.831 --> 00:13:34.001
Kirk: we're back with tara-leigh cobble.
00:13:37.107 --> 00:13:38.808
We just discussed the christmas story as seen in the book of
00:13:38.808 --> 00:13:42.445
Luke, and we're gonna keep going with this.
00:13:42.445 --> 00:13:44.447
So, as you were going through the book of luke, understanding
00:13:44.447 --> 00:13:48.618
More and more how to know jesus as savior, was there anything
00:13:48.618 --> 00:13:52.522
That really surprised you about jesus?
00:13:52.522 --> 00:13:56.493
Tara-leigh: well, i'll tell you something, a story that i'm so
00:13:56.493 --> 00:13:59.796
Familiar with that you'll be familiar with as well.
00:13:59.796 --> 00:14:02.299
Right before we were writing this, i was in israel.
00:14:02.299 --> 00:14:05.535
We were walking down mount olives.
00:14:05.535 --> 00:14:07.938
So, mount olives is facing jerusalem, and jesus in his
00:14:07.938 --> 00:14:13.443
Triumphant entry--his triumphal entry, when he's entering the
00:14:13.443 --> 00:14:16.980
Week before his death, when palm--we call it palm sunday,
00:14:16.980 --> 00:14:20.450
You know, they're waving the palm branches, they're laying
00:14:20.450 --> 00:14:22.519
Their coats on the ground in the book of luke.
00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:24.354
Kirk: i've never been there, but i'm just picturing lots of palm
00:14:24.354 --> 00:14:26.423
Trees and lots of olive trees because it's the mount
00:14:26.423 --> 00:14:28.825
Of olives.
00:14:28.825 --> 00:14:30.160
Is that--
00:14:30.160 --> 00:14:31.494
Tara-leigh: yes, lots of olive trees, but also--
00:14:31.494 --> 00:14:32.862
Kirk: no palm trees?
00:14:32.862 --> 00:14:34.197
Tara-leigh: not palm trees there now.
00:14:34.197 --> 00:14:35.565
There may have been at the time.
00:14:35.565 --> 00:14:37.834
But graves everywhere.
00:14:37.834 --> 00:14:41.204
The whole hillside is thousands of thousands of graves, and it's
00:14:41.204 --> 00:14:45.275
Been that way for over 2,000 years.
00:14:45.275 --> 00:14:48.044
And the idea is the jewish people bury their dead facing
00:14:48.044 --> 00:14:53.016
The temple.
00:14:53.016 --> 00:14:54.384
So mount olives is heading into the city of jerusalem, and so
00:14:54.384 --> 00:14:57.020
They want to be facing the temple so that they want to,
00:14:57.020 --> 00:14:59.222
When they're resurrected, facing the temple.
00:14:59.222 --> 00:15:03.426
And so, here's what's interesting, jesus is coming
00:15:03.426 --> 00:15:06.596
Down this hill, everybody's, "hosanna, save us."
00:15:06.596 --> 00:15:10.800
They're lauding him with praise and acknowledging him as savior.
00:15:10.800 --> 00:15:15.772
Probably they didn't mean the savior of--from their sins.
00:15:15.772 --> 00:15:19.909
They might have meant from rome.
00:15:19.909 --> 00:15:21.678
So they might have misunderstood--
00:15:21.678 --> 00:15:23.046
Kirk: their political savior.
00:15:23.046 --> 00:15:24.381
Tara-leigh: right, exactly.
00:15:24.381 --> 00:15:25.882
The pharisees come along and they're like, "jesus, tell them
00:15:25.882 --> 00:15:28.885
To keep quiet.
00:15:28.885 --> 00:15:30.220
They're being too loud. like, tell them to keep quiet."
00:15:30.220 --> 00:15:32.555
And he says, "if they would be silent, the very rocks would cry
00:15:32.555 --> 00:15:36.026
Out," right?
00:15:36.026 --> 00:15:38.161
Now, i have always thought of that as the granite and the
00:15:38.161 --> 00:15:41.464
Limestone and the flint, like, the rocks are going to cry out.
00:15:41.464 --> 00:15:45.001
But, you know how jesus, when he's talking, he often uses the
00:15:45.001 --> 00:15:47.670
Examples around him?
00:15:47.670 --> 00:15:49.105
Kirk: of the things that are just--
00:15:49.105 --> 00:15:50.440
Tara-leigh: yeah, "consider the lilies of the field."
00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:51.975
You know, "look at the birds of the air."
00:15:51.975 --> 00:15:53.343
Like, i imagine birds were flying overhead when he
00:15:53.343 --> 00:15:55.378
Did that.
00:15:55.378 --> 00:15:57.080
Here's what i think.
00:15:57.080 --> 00:15:58.415
This is just tara-leigh's opinion.
00:15:58.415 --> 00:16:00.550
But when we're reading that scripture from the gospel of
00:16:00.550 --> 00:16:03.820
Luke, walking down that hill, and he says that if these people
00:16:03.820 --> 00:16:08.224
Would be silent, the very rocks would cry out, i imagine him
00:16:08.224 --> 00:16:11.094
Gesturing to all the gravestones, that he's not
00:16:11.094 --> 00:16:14.397
Necessarily referring to limestone and granite and flint
00:16:14.397 --> 00:16:18.601
And shale.
00:16:18.601 --> 00:16:19.936
He's referring to the souls of the dead.
00:16:19.936 --> 00:16:21.905
That "if the souls of the living cease to praise me, the souls of
00:16:21.905 --> 00:16:25.241
The dead will cry out instead."
00:16:25.241 --> 00:16:27.911
That he will be lauded and praised as the savior of the
00:16:27.911 --> 00:16:30.513
World regardless.
00:16:30.513 --> 00:16:31.881
You cannot silence his praise.
00:16:31.881 --> 00:16:33.950
Kirk: wow, i can't wait to go there.
00:16:33.950 --> 00:16:36.219
And i'm gonna think of that, now that you've shared this story
00:16:36.219 --> 00:16:38.955
And perspective.
00:16:38.955 --> 00:16:40.423
Well, i always wanted to be a doctor, growing up.
00:16:40.423 --> 00:16:42.559
I never wanted to be an actor.
00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:43.927
And so, dr. luke has always been, you know, one of my
00:16:43.927 --> 00:16:47.831
Favorite authors of the gospels because he's so detailed.
00:16:47.831 --> 00:16:50.600
He's meticulous in his accounting of things.
00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:53.403
And i don't know if you've ever heard of this, but there's an
00:16:53.403 --> 00:16:57.373
Author scholar who offered this perspective about jesus
00:16:57.373 --> 00:17:01.811
As savior.
00:17:01.811 --> 00:17:03.379
You know, the scriptures talk about jesus as the last adam.
00:17:03.379 --> 00:17:06.416
Well, the first adam, he really sent the human race down a road
00:17:06.416 --> 00:17:10.954
Of death and destruction by failing to do things like tend
00:17:10.954 --> 00:17:13.723
And keep the garden and protect his wife and honor god and obey.
00:17:13.723 --> 00:17:16.693
And jesus, of course, did all those things the right way.
00:17:16.693 --> 00:17:21.164
But one of the interesting things in the garden of eden
00:17:21.164 --> 00:17:23.666
With the first adam, it was pointed out to me that when you
00:17:23.666 --> 00:17:27.437
Steal something, you're supposed to put it back.
00:17:27.437 --> 00:17:30.206
And when adam stole the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil
00:17:30.206 --> 00:17:34.811
And ate it, there really is no way for him to be able to put
00:17:34.811 --> 00:17:39.149
That back because now it's gone down into his stomach, he's
00:17:39.149 --> 00:17:42.018
Digested it, and it's now become part of him.
00:17:42.018 --> 00:17:43.786
The only way he could, practically speaking, put that
00:17:43.786 --> 00:17:47.724
Back on the tree would be for him to hang himself back up on
00:17:47.724 --> 00:17:50.927
The tree.
