Behind The Pulpit

A Behind the Pulpit Christmas Part 3

• Millington Baptist Church • Season 4 • Episode 16

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Merry Christmas from Behind the Pulpit. In this special Christmas Day episode, Pastor Bob and Pastor Dave reflect on the rhythms, humor, and joy of the season as they welcome listeners wherever and whenever they’re tuning in. The episode features a festive edition of the Book War, the return of Will It Preach? with Christmas-themed sermon illustrations, and the annual Prop of the Year awards—highlighting some of the most memorable (and chaotic) moments from the pulpit in 2025.

In the sermon recap, the conversation centers on Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 62, tracing the hope, restoration, and renewal promised through the coming Messiah. The pastors explore themes of captivity and freedom, God’s end of silence, the gift of a new name, and the invitation to experience true reset and restoration through Christ. Together, they reflect on how these texts shape both personal faith and the church’s calling to live as a visible preview of the coming kingdom.

The episode concludes with a Christmas edition of the Theology Sprint, addressing the question of whether Christmas is a pagan holiday Christians “baptized” or a distinctly Christian celebration that absorbed cultural elements—offering historical clarity and theological perspective. All of it comes together as a joyful reminder that every story, tradition, and celebration ultimately points back to the one true story of Christ’s birth.

Merry Christmas from all of us at Behind the Pulpit.

**SUBMIT YOUR QUESTIONS TO THE SHOW HERE**
https://millingtonbaptist.org/sermons/behind-the-pulpit-ask-your-questions/

***VOTE HERE***
The Great Book War is on!  Vote for the winner of the 'Great Book War' with the link below!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdE4oCnX2ZYEeYrKiGmDDfZDDnw0KzBm-lF6tWDUtzNZnENAA/viewform?usp=header

Walk thru the Bible
https://millingtonbaptist.org/walk-thru-the-bible/
Preparations Class
https://millingtonbaptist.org/adults/
Serve with City Relief
https://millingtonbaptist.org/missions/cityrelief/
Night of Revival
hhttps://millingtonbaptist.org/night-of-revival-january-16/

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
3:39 The Great Book War
14:25 "Will it Preach?"
27:14 Sermon Recap
44:59 Prop of the Year
1:02:49 Bearded Bob
1:04:54 Theology Sprint

Music
"Ventura"
Morgan Taylor
U76EPPNJDYZYU0Y7

Bob:

Merry Christmas, everybody, 2025. I don't know when you're watching this. Maybe you're up after midnight packing some presents. Maybe you're waking up early in the morning for your coffee. Maybe your kids have already ripped open a mountain of presents and you're cleaning up after them. Wherever you are, Merry Christmas. We are so glad you're joining us for Behind the Pulpit. I have my colleague Pastor Dave over here wearing Christmas colors. We got kind of the red and green going on here, Pastor Dave.

Dave:

Where are you gonna be? Are you gonna be awake at 1201? I hope not, man. Are you gonna be more the early morning? Which which would be your preference?

Bob:

Uh my preference, I'm usually up by six o'clock every morning no matter what, because that's when things happen.

Dave:

Although on Christmas Eve I do tend to stay up kinda late. Okay. Because we have a little family over and you know, it's a party.

Bob:

Well we'll see.

Dave:

It's an exception.

Tim:

We'll see how the uh households midnight vigil.

Dave:

Yeah. After the candlelight services, we all come over to my house and we eat dinner, have dessert, play games. It goes on and on into the into the night. Okay. Yeah.

Bob:

So once a year, this is the one time of year that you stay up past midnight.

Dave:

Yeah, it's tough. You know? I start fading after like 11. I'm like, all right. Let's get this saran wrap candy game going, whatever it is that we're playing.

Bob:

They've uh people ask him a question and it takes you about a minute to respond. Oh, okay.

Dave:

Yeah. Actually, Felicity was telling me how long my pauses have gotten between her questions and my answers. She's like, Dad, it's like you're taking forever. Like, what are you doing? There's this long, it's like ten seconds. I'm like, no, it's not ten seconds.

Bob:

But I think she might be exaggerating. And you're thinking, or are you processing?

Dave:

Yeah, like on the phone, she's like, I are you there?

Bob:

How do these kids expect you to answer like right away? Like, like they're gonna ask you a new question, then you have to put on something right away. I was anticipating that question.

Dave:

Yeah, like I'm thoughtful. I don't want to say something not correct, you know.

Bob:

Yeah, well, there you go. What do you got over there? I see you got uh you got some special treat today, man.

Dave:

John Boxbaum stops by my office, knocks on the little glass plastic window thing, and I'm like, oh hey, what hey! And then he pulls this out of the out of the back of his.

Bob:

Did he have a bag or was it in his uh pocket?

Dave:

It's called the 25 snack size pantry pack. Pantry pack. So he comes, man, and drops this baby off, bro. Look at that. I never seen that before.

Bob:

Check it out. I noticed it's empty, so you've already gone through it, huh?

Tim:

I had no battle of the Johns rages on.

Bob:

I'd like to note that's already empty.

Dave:

This is this is uh When did you stop by, John? It was a Wana night, so that was uh almost a week ago.

Bob:

I can hear John responding to you through the uh Thank you, brother.

Tim:

At the uh I feel loved at the packing party. There was a question about where uh the pastors went to undergrad, and I was standing right by John Bucksbaum for this question. He looks at me and he goes, You know, I listened to the podcast, that's why I know this. Yeah, it's like there you go.

Dave:

Well, did you know we both actually shared like a little bit of time at the same undergrad? Did you got did you guys know that? You did not know that.

Bob:

Yeah, Pastor, do you spit well? You were at Eastern for like three weeks, right?

Dave:

Yeah.

Bob:

Because I realized there was heresy over there, and I had the I had somebody ask me if I would send my kids to Eastern and I told them no. No.

Dave:

Once upon a time, that would have been okay.

Bob:

25 years ago, today, no.

Dave:

That was a long time ago. Yes, we went off the reservation.

Tim:

Merry Christmas, Millington Baptist Church. I hope you're enjoying your Christmas morning, afternoon, evening, or just enjoying the wake of Christmas, whenever you may be watching this. When I think about Christmas, I think about time with family sitting around the Christmas tree, exchanging amazing stories. And what story is better than the one that we find in the Bible? And here at NBC, we are gonna get the chance to experience some of that story together. We are so excited to announce that we are gonna be hosting a walk through the Bible Old Testament seminar on January the 31st, starting at 9 a.m. Walk through the Bible is designed to do exactly what the name says: walk you through the story of Scripture from Genesis to Malachi in a way that finally makes sense. In one engaging session, you'll see how the people, places, and promises of the Old Testament fit together and how they point towards Christ. Whether you're new to the Bible or have been reading it for years, this is a powerful way to deepen your understanding of God's word. Join us as we walk through the Old Testament of our Bible here at Millington Baptist Church on January 31st from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. It'll be a three-hour seminar. You can sign up right now on our website. The link will be in the show notes. We hope to see you there for what will be an incredible event.

Bob:

All right. Well, we're glad you're joining us on this Christmas morning. Hopefully, uh you're having a great day. We got the trees out here. Um, I am told we're moving on to our next segment, uh, the book war. So we're gonna have a little Christmas book war right now. Yes. And uh, Tim, tell me what I need to do here. This is a Christmas edition book war.

Tim:

So last week there was a little bit of a confusion with the um with the score. Uh so we've recalculated the score based on the determining factors. And so the current score is Pastor Bob three. Three to seven.

Bob:

Pastor Dave seven. You know, the one the one time you weren't here, I recommend the one time you weren't here, I recommended like three books. Apparently that doesn't count.

Tim:

Well, no, Pastor Bob, you got an extra point because Pastor Dave has missed four episodes, so from now on, every episode he misses will be over the bonus, as they say in basketball. Um so he will you will receive a point.

