The Heart of Christmas: Faith, Festivities, and Family Fun

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Get z stack dot com promo code save all Right, Christmas, Christmas is off, obviously one of the days in the United States that Christianity is actually put back in the public square. Now, it's hard to determine how many people still celebrate Christmas from a religious point of view versus how many people celebrate Christmas because they like the idea of Christmas. Of that, they're not Christians, but they like to get together. And then there's a number of people now that either due to circumstances, are alone or they simply don't want to get together.

That number so it's hard to tell. But for those of you who don't know what Christmas is actually about, or if you're a Christian and you don't know how to really explain it, let me do it. In this first segment here, the Bible says that in John one that in the beginning was the word now in the Bible that means Jesus Christ. It's in Revelation eighteen.

So in the beginning was the word Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God, and he became flesh and made his dwelling among us. So before anything existed, Jesus is that is a Christian belief that God always has been, does not have a beginning to earn end. So there were prophets who wrote down what God had put on their heart, predicting who the Messiah would be. Because in the Bible, Adam and Eve violated God's rule and ate of the forbidden eight the forbidden fruit.

And what happened then is sin entered into the world. So what happened then is God said, hey, Satan, you're going to now crawl on your belly and I'm going to send a Messiah. I'm going to send a redeemer who is going to crush your head even though you'll strike his heel. So then the prophets over going back as far as fifteen hundred years ago, start writing down and they predicted that the Messiah wouldn't just magically show up come down out of heaven.

No, it actually said that he would be born of a woman actually born of a virgin, seven hundred years before Jesus was born, so the prophet written down. They found the Dead Sea Scrolls, so this was written long before and it's Isaiah seven fourteen says the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will. He will be called Emmanuel, which means God with us.

Other prophecies Psalm two seven said that this Messiah would is that God said you are my son to Dad, become your father. So God the son would be the Messiah that would becoming and born of a virgin. These are prophecies. The odds of six or seven of these coming to pass long before somebody who was born is pretty much mathematically impossible, which is why it's one of the reasons why Christians we have strong faith, because we believe there's evidence.

The Bible predicted that this Messiah and Micah five two through four would actually come, would be born in a little town of no importance called Bethlehem, outside of Jerusalem. It wasn't born in the big cities, would be born. It would be born in Bethlehem Micah five two through four. But you Bethlehem and the land of Judah, or no, by no means least among the rulers of Judith.

How do you will become a ruler who would shepherd my people? And that he would come the Messiah would come through the family of King David. Prophecies that he would be a descendant of Abraham, a descendant of Isaac, a descendant of Jacob. So there are things that Jesus had to fulfill to be match up with the prophecies in the lineages. Like opens up in Matthew, it says a prediction that Jesus would receive gifts the gentile, non Jewish wise men would bring gifts prophesied I said Isaiah seven fourteen.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The Virgin will concede and give birth to a son named Emmanuel. But then over in Isaiah ninety six is said, for unto us a child is born, for unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And this miss Siah who would be born would be called wonderful counselor Mighty God, everlasting Father principeice.

So this is why the Jewish people should not have missed their Messiah, because there were hundreds of prophecies, and even Herod, the King over the King over Jerusalem, said hey, where is this Where is this Messiah going to be born? And they said, well, according to the prophecies Bethlehem, which is why when he the wise men went, he said, hey, come, when you go there, come back and tell me where he is so I can go worship him too. But really what he wanted to do is kill the Messiah because it was five miles away, to make sure that he didn't rise up to overthrow him because he was Herod was considering that a like a worldly king would try to take his kingdom. But that is not why Jesus came, because he came to die. That's Christmas, the celebration that God kept his word, that Jesus, God the Son, was born in flesh and then would live the perfect life, and then thirty years later would go through an illegal trial be put on a Roman cross even though he had done no sin.

But on the cross he would not conquer death and sin, and then those who believe with have eternal life. He rose from the dead, sets at the right hand sits at the right hand of our Father in Heaven and we'll return, which is why we celebrate Easter. So there you go. Jesus did not actually die in December twenty or was not born on December twenty fifth, But it's a day that our country, our government has set apart for us to one day put our heads toward what we deem to be a reality.

As christ followers most of the world, now, why would say an increasing number, Lets let's say forty percent of the world. They worship their own little gees, which to Christians don't exist Islam and Hinduism and everything else. But Christmas is the way for Christians to praise God that he kept his promise and sent his son to come for us. So if you're a Christian, you can share that is based on love and God's promises.

If you're not a Christian, then maybe maybe it makes a little more sense why your family members go to church on this day. But it's not a day that Christians are arrogant or should be. It's a day that we celebrate God's sovereign promises and his love for us. So hopefully that helps shout.