00:17:50.927 --> 00:17:52.295
Fast forward to the last adam, it's not lost on some
00:17:52.295 --> 00:17:55.398
Theologians who said that jesus was god's blessed fruit hung on
00:17:55.398 --> 00:18:02.505
His blessed tree.
00:18:02.505 --> 00:18:04.741
"cursed is every man who was hung on a tree."
00:18:04.741 --> 00:18:07.410
Jesus as savior is reversing the curse and restoring back to a
00:18:07.410 --> 00:18:14.317
Right relationship man with god, who stole fruit on a tree in
00:18:14.317 --> 00:18:18.655
The garden.
00:18:18.655 --> 00:18:20.023
Ain't that crazy? it's a little out there.
00:18:20.023 --> 00:18:21.424
I get--i understand it, but it gives me goose
00:18:21.424 --> 00:18:24.060
Bumps nonetheless.
00:18:24.060 --> 00:18:25.428
Tara-leigh: yeah, i wanna go think on that for, like, a week
00:18:25.428 --> 00:18:27.564
And a half.
00:18:27.564 --> 00:18:28.932
That's incredible, wow.
00:18:28.932 --> 00:18:30.433
Kirk: okay, so--all right, how about jesus's kingdom agenda in
00:18:30.433 --> 00:18:35.972
The book of luke?
00:18:35.972 --> 00:18:37.874
What do we have there?
00:18:37.874 --> 00:18:39.209
Tara-leigh: what's so interesting is, and it's kind of
00:18:39.209 --> 00:18:41.377
Consistent with what we were just talking about, about what
00:18:41.377 --> 00:18:43.213
They were looking for in a savior, right?
00:18:43.213 --> 00:18:45.949
They are expecting, because these are people who are living
00:18:45.949 --> 00:18:48.685
Under roman oppression and the rules, the persecution, the
00:18:48.685 --> 00:18:54.490
Things that are happening to them, the taxation, all this is
00:18:54.490 --> 00:18:56.926
Really just very hard on the jewish people who are living in
00:18:56.926 --> 00:19:01.564
1st century israel, they're looking for someone to set them
00:19:01.564 --> 00:19:03.800
Free from that.
00:19:03.800 --> 00:19:05.168
Very shortsighted when it comes to eternity.
00:19:05.168 --> 00:19:07.570
Very shortsighted in the idea of "i need to be saved from my
00:19:07.570 --> 00:19:12.408
Sins, not just from rome."
00:19:12.408 --> 00:19:14.477
It's a temporal salvation that they're looking for.
00:19:14.477 --> 00:19:17.213
And jesus in the gospel of matthew, when he's talking about
00:19:17.213 --> 00:19:19.549
His kingdom, says that his kingdom is not of this world.
00:19:19.549 --> 00:19:23.886
And what we see is that his is kind of this upside
00:19:23.886 --> 00:19:25.989
Down kingdom.
00:19:25.989 --> 00:19:27.323
And when jesus is sort of giving his manifesto in the book of
00:19:27.323 --> 00:19:31.594
Luke in luke 4, he quotes isaiah 61, which is a prophecy about
00:19:31.594 --> 00:19:37.066
The messiah.
00:19:37.066 --> 00:19:38.401
And he says, "the spirit of the lord god is upon me, because he
00:19:38.401 --> 00:19:41.204
Has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up the
00:19:41.204 --> 00:19:44.974
Brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty for the captives."
00:19:44.974 --> 00:19:48.244
And he starts telling these stories of all the oppressed,
00:19:48.244 --> 00:19:51.481
The lowly, the poor, the imprisoned, and that is--it
00:19:51.481 --> 00:19:55.785
Resonates with them, you--internally, because that is
00:19:55.785 --> 00:19:58.855
How they feel.
00:19:58.855 --> 00:20:00.189
They're poor, they're brokenhearted, they feel bound
00:20:00.189 --> 00:20:02.058
Up and imprisoned, sometimes falsely by rome.
00:20:02.058 --> 00:20:04.327
And so, it resonates with them internally, but they just
00:20:04.327 --> 00:20:07.864
Didn't--they missed it.
00:20:07.864 --> 00:20:09.465
They didn't have the eyes to see that it's not just a temporal
00:20:09.465 --> 00:20:12.835
Salvation from the oppression of rome, but it is an eternal
00:20:12.835 --> 00:20:16.406
Salvation from the oppression of our own sin and what adam began
00:20:16.406 --> 00:20:21.778
When he ate the fruit.
00:20:21.778 --> 00:20:23.146
And all of that freedom just--and i don't want to pin
00:20:23.146 --> 00:20:28.951
That all on them.
00:20:28.951 --> 00:20:30.286
That is very much how we tend to approach things today.
00:20:30.286 --> 00:20:33.122
Kirk: i was just thinking the same thing.
00:20:33.122 --> 00:20:34.824
Yeah, the enemy is within.
00:20:34.824 --> 00:20:36.292
I mean, at the end of the day, the enemy is within.
00:20:36.292 --> 00:20:39.562
The greatest enemy to my marriage is me.
00:20:39.562 --> 00:20:41.597
The greatest enemy to me doing anything well is not something
00:20:41.597 --> 00:20:46.469
That makes me a victim.
00:20:46.469 --> 00:20:48.204
I am my own worst oppressor because i tend to be selfish,
00:20:48.204 --> 00:20:52.775
And without my savior i don't have a new heart.
00:20:52.775 --> 00:20:56.012
I have the old one that just drags me and everybody else down
00:20:56.012 --> 00:20:59.916
With me.
00:20:59.916 --> 00:21:01.284
Tara-leigh: yeah, and we want a god, i think, who makes this
00:21:01.284 --> 00:21:04.454
Life easy, or who gets us, just, a ticket out of--like, your get
00:21:04.454 --> 00:21:09.225
Out of jail free card, your ticket out of hell, like "i'm
00:21:09.225 --> 00:21:11.828
Saved so i'm going to heaven."
00:21:11.828 --> 00:21:13.396
What does that mean?
00:21:13.396 --> 00:21:14.764
And so, jesus has this much better thing to offer us, this
00:21:14.764 --> 00:21:20.002
Love relationship that impacts us now and eternally, that
00:21:20.002 --> 00:21:23.606
Bridges the distance between fallen man and holy god.
00:21:23.606 --> 00:21:26.909
And he connects us, bridges that gap, for eternity.
00:21:26.909 --> 00:21:30.580
Kirk: and when you were talking about jesus's call to his
00:21:30.580 --> 00:21:34.384
Kingdom work and how the kingdom of god is within us, it makes me
00:21:34.384 --> 00:21:38.221
Think of the book of isaiah when he was talking about the
00:21:38.221 --> 00:21:41.791
Brokenhearted and he's talking about the poor and all this, and
00:21:41.791 --> 00:21:45.161
Then he calls us to be part of that kingdom work.
00:21:45.161 --> 00:21:47.296
So it's not just him building the kingdom.
00:21:47.296 --> 00:21:49.465
He's saying that we are citizens in that kingdom.
00:21:49.465 --> 00:21:52.935
And the cool thing about being a citizen is you're not just a
00:21:52.935 --> 00:21:56.806
Subject to a dictator.
00:21:56.806 --> 00:21:59.142
You are co-kings with the king.
00:21:59.142 --> 00:22:06.282
That's what citizen actually means.
00:22:06.282 --> 00:22:08.684
And we've been seated with jesus in the heavenly places, we are a
00:22:08.684 --> 00:22:14.290
Kingdom of priests, and it's like, it's so cool we get to
00:22:14.290 --> 00:22:17.460
Rule and reign with him.
00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:19.128
And this kingdom work is all part of stuff that we get to be
00:22:19.128 --> 00:22:21.864
A part of according to luke, and that makes christmas even
00:22:21.864 --> 00:22:26.536
More meaningful.
00:22:26.536 --> 00:22:27.870
Tara-leigh: truly.
00:22:27.870 --> 00:22:29.238
Kirk: what do you want people to think about with regard to why
00:22:29.238 --> 00:22:31.741
It's important that jesus is a savior today?