Bob:

Uh but last week there was Okay, help me help me out. I'm not great at math, but you just said I got I got one point, but he missed four episodes.

Tim:

So yeah, we deter the uh the the league determined that uh you give a three episode um what's the word I'm looking for? Um mercy thing. So he you have three he he is now over the three episodes that he's permitted to miss.

Bob:

But there was So any episode he misses from here on out. How convenient that is.

Tim:

Yes. So he if he if he if you do something nefarious that would you know you know break his leg or something like that. What would why would I do that? Why would I no you wouldn't, but why would you even say that? I don't know. Nancy Kerrigan style, just take him out. You know, I'm just extending the bit. Anyway, so I I think the best way to to to get both votes is to to select good books. And I'll tell you what, last week there was voting, and there is a Christmas miracle because Pastor Bob has won the book war from last week.

Bob:

What did they recommend? I forgot.

Tim:

Wow. Here's the chart um that will show us the voting breakdown. It was a close one. Biotechnology and human and the human good gets away from the book.

Bob:

No, it's because you were you were a little uh you were a little down on your your David Wells book. I felt like you were like, I started reading your book. I had to do that, you know. It's like my last book of my seminar. Maybe you were less excited about it.

Tim:

So this is the current score of the book war. All right. Within three. There's a lot of episodes left this this season, so there is? Oh, yeah.

Dave:

I thought this was the last episode of the season.

Tim:

No, we are you counting like the new year. The season the season goes until the uh the the last sermon for the summer sermon series. So I guess I guess it goes till June. Okay.

Bob:

There we go.

Tim:

Because we take that little hiatus for a game.

Bob:

So does that mean if Pastor Dave misses any episodes from here until the end of June, he receives a penalty.

Dave:

That is correct.

Bob:

Ah, okay. All right. Well, maybe, maybe we'll see.

Dave:

I ought to think twice.

Bob:

All right, so we need to recommend some books.

Dave:

I'm gonna start joining on Zoom.

Bob:

Some Christmas books we have to recommend other books. All right, well, since I won, I guess you should recommend first.

Dave:

All right. This morning I had breakfast with a former professor of mine and uh a friend. Uh, and he recently came out with a book. His name's Abe Curravilla. He teaches at Southern, he used to teach at Dallas Seminary. And recently he put together this uh really interesting book on sanctification called From Glory to Glory, and it is his philosophy of spiritual growth as grounded in good expositional preaching and how does God change us from glory to glory. This is uh subtitled An Unnatural History of Sanctification. Put some thought into that. Specifically, he digs into Romans 6, 7, and 8 in there, and it's really uh thought-provoking treatise. He's one of those guys that just keeps thinking and thinking and thinking and refining things, and this is his latest treatise on how do we grow? How exactly does God do the thing? I mean, it's spirit-empowered, some of it's somewhat mysterious, but but there's a method that God is using to grow his people, to to sanctify his people, to help us grow towards maturity. So if you want to learn about that, um this is currently on my nightstand. He signed it and everything, and I like it. So it's a good book. And if you don't know Abe Corravilla, just go to YouTube, type in his name. Uh he's one of the finest preachers I've ever heard preach. And so uh you'll enjoy any sermon that he gives. Uh as he does a lot of guest preaching either at Southern or at Dallas or like he fills a lot of pulpits everywhere. So From glory to glory.

Bob:

That's my So no Second Corinthians in there? All Romans? Uh no, it's not all Romans.

Dave:

Yeah, I mean the title came from 2 Corinthians 4, but I think um uh bulk of it comes from Romans, but there's he's he's got Psalm 19 in there. He's but he's got different scripture passages.

Bob:

Alright, yeah. Okay. Well, there you go, pick it up. It's on Pastor Dave Nightshelf. Uh all right, so my recommendation is a book called Disability and the Gospel, because I'm preparing for our January series by Michael Bietes, I think is how you say his name. I've heard some people say that. Um so this uh this book, the subtitle is How God Uses Our Brokenness to Display His Grace. Um I've been enjoying this very much. Uh the first part of the book is walking through the relevant texts as it relates to uh disability, and then um he's gonna walk through church history and he's gonna walk through the the current topics today, and then speaking about how we can minister effectively to those who are impacted by by this type of brokenness. So um good book. I'd encourage you to pick it up if you want to get a head start on what we're gonna be covering in January and February. Um this has been on my nightstand as well, Pastor Dave. So we'll we'll see whose nightstand shall uh shall win. Scored by Johnny Erickson Tata. Look at that. Johnny Johnny Ericsson Tata.

Dave:

Yes. As far as the nightstand, so the the headboard I have doesn't exactly touch the wall. So it's if I lean back on it, I feel like it's it's a it's a little unsteady. I I struggle to read in bed. I put a pillow behind me and I sit up and I got my light, and but it's not the most comfortable place for me to read. I mean I put the book onto my nightstand, but usually I'll take the book off the nightstand, go find a chair and read. I don't know. Do you actually read in bed?

Bob:

Um only if I'm reading on my phone, not the book. Nowadays, my kids, I'm getting by the time I actually get my kids to go to sleep, usually I'm wiped out, so I gotta find a different different spot to do it.

Dave:

I'm told we should just like keep the bed for sleeping. But I don't know, sometimes people read there. The nightstand's still the spot.

Bob:

Depends on the season of life.

Dave:

In college, I do a lot of reading in bed. Do you read in your bed? There you go. But if you do like stomach, like if you go flip over, lie on your stomach, and sometimes read that way.

Bob:

Well, you know, I you know, and nowadays I stretch out the without like writing or commenting or underlining, so it's kind of hard if I don't have a you know a prop way to prop it up. I know. Put in the comments. Where do you read? So tell me, tell me, before we get off this segment, what do you have any um since you've been reading a lot recently, any tips on how to read effectively and and quicker?

Dave:

Uh I learned to read with a pacer, so you can either use your finger as a pacer or a pen. And if you kind of get a steady pace going, your eyes will uh they tend to lag over time if you just let let the book kind of drive you. You get slower and slower and slower. But if you if you keep a pacer going, um that will keep you moving. That's one tip. I'm actually a really slow reader, so I'm not the best person to help you with this. Some people can really blow through books, and I'm not one of them. I take my time and I read slow. I want to make sure I understand it, and I like take my notes from the margins, and then I make a word document, put all my notes in the word document, and I'm I'm not a fast, it's not a not a race for me. So although the audible thing has helped me go faster. So I did a couple books like with the book in my hand, but listening to Audible on my earbuds, that guy reads much faster than I could with my brain. So and I if I put it on like two times speed, three times speed is I can't. I need a cup of coffee.

Bob:

Two times even is too much, depending on how quickly the person is reading it.

Dave:

And depending upon the density of the material. Like how how hard is this to really comprehend? You know, you can't go too fast if it's really philosophical. Right. But if it's, you know, light reading, you can whip through that stuff. Yeah. But three times, man, you really gotta I that's somewhat torturous. Yeah. It's going back up. Yeah. Like how fast is your life going that you need to be doing?

Bob:

I know, I know. Well, I got usually if I get my books on Lagos, they do have like a read and they have a pacer in there. And with Audible, they also have this. If if you buy the Kindle and the book, they have this thing called whisper note or whisper voice that has they read, but also it it paces your reading too. But not every book has that, so you know. But I've got I've kind of gotten used to doing that. So if I don't listen and read at the same time, I I become much slower than I want to be.

Dave:

Yeah, it can it can be kind of a crutch. Yeah. I do have this app called Voice Dream that I upload my documents to, like PDFs or web articles, and I'll I'll listen to those like in the car. The only problem with VoiceDream is it like it reads the footnotes. So if you're reading the page, all of a sudden you get to the bottom sentence, and then instead of finishing the sentence, it goes to the first put footnote, second footnote, third footnote, and then you're like, oh man, this is miserable. Skip ahead to the next page, you know. Yep. Boy, this is this is this is really riveting podcasting material. Man, Merry Christmas.

