Embracing Faith and Hope: Cindy Ketron on the Deeper Meaning of Christmas and the Journey to Salvation

Cindy Ketron joins us on this special Christmas Day episode of Benchmark Happenings to reveal the deeper meanings of the holiday, going far beyond the usual trappings of gifts and decorations. Together, we explore the roots of Christmas in the biblical narrative, tracing back to Genesis and the original sin of Adam and Eve. This sets the stage for a larger discussion on the need for redemption, a theme that resonates strongly with believers in Jesus Christ. Christmas, we assert, is a beacon of hope, reminding us of the promise of salvation and a return to a state of grace akin to the Garden of Eden. Through this lens, the holiday becomes more than a celebration of Jesus' birth; it's a profound reminder of the gospel's promise to restore what was lost.

We also share a moving story of faith, following a young boy's transformative journey to accepting Jesus Christ as his Savior. This narrative serves as a powerful testament to the role of the Holy Spirit as a guide and teacher, helping us to understand biblical truths and assuring us of our salvation. Cindy and I emphasize the concept of being "born again" and the responsibility of believers to live out and share their faith as guardians of the gospel. The episode underscores the miraculous nature of faith, the importance of pro-life beliefs in the Christian doctrine, and the conviction that Jesus is the sole path to eternal life. Join us as we reflect on the calling to embody the hands and feet of Christ in the world, carrying the hope and joy of Christmas beyond the festive season.

To help you to navigate the home buying and mortgage process, Jonathan & Steve are currently licensed in Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia, contact us today at 423-491-5405 or visit www.jonathanandsteve.com.

Chapters

• 0:03 The Meaning of Christmas
• 18:13 The Miracle of Christmas Hope

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

This is Benchmark Happenings, Brought to you by Jonathan and Steve from Benchmark Home Loans. Northeast Tennessee, Johnson City, Kingsport, Bristol, the Tri-Cities One of the most beautiful places in the country to live. Tons of great things to do and awesome local businesses. And on this show you'll find out why people are dying to move to Northeast Tennessee. And on the way we'll have discussions about mortgages and we'll interview people in the real estate industry. It's what we do. This is Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Benchmark Home Loans and now your host, Christine Reed. Benchmark Home Loans and now your host, Christine Reed.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Welcome back everybody to another episode of Benchmark Happenings, and this episode happens to come out on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas, everybody. And so you know what we thought that what a great opportunity to share the story of Christmas, to talk about why we celebrate Christmas, what's the meaning, why is there so much joy, surrounded by Christmas, even from not only believers who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, but also those unbelievers that also have joy during this time of year, or maybe happiness, and look forward to Christmas Day? So I have my special guest with me today to help me to talk about this Cindy Ketron, my beautiful, sweet sister-in-law. So, cindy, welcome.

Speaker 3: 1:52

Thank you, christine, good to be here again.

Speaker 2: 1:54

Well, you know what? I knew? That when we were wrapping up the year of 2024 with podcasts, I did not realize that the very last one would come out on Christmas Day.

Speaker 3: 2:08

What about that?

Speaker 2: 2:09

And I don't think that was an accident.

Speaker 3: 2:11

No.

Speaker 2: 2:12

I don't think so either, and so it was just like you know what we need to talk about Christmas and the meaning of Christmas. So, cindy, when we think about Christmas and the meaning, that's a broad topic, isn't it?

Speaker 3: 2:27

It is a broad topic and you and I were talking a couple days ago about the fact that a couple days ago, I probably had five different people ask me are you ready for Christmas? Are you ready for Christmas Now, christine? What do you think about when you hear somebody say are you ready for Christmas?

Speaker 2: 2:54

Well, as in our conversation, I'm going to tell you and I've, I've, I've made that statement. I've asked that question for years to everybody I meet Are you ready for Christmas? Yeah, hey, are you ready? You know what I think about when I ask that question.

Speaker 2: 3:05

I think about presents. That's right. Getting my presents wrapped. Are my decorations up? Yeah, do I have my food prepared? Do I know what I'm going to have for Christmas? What family member's house am I going to? All those last-minute hustle and bustle details that really wow. It was an eye opener, cindy.

Speaker 3: 3:31

Yeah, and so today, I hope that what we'll be able to talk about is getting ready for Christmas and pondering not only the meaning of Christmas, but why we even need to have a Christmas to start with.

Speaker 2: 3:50

Yes, yes, so let's dive into that, cindy the meaning of Christmas, and so both of us as believers in Jesus Christ and I think Christian is a word that is abused today. I don't think people understand really what being a true believer is in Jesus Christ, but so let's dive into the meaning. Where does it start?