00:22:31.741 --> 00:22:35.411
Tara-leigh: so if jesus was only born, but didn't live the
00:22:35.411 --> 00:22:40.416
Perfect life, didn't die, didn't resurrect, and didn't ascend,
00:22:40.416 --> 00:22:44.654
This is all meaningless, you know.
00:22:44.654 --> 00:22:46.522
If christ has not been raised, then we are to be pitied, most
00:22:46.522 --> 00:22:49.992
Of all people, right, you know?
00:22:49.992 --> 00:22:51.794
And so, he can't be a savior if he's not raised, if he hasn't
00:22:51.794 --> 00:22:56.966
Triumphed over death and the grave.
00:22:56.966 --> 00:22:59.202
He can't be that savior.
00:22:59.202 --> 00:23:00.570
Ephesians 4:10 says, "he who descended is the one who also
00:23:00.570 --> 00:23:04.674
Ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill
00:23:04.674 --> 00:23:08.411
All things."
00:23:08.411 --> 00:23:10.213
It tells us this agenda.
00:23:10.213 --> 00:23:11.547
He--it's him filling all things.
00:23:11.547 --> 00:23:14.317
He's come for the restoration of all things.
00:23:14.317 --> 00:23:16.486
And so him being savior, he not only saves us from our sins, but
00:23:16.486 --> 00:23:20.289
He sets everything right.
00:23:20.289 --> 00:23:22.391
Everything that we set wrong, he sets right.
00:23:22.391 --> 00:23:26.829
He's begun that process with his death and his resurrection.
00:23:26.829 --> 00:23:30.633
But he couldn't have done that if he wasn't born.
00:23:30.633 --> 00:23:33.269
And so, him being born is the beginning of--it's the beginning
00:23:33.269 --> 00:23:37.740
Of the hinge point of history for us, that everything is taken
00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:41.344
From this dark, horrible, fallen brokenness into the trajectory
00:23:41.344 --> 00:23:47.517
Of him restoring all things, that he might fill all things.
00:23:47.517 --> 00:23:51.621
And so as we celebrate his birth, i can't help but think
00:23:51.621 --> 00:23:55.191
About all the other things that i'm grateful for that came as a
00:23:55.191 --> 00:23:58.194
Result of his birth.
00:23:58.194 --> 00:24:00.162
The man who lived the perfect life--because i don't just need
00:24:00.162 --> 00:24:04.534
Him to pay my sin-debt by his death on the cross.
00:24:04.534 --> 00:24:07.737
I needed him to live that perfect life so that his
00:24:07.737 --> 00:24:10.239
Righteousness could be attributed to me.
00:24:10.239 --> 00:24:12.642
So his death paid my sin-debt, which got me from--
00:24:12.642 --> 00:24:16.078
Kirk: out of the red, back up to--
00:24:16.078 --> 00:24:17.713
Tara-leigh: to neutral.
00:24:17.713 --> 00:24:19.415
But all i am is neutral.
00:24:19.415 --> 00:24:20.750
I'm not seated with the king, i'm not co-heirs with christ, if
00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:23.986
All i have is my sin-debt paid.
00:24:23.986 --> 00:24:26.656
His righteous life attributed to me, seated in the heavenlies
00:24:26.656 --> 00:24:32.461
Kirk: yeah, yeah, it's amazing.
00:24:32.461 --> 00:24:34.163
Well, i've been asking you lots of questions, but you wrote this
00:24:34.163 --> 00:24:38.267
Wonderful book, "knowing jesus as savior."
00:24:38.267 --> 00:24:40.937
What do you hope people would take away from our conversation
00:24:40.937 --> 00:24:45.408
About jesus as savior this christmas?
00:24:45.408 --> 00:24:48.911
Tara-leigh: my hope is that if we are introspective and we
00:24:48.911 --> 00:24:52.815
Recognize that we are fallen people, that we are sinful
00:24:52.815 --> 00:24:55.618
People in need of a savior, but we cannot do that on our own, we
00:24:55.618 --> 00:25:00.156
Cannot save ourselves.
00:25:00.156 --> 00:25:01.524
And by "cannot do it on our own," i don't mean you need
00:25:01.524 --> 00:25:04.994
His help.
00:25:04.994 --> 00:25:06.329
I mean you need his total and complete rescue.
00:25:06.329 --> 00:25:09.465
There are people in scripture who tried to add to jesus's good
00:25:09.465 --> 00:25:13.235
Finished work with their own, but it's finished work.
00:25:13.235 --> 00:25:15.671
His work is finished.
00:25:15.671 --> 00:25:17.006
And so when we try to add to that, paul told those people in
00:25:17.006 --> 00:25:20.610
The book of galatians, "you are severed from christ, you who
00:25:20.610 --> 00:25:23.980
Would be justified by the law."
00:25:23.980 --> 00:25:26.182
And so we are separated from christ if we try to attain our
00:25:26.182 --> 00:25:29.785
Own righteousness.
00:25:29.785 --> 00:25:31.153
We have to submit to the righteousness of christ, the
00:25:31.153 --> 00:25:33.656
Perfect finished work of jesus on the cross.
00:25:33.656 --> 00:25:35.691
We cannot do it on our own.
00:25:35.691 --> 00:25:37.293
He has accomplished it.
00:25:37.293 --> 00:25:38.794
It is finished.
00:25:38.794 --> 00:25:40.129
Kirk: it is finished.
00:25:40.129 --> 00:25:41.497
Tara-leigh: and what a burden lift that is, to know that i
00:25:41.497 --> 00:25:45.167
Don't have the assignment of trying to achieve my own
00:25:45.167 --> 00:25:47.503
Righteousness, that his righteousness, his finished work
00:25:47.503 --> 00:25:51.507
On the cross, his saving work is done.
00:25:51.507 --> 00:25:55.511
Kirk: so that really means that the message of christmas, the
00:25:55.511 --> 00:25:58.247
Meaning of jesus in the manger is the greatest news that we
00:25:58.247 --> 00:26:02.652
Could--anyone could ever give us.
00:26:02.652 --> 00:26:04.453
Because, i mean, i think something like 90% of the world
00:26:04.453 --> 00:26:07.690
Is religious.
00:26:07.690 --> 00:26:09.025
In fact, i think 100% of the world is actually religious,
00:26:09.025 --> 00:26:10.826
Even atheism is a religion.
00:26:10.826 --> 00:26:13.896
But most of these religions are all built around people trying
00:26:13.896 --> 00:26:18.167
To work their way into the good graces of god by all the good
00:26:18.167 --> 00:26:22.638
Things that they do.
00:26:22.638 --> 00:26:24.006
"if i believe in god and i'm a good person," and that's a
00:26:24.006 --> 00:26:26.275
Recipe for misery.
00:26:26.275 --> 00:26:30.713
But what you're saying is that jesus has finished the job and
00:26:30.713 --> 00:26:36.952
We can find perfect rest in him because of what he did on
00:26:36.952 --> 00:26:40.556
The cross.
00:26:40.556 --> 00:26:41.891
And that's great news.
00:26:41.891 --> 00:26:44.093
Tara-leigh: yeah, the best news of all.
00:26:44.093 --> 00:26:45.461
Kirk: yeah, well, thank you and merry christmas to you and to
00:26:45.461 --> 00:26:48.698
Your family and thank you so much for joining us
00:26:48.698 --> 00:26:50.900
On "takeaways."
00:26:50.900 --> 00:26:52.234
Tara-leigh: thanks for having me, kirk.
00:26:52.234 --> 00:26:53.602
Kirk: when we come back, we'll be joined by nancy demoss
00:26:53.602 --> 00:26:56.005
Wolgemuth to talk more about the unparalleled, uncomparable life
00:26:56.005 --> 00:27:01.010
Of jesus, stay with us.
00:27:01.010 --> 00:27:06.005
Kirk: nancy demoss wolgemuth has ministered to the hearts of
00:27:09.219 --> 00:27:12.556
Millions of women around the world through her teaching
00:27:12.556 --> 00:27:15.659
Programs for podcasts, her writings, and her events.