Bob:

You guys are just like go vote. Go and do a reading.

Tim:

Go vote.

Bob:

Go vote pace your reading on Christmas morning.

Tim:

It is the Christmas episode, so it is officially time. All right, we have to have some fun here. To spice it up. And we are going to be bringing back a segment that I think it went pretty well last year. We're gonna be bringing back Will It Preach? Will it preach?

Bob:

That's right. Okay. So wait, this wasn't the one you the warm-up. We didn't do the warm up today.

Tim:

Oh, we didn't do the warm-up. Uh, you know what? It's too late. It's too late.

Bob:

Will it okay?

Tim:

So you give us something and we we yes we try to make it preach. Uh yes, we will do the you're so on the screen we have six Christmas gifts. Each Christmas gift correlates they're not numbered.

Bob:

How do I know? I know the numbers.

Tim:

Um each Christmas gift correlates to a illustration that you will use in inside of a fun short sermon at you're turning these things into sermon illustrations. You guys are the kings of sermon illustrations.

Bob:

Okay.

Tim:

Um so since Pastor Dave is winning the book war, we are going to allow Pastor Bob to make the first pick.

Bob:

No uh no no chat GPT help on the sermon illustration. No chat GPT help. Okay, so let's see what we can do here. Which uh Oh, am I just picking a number one to six? Yes. Alright, let's go with number uh number three. Number number box number three.

Tim:

Number three. Let's see. One, two, three, is the mall parking lot.

Bob:

The mall parking lot. Okay. Alright. Well, the mall parking lot is uh very clearly a reference to the people of Israel wandering in the desert wondering if they're gonna uh make it to the promised land, especially if you don't remember exactly where your your uh your car is parked. Uh that reminds me of a Seinfeld episode where they were wandering around for hours trying to sell their car. Call it the parking lot. By the way, did you know that that episode at the end, the car didn't start and that wasn't planned? So they're sitting in the car like it wasn't planned. It just the car just didn't start and they worked it in the episode. Um but but the people of Israel wandered in the desert, much like we often wander in the car in the parking lot until we find the promised land of the uh of of the car that we finally get, and then we can move on our way to uh to become closer to God. Incredible. Pastor Dave flyovers.

Dave:

Is that a 40-year wandering there? Is there a pillar of cloud or pillar of fire or anything to help you? Oh my goodness.

Tim:

It's the golden arches across the parking lot. I don't know.

Bob:

I did my best with what he gave me. He gave me the parking lot. All right, you you pick one and see what you can do.

Tim:

Which one would you like? These are tough, man.

Dave:

All right, let's go with number one.

Tim:

Number one. Number one is the burnt Christmas cookie.

Bob:

This is a good Isaiah illustration. Does this happen a lot in your household?

Dave:

I mean, that was your number one box there.

Bob:

No, but I'm just trying to have some fun. Seraphim took it and put it on your lip. Burnt Christmas cookie.

Dave:

All right. So um let's see. Sometimes uh in life we get a little bit too busy, and uh we just try to put too much on our plate. We are we're multitasking, we're performing. Have you ever had this happen where you uh put something in the oven and you fully intend to be keeping an eye on that, but yet you set the timer and then you walk away because something else got your attention. And then um, right as the smoke alarms start going off, you suddenly remember, oh my goodness, I totally forgot about that tray of cookies that I was working on. You rush back over to the oven, you turn it off, you open a few windows, you you wave the smoke away from the smoke detector, and then suddenly you put on your counter this creation that you've made, and it is the burnt Christmas cookie. How many times in life have we um missed out on what should have been an enjoyable, uh rich uh time with our family or with our loved ones, and yet we're distracted. We have um too many things going on, we've got um our phones open, or we've got um, you know, tasks that we're just trying to get to, and yet we uh are we're not really present where we need to be present, especially during the holiday season. You know, these are precious moments you spend with your kids and with your families, with your sisters and brothers and moms and dads. And let's not uh let's not turn those precious moments into burnt cookies that we kind of forgot about. Let's let's be attentive uh to what we're trying to do and let's make the most of those so that we can enjoy the the rich, delicious um mealtime with our families and and and fully enjoy what God has given us. Uh man, that's rough. That was rough.

Bob:

So did did do you ultimately discard the the cookie?

Dave:

Yeah.

Bob:

It's worth it's worthless.

Dave:

I tend to get to try the person in my family who doesn't like to throw away food, but even a if it's really burnt, we're not doing that.

Bob:

Charcoal, charcoaled cookie this Christmas.

Dave:

Because there's no health value in it either. It's not like even the regular cookie. You're gonna have bad calories for you, and it's not gonna taste good. That doesn't those two don't go to number six.

Tim:

Number six is batteries not included.

Bob:

Batteries.

Tim:

Oh, I got Can I do this one? Sure.

Bob:

Go ahead. Please. He got super excited.

Dave:

Oh, okay.

Bob:

All right.

Dave:

You know, when the people of God came out of the mall parking lot. I was ready.

Bob:

Your daughter will be proud.

Dave:

When the people of God came out of the mall parking lot and they entered into finally God's uh uh plan for them, he gave them the law. And he said, This is what's best for you. This is my plan for you. This is what I have for you. I want you to live like this. And Moses carved it. Uh he carved it for Moses on these tablets, gave it to the people. And yet uh hundreds and hundreds of years went by, and the people of Israel failed time and time again, leader after leader, generation after generation. Even the best of them failed. Even David failed. And the reason is because in our humanity, in our flesh, we simply cannot uh bring ourselves to be in perfect compliance and obedience to God's law. The old covenant should have come with a sticker, and the sticker would say, batteries not included. And the good news of Jesus and the good news of his coming is that he has now sent his spirit into the world on the day of Pentecost, has uh chosen to indwell uh his people, and now uh his law is written not on the tablets of stone, but it's written on the tablet of the human heart, so so that we not only uh feel compelled to obey, but that we now have the power inside of us to obey, and that is his spirit living inside of us, and we work together um concursively, that it is God working through us, but he's the one who's put the batteries in, and now we can operate as we were originally designed to operate because of his spirit's indwelling presence.

Bob:

So the spirit is the battery. Amen. Good. Look as a good one. So Pastor Bob, we'll try again. All right, let's let's see. I'll I'll go with number uh two. What's the number two?

Tim:

Number two is the broken Christmas light bulb.

Bob:

The broken Christmas light bulb. Uh man, I'll tell you what.

Dave:

I got one.

Bob:

All right, help me. Do you have a phone a friend? Let's phone a friend here.

Dave:

Have you ever been like up in your attic taking out the Christmas lights and you untangle them and all of a sudden, like, they don't work. They they they worked last year when you put them up there. Uh, you you didn't do anything to them. You just set them in the attic and you brought them down this year, and suddenly they don't work. And the reason is because one of the light bulbs doesn't work anymore. And when one of the light bulbs doesn't work in the Christmas string of lights, none of them work because they work in sync, because they work in tandem, because they are progressively lit and they share electricity with each other. Just like that. Uh in the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, uh, we are told that when when one part uh is celebrated, we all get celebrated. When one part suffers, we all suffer. We are we are interlocked, we are interlinked with our brothers and sisters in Christ, such that uh it is um God's will that the church operate together with all of the different ministries and all the different gifts that God has given us, and together we shine to be the church that He's caused us to be. So don't be that broken light bulb that is causing the rest of the church not to operate uh the way we should. Find your gift and um make sure you plug in and you're knowing how to serve and use your gift so that this string of lights can light up and shine for the Lord as he intends us to shine.

Bob:

Plug in the power source.

Tim:

Wow. Yeah. He's on a roll. All right, we'll see if I can get the last two here.

Bob:

Let's we'll try number four, I guess.