Speaker 3: 4:16

It starts all the way back at the beginning, so I'm sitting here with my Bible. I see you're sitting here with your Bible.

Speaker 2: 4:24

Yes, Bible open.

Speaker 3: 4:26

All the way back to the beginning, to the book of Genesis Christi. We don't get three chapters into this book before.

Speaker 2: 4:38

Mankind sins and tarnishes the world forevermore with sin, and they were, and you know. It even talks about Genesis is. You know, every book of the Bible is important, from Genesis all the way to Revelation. And if we don't read the Old Testament, if we don't read Genesis, wow, are we missing it oh missing it.

Speaker 2: 5:08

The foundational truth of God and who he is. And even it says in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But I'll let you just continue as we talk about that and get into Genesis. 3 is where it starts.

Speaker 3: 5:28

Genesis 3 is where it starts. Okay, because where I want us to end up today is what the true meaning of the gospel is. And in the book of Genesis, what we find is a perfect garden with two perfect people who are in that garden, and those two perfect people, adam and Eve. They were told. You can eat of all of the trees in the garden except this one tree. And which tree did they want to eat from?

Speaker 2: 5:55

The one, that's the one. It's just like our kids. You know you don't go to that cookie jar. You can have all this, but you're not going to go to that. So they had one tree that God told them do not eat of that fruit Right.

Speaker 3: 6:09

And when they did, then sin entered the world and it's more than just people started to do things wrong in the eyes of God. Sin tarnished everything. It tarnished their bodies, because the Bible says that the moment that they ate from that tree, god had told them you will die. They did not die on the spot, but what happened was their bodies started to die. Their bodies were not supposed to die originally, so the sin process that came in it started that process of death and dying and grief. You know, christy, there's so many people this time of year who have a lot of grief to deal with.

Speaker 3: 7:02

Yes, you know, we've got some in our own family that we're dealing with right now, and originally just think about it we were not supposed to have any grief.

Speaker 2: 7:15

Right.

Speaker 3: 7:15

And the fact that one day we're not going to have it means that we are going to be able to go back to the Garden of Eden scenario where everything is good and where we're loved and there is no sin.

Speaker 2: 7:33

Right.

Speaker 3: 7:34

So that's kind of where we have to start with this. In Genesis 3.15, and I'm going to read that yes, please do. Is 315, and I'm going to read that yes, please do. God says and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now what does that mean? That sounds like a lot of double-worded stuff, but I'm going to tell you what that means. The word enmity is another word. That means enemy, and so God is saying I am going to put some kind of enemy force between you and the woman and he shall bruise you on the heel. Who is he?

Speaker 2: 8:33

That is Satan. That is Satan the deceiver.

Speaker 3: 8:35

Yeah, and you shall bruise him, or he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the hill. So we've already found out that there's going to be a coming Savior. This is the very first prophecy in Scripture that we find out from this prophecy that one day a Savior is going to be bruised on the hill. And Jesus Christ was bruised on the hill because he was pierced in his hands and in his feet. And so we start there, and that lets us know from almost the beginning of time. Man, not only do we need a Savior, but God has planned from the very beginning of time to give us a Savior.

Speaker 2: 9:36

What great love.

Speaker 3: 9:38

And that's the hope of Christmas. That is that is the hope of Christmas. Yes, that is the hope of Christmas. And so then we get on into the book of Isaiah, in Isaiah 7, verse 14.

Speaker 2: 9:51

That's what I've been reading is the book of Isaiah here the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 3: 9:57

Yeah, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God with man. Son of God in the Old Testament. But there's something important in here, and that important thing is the word virgin.

Speaker 2: 10:40

Yes.

Speaker 3: 10:41

There's a lot of people that have difficulty with the virgin birth.

Speaker 2: 10:47

Mm-hmm. A lot of people don't believe in that.

Speaker 3: 10:51

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 10:52

And they twist it.

Speaker 3: 10:53

They do, they twist it. And if we go back to the other verse that we just read Genesis 315, what we see in there is something a little bit strange, because in the Bible, when it talks about the seed, the seed comes from who?

Speaker 2: 11:14

Seed comes from man.