00:27:15.659 --> 00:27:18.829
I'm so thrilled to have her on "takeaways" with us today to
00:27:18.829 --> 00:27:21.898
Discuss the character and the life of jesus with insights from
00:27:21.898 --> 00:27:26.603
Her book, "incomparable: 50 days with jesus."
00:27:26.603 --> 00:27:30.640
Nancy, thanks so much for coming on "takeaways."
00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:34.544
Nancy: thank you, kirk, for having me, and what more joyful,
00:27:34.544 --> 00:27:38.248
Wonderful topic could we have than to just spend this time
00:27:38.248 --> 00:27:41.151
Talking about jesus?
00:27:41.151 --> 00:27:43.286
That's--there's no greater joy.
00:27:43.286 --> 00:27:45.222
Kirk: that's right, and what a beautiful christmas tree you
00:27:45.222 --> 00:27:47.324
Have behind you with those golden lights.
00:27:47.324 --> 00:27:50.427
And we're deep into christmas spirit here.
00:27:50.427 --> 00:27:53.663
You can see our christmas trees and our snowy town center in the
00:27:53.663 --> 00:27:58.168
Back with all of these gifts reminding us of the gift
00:27:58.168 --> 00:28:00.403
Of jesus.
00:28:00.403 --> 00:28:01.772
So, nancy, i wanna talk about your book, "incomparable," this
00:28:01.772 --> 00:28:05.976
50-day devotional speaking of the matchless qualities of
00:28:05.976 --> 00:28:10.213
Our savior.
00:28:10.213 --> 00:28:11.581
But first, i wonder if you might share with us a favorite
00:28:11.581 --> 00:28:14.518
Christmas memory.
00:28:14.518 --> 00:28:15.886
Nancy: one of my greatest christmas memories to date was a
00:28:15.886 --> 00:28:19.256
Number of years ago where i had, long story short, the privilege
00:28:19.256 --> 00:28:23.193
Of spending christmas day in a women's prison in the state
00:28:23.193 --> 00:28:28.632
Of arkansas.
00:28:28.632 --> 00:28:30.000
This is a group of women that i'd had the joy of getting to
00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:32.469
Know and to minister to over the years.
00:28:32.469 --> 00:28:34.938
And as the lord arranged it, that year i was able to go in
00:28:34.938 --> 00:28:38.809
With some friends and bless these women and just talk with
00:28:38.809 --> 00:28:43.313
Them about the gift of jesus and how he brought his gift not for
00:28:43.313 --> 00:28:48.685
Perfect people, because there are none, and not for polished
00:28:48.685 --> 00:28:51.855
People, but for people who were in desperate need, as we
00:28:51.855 --> 00:28:56.126
All are.
00:28:56.126 --> 00:28:57.494
It was an incredible thing to sit with those women and just
00:28:57.494 --> 00:29:00.664
Talk with them about some of their christmas memories, and
00:29:00.664 --> 00:29:03.200
Then to have a woman say, "today is the first time and this--this
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:07.604
Christmas i'm spending in prison is the first time i'm doing it
00:29:07.604 --> 00:29:11.007
Knowing jesus and having a relationship with him.
00:29:11.007 --> 00:29:14.744
So i get it now," she said, what christmas really is.
00:29:14.744 --> 00:29:18.315
So that's an unforgettable christmas for me.
00:29:18.315 --> 00:29:21.117
And really, it's such a joy to spend time with those precious
00:29:21.117 --> 00:29:24.154
Women on this very sacred day.
00:29:24.154 --> 00:29:26.756
Kirk: whether it's a testimony like that or it's a song or a
00:29:26.756 --> 00:29:29.526
Poem or a movie, the very best stories are always redemption
00:29:29.526 --> 00:29:33.396
Stories, aren't they?
00:29:33.396 --> 00:29:34.731
I was lost and now i'm found, i was dead and he brought me to
00:29:34.731 --> 00:29:38.602
Life, i was blind and now i see.
00:29:38.602 --> 00:29:40.503
And christmas can be that for so many people for the very first
00:29:40.503 --> 00:29:43.540
Time if they really understand the incomparable attributes of
00:29:43.540 --> 00:29:49.212
This baby who showed up in a manger.
00:29:49.212 --> 00:29:52.782
Nancy, i'm so--i'm such a fan of both you and your husband,
00:29:52.782 --> 00:29:56.653
Robert, with the unique last name, was also on "takeaways,"
00:29:56.653 --> 00:30:02.826
And what i love is that you both focus so much on relationships.
00:30:02.826 --> 00:30:05.629
You're all about relationship, and jesus was all about
00:30:05.629 --> 00:30:08.298
Relationship with the father, relationship with one another,
00:30:08.298 --> 00:30:11.134
And there is no more important relationship than our
00:30:11.134 --> 00:30:14.170
Relationship with jesus christ.
00:30:14.170 --> 00:30:16.306
And in your book you point out that, you know, not only did god
00:30:16.306 --> 00:30:22.646
As father send his son, jesus, but the baby in the manger is so
00:30:22.646 --> 00:30:29.052
Utterly unique that we need to have a relationship not only
00:30:29.052 --> 00:30:32.055
With the father, but with the son.
00:30:32.055 --> 00:30:34.724
I've got a load of questions for you because you're such a
00:30:34.724 --> 00:30:37.460
Fantastic bible teacher.
00:30:37.460 --> 00:30:39.729
I wanna know: what can we know about the baby before the baby
00:30:39.729 --> 00:30:46.036
Was even conceived?
00:30:46.036 --> 00:30:47.537
Nancy: yeah, that's an important question because the answer to
00:30:47.537 --> 00:30:50.006
It, as it relates to jesus, is unlike the answer to any other
00:30:50.006 --> 00:30:53.376
Person that you could--that's ever been born.
00:30:53.376 --> 00:30:55.879
So we think of jesus, like, starting there.
00:30:55.879 --> 00:30:58.415
When he was born he was put in the manger.
00:30:58.415 --> 00:31:00.283
But no, that wasn't the start.
00:31:00.283 --> 00:31:02.085
In fact, jesus had been jesus, the son of god, all through
00:31:02.085 --> 00:31:07.691
Eternity past.
00:31:07.691 --> 00:31:09.025
He never had a beginning, he was never created.
00:31:09.025 --> 00:31:11.561
In fact, scripture tells us he was the creator, he is the
00:31:11.561 --> 00:31:14.764
Creator, he is god.
00:31:14.764 --> 00:31:16.833
He never was not god.
00:31:16.833 --> 00:31:19.336
In fact, kirk, i was reading just this morning a passage you
00:31:19.336 --> 00:31:22.439
Don't usually think of as a christmas passage, but in the
00:31:22.439 --> 00:31:25.075
Book of proverbs chapter 8 it says, "i was there when he
00:31:25.075 --> 00:31:30.080
Established the heavens, when he laid out the horizon on the
00:31:30.080 --> 00:31:34.250
Surface of the ocean, when he placed the skies above."
00:31:34.250 --> 00:31:37.854
And then it says, and it's speaking here of wisdom, and
00:31:37.854 --> 00:31:40.123
We're told that jesus is the wisdom of god.
00:31:40.123 --> 00:31:42.625
He says, "i was a skilled craftsman beside him."
00:31:42.625 --> 00:31:47.063
Jesus was working with his father even as he did his
00:31:47.063 --> 00:31:50.166
Father's business here on earth.
00:31:50.166 --> 00:31:51.634
But in eternity past he was skilled, he was working.
00:31:51.634 --> 00:31:55.338
It says, "i was his delight every day, always rejoicing
00:31:55.338 --> 00:31:59.476
Before him.
00:31:59.476 --> 00:32:00.844
I was rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting in the
00:32:00.844 --> 00:32:04.481
Children of adam."
00:32:04.481 --> 00:32:06.349
So even before jesus came to this earth--we can't--this,
00:32:06.349 --> 00:32:09.886
Like, blows your mind.