Tim:

Number four is one, two, three, four, the Hallmark Christmas movie.

Bob:

Oh my goodness, the Hallmark Christmas movie. Well, um, you know what? This type of thing just so here we go. Here we go. I got a good one for it. So uh, you know, in in in in um in s in 2 Corinthians, it talks about the difference. Is 2 Corinthians between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow? And uh both can make you cry, but uh not both actually they touch you deeply. And uh just like the Hallmark uh Christmas movie can touch you deeply, um it it doesn't make you weep over the things that that you should actually weep for. Um so the Hallmark Christmas movie is superficial, but the love of God is is deep and uh can touch you at a deep, deep spiritual level. And so um don't don't don't be uh don't be uh uh distracted by the the superficiality of the emotionality of the uh Hallmark Christmas movie. Amen.

Dave:

I was just gonna say don't commit adultery like they all do in the Hallmark Christmas movie. Ladies don't want a Christmas movie? Ladies, do not leave your husband for the cute guy in the flannel. That that's the lesson of the Hallmark Christmas.

Tim:

Left the big city for the lots of adultery. Lots of adultery. All right, can I try to get the last one? Yes, this one's my favorite. The last slice of Christmas prime rib.

Bob:

The last slice of Christmas prime rib is the thing you always wait for, and just like at the end of time, at the great feast, at the wedding supper of the lamb, there is going to be amazing prime rib, and so you want to get there and eat it and don't miss out on it. That last slice of prime rib is the is the sweetest in the world. Um, or actually, uh alternatively, um you could save that last slice of prime rib for the person who wasn't at the table and invite them in, like Jesus talks about in Luke 14 at the Great Banquet. You can invite in the outcasts and everybody to come in and give them that last slice of prime rib and forego your prime rib for the sake of those that are on the margins. This has been You're a big prime rib guy. What would you do?

Dave:

I already ordered mine at ShopRite on Saturday. I'm gonna be picking it up in the morning. And um the best part for me is not the last slice, it is the bones. So I get them to cut it and then tie it, and then you take uh the bones off on the at the bottom and you just eat those like they're appetizers or something like that. And there's oh my goodness. Oh my word. So are you a prime rib person? If so, uh, what kind do you like? Do you like the Angus? Do you like the choice? Do you like what you know? Do you prefer to have uh a certain kind of temperature? How do you like your prime rib? We'd love to hear from you in the comments. Tim, you a prime rib guy?

Tim:

I love the rib roast. The rib roast. Yes, the prime rib roast. Yum. It's happening.

Bob:

All right, good.

Tim:

So what this has been Willow Preach. Willow Preach.

Bob:

It'll be back in uh one year. We'll see what happens. We gotta we gotta up our game for next year.

Tim:

Hey friends, death is something that we all know it's coming, but it's something that we don't like to think about. On January 4th, we're gonna be starting our next adult education class called Preparations: Death, Dying, and Living. Together, we'll explore what scripture teaches about the origin and reality of death, what happens after we die, and how living with the end in mind shapes the way we live today. From practical topics like wills, living wills, and hospice care to the deeper call to live Quram Deo before the face of God. This is a class for thoughtful Christians who want to live wisely, faithfully, and intentionally. So if that sounds like something that is interesting to you, join us starting on January 4th in our YFMB great room on Sunday mornings during the 9 a.m. service for preparations, death, dying, and living.

Bob:

Um, all right, sermon recap. So if you were here with us this last Sunday or uh this last uh Tuesday, right? Tuesday, Wednesday for Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve, Eve, uh we had a couple sermons, so let's start on Sunday. Pastor Dave preached on Isaiah 61. Give us a flyover, and then I got a couple questions we can talk about uh pretty briefly.

Dave:

Isaiah chapter 61 is part of the unit that is the third section of the book of Isaiah, the section about the full restoration of the people of God. Isaiah 61 nestles itself in the middle of a vision that moves from 60 to 62, and it's all about this spirit-anointed servant that's going to come, and there's a certain task, uh an agenda that he's going to bring about, uh preaching the good news to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, set setting the captives free, and bringing in what's called the year of the Lord's favor. In the Old Testament system, that was in Leviticus chapter 25, the year of Jubilee, the year that all debts were cancelled, that all slaves were set free, that all land was returned back to its original owner, and it was the year of the great reset. Just like that, Isaiah chapter 61 talks about the reset of all resets, the opportunity to really start over. And there's going to be a coming servant who will offer us the greatest reset button you could imagine. And that servant, of course, we know is Jesus of Nazareth, who went to his own hometown, opened up Isaiah chapter 61, read that, and then said, Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. A statement that took uh incredible audacity, unless, of course, it's true. And so the challenge in the message was, what do you think about his claim? And have you really wrestled with who he claimed to be? Because he's claiming to be the one to bring about the great reset. And if you're on the fence, he'll give you time and patience to decide, but he will not allow you to stay neutral. That's a question that we all have to wrestle with. And my challenge was uh, what do you think? Is he the one that Isaiah was predicting? And um make a decision about the Lord Jesus.

Bob:

There you go. Um, so use this image of the reset in in the message, and uh the great reset also has uh just to clarify, you're not talking about like the conspiracy theory great reset, right? We're talking about a different one.

Dave:

I struggled with the language there because I didn't want people to trip over, you know, politics or you know one world governments or thing, you know, things that maybe come to mind with that phrase.

Bob:

So well, it was hard. I think the idea of resetting, like resetting your life is something that people resonate with and they're longing for. And my question for you is what why why do you think that is? Why is it something that somebody would be drawn to?

Dave:

This world is broken, it's not working. Um, my life is not working. I can't seem to figure out how to um make my dreams come true. And I think we all have to come to the end of ourselves, we all have to come to that point where we realize, oh gosh, um I really need help. I really need someone to give me a do-over, a start over. Uh, is there such a thing? And I think the good news of the gospel is yes, but it's going to require you to surrender everything to the one who made that possible. And so we resist giving him control like that, but yet it is the greatest blessing that we could ever imagine to cede uh control to the one who actually wants what's best for us. And there is where our life starts to turn around. Thank the Lord.

Bob:

Very cool. So another image, famous image in in Isaiah 61 is this idea of uh the the captives being free. And and so my my question is: in your view, what forms of captivity, spiritual, emotional, social, as examples, are the most pressing in our modern context, and how does Isaiah 61 speak to them?

Dave:

Yeah, I mean, I think right there and then he was talking about um how the people of Israel were being oppressed, and um, in many ways, the Davidic throne after the exile was never fully recovered to its greatness, and they were subjugated to other nations. So, you know, first it was Babylon, then it was Medo Persia, then it was Greece, and then it was Rome, but they were always like the you know, the suzerain vassal type of relationship with these oppressors, they were captives to these other nations, they were not free, really. Um Jesus ultimately came to uh be the rightful king, to be the king of the Jews, to to be the one who would um have the right to rule over them. I think it's also applicable, it's okay to say that there are other things in lives in our lives that um enslave us. So I mean Jesus said anyone who sins is a slave to sin. So you can kind of fill in the blank there. Uh there's a lot of um addictions that would fall into that category, that we're captive to what addicts us, that we we say, I want, I want, I want, and then suddenly I want at some point becomes I can't stop. And we no longer have our desires, our desires have us. And now we realize we're actually captive to them. And so I think knowing Christ, um being the all-satisfying savior that he is, and turning to him rather than these other sources of um freedom or these other idols that we turn to is is the more satisfying way to live our lives. So he can set us free. I love that song, Break Every Chain. There is power in the name of Jesus to break every chain. So he is the one who can set the captives free. Apply that in whatever area of your life you currently feel bound, and I think um you'll find freedom in Christ.

Bob:

Good. Well, um maybe maybe a kind of a wrap-up question would be how do you how do you think that our communities today might live out this call to engage in restoration?