Now for those of you who are responsible for setting up the Christmas party, you know, like your family's gonna come over. There's some ideas I found online. Now this is my wife does this primarily because I'm not very good at this stuff. But here are some ideas if you want to write him down.

I found a website. One of them has freshly Picked says a holiday season is a time to gather, obviously, celebrate, create lasting memories with loved ones. Hosting a Christmas party is a perfect way to bring everyone together and spread to season's joy, whether it's small, intimate, or a lively event for extended family planning a Christmas party does not have to be stressful. That should be good news for you.

Well, here you go. Here are some of the things are recommending. Number one, it was a theme so outside of obviously the Christians are focused on Christmas. But you can have fun with the interior to your decorations.

So they're recommending you can do like a winter wonderland or a classic Christmas. So winter wonderland, think white and silver decor, snowflakes, twinkling lights, classic Christmas, red and green everything, Christmas trees, and the good old fashioned Santa hats, pajama party, ugly sweater party, retro Christmas with old school Christmas music. So if you're don't know what to do, the family is coming over and you can kind of get people to fall in line, have a little bit of fun. You can set a theme so it's not just walking in looking at each other, sitting down.

If you're really organized. This may be too late though, next year, do this or too clothes if you're listening to this next year, because it's evergreened. Send out invitations, you know, text your relatives, send out a formative invitation if you want to act and freak them out that they actually get something in the mail. Come about the themes.

So's these are ways just to try to make sure or try to do your best to make sure that the event goes smoothly. Plan the menu. Try to plan the perfect menu because food is at the heart of every Christmas party. So what they're recommending is you can either have a full sit down diner or do like a buffet style.

Of course, some of the things that they're recommending is to try to come up with appetizers maybe you don't normally do that little Keisha's, or cheese plotters or bushet or pigs in a blanket. And then the main course side dishes. By the way, what's your favorite? What's your favorite ham or turkey for the main course? I love them both. I don't know what about dish side dishes? Do you do you like the cranberry sauce or is that Thanksgiving only mashed potatoes? Stuffing desserts? I don't know about desserts.

My wife makes pies. The problem is I get so full on the dinner that I really shouldn't eat the dessert. But if you want to plant a perfect menu, they're saying, try to come up with some type of appetizers so people aren't staring at you while maybe chips and dip or whatever, and then make sure you got your main core side dishes and desserts, cookies, maybe hot chocolates with marshmallows or whatever. So these are ideas to try to make it go smooth.

If it doesn't always go smooth, so try to be a little more structured if your family's up to it. Set a festive atmosphere. Transform your home into a holiday haven with decorations, the tree. Make the Christmas tree the center piece of your decor.

Use light, string lights, candles, table setting. Seasonal sense, seasonal sense that's kind of cool. Even though that's my wife's stuff. I would never do it on my own.

But hey, if you want to kind of have the mood better, you can have the candles, scented candles, plan fun activities. All right, Well, this is going to be part of some of the other ideas that the other websites I found. I think this is important, especially if you have grand kids or if you have adults that just kind of like me, they need to be encouraged to be fun. The Marine Corps side of me, I'm working on it still after thirty years of being out gift exchanges, they say that's pretty cool.

Organize like a Secret Santa or White Elephant exchange, surprises, movie corner, set up a cozy space, run the classics craft station for kids or adults, even the decorate ornaments and make cards and gingerbread houses. Just a is this a way to keep the kids from being emped up and running in circles? And it's like, can be chaotic. Have things set up and so you can keep the kids busy, and then for the adults, you know, charades, trivia and then if you're now this isn't me, but you might do stuff like this, set up a photo booth with like props like sena hats, reindeer antlers, all that fun stuff a naughty or nice sign for memorable family photos. But they said, don't forget a couple things.

Don't forget the music. Prepare for the kids, crafts, coloring books, movies, all that, and stay organized and relaxed. And make sure you dedicate someone to take photos or videos throughout the evening or you're gonna get to the end and you're gonna be like I wish we would have taken photos or videos. So find someone like me, Hey, why don't you just take the photos and videos because you're pretty boring, And then consider putting a photo album or scribe book of this year's Christmas celebration to look back for years to come.

So there you go. Those are some things you should do, or at least consider doing, if you're gonna want to have a memorable Christmas party. Now we're gonna now we're gonna finish up here, which, by the way, Oklahoma is cold but beautiful. My wife is busy getting ready for our Christmas even Christmas Day, and we've got Christmas Eve service.

I love this time of year. Because it is a time to be joyful. If you if you are in a family, if you if you're if you're able to get together as a family, be very appreciative and very joyful. If you're not.