00:32:09.886 --> 00:32:11.488
You can't figure this or understand it, but we're told
00:32:11.488 --> 00:32:14.424
That he was delighting in his relationship with his father, he
00:32:14.424 --> 00:32:18.294
Was delighting in the children of men, in humanity.
00:32:18.294 --> 00:32:22.465
And so when he came to this earth, it was to fulfill his
00:32:22.465 --> 00:32:26.202
Father's desires, to obey his father, to come to show us his
00:32:26.202 --> 00:32:30.473
Amazing love.
00:32:30.473 --> 00:32:32.108
So, yeah, we need to remember that jesus was--he was
00:32:32.108 --> 00:32:35.278
Always god.
00:32:35.278 --> 00:32:36.613
He was always in existence.
00:32:36.613 --> 00:32:38.648
And yet, on that day in bethlehem, he came into this
00:32:38.648 --> 00:32:43.453
World, and infinity took on being finite.
00:32:43.453 --> 00:32:48.425
The creator became the creature, the immortal became mortal.
00:32:48.425 --> 00:32:55.265
So what a wonder this is, that jesus, the incomparable god
00:32:55.265 --> 00:33:00.170
Himself, should condescend, should stoop down to become one
00:33:00.170 --> 00:33:06.409
Of us, and all because, as you said, he is a god who is seeking
00:33:06.409 --> 00:33:10.080
For redemption and there was no other way for that to happen
00:33:10.080 --> 00:33:14.250
Apart from this amazing plan that god designed.
00:33:14.250 --> 00:33:19.022
Kirk: wow, wow.
00:33:19.022 --> 00:33:21.391
We could spend the rest of our lives just unpacking what you
00:33:21.391 --> 00:33:24.094
Just said, and i hope that in heaven for all of eternity we
00:33:24.094 --> 00:33:28.665
Will have a chance to do that.
00:33:28.665 --> 00:33:30.166
Nancy, could you help us unpack a little bit more why the
00:33:30.166 --> 00:33:34.304
Incarnation of jesus was a game changer.
00:33:34.304 --> 00:33:38.174
Again, why was the eternal god taking on human flesh a pivotal
00:33:38.174 --> 00:33:47.317
Change in the story of humanity, and how does that affect
00:33:47.317 --> 00:33:50.954
Us today?
00:33:50.954 --> 00:33:52.755
Nancy: well, and that's the meaning of the
00:33:52.755 --> 00:33:54.124
Word "incarnation."
00:33:54.124 --> 00:33:55.458
Sometimes we throw around that theological term, which isn't
00:33:55.458 --> 00:33:57.861
Familiar to everyone.
00:33:57.861 --> 00:33:59.195
It just means "to be in the flesh," "to take on humanity."
00:33:59.195 --> 00:34:03.833
So jesus already was god, he never ceased being god, but he
00:34:03.833 --> 00:34:08.338
Took on at what we call christmas, what we celebrate as
00:34:08.338 --> 00:34:12.575
Christmas, he took on--not only kept his godness but he also
00:34:12.575 --> 00:34:17.247
Became fully human.
00:34:17.247 --> 00:34:19.549
Now, again, our minds cannot comprehend that.
00:34:19.549 --> 00:34:22.018
Maybe in heaven we'll get it better than we can now.
00:34:22.018 --> 00:34:24.654
But he put on human flesh and he became one of us.
00:34:24.654 --> 00:34:31.227
And the scripture says that he had to take on human flesh in
00:34:31.227 --> 00:34:34.831
Order to be able to reconcile us as sinners to a holy god.
00:34:34.831 --> 00:34:40.370
He was going to offer a sacrifice of his life to save us
00:34:40.370 --> 00:34:44.174
From our sin.
00:34:44.174 --> 00:34:45.508
And in order to do that, he had to become one of us.
00:34:45.508 --> 00:34:49.078
He had to take on all our weakness, our need.
00:34:49.078 --> 00:34:52.549
He got hungry, he got thirsty, he had emotions.
00:34:52.549 --> 00:34:56.286
He did not use all of his glories and all of his godness
00:34:56.286 --> 00:35:00.023
When he took on the manhood, the humanity, and became everything
00:35:00.023 --> 00:35:05.595
That humanity is, except that he was sinless, except that he
00:35:05.595 --> 00:35:10.366
Never sinned.
00:35:10.366 --> 00:35:11.734
He was tempted as we are, but he fulfilled what the very first
00:35:11.734 --> 00:35:14.871
Man, adam, did not do, which was to obey god.
00:35:14.871 --> 00:35:19.108
He became the perfect god-man.
00:35:19.108 --> 00:35:22.045
And the interesting thing is we learn in scripture, i know i'm
00:35:22.045 --> 00:35:24.214
Skipping ahead a little bit in the story, but now that he's
00:35:24.214 --> 00:35:26.683
Ascended to heaven, he still is the god-man.
00:35:26.683 --> 00:35:30.186
He still has a human physical body.
00:35:30.186 --> 00:35:33.623
I don't think we always realize that he's ascended to heaven and
00:35:33.623 --> 00:35:36.960
He still understands our humanity with the perfection,
00:35:36.960 --> 00:35:41.431
The sinlessness, and he died to make sons of men sons of god.
00:35:41.431 --> 00:35:47.136
And he could not do that without himself becoming a son of man,
00:35:47.136 --> 00:35:52.141
Being born of a woman.
00:35:52.141 --> 00:35:53.743
So it's a great mystery, but it's--it makes christmas,
00:35:53.743 --> 00:35:58.114
Like, amazing.
00:35:58.114 --> 00:35:59.816
Christmas can be harried and busy and chaotic, but if we can
00:35:59.816 --> 00:36:03.720
Step back and just remind ourselves of the wonder of what
00:36:03.720 --> 00:36:08.825
This season is about, it will--it'll change--it changes
00:36:08.825 --> 00:36:13.363
Everything about our lives not just one day of the year, but
00:36:13.363 --> 00:36:16.332
365 days of the year.
00:36:16.332 --> 00:36:18.868
Kirk: right after the break we'll talk more with nancy about
00:36:18.868 --> 00:36:22.071
The incomparable savior that we worship this christmas season.
00:36:22.071 --> 00:36:28.144
Kirk: we're back with nancy demoss wolgemuth to talk more
00:36:30.488 --> 00:36:33.825
About the unmatched character of christ.
00:36:33.825 --> 00:36:37.829
Nancy, my wife and i just became grandparents just a couple of
00:36:37.829 --> 00:36:42.600
Months ago.
00:36:42.600 --> 00:36:43.935
We've got this chubby little bundle that we can't squeeze
00:36:43.935 --> 00:36:46.905
Enough and kiss enough, and it is just delightful.
00:36:46.905 --> 00:36:51.876
What is the right way for us to think about the baby in
00:36:51.876 --> 00:36:56.414
The manger?
00:36:56.414 --> 00:36:57.749
Nancy: well, you see these pictures on christmas cards,
00:36:57.749 --> 00:36:59.551
Of course.
00:36:59.551 --> 00:37:00.885
You know, this little cherubic baby and with, maybe, a halo
00:37:00.885 --> 00:37:05.824
Over its head, and then we sing that christmas carol, "the
00:37:05.824 --> 00:37:08.760
Little lord jesus, no crying he makes."
00:37:08.760 --> 00:37:11.629
Listen, i love the christmas carols, i love that one, but
00:37:11.629 --> 00:37:15.133
That particular line is not true.
00:37:15.133 --> 00:37:17.602
Jesus did cry.
00:37:17.602 --> 00:37:19.003
He did do--he had, you know, normal bodily functions and
00:37:19.003 --> 00:37:24.142
Humanity, except for the sin.
00:37:24.142 --> 00:37:26.878
So when we see this baby in the manger, we need to realize that,
00:37:26.878 --> 00:37:31.449
Yes, he's precious, yes, he's the greatest gift ever given to
00:37:31.449 --> 00:37:36.488
Humanity, yes, he is god, but he is also human.
00:37:36.488 --> 00:37:40.558
And he's not going to stay in that manger.