Speaker 3: 11:16

From the man, okay, but here the seed is mentioned as coming from the woman. That's an interesting thing that we need to kind of grasp here, because seed comes from man and that is passed down. The sin nature is passed down through man. So I hear a lot of people say well, okay, we understand that Mary was not impregnated by her husband, joseph, but by the Holy Spirit, and that kind of makes sense, because when you think about it you can go back and you can think well, now wait a minute, that means Jesus would have that sin nature. But if we put all of this together, what we learn is that the sin nature is passed down from man to his children, to his offspring. So the Holy Spirit came upon Mary and she conceived. If you cannot believe in the virgin birth, the whole gospel message falls apart. So that's a very important thing.

Speaker 2: 12:40

Yes, because Jesus is God, and it even tells us that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So how could a perfect God be born with a sin nature? It's impossible, right Impossible.

Speaker 3: 12:59

Right. So at Christmastime, the actual birth of Christ. His birth was really no more miraculous than anybody else's birth. It's his conception that was miraculous, and that's what we have to think about this time of year. Is that Mary truly was a virgin? Yes, and so when the Holy Spirit impregnated her, she became pregnant with the Son of God. I mean, that's hard to wrap your mind around.

Speaker 2: 13:36

It is, it is. It gives me chills just thinking about that and thinking about here's this young virgin girl, and she knew the word.

Speaker 3: 13:50

I mean the angel came to her and told her what would happen Right, and she was obedient. She was obedient and she believed. She believed. And what we learn when we study scripture and when we know the background the Hebrew background here is that Mary probably was only 14 or 15 years old. Now, for those of us who have raised children, we cannot imagine one of our children giving birth at 14 or 15. I know that happens sometimes, but Mary was a very young woman. Now her husband, joseph, was likely older than her, but she was a very young woman and she believed.

Speaker 3: 14:38

And when I think about what the gospel means, this is where I have to start. God is holy and I'm not. And because I am not holy, the only way that I can get into heaven is to believe in the Son of God, who is Jesus Christ. Yeshua he is our Savior knew all the way before the foundation of the world that this was going to happen, that sin was going to enter the world and we would have to have a Savior. If we were to have any hope in this world, we had to have a Savior. There was only one person who met the criteria for holiness and that was Jesus.

Speaker 2: 15:36

Absolutely, because he never sinned. He's our high priest, he is a king and he is a servant, a suffering servant. He's our savior. He was tempted in the wilderness, but he never sinned, so he understands us. It was only God who became flesh.

Speaker 3: 15:58

Right.

Speaker 2: 15:58

Because he loved us so much.

Speaker 3: 16:02

Well, and another thing that we probably need to say here is that Jesus was not 50% God and 50% man, he was 100%.

Speaker 1: 16:14

God and 50% man.

Speaker 3: 16:15

He was 100% God and 100% man. And there are some of these things that are hard to understand, but that is one of the things that we must grasp to understand the hope that Christ offers us. If you can't believe in miracles, you can't believe in Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2: 16:39

That's right.

Speaker 3: 16:40

You have to believe in miracles. You know Christy, you know my children. I've got two adult young men and when my youngest son, colton, was a little boy, he was a deep thinker.

Speaker 3: 16:58

We often said that he was an old soul. You've probably heard of children who are old souls, and so I was reading a Bible story to him every night, and I just happened to be reading about Noah's Ark, and he was seven. He looked at me and he said Mommy, you don't believe that, do you? And I was in shock that he even questioned it and I said Colton, I absolutely believe that. He said well, I'm having a hard time believing that, and so this is my goal. My goal in life is to make enough money so that I can travel around the world and prove all of these Bible stories, and then, if I can do that, then I can believe in Jesus.

Speaker 3: 17:53

And I said Colton, it doesn't work like that, honey. You either believe in something that you cannot see and you either believe in miracles or you can never come to Jesus. That belief is called faith, and that's how we have to come to Jesus. About a year after that and I'm just assuming that this little boy had pondered this for an entire year he came to me in the house one day and he said well, mommy. He said I believe. Now I believe and I'm ready to accept Jesus.

Speaker 1: 18:30

And so I went through everything I said.

Speaker 3: 18:32

Okay, you understand that these things that we're reading in the Bible are true. He said I absolutely do, and he did and he's never turned back.

Speaker 2: 18:44

No, he hasn't. And I know that you're proud of Colton and Gabe. Both they're both godly men and we're so proud of them. We love them, and Colton's just been a warrior for Christ. He has been a warrior with his Bible and sharing it with others. I think that's when we were talking about doing this podcast, Sandy, I said I think so many times we use these Christianese words or we really talk about the Christmas story or the gospel as something that's just common. Some of us have been fortunate enough to hear it so much. But I really like how we're starting at the beginning and really helping those of you who are listening to bring light to this message of hope that only Jesus offers us in this world.