Dave:

Yeah, Isaiah didn't write that for us to go build a bomb shelter, get some canned goods, and wait. If you're reading it that way, you're reading it wrong. Uh Isaiah is giving us a portrait of the world that will be, the world that the Lord uh is committed to bringing about. And if that's the world that the Lord is committed to bringing about, and you're already part of his kingdom, uh, then our job is to not continue to tolerate the things in our lives that are not congruous with that world. If you're living in such a way that's incongruent with his coming promises, his coming kingdom, then those things in your life need to be adjusted in order to be pleasing to your Father. And so I think Isaiah is inviting us in to a place that we're destined for, but that has already started. And the fact that Christmas uh is a reality, that the Savior has come into this world and died for our sins and then was raised from the dead in time and history tells us that that kingdom has already started and that it is our job as his subjects to continue to live out the values of this kingdom where we are, such that people around us see a little microcosm of the kingdom coming when they interact with us. And maybe that's individual, but that's also like corporate as a church, so that we as a church could be a place that's a little microcosm of the kingdom that's gonna come to be. And our job is to not be satisfied with just saying, Oh, you know, this world is what it is. I sure hope Jesus comes back and the rapture comes soon because I don't know what else we're gonna do about that. That is the wrong way to read Isaiah chapter 60, 61, 62. No, that is not the biblical that's that's not why Isaiah wrote that. And so I think it's very, very convicting. And um, it's a call toward obedience, it's a call toward actually loving our neighbor, it's a call toward looking to help the other people who are oppressed around us get set free because that's the business that we want to be about, right? So I think it's an encouraging passage, but it's also a very um weighty passage with a lot of commands in it that exhort us to bring about the kind of kingdom that's pleasing to God. The kingdom that's not yours, it's his. And we are called to live in accordance with his values. So it's a beautiful passage and a great hope that we all have, and we should work toward it.

Bob:

It was a uh a great Isaiah passage. Anything else you want to uh mention about that before we go into Christmas Eve?

Dave:

No, just uh appreciate the opportunity to go through Isaiah this year. We have uh Eve to cover, and then next Sunday we'll be wrapping up the series. So the new heavens, new earth.

Bob:

Yeah, Isaiah in four months. It can be done. It can be done.

Dave:

It only took four months. So let's talk about Isaiah 62 then.

Bob:

Let's do it. So uh uh tonight. Recap. Tonight I'll be uh I'll be preaching it. Uh hopefully it all comes out pretty well. What's the flyover? So um Isaiah 62 continues some of the themes from Isaiah 61. It also brings about some uh fulfillment language that was first introduced in Isaiah chapter uh 60. And so uh you know there's a couple things that we see uh if if you you know saw saw the message. Um we talked about how the first cup the first verse it talks about how uh God is going to end his silence. He's gonna speak to um Zion and to his people, and they're gonna be a burning torch, a burning light. And then in verses two and three, uh we we uh are gonna see that uh not only does God end the silence, but we see the dawning of hope that that uh God is gonna give us a new name, he's gonna rename us, he's gonna bring us into the fold of his family if we give our lives to him. And then uh and then finally in the first the uh uh verses four and five, we see a marriage um uh a marriage image, and there is this gift of this new name that's uh lived out in this new relationship with with God Him Himself. So the message itself was was very Christmas-centric. It was focused on um a bit a bit of evangelism, appealing to people that uh might have questions about the faith. Uh we use the image of the Christmas card. So um, you know, everybody's we take Christmas cards, we take pictures for that, we send that out, but nobody ever thinks about the uh the moment before you took that picture. You curate your image, you want it to really look good, but nobody nobody takes pictures of the fight that happened before, or the people that were annoyed they had to move, or uh whatever else is is happening right before that that image um happened. And so I think there's there's a wrestling with us. A lot of times we see these Christmas cards, but we wonder why our life doesn't feel like that. There's there's a dissonance, and Isaiah 62 provides um a resolution in that it points us to ultimately the mess the coming of the Messiah and the message of uh Christmas. So there you go.

Dave:

Great. And uh what are you hoping that people take away from the Isaiah 62 sermon? What's your desire that we hold into our hearts and how can we apply that to our lives?

Bob:

Yeah, I think for uh for Christians, uh there there may be an assumption that you know um just because you believe in Jesus that life is good, you feel content. My my uh my belief is there may be some folks that are coming tonight or heard that that that are not feeling content, that are feeling like God is pretty silent in their life. And my hope uh that a big takeaway for you will be that God is not silent, that God is speaking, that God sees you, and He wants to. Meet you where you are, and he wants you to place your trust in him. And similarly, if you're somebody who is a skeptic who doesn't believe in Jesus or you have questions about faith, um, I think one of the main reasons is because things didn't turn out in your life the way that you thought they should, uh, even right now. And I think God God sees that, God wants to meet you where you are, and he wants you to turn from uh pursuing uh the things of this world to give your life to him, and uh when you do that, uh you experience renewal and welcome and safety within the uh uh your relationship with Christ.

Dave:

That's good stuff. Is it fair to say that the four hundred years of silence kind of felt like um they were waiting a long time and Christmas is the breaking of the sound barrier there?

Bob:

That's a that's a good illustration right there, the breaking of the sound barrier. Yes, I do think four hundred years is a long time for silence. And uh we did sing Oh Holy Night, one of my favorite hymns in all the world, especially at Christmas time. So it was that holy night that the the angels came, that the angels sang, that uh the announcement of the good news of Messiah coming and Jesus being born was uh was was rather loud and majestic, and indeed it did end that silence and give us a new hope. Not to quote strong words, but yes.

Dave:

All the stories go back to the one true story, right? Yes, they do. And how is it that Isaiah 62 uh can be fulfilled because of Christmas? How do those two directly relate to each other?

Bob:

Uh I mean ultimately uh so you know I think in your in your m message you were talking about the three segments of Isaiah. So you had the the opening segment, uh chapters one to thirty-nine, which was all filled with ruin and judgment and kind of bleak. And then you get to the middle section, 40 to 55, where all so many of these servant songs are, that there's this hope of the Messiah uh coming, and then you know, chapter sixty-one uh points forward, it's the it's the chapter that Jesus uses to uh begin his public ministry, quoted in Luke 4. Um but the ultimate reason that you can have this hope, the reason you can have a new name, is because God himself came to earth and took on the form of a human being and then lived a sinless life and ultimately um died on the cross so that we could um we could get his righteousness uh and and live that out before the world. A Christmas is the coming of that Savior into the world to a uh to provide us the ability to be adopted into God's family and be saved.

Dave:

That is some good news.

Bob:

It is good news.

Dave:

Anything else you wanted to share about that text or passage?

Bob:

No, other than I hope some people come to Jesus tonight, and candle lighting is always beautiful. So hopefully the warm glow was on your face. Looking forward to it. Hopefully you still have a beard, you don't set your beard on fire tonight.

Dave:

I have this new niece in my life, and she's you know, now part of uh every family gathering. She loves it. She loves the beard. She's just always grabbing the beard.

Bob:

Yeah. You and John are in a running gun battle for best beard.

Dave:

I don't know. Tim's up there. I was gonna say.

Bob:

Yeah, well, they have the gray on their beard, so that that puts them uh ahead of you. Yes. G give a couple years of white, yeah.

Dave:

No, go back to brown. It went gray early in life. This thing changed, I don't know. How early? Uh it's been it's been sprinkled with gray for, I don't know, ten years. It started in my early 30s. That was frustrating. Okay. Yeah, I know if I've gone from here.

Bob:

If I grow mine out, I got some gray here, but I my wife does not like me having a big thing.

Tim:

2026 is the year of the Pastor Bob beard.

Bob:

My wife, my wife will not allow me to have a beard, so you only see me with some stubble until it's time to shave, but then it's gotta it's gotta be sh gotta be taken care of.