00:37:40.558 --> 00:37:43.194
He's going to grow up, he's going to become a man, and he's
00:37:43.194 --> 00:37:46.831
Going to give his life for sinners, which is the whole
00:37:46.831 --> 00:37:51.169
Reason he was born in the first place.
00:37:51.169 --> 00:37:53.705
So we don't wanna get--we don't wanna park in the christmas
00:37:53.705 --> 00:37:56.808
Season and stop and stay there, because that really is--it's not
00:37:56.808 --> 00:38:01.813
The end of the story.
00:38:01.813 --> 00:38:03.147
It's the next piece of the story that leads ultimately to the
00:38:03.147 --> 00:38:06.584
Cross, and then to the resurrection, and then to having
00:38:06.584 --> 00:38:10.088
Jesus ascended for us in heaven today.
00:38:10.088 --> 00:38:13.658
Kirk: your book speaks of the incomparable attributes of
00:38:13.658 --> 00:38:17.695
Jesus, and we've talked about a few that are matchless.
00:38:17.695 --> 00:38:23.001
Who else is eternal god taking on human flesh and entering into
00:38:23.001 --> 00:38:27.272
A broken world but jesus?
00:38:27.272 --> 00:38:29.507
But that's not the end of the story, as you said.
00:38:29.507 --> 00:38:31.543
So, can you share with us some of the incomparable aspects of
00:38:31.543 --> 00:38:36.014
His teaching, of his prayer life, and of his peace?
00:38:36.014 --> 00:38:42.654
Nancy: yeah, in every way we can imagine, jesus was not just
00:38:42.654 --> 00:38:46.925
Jesus the great, as we would say alexander the great, or napoleon
00:38:46.925 --> 00:38:50.595
The great.
00:38:50.595 --> 00:38:51.963
He was not just a great man, he was the incomparable one and
00:38:51.963 --> 00:38:56.935
Only jesus in every way you can imagine.
00:38:56.935 --> 00:39:00.538
So when he would teach--you know, there were a lot of rabbis
00:39:00.538 --> 00:39:04.943
And teachers in that day, and people would go to the synagogue
00:39:04.943 --> 00:39:07.612
And they would listen to the teachers.
00:39:07.612 --> 00:39:09.047
And i think some of those teachers were--sounds like they
00:39:09.047 --> 00:39:12.283
Were maybe snoozers because the people had gotten, "yeah, yeah,
00:39:12.283 --> 00:39:15.386
Yeah, whatever, whatever."
00:39:15.386 --> 00:39:16.721
But when jesus spoke, like, there was a hush.
00:39:16.721 --> 00:39:20.124
You could hear a pin drop.
00:39:20.124 --> 00:39:21.492
Now, sometimes people got mad, but they were amazed at
00:39:21.492 --> 00:39:25.029
His teaching, why was that?
00:39:25.029 --> 00:39:26.464
Because he wasn't just reciting from rote what he--everybody
00:39:26.464 --> 00:39:29.734
Else was saying.
00:39:29.734 --> 00:39:31.069
He was filled with the spirit of god and he was opening the word
00:39:31.069 --> 00:39:35.573
Of god, he was god.
00:39:35.573 --> 00:39:36.975
Imagine, just, jesus teaching us the ways of god.
00:39:36.975 --> 00:39:41.679
And people, they either loved him or they hated him.
00:39:41.679 --> 00:39:44.248
There was no falling asleep when jesus was speaking.
00:39:44.248 --> 00:39:48.086
And when he prayed, jesus introduced a concept of prayer
00:39:48.086 --> 00:39:52.090
That you almost never find in the old testament, and that is
00:39:52.090 --> 00:39:56.794
Calling god our father, our father.
00:39:56.794 --> 00:40:01.666
You have the greatness of god, the imminence, the transcendence
00:40:01.666 --> 00:40:06.437
Of god in the old testament, but jesus said, "when you pray, pray
00:40:06.437 --> 00:40:10.174
This way: our father," it's a relational god.
00:40:10.174 --> 00:40:14.145
It's a god who says that you can ask him for your daily bread.
00:40:14.145 --> 00:40:17.949
You can tell him that you've sinned and you need forgiveness.
00:40:17.949 --> 00:40:21.386
And you can ask him to help you forgive people who sinned
00:40:21.386 --> 00:40:24.822
Against you.
00:40:24.822 --> 00:40:26.190
And you can put all your needs, all your desires, you can come
00:40:26.190 --> 00:40:30.294
Close to him because jesus came close to us to help us be able
00:40:30.294 --> 00:40:36.534
To come close to the father.
00:40:36.534 --> 00:40:38.703
So in every way when he was walking on this earth, he looked
00:40:38.703 --> 00:40:41.572
Like a man.
00:40:41.572 --> 00:40:42.907
In fact, the old testament says, prophetically, that there was
00:40:42.907 --> 00:40:45.143
Nothing stunning about his appearance.
00:40:45.143 --> 00:40:47.679
We don't know what he looked like, but we know it wasn't
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:49.814
People said, "oh, there's--like, he's a model, or he'd make a
00:40:49.814 --> 00:40:52.383
Great actor, or he's a--you know, handsome man."
00:40:52.383 --> 00:40:55.586
You don't see that, but you see people being taken by the wonder
00:40:55.586 --> 00:41:01.526
Of who he was and what he said and how he loved people and how
00:41:01.526 --> 00:41:05.897
He treated women who were considered, like, nothing, just
00:41:05.897 --> 00:41:09.434
Dirt, pieces of property in that culture.
00:41:09.434 --> 00:41:12.036
But jesus who loved and honored and exalted women and helped
00:41:12.036 --> 00:41:17.308
Needy people.
00:41:17.308 --> 00:41:18.643
And he drew near to the, like, the dregs of society, the people
00:41:18.643 --> 00:41:21.846
That nobody had any time or room for.
00:41:21.846 --> 00:41:24.215
I mean, he just went, like, against all the normal codes of
00:41:24.215 --> 00:41:28.820
What rabbis and the priests and the great leaders would do.
00:41:28.820 --> 00:41:32.824
He said, "no, i've come to seek and to save the lost."
00:41:32.824 --> 00:41:37.929
Everywhere he went, that message, it penetrated the
00:41:37.929 --> 00:41:41.866
Hearts of humble people who had been waiting and longing for a
00:41:41.866 --> 00:41:46.003
Redeemer and a messiah.
00:41:46.003 --> 00:41:47.705
And then it really went against the grain of the religious guys
00:41:47.705 --> 00:41:51.275
Who said, you know, "no, we gotta get rid of this guy."
00:41:51.275 --> 00:41:54.645
Kirk: would you share with us some of the other incomparable
00:41:54.645 --> 00:41:57.448
Attributes of jesus and his work that you highlight in your book?
00:41:57.448 --> 00:42:01.586
Nancy: well, jesus is incomparable in every way,
00:42:01.586 --> 00:42:04.055
Everything about him.
00:42:04.055 --> 00:42:05.389
Of course, he lived a sinless life.
00:42:05.389 --> 00:42:08.226
He--a life we could not live and did not live.
00:42:08.226 --> 00:42:11.095
He died a death he did not deserve.
00:42:11.095 --> 00:42:14.699
We deserve to die because the scripture says the soul that
00:42:14.699 --> 00:42:18.636
Sins, it will die.
00:42:18.636 --> 00:42:20.004
He died a sinless death for not his own sins, but for our sins.
00:42:20.004 --> 00:42:26.944
And so the weight of our sins was placed upon him, and what it
00:42:26.944 --> 00:42:30.581
Meant for him to bear all of that, the judgment of god, the
00:42:30.581 --> 00:42:36.220
Anger of god, the wrath of god, that we are the ones who
00:42:36.220 --> 00:42:39.157
Deserve, that you think of jesus in the--just before he goes to
00:42:39.157 --> 00:42:43.895
The cross, two things that really stand out in my mind.
00:42:43.895 --> 00:42:46.831
One is, as he was leaving that last supper.