Speaker 3: 19:51

The changing point of anybody's story is when hope enters the story. That's when our lives change, and so when Jesus Christ died for our sins, that was a thing that was unlike any other thing that ever happened and that will ever happen, in that he offers us a hope that we can't get from anywhere else in this world.

Speaker 2: 20:23

He is our eternal hope and all of his promises are true. He says I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. And when we become a Christian and when we believe and place our belief and our trust in Jesus as our Savior, he seals us with the Holy Spirit. That's right, our teacher, who becomes our teacher, our counselor, and we're sealed, and I love that. I remember when I was a new Christian I was so fearful of thinking, oh, I'm going to lose my salvation, am I going to lose my salvation? And I had a Bible teacher. She was just precious, a mentor that showed me the scriptures about how, christine, you're sealed with that Holy Spirit God's got a hold of you.

Speaker 2: 21:09

He'll never let you go.

Speaker 3: 21:12

And when we do become sealed by the Holy Spirit, we become guardians of that, and by that I mean there's been something incredibly miraculous and supernatural that has been deposited into our bodies. We are like a receptacle for the Holy Spirit. As believers in Christ and as a person who has had the Holy Spirit deposited into her, I am responsible for what I do with the gospel. I am the guardian of that for my life, and I'm not sure that Christians really think about it in that way, but we really need to.

Speaker 2: 22:04

And just taking those opportunities to not only share but to be the hands and feet of Christ to others. To meet those needs.

Speaker 3: 22:16

So while we were born in sin, there's a need for us to be born again and reborn. We often say born again, it's just reborn, that we are. We're not born into sin, we are born into heaven now.

Speaker 2: 22:38

Yes, and we're actually seated in the heavenlies With Christ, In the spiritual realms with Christ because, as in Ephesians says, he has lavished on us all the spiritual blessings. And I know that's hard for people to wrap their minds around and and I understand that it just it. It's like you said, it's belief, and you know it's what a miraculous when we're saved, what a miracle that God gives us his nature.

Speaker 3: 23:12

Yes.

Speaker 2: 23:12

And we have the sin nature that's in us because we're hostile towards God. Who do you think draws you to even think about God? Or to want to do something good, or to pick up that Bible and read it? Or to want to do something good, or to pick up that Bible and read it? Or maybe you might say to yourself wow, man, I probably shouldn't have done that.

Speaker 3: 23:36

You know? Who do you think does that? Well, John 6, 44 tells us that the Father draws us. Only the Father draws us, and so when God draws us to himself, he gives us a new nature. That doesn't mean that we're not going to sin anymore. We still sin Because we're living in these sinful bodies. But when we die, our body will die, but our soul and our spirit will go on to live with the Lord.

Speaker 2: 24:09

That's right. And when God creates us, you know when a baby is formed in the womb, when that sperm and that egg collide. That is a soul. That is a soul, and that soul lives forever.

Speaker 3: 24:26

That's right, and that's exactly why, as believers, we need to be as pro-life as we can be. And we need to shout that from the rooftops, because there is never an okay time to support abortion.

Speaker 2: 24:47

No, no, it's not, and it hurts, it breaks my heart to think of where we've come as a nation and my prayer is that we develop a culture of life. And Jesus said that I'm the light of the world and I am the way, the truth and the life. There is no other way, is there, cindy?

Speaker 3: 25:12

There's no other way. That's it. The road is very narrow, isn't it? We sometimes hear other people say that all roads lead to Jesus or all roads lead to heaven. That is absolutely not true. Scripture tells us it is a very narrow road.

Speaker 2: 25:33

Well, if you think about the Word of God and just the prophecies and I can't do it justice, but I love listening to the Prophecy Pros podcast they're excellent. They talk about, you know, we hear about just the prophecy that you read in Isaiah, that you know a virgin will give birth and his name will be Emmanuel. Well, that came true. We read that you know in the New Testament the chances of that happening. I mean it's like, oh my goodness. I mean the mathematical equations, oh my goodness, the mathematical equations. They blow my mind. But there's so many prophecies, things that the Bible has written that have come true. And prophecy is so important for us to understand, to know, to read and to believe in the false gods of the world, world like Buddha, hindu. You don't hear people fighting against those.

Speaker 3: 26:33

You don't hear people fighting against those. And let me tell you, if I go to Buddha's tomb, buddha's there. If I go to Confucius' tomb, although his body is not there, his tooth is. They call it the shrine of the tooth. If I go to Joseph Smith's tomb, his body is there, but if I go to the tomb of Jesus Christ, his tomb is empty. That's right.