Dave:

I beg to differ. Uh you had a beard the other day, and I I have a picture of it, you know.

Bob:

Actually, I think that was ChatGPT superimposing your beard on me. I know. It was an interesting situation. Did you guys see that? It was. Are you showing the one where like I'm I'm bigger than you are?

Dave:

Yeah.

Bob:

Like I was about a foot taller than you.

Dave:

Yeah, yeah. That was a fascinating, like, thought provoking.

Bob:

I don't know what the what the prompt was that was put in to create that.

Dave:

Yeah. You you left the Christmas party early, and Amy wanted you to be added, and then somehow you got a beard.

Bob:

We had a chimera, is that the uh uh the merging of things isn't that something something something's called a chimera? Chimera, right?

Dave:

I think that is the name of that. Yeah. That's probably in your bioethics book somewhere.

Bob:

Yeah, somewhere.

Dave:

Oh well, I'll have to pull it up later.

Tim:

Anyway. So I do all these ads here on the show as the production manager, but I am also the outreach manager here at MBC, and the outreach manager wants to thank from the bottom of his heart those who came out and helped with the packing party. It was such an amazing time, and getting to see the congregation come together to pack 2,000 hygiene kits that we got to give to City Relief was just such a pleasure. Uh, we drove up to City Relief uh right after the event uh and we gave them, and they're in their warehouse now. Uh it's just so amazing that we get to do this work as a church for those who are struggling with homelessness. So I just want to take this time and thank you so much uh for your contribution and for your help and for showing up. Uh it means the world to me. Um, and this is just amazing kingdom work that we are doing. To further partner with City Relief, we have an upcoming January outreach event on January 24th. We are gonna be going out on their bus and serving in the city. We need six more volunteers to come out. We have four, we're looking for 10. If this is something that you want to do, if you're looking for a way to serve the Lord and be the physical hands and feet of Jesus, why not come out on January 24th to serve on the City Relief bus? It's gonna be an amazing time. We're gonna hand out soup, we're gonna hand out socks, we're gonna hand out coffee and hot chocolate and just have amazing intentional conversations. You may be thinking, hey Tim, I'm not an extrovert. Like, this doesn't sound like it's for me. And I get that, but there's actually a lot of things on outreach that you can do that are perfect for introverts. Whether you're scooping the soup, bagging the bread, helping just pour drinks. There are ways that you can serve the Lord by serving with Citreleaf, even if you are a little introverted. So I would encourage you to still check it out. Head to our website. The link is in the show notes. Uh, click the January link and sign up. We'd love to have you. We just need six more spots. Let's go out and serve together. Prop of the year, Tim.

Bob:

That's the next segment. Prop of the year. It is what you didn't lead with this, huh?

Tim:

No, we wanted people to watch the episode. This is the most exciting.

Bob:

Uh hopefully people have hung with us. This one. I hope so.

Tim:

Or they skip to it, um, which is more likely. Uh so yes, prop of the year. As a reminder, this is the third iteration. We have our championship banners right here. Uh Johnny Gray's with the guitar in 2023. Uh, there might be still some outrage about that. Uh last year, Pastor Bob coming in strong with the um with the ladder, and Pastor Dave, he may dominate the no chips. Personally dangerous. Bob was up there prepared. We take the risk.

Dave:

Nobody was holding it for him.

Bob:

So maybe this is the Dave's year. We'll see.

Tim:

Maybe this is Dave's year. We deserved it. We're about to find out. So without any further ado, here is number 10.

Bob:

All you need to do if you want to tune out the world is turn up your music, music, let these bad boys hug your ears. You know, they're especially good on long flights when you want to be left alone.

Tim:

Number 10, the headphones videos this year. That's uh that's impressive, man. We did. We did indeed do the videos.

Bob:

What were you illustrating again? The noise canceling headphones was God's noise canceling grace with the servant song. I think it was the wasn't that Isaiah 52, the last one I did.

Tim:

Uh was that before? Maybe it was. Oh, I I actually I can actually tell you. And we can also uh in uh divulge who voted for what. Noah and I looked very different uh voting looked very different this year. So the headphones were November 16th, which was Isaiah 49.

Bob:

Oh, 49, right. The first that servants.

Tim:

I voted that 8th, and Noah voted that 10th. Uh so accumulatively didn't impress Noah as much place. It did not. Uh it was hard to impress Noah this year, it would seem. He's not here. He was scared.

Bob:

He did he vote everything in 10th place?

Tim:

Yes. All right. Number picture. Tim, I'm gonna email this to you, man. Okay. I have one as well. All right. What's the place? Number nine. Number nine. I just got the email.

Bob:

Who doesn't love a tasty sweet grape? In fact, I I brought some grapes with me today. Yes, they are quite delicious.

Dave:

Oh, you drop one, brother.

Bob:

Sweet. Some of you were salivating as I hold these up here.

Tim:

The grapes, yes. This was this was the nine o'clock service. The grape um was voted to eat the grapes. The grape was voted last by me, and it was voted sixth by Noah.

Bob:

Six! Noah really loved the grape, huh?

Tim:

Noah liked the grape. Yeah, that was not seen in that um in that video was that Pastor Bob spent the next five minutes struggling to eat the thing. You try eating a grape and preaching.

Dave:

It's not that eating.

Tim:

It is like Pastor Dave. You got this chalky thing for the rest of the sermon.

Bob:

Yes.

Tim:

All right. Not wise. Number eight.

Bob:

What he describes in these verses of the serpent, the snake.

Tim:

Look at that.

Bob:

And what he's gonna do to believers. You know your wife texted. She says when you're in constant, close spiritual combat, you need to unsheathe the sword and take out the snake and the good fight. Oh, she's gonna be asked. That was the Roman Gladius Christ. She asked you about where to get it because I said I wanted it.

Dave:

Yeah.

Bob:

Oh, this was it last Christmas. I think it was yeah, I think it was last Christmas.

Dave:

Yeah, we were texting about it, and there's a couple different places you can buy swords. But the price you told me she got on that was a really good price. It was like less than a hundred.

Bob:

It's like forty, like fifty bucks on Amazon. That is crazy. And it seems like it's it's got some F to it.

Tim:

It does. The Roman Gladius Sword was from July the thirteenth.

Bob:

It's made in China.

Tim:

From 1st Timothy chapter 6. Um was was that. Is Dave on here somewhere? I've done it. He is. Um we're getting him. I voted the sword in fourth. Um, Noah put the sword ninth. So that is apparently Noah not not happy.

Dave:

Wasn't there two swords? Didn't that come out twice? Didn't you use that twice? It was used throughout the sermon.

Bob:

Um, I don't know if I don't think I used it in a different sermon. All right. Maybe it was behind the pulpit or something.

Dave:

I think it was from the. He would say these five simple words. You probably know them. Gentlemen, this is a football.

Tim:

The football. Um the football was on uh 1 Timothy 1 introduction. This is a church. March April 27th. I voted the football ninth. Noah had it second.

Bob:

That doesn't surprise me.

Tim:

It doesn't surprise me.

Dave:

I had a problem. Like, I that was my second football choice because I didn't really like that one. But I have this like actual sign football by Tom Landry, and it won't inflate. I mean, the the morning where I was trying to bring a football for that prop, it was a stressful Sunday morning. It was kind of deflated. You know, I was like, you know, remember that Super Bowl with the the the deflate gate? Remember Tom Brady's?

Bob:

Yes.

Dave:

Well, I'm I'm like, I got this squishy football, and it's not blowing up, man. I'm trying to hand pump, I'm trying the electronic pump. I'm like, I gotta get to church, I gotta bring a football. So I've had I found a different football in a different, like, we had this other stash of sports stuff outside, and uh to this day, I have this flat Tom Landry sign football on my shelf. It's it's so sad. I don't I don't know if you can repair it or how do you I'd have to send that to an extra. I don't know. That prop was stressed me out. Props stress me out, man. They do.