00:42:46.831 --> 00:42:49.834
And he's told his disciples, "i'm going to offer up my body
00:42:49.834 --> 00:42:54.138
And my blood to be shed for your sins," he knows what he's going
00:42:54.138 --> 00:42:58.643
To face, and then it says as they left that room, they sang a
00:42:58.643 --> 00:43:03.748
Hymn, they sang a hymn.
00:43:03.748 --> 00:43:05.850
Now, we believe that hymn to be from psalm 1:18, hymns that
00:43:05.850 --> 00:43:09.821
Would have been sung, psalms that would have been sung around
00:43:09.821 --> 00:43:12.290
The passover dinner.
00:43:12.290 --> 00:43:14.258
And so part of that psalm is, "this is the day the lord has
00:43:14.258 --> 00:43:17.862
Made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."
00:43:17.862 --> 00:43:21.632
So here, the savior is going to suffer and die, to be
00:43:21.632 --> 00:43:25.703
Brutalized, to be tormented, to be taunted.
00:43:25.703 --> 00:43:28.973
And yet, there's this serenity about him as he faces the cross
00:43:28.973 --> 00:43:34.345
That can sing a hymn in the midst of and as he's facing
00:43:34.345 --> 00:43:40.351
That suffering.
00:43:40.351 --> 00:43:41.686
So on the one hand you have this serenity, and on the other hand
00:43:41.686 --> 00:43:44.055
You see, when he gets to gethsemane, that word means
00:43:44.055 --> 00:43:47.258
Oil press.
00:43:47.258 --> 00:43:48.626
It's where olives were pressed and squeezed and weight put upon
00:43:48.626 --> 00:43:53.464
Them until that reddish oozing oil came out of the olives,
00:43:53.464 --> 00:43:59.203
Exactly what was going to happen to jesus as the weight of our
00:43:59.203 --> 00:44:03.140
Sin, the weight of god's wrath and god's judgment pressed down
00:44:03.140 --> 00:44:08.179
On him and the blood came out of he--shed water and blood and
00:44:08.179 --> 00:44:15.152
He's going through that excruciating pain.
00:44:15.152 --> 00:44:17.889
He knows that's what he's facing, and yet he's praying to
00:44:17.889 --> 00:44:21.092
His father.
00:44:21.092 --> 00:44:22.426
And he's not just saying, "oh, you know, la di da, this is, you
00:44:22.426 --> 00:44:25.229
Know, i know how the story ends, so this is gonna be no sweat."
00:44:25.229 --> 00:44:28.466
No, it was sweat, it was tears, it was anguish because jesus
00:44:28.466 --> 00:44:33.871
Hated sin.
00:44:33.871 --> 00:44:35.306
He loved sinners, but he had never committed one single sin
00:44:35.306 --> 00:44:40.511
Against his heavenly father in all of his whole life, and now
00:44:40.511 --> 00:44:44.448
He's going to take all the sins of the human race on himself.
00:44:44.448 --> 00:44:48.853
And in that garden, as he prays, disciples over there
00:44:48.853 --> 00:44:52.490
Sleeping, because they're exhausted from all the drama and
00:44:52.490 --> 00:44:55.459
The trauma that's gone on.
00:44:55.459 --> 00:44:56.794
He's alone with his father.
00:44:56.794 --> 00:44:59.230
He's saying, "oh, father, if it's possible, i don't wanna go
00:44:59.230 --> 00:45:03.868
Through this."
00:45:03.868 --> 00:45:05.269
He's honest, he's real.
00:45:05.269 --> 00:45:06.704
He has those very human emotions.
00:45:06.704 --> 00:45:09.707
Then, "not my will, but your will be done."
00:45:09.707 --> 00:45:14.578
All this is incomparable.
00:45:14.578 --> 00:45:16.514
We look with wonder and with amazement and we say we would
00:45:16.514 --> 00:45:19.750
Not have had that kind of serenity in the midst of storms
00:45:19.750 --> 00:45:22.720
And the trials, nor would we have the hatred of sin.
00:45:22.720 --> 00:45:26.557
We love our sin, truth be told.
00:45:26.557 --> 00:45:29.026
We don't wanna love it, we know we shouldn't love it, but we
00:45:29.026 --> 00:45:31.462
Wouldn't sin if we didn't want to do it.
00:45:31.462 --> 00:45:33.965
Jesus, who didn't want to sin, didn't want to offend his
00:45:33.965 --> 00:45:38.069
Father, said, "i'm willing to take on myself all the sin,
00:45:38.069 --> 00:45:43.541
Every sin ever committed by every sinner in the whole
00:45:43.541 --> 00:45:48.245
History of the world."
00:45:48.245 --> 00:45:49.714
He said, "i'll take it on myself and i'll bear the price."
00:45:49.714 --> 00:45:53.317
I mean, who but jesus?
00:45:53.317 --> 00:45:55.853
What a wonder this is that he would do this for us.
00:45:55.853 --> 00:46:00.024
Kirk: nancy, it is amazing.
00:46:00.024 --> 00:46:02.360
It's incomparable, as you say in your book.
00:46:02.360 --> 00:46:06.697
While jesus was all those things and jesus was like no one else,
00:46:06.697 --> 00:46:12.536
What does that do for us today?
00:46:12.536 --> 00:46:14.305
What does that do for us this christmas?
00:46:14.305 --> 00:46:18.743
Nancy: well, thankfully, as we said earlier, the story doesn't
00:46:18.743 --> 00:46:20.878
End at christmas.
00:46:20.878 --> 00:46:22.279
That's just one scene, a really important scene, because had he
00:46:22.279 --> 00:46:25.649
Not become human flesh, he could not have been our savior.
00:46:25.649 --> 00:46:29.487
But then he went to the cross, died as the sacrificial lamb
00:46:29.487 --> 00:46:33.591
Of god.
00:46:33.591 --> 00:46:34.925
But god always gets the final word.
00:46:34.925 --> 00:46:37.128
Heaven always gets the final word.
00:46:37.128 --> 00:46:39.530
And on the third day, we know the story, but i think we forget
00:46:39.530 --> 00:46:43.634
The wonder of it all.
00:46:43.634 --> 00:46:45.236
Jesus could not be held captive by death.
00:46:45.236 --> 00:46:49.840
He was raised up from the dead by the holy spirit of god, he
00:46:49.840 --> 00:46:53.644
Appeared to more than 500 people over the next 40 days, then he
00:46:53.644 --> 00:46:57.581
Ascended to heaven, and the scripture tells us that he
00:46:57.581 --> 00:47:00.584
Today sits at the right hand of the father in heaven.
00:47:00.584 --> 00:47:04.488
First of all, he sits.
00:47:04.488 --> 00:47:06.323
He's not anxious, he's not pacing about what's going on in
00:47:06.323 --> 00:47:09.593
Our world.
00:47:09.593 --> 00:47:10.961
That psalm 29 tells us that he is enthroned forever.
00:47:10.961 --> 00:47:14.799
He sits in the presence of god.
00:47:14.799 --> 00:47:17.268
He is god.
00:47:17.268 --> 00:47:18.602
We don't get how all that works together, but what does he do?
00:47:18.602 --> 00:47:21.705
He is advocating for us when we see our sin and we confess it,
00:47:21.705 --> 00:47:27.044
And he says, "oh, father, i've paid the price for that sin.
00:47:27.044 --> 00:47:30.848
Forgive that sinner.
00:47:30.848 --> 00:47:32.183
Don't let that child of god die."
00:47:32.183 --> 00:47:34.185
And he intercedes for us.
00:47:34.185 --> 00:47:36.053
When we don't even know what to pray or how to pray or what we
00:47:36.053 --> 00:47:39.623
Need, he is interceding before the father with us.
00:47:39.623 --> 00:47:43.661
He's preparing a place for us in heaven.
00:47:43.661 --> 00:47:46.897
You know, whatever, however magnificent may be the home, or
00:47:46.897 --> 00:47:50.334
The homes, or the vacation spots we can enjoy in this earth,
00:47:50.334 --> 00:47:54.238
They're trash, they're hovels, they're nothing compared to what
00:47:54.238 --> 00:47:58.075
Jesus is preparing for us.