Speaker 2: 27:04

He is a risen Savior conquering sin and death, and that's what's so miraculous. He is a risen Savior and only His sacrifice was perfect and sinless, to atone for the sins of the world, for man.

Speaker 3: 27:21

Amen.

Speaker 2: 27:21

And to give us hope.

Speaker 3: 27:23

Amen. So at Christmas this year, we're not just celebrating the birth of Christ, we're celebrating how he was conceived and the fact that that conception is the thing that gives us hope for eternity. And we all need a little bit of hope, don't we?

Speaker 2: 27:43

We need hope yes, I've often heard if there's breath, there's still hope in a person. So for those of you that have loved ones who don't know Jesus, keep praying, keep waiting, don't give up hope.

Speaker 3: 28:01

Never give up hope.

Speaker 2: 28:02

Never give up hope. We have loved ones as well, that we pray for daily. Yes, yes, never give up hope. We have loved ones as well that we pray for daily. Yes, and so when I ask the question now Cindy, are you ready for Christmas?

Speaker 3: 28:15

It means something different to me this year, because I'm thinking about it in a different way. Yes, and this year I don't have the money that I've had in previous years. I've informed people that I love I may not be able to get you a Christmas gift this year, but you know what that's okay.

Speaker 2: 28:35

It is okay.

Speaker 3: 28:37

That is not what this is about, and getting ready for Christmas means something different to me this year. It means getting my heart, getting my mind straight so that I can think about and ponder the true gift of salvation that came when Jesus came into the world.

Speaker 2: 29:00

And that is the greatest gift of all.

Speaker 3: 29:05

It is.

Speaker 2: 29:06

And it's free.

Speaker 3: 29:13

It is free. All we have to do is acknowledge our sin and turn from our sin and turn to Christ. Yeah, what do you think about closing this by reading the Christmas story?

Speaker 2: 29:24

from the book of Luke. You know what? It's perfect, it's Christmas Day.

Speaker 3: 29:29

Yes.

Speaker 2: 29:30

Would you read it, Cindy?

Speaker 3: 29:31

I sure will Now. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of all the inhabited of earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria and everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem city of David, which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family of David in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them.

Speaker 3: 30:31

In the end, In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night, and the angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them Do not be afraid, for, behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people, For today, in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find the baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger, and suddenly there was, with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

Speaker 2: 31:35

Beautiful.

Speaker 3: 31:37

That is the gospel. Christy, that is the gospel that God came to us in human form to give us hope for eternity, because otherwise we would be headed straight to hell. Every single person. And when Jesus came and he died for us, he died for those in the past who believed that he was coming, for those in the present, while he was alive, who believed in him, and for all those future people who would place their faith and hope and trust in him.

Speaker 2: 32:18

Yes, and this gift is for everyone, anyone who believes.

Speaker 3: 32:25

Amen, amen. Anyone who believes Amen Amen.

Speaker 2: 32:33

So this year, we're going to ask you are you ready for Christmas? Yeah, so let's be ready for Christmas. Let's prepare hearts and make room for him. So, cindy, will you end with a prayer and we will sign off after that.

Speaker 3: 32:49

I sure will. I sure will, father, we come to you today and we recognize our frailty as human beings on this earth. We recognize, lord, that we are in great need of a Savior, and who but you could do that for us? We pause now to thank you for sending your Son, jesus Christ, as a little baby, to walk amongst us as human beings, to die on a cross for us, so that his shed blood would cover all of our sins, past, present and future, and so that we would have the hope that one day, lord, we can be with you for eternity. Father, help us as we go through these next few days to be ready for Christmas and for what Christmas means to us. Amen, and we wish you all a very Merry Christmas, merry.

Speaker 1: 34:06

Merry Christmas. This has been Benchmark Happenings, brought to you by Jonathan Tipton and Steve Reed from Benchmark Home Loans. Jonathan and Steve are residential mortgage lenders. They do home loans in Northeast Tennessee and they're not only licensed in Tennessee but Florida, georgia, south Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show If you did make sure to like South Carolina and Virginia. We hope you've enjoyed the show If you did make sure to like rate and review. Our passion is Northeast Tennessee, so if you have questions about mortgages, call us at 423-491-5405. And the website is wwwJonathanAndStevecom. Thanks for being with us and we'll see you next time on Benchmark Happenings.