Bob:

They stress you out more than the theology sprints.

Dave:

Uh well, it's they're both pretty stressful situations. Yeah. What was that?

Tim:

Number six? That was five. That was number six. Uh that that was number seven. So we now move on to number six.

Dave:

At this point, I'm gonna pass the baton over to my co-pastor, Pastor Bob. And you're gonna take it from here. All right. It came in Jane Zone.

Bob:

I didn't drop it, right? All right, awesome. There we go. The baton from Vision Sunday. Who gets the baton? We both use it, or is it Dave?

Tim:

Both of you. Both of you. Okay. So there was potential for both of you to win the award this year. It was not because.

Dave:

I'll have you know, Amy Huber actually brought the baton all the way down to the Supreme Court.

Tim:

Washington, D.C. I voted the baton as number three. Noah had it at number eight, so it accumulated to number six.

Bob:

Um I'm sensing here anything not football is low on Noah's list. We should have done a NASCAR illustration. Oh sorry.

Tim:

Yes. All right, number we are now in the top five.

Bob:

What you're doing, what the command here is to inscribe to chisel, to chisel the word of God into their hearts, to chisel the gospel with with precision into the hearts of the next generation.

Tim:

The rock and the chisel. Um, which was in August my summer sermon.

Bob:

August building strong families.

Tim:

Um Deuteronomy chapter six, summer in the scriptures. Where'd you get that gigantic rock?

Bob:

I just outside somewhere.

Dave:

You don't just find a big rock like that sitting outside.

Bob:

Yeah, there on over by the Youth and Family Ministry building, there's a ton of rocks. That's a big one. Yeah, it was. It's large. Where'd you get the chisel? I think at my house.

Tim:

You just had a chisel.

Bob:

I think so. It might have been a screwdriver. I don't remember.

Tim:

Noah and I both voted the rock and chisel as number five.

Dave:

It's kind of a two-part prop. It's a two it's actually a three-part prop. You got the hammer piece, you got the chisel piece, you got the rock piece. That's three. Yep. All right, that's three props.

Tim:

Let's number four.

Bob:

But do you know what the hardest part about the balloon is? It's tying the end, right? Is anybody out there a good balloon tire? Sometimes you have to call and phone a friend to the other. This is the one I couldn't I couldn't tie, and I just let it go.

Tim:

The balloon. Uh the balloon was um February 23rd on 2nd Corinthians. Uh, didn't write the rest here, it was 2nd Corinthians. Um I had the balloon as seventh. Noah had it as his number three. So it averages out to number four on our list. Where's Noah?

Bob:

He should he should be here for this. I know. Noah needs to defend himself out there.

Tim:

He's I think he was scared. Honestly. I think he I see.

Bob:

He was he was didn't want to face the wrath, the the scowls.

Tim:

Any comments on the balloon before we go to number three?

Dave:

Didn't one of them got go out into the audience or something? Like that way.

Tim:

All right. Uh number three.

Dave:

But then if I take the second can, that is. Oh yeah, this one. Oh, I actually apply the same exact amount of pressure onto this second can. You watching camera guy? And I actually have the same amount of pressure. See notice. I should have stopped right there. Right there. I tripped there, sorry. No, I should have never done this. This was this was my mistake. Oh man. I wasn't supposed to do that. See, this is why I don't do props.

Bob:

He comes back up on stage and say, let's use the 9 a.m. Well, you know, not every prop is that uh you're balancing on a can of soda. I mean, that's a pretty challenging prop.

Dave:

That was a spiritual lesson. I was prideful and I I was I was bowls. I I did one time before you were Peter. Peter's the proud.

Bob:

I think it was during a the uh uh first Peter series before you came on. I I got a bench from the uh playground and balanced on that. That that to me is a little safer than a can of soda.

Tim:

The uh yeah, 2 Corinthians 1 on it was the first prop of the year, February 16th. So it took halfway through February for our first prop this year.

Dave:

I feel like um the first service was actually it worked. So it did. I know that was kind of a mistake though, but the first service actually the prop did work.

Bob:

We had that in the uh are you well you're at number three here. You think you thought I should have been number one?

Dave:

No, no, I I just I don't know if that was just like a like a blooper, but the prop does work.

Tim:

And uh so I voted the Seth Sir can in sixth, and Noah voted it in fourth. We move on to number two. What would it have been if I didn't How do you get six and four and you get two? It's weighted. It's so like you each if for number one on mine gets ten points, number one his gets ten points, so you add up the the points together.

Bob:

Um, equitably.

Tim:

I did.

Dave:

Um the very two that carried oxygen. I still have this. This on my book I don't know what to do with it was carrying water to the flowers in his garden. This is what our God can do. He can take what is meant to be someone's grave and turn it into a garden. The oxygen tube on Easter Sunday. Give credit to Felicity on that one. This was kind of her mastermind. She she's the one who saw the significance of the tube there.

Tim:

I voted the oxygen tube as number one. Um and Noah voted it as number seven, and it weighted out to number two. Wow, that's a very terrible. You're far apart.

Bob:

All right, now we're gonna see who who got number one, huh?

Tim:

Number one.

Dave:

And we see Charlie Kirk get shot, and we're not talking about one bad thing or two bad things. We're talking about we live in a world where this whole thing is all torn down. That's the world that you and I live in.

Tim:

Number one, the giant Jenga block. He takes he gets his banner up in the rafters. Um, the giant Jenga blocks was recent. Um, I voted that as number two, and Noah voted it as number one. Uh, so it was the clear winner for this year. Congratulations, Pastor Dave. Prop of the year, your first one. Thanks, man.

Dave:

I feel like we should share that award, bro, because you're the one who actually got all the wood, cut it all up, set it all up. Like that was a fun trip to Jaeger. That was like 90% Tim, 10% Dave. So thank you for your support.

Bob:

How does it feel? How does it feel to win Prop of the Year?

Dave:

I feel honored and humbled. What are you gonna do later? You know, I think maybe I'll celebrate Christmas today. Light a candle tonight. Yeah.

Bob:

Just keep the wood away from the kids.

Dave:

No repeat champions, so we will see. We'll see who will be. I still have a miniature Tetris thing on my bookshelf just to remember the glory of the Tim. It was your idea also to knock it over onto the steps and make a bunch of noise.

Tim:

Like I thought that the effect would be best if you just knocked it onto the Wood.

Dave:

It was, and Oliver got a little bit he was he flinched a little bit. He was right there in that.

Bob:

So um it it is theoretically possible though, if we have a guest preacher who has a prop, that they could they they could be in the running yes, potentially win.

Tim:

I didn't think we almost had one. Uh Vince Steger's cheese socks did not qualify as a prop. Um what did he have? I wasn't here for that. He showed he wore his cheese socks when he preached, and he he like he he moved them up. Yeah, he showed them, but it wasn't a prop. It was his leg? He was talking about yeah, he was he was talking about how he works in the cheese industry and he's like, see, I even wore my cheese socks, and he had like wheels of cheese. So that didn't quite make it in the top. Didn't make the cut.

Bob:

Not the top ten.

Tim:

Was there other props that didn't make it in the top ten? There's actually only ten that we considered this year. Um the only there was really only ten. The only other one that could have been considered a prop. Was there ones that you didn't consider? No, these were all the props. Um the only one that didn't make the cut um would be the butterflies on Easter Sunday, and we didn't put the that in because it was kind of like a giveaway, not necessarily as much of a prop.

Bob:

Okay.

Tim:

Oh, wait, wait, wait. There was there's one other one. Did we miss one? Yeah. And I'll give you a hint. Oh no.

Bob:

Oh, that's right. His Reese's uh the shrine. And it continued to show up on the behind the on the table?

Tim:

I don't think Reese's shrine would have won. Aren't we supposed to eat this too?

Bob:

We should eat this, Dave. I feel like we should.