00:47:58.075 --> 00:48:00.411
And then he waits in heaven to welcome us, to receive us, and
00:48:00.411 --> 00:48:04.315
We come into his presence and, you know, imagine god were to
00:48:04.315 --> 00:48:08.352
Say, "why should i let you in here?"
00:48:08.352 --> 00:48:10.654
Well, i have no answer.
00:48:10.654 --> 00:48:12.323
No goodness of my own, nothing i've done that should not--you
00:48:12.323 --> 00:48:15.659
Know, because i wrote books or i taught bible programs or i try
00:48:15.659 --> 00:48:18.996
To live a good life.
00:48:18.996 --> 00:48:20.331
No, the only answer i will have, the only answer anyone can have
00:48:20.331 --> 00:48:24.568
That is the right answer is, "i don't deserve heaven.
00:48:24.568 --> 00:48:28.739
I don't deserve to be with you.
00:48:28.739 --> 00:48:30.474
I deserve hell.
00:48:30.474 --> 00:48:31.842
I deserve to die for my sin."
00:48:31.842 --> 00:48:33.744
But jesus died in my place for me.
00:48:33.744 --> 00:48:38.549
And so by faith we receive, we embrace the goodness, the gift.
00:48:38.549 --> 00:48:43.220
So, we celebrate that baby in the manger.
00:48:43.220 --> 00:48:46.724
We celebrate that child growing up, that man living a sinless
00:48:46.724 --> 00:48:51.462
Life, serving and giving himself, dying on that cross,
00:48:51.462 --> 00:48:55.733
Rising up from the grave, ascending into heaven, seated at
00:48:55.733 --> 00:49:00.571
The right hand of the father, and waiting to receive us into
00:49:00.571 --> 00:49:04.708
His presence to spend eternity with him.
00:49:04.708 --> 00:49:08.145
That is the best possible news this christmas for those who
00:49:08.145 --> 00:49:12.149
Repent of their sin and believe the goodness, the good news, the
00:49:12.149 --> 00:49:16.353
Gospel of jesus christ.
00:49:16.353 --> 00:49:18.422
But i gotta also say, that's really bad news for those who
00:49:18.422 --> 00:49:22.026
Say, "no, i wanna do it myself.
00:49:22.026 --> 00:49:24.795
I don't really need jesus.
00:49:24.795 --> 00:49:26.764
I can get myself through this life and into heaven.
00:49:26.764 --> 00:49:29.967
I've been good enough," or, "i've been in church enough," or
00:49:29.967 --> 00:49:33.304
Anything we offer of our own righteousness.
00:49:33.304 --> 00:49:36.907
It's trash, it's dirt, it's nothing.
00:49:36.907 --> 00:49:39.677
So my longing this christmas is i think about friends and people
00:49:39.677 --> 00:49:44.815
In our community who have never trusted in jesus for
00:49:44.815 --> 00:49:49.486
Their salvation.
00:49:49.486 --> 00:49:50.854
I think, believe the gospel, trust christ, and know that you
00:49:50.854 --> 00:49:56.427
Belong to him, and then this christmas will be for you all
00:49:56.427 --> 00:49:59.930
That it was meant to be and all that it possibly can be.
00:49:59.930 --> 00:50:03.234
Kirk: merry christmas, nancy and robert and your--to your family.
00:50:03.234 --> 00:50:07.972
Thank you so much for joining us on "takeaways."
00:50:07.972 --> 00:50:10.307
We needed to hear this message this christmas.
00:50:10.307 --> 00:50:12.643
After the break we'll review a few of our takeaways from our
00:50:12.643 --> 00:50:15.813
Conversations with nancy and tara-leigh.
00:50:15.813 --> 00:50:21.149
Kirk: what great conversations we had today with tara-leigh
00:50:24.756 --> 00:50:27.626
Cobble and nancy demoss wolgemuth about the incomparable
00:50:27.626 --> 00:50:31.763
Savior we celebrate this christmas.
00:50:31.763 --> 00:50:34.366
Here's a few of our takeaways.
00:50:34.366 --> 00:50:36.835
Jesus is the bridge.
00:50:36.835 --> 00:50:38.670
Tara-leigh cobble reminded us that because of jesus's earthly
00:50:38.670 --> 00:50:42.807
Identity as both fully man and fully god, he was uniquely
00:50:42.807 --> 00:50:47.646
Qualified to be the bridge between a holy god and
00:50:47.646 --> 00:50:52.584
Fallen man.
00:50:52.584 --> 00:50:53.918
Sometimes we need reminding of the fact that we need a savior,
00:50:53.918 --> 00:50:57.422
So take some time to thank god tonight for sending jesus to be
00:50:57.422 --> 00:51:02.193
That bridge.
00:51:02.193 --> 00:51:03.528
This simple prayer of thanks is an act of worship that's
00:51:03.528 --> 00:51:06.965
Pleasing to the king of kings.
00:51:06.965 --> 00:51:09.834
He will be praised.
00:51:09.834 --> 00:51:11.870
I love tara-leigh's reminder that because of his identity as
00:51:11.870 --> 00:51:14.873
Savior, jesus will be worshiped.
00:51:14.873 --> 00:51:18.143
We're invited to be a part of this global celebration of the
00:51:18.143 --> 00:51:22.013
Goodness of our god, and we can participate by living
00:51:22.013 --> 00:51:26.251
Surrendered, sold out lives of obedience to him as the lord of
00:51:26.251 --> 00:51:30.522
Our lives.
00:51:30.522 --> 00:51:31.856
The choice is yours.
00:51:31.856 --> 00:51:33.224
Will you praise him with your life?
00:51:33.224 --> 00:51:36.561
Remember the wonder.
00:51:36.561 --> 00:51:38.396
What an important reminder from nancy demoss wolgemuth to step
00:51:38.396 --> 00:51:42.133
Back and remember why we're celebrating this season.
00:51:42.133 --> 00:51:45.937
It can be so easy to get overwhelmed by all the hustle
00:51:45.937 --> 00:51:49.307
Bustle of this great celebration.
00:51:49.307 --> 00:51:51.843
Maybe it's time to put a night on the calendar for you and your
00:51:51.843 --> 00:51:54.746
Family to reflect on the reason for the season by reading a
00:51:54.746 --> 00:51:59.384
Gospel account of jesus coming to earth.
00:51:59.384 --> 00:52:02.921
There's no one like jesus.
00:52:02.921 --> 00:52:05.657
Nancy gave us so many reasons that christ is simply
00:52:05.657 --> 00:52:09.461
Incomparable to anyone else that has ever lived.
00:52:09.461 --> 00:52:13.131
Go back to some of the passages she mentioned and commit a few
00:52:13.131 --> 00:52:17.135
Of these characterizations of christ to memory so when tough
00:52:17.135 --> 00:52:20.905
Times come, you'll be encouraged by remembering the character of
00:52:20.905 --> 00:52:25.076
The savior you serve.
00:52:25.076 --> 00:52:27.712
That's all for this episode of "takeaways."
00:52:27.712 --> 00:52:29.814
Thanks for watching.
00:52:29.814 --> 00:52:31.182
And don't forget to join us next week as the christmas
00:52:31.182 --> 00:52:33.651
Celebration continues with very special guest lee strobel.
00:52:33.651 --> 00:52:37.889
And of course, you can always catch up on past episodes by
00:52:37.889 --> 00:52:40.925
Searching for "takeaways" on tbn plus, or by just visiting the
00:52:40.925 --> 00:52:45.230
"kirk cameron on tbn" youtube channel.
00:52:45.230 --> 00:52:48.066
We hope to see you here next time for more
00:52:48.066 --> 00:52:50.635
Great conversations.
00:52:50.635 --> 00:52:52.103
♪♪♪
00:52:52.103 --> 00:52:52.103

Tara-Leigh Cobble & Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: What A Savior: The Life & Character of Jesus | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron

December 16, 2024

Closed captions

Share