Tim:

Let's open it.

Bob:

We should finally open it today.

Tim:

It may not have been prop of the year, but it is going to be prop of the day.

Bob:

It's Christmas.

Tim:

Does this mean that there is an asterisk next to this year's championship?

Bob:

Oh my god. Look at this thing.

Dave:

One for you, one for me, man. Merry Christmas. Oh my word.

Bob:

All right. This thing is enormous.

Dave:

You we both have to take one bite. That's the one. Okay, all right, fine, we'll take right now. Take one bite. This this is glorious.

Bob:

Look at it.

Tim:

Is it as good as the normal one? No. Love it.

Dave:

I made a mess. That's all you can have for like the month. One bike.

Bob:

That was like three right there.

Dave:

Yeah. Prop of the year. I want this back in the running, man. This is number one.

Bob:

Out of 52 weeks, we only had 10 props. We need to do better this year.

Tim:

I don't think it would have uh that's almost a 25%, not no, 10% prop rate. Right?

Bob:

We need to increase our prop rate. We'll see what happens.

Tim:

10 props, 52 weeks. Do you have a prop for tonight? It's like a 20% prop rate.

Bob:

No props tonight.

Dave:

I don't think I have a prop next week either.

Tim:

So that's it. The year's over.

Bob:

Done.

Tim:

Alright, so uh we do have some fun photos here uh that we can show. Oh, Bob with the beard. Let me Yeah, you guys gotta see this.

Dave:

Hold on, give me one. Somehow. ChatGPT decided you needed some facial hair for this particular photo.

Tim:

So we I did back in explain the thing.

Dave:

Bob had to leave, and I don't know what you were doing, but we wanted to take a staff picture. And so Amy or Tim or somebody had Bob superimposed into the picture as if he was there. And then somehow ChatGPT made Bob have a facial hair, and it was kind of a mixture of like Dave and Bob together. Like um, I don't know. It was a weird uh Alright, here it is. Check this out. There we go. On the left.

Bob:

Why he looks like you're you're hunched over right there.

Dave:

Like Imagine in some other bizarro world, like you know, there's that Seinfeld episode where there's this alternate Kramer, there's this alternate Jerry, there's this alternate this is the alternate Bob and Dave in some other universe. That's that church exists.

Bob:

You'd be like about 6'7 in that picture. I'd be like a foot taller than I can.

Tim:

I actually have a picture of the women, Bob, right here. This is what could be. What in the world? Oh my goodness. How did that happen? This Bob, look at this. Look at it's it's beautiful. This is what could be.

Bob:

It it is. I did I did have a beard when I was younger. But like I told you, my wife, my wife forbids me to grow a beard.

Tim:

Amanda, look at this. Look how handsome he is. Are you kidding me? My goodness. Please reconsider. That's it. That was impressive. All right. Uh, should we should we sprint? All right. A Christmas sprint.

Bob:

Christmas sprint.

Tim:

To close out the episode, uh, today theology sprint. Let me just I had it written down.

Bob:

By the way, are you are you are you doing your uh your little uh interludes here during this?

Tim:

There have been interludes, yes.

Bob:

Where it just goes jingle bells, hey folks, how are you doing out there? We got a night of revival coming up there.

Tim:

As the Christmas season comes to a close, it's time to start thinking about the new year. And what better way to ring in the new year than by coming together as a church and worshiping our Lord? That's right. I'm talking about night of revival. Night of Revival 2026 is gonna take place on Friday, January the 16th, starting at 6 30 p.m. right here in our own sanctuary. This is going to be an amazing evening for worship. There's gonna be a great message and there will be intentional time for prayer. We're encouraging you to invite friends, family, and neighbors, both saved and unsaved, so they can experience the love of Christ and hear his word proclaimed. Every year after Night of Revival, I always have people come up to me and say, This is amazing. This was such an amazing night. I can't wait till the next one. If you haven't been to one yet, this is not something you're gonna want to miss. And if you've been to one, well, make sure you come back. We are so excited for Night of Revival 2026, Friday, January the 16th, starting at 6 30 p.m. We really hope to see you there. It's gonna be an incredible night. What's funny is that was the ad that just played. Um here is our theology sprint for today. Is Christmas a pagan holiday that Christians baptized, or is or a Christian celebration that is that has absorbed cultural elements?

Bob:

I tend to think it's the the former, right?

Dave:

I mean I I think there's truth to both of those statements. So say say both of the statements one more time.

Tim:

Is is Is Christmas a pagan holiday that Christians have um baptized, or have we absorbed cultural elements into our own holiday?

Dave:

Yeah, I I I'm gonna contend that both of those statements are are true. To both end. Yeah. So but no to this to the kind of question behind the question, which is there's no real such thing as the historical nature of Christmas, and all we really did was readapt other pagan stories and and make some kind of fake story about Jesus. Um the um the reality is, and I have a whole graphic about this that Wes Huff put together, is that um the the symbolism that we associate with Christmas is uh very rich and very uh wonderful. So I'll give you a couple examples. So the claim that the Christmas tree is is from the origins of Druid and pagan practices who brought pine trees into their home to ward off nature spirits. That's not true. Christmas trees go back to the 16th century in Europe. The first mention of Christmas tree is an uh is um an ordinance in the 16th century. Almost no early pagans thought pine trees were sacred, let alone associated with December 25th. Germanic tribes believe the oak was sacred, um, and this has nothing to do with pine trees.

Bob:

But Jesus didn't have a true Christmas tree.

Dave:

That's true.

Bob:

But they were part of church history, is what you're saying. Yeah.

Dave:

Yeah. Uh here's another one that's commonly touted out. So uh the claim is that Christmas has December 25th as a date, and that date was borrowed from pagan festivals like the Soul Invictus or Saturnalia. Um here's the reality. The Soul Invictus was not placed on December 25th until 354 AD, when the uh calendar records uh indicate that. Um prior to this, the the Julio-Claudian uh inscriptions say the sun festivals were on August 8th and December 11th, and maybe October 19th. So um nice try. But no, that's not the case. That's not the case. Uh and the winter solstice had no festive significance to the ancient Romans. There were no celebrations planned for the date of December 25th. Um, so that's not true either. So you can go through these little accusations and you know try to make parallels between the the Greek god Horus and Mithra, but the the parallels are uh it's they're always a stretch. And so I think the reality is that um Christmas is an okay, unique Christian holiday, and we have some rich symbols, and it's it's uh it's okay to celebrate that.

Bob:

Yeah, very true. Go eat a Reese's, and that'll be your Christmas gift.

Tim:

Maybe not a huge one like that, though.

Bob:

Leave a giant Reese's for Santa with some milk and see what happens this year. It's like a Reese's pie right now.

Dave:

I guarantee you it's gonna be the best Christmas ever. You get one of these bad boys.

Bob:

All right. Well, uh, we hope you have a Merry Christmas. Have a happy new year. We're not gonna be back until January 5th, something like that. Yes. So we're gonna enjoy our nice behind the pulpit break. We are beginning our new series on uh the upside down glory, disability in the kingdom of God. We'll see you after that on January the 4th. Uh, and uh until now and then, uh have a safe, happy, and healthy holiday.

Tim:

Merry Christmas, everybody. Hey guys, thank you so much for watching this year's Christmas episode. As the producer of Behind the Pulpit, I just want to say thank you. Uh, thank you so much for listening to us. This is our fourth season of the show, and it's just been an amazing time uh as we've journeyed and grown in Behind the Pulpit. You have taken us with you on car rides. We you watch us on your TV. You know, whether you listen on Spotify or an Apple podcast or you watch on YouTube, uh, we value you and we appreciate you listening and commenting and interacting with us. Uh, we'd love to talk about the show with you guys when you bring it up. So uh I just want to say thank you and uh from all of us here at Millington Baptist Church, have a very Merry Christmas.