If you're Christian and you're not, God is with you. Go to a local church. If you're alone, be be with people, because there's Christians there that you can have fellowship with. Go to a Christmas Eve service if you If you can't be with family or friends, but if you can come together as a family, be joyful.

You are so blessed because not everybody can. And if you're Christian, you're celebrating that Christ king, that God has kept his promised, that God is good, and you have a family that you can love. So it make it a special time this year in twenty twenty four. So now to finish up here twenty three things that I found that you can do on Christmas Day, you know, besides opening presents.

So now no question for you, do you guys open your presence on Christmas Eve or do you open your presence on Christmas Day? I remember growing up, I was Catholic at the time. I'm not anymore Protestant. I remember We used to go to the midnight service and then we would come home and my mom would let us open our presence, but it'd be like midnight good Memories. And then eventually, for some reason, we quit going to that service, so we then started open the presence in the morning.

But either way, it's exciting either way because the present's rocked. Okay, So here you go some things that you can do now Here in Broken Arrow and Tulsa, they're really starting to promote the different homes that you can go tour. So if you go online, I'm sure you can find in your city homes that have gone way out of the way to make their homes a place that other people can enjoy. So one of the recommendations here which you can do on Christmas Day, when the sun goes down, you can go ahead and say let's go.

You get out and you go go through drive through Christmas lighting events like we have. If a Starbucks is open or something, which I don't recommend. I don't like Starbucks, but if they may be the only ones open, go get yourself a drink in hot chocolate and start going to look at Christmas s. It's good to get the family out if you're like, no, it's cold, I'm not doing that, well, then obviously great movies.

Right. So if everybody shows up Christmas Day, they come e and the presents are open, and the snacks and the food, make sure that you've got either on one of the streaming platforms. It's a wonderful life. You know, jingle all the way the cranks that Green stole Christmas.

But if you have the Classics set up with hot chocolate, popcorn and snacks, it's a good way to have everybody. They showed up, there was a high, there was a little of anxiousness, presents open, Maybe have a lunch and say, you know, let's just have a great time. Let's watch the Classics. Now.

If you're like my wife, which she's at the Nutcracker today, may you may depending upon you your family, family members, if they're performing the ballet, and if you're listening to this before Christmas even you might want to go and head out and watch the play. That's what they're recommending. I've been to it once. I don't need to see it again.

But that's just that's just me. This one I think is cool. Okay. A lot of times Christmas, especially with the kids.

It's a very uh getting, you're not giving, you're getting you want to I want to get a good meal. I want to get presents. Maybe some giving, but there's a lot of people expectations of receiving things. What I would have, what I would do now if my kids, if I was raising my kids now they're grown, I would make sure on Christmas Day that after the presence and everything, and now they're looking at me like what do we do, We'll go ahead and clean up and then go donate the things that you don't need anymore because you just got new stuff.

Oh it's Christmas. Why would you do such a thing. Because research shows kindness makes people happier. So if your kids got a bunch of toys, and they already had a bunch of toys and they haven't played with the old toys for a long time, package them up.

Hey, you've just received and now I want you We're gonna give to people who don't have goodwill dress for success salvation army. I think that's pretty cool because it's good for your mind, it's good for your heart, and it brings glory to God because he gave his son thirty years after Christmas, and God demonstrated his love for us while we were sinning and at war with him. He died for us, so we can be giving, especially when we just received even more. Make it a theme night so we're talking about the day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day.

Have some fun, even if they're goofy games. But don't I'm recommending don't talk about the November fifth election, even though I've been in politics political commentary for a long time. Not a good idea. And you can do it every y.

You can do it any other time. So make it a theme game night. Have some fun. If you're in an area where you still can Christmas carol, where people are going to be home and actually open the door and not scared and behind their cameras, you can go Christmas caroling.

I haven't done this for a long time. I can remember the last time we went out in Scott's Valley, California, and we went Christmas caroling and the people came out, even though I believe some of them were Silicon Valley tech people that are not Christians, but they still appreciated that we came out and sang songs for the now. If the family's just showing up for Christmas Day, then have a huge feast. You can have everybody involved, make it worthwhile.

Remember so mu should be taking pictures and videos. But hey, you make this, you make this, you take this out keeps people engaged. This one's good too, depending upon where you live. Go for a walk they call the nature walk.

Obviously, see if you consumed all of these calories which will bog you down and could make you hyper and then losing your zeal and can cause you know, lethargic minds. Put on your winter coat and just go walk around outdoors. If you've got to partner you just go walk. It's a great time because I realized when I walk with my wife, we talk a lot and there's things because there's no distractions as our bodies getting a well needed dose of oxygen extra oxygen.

We talked about the crafty things and what can you do with the kids, have them make thank you cards. Well, we know what to do. We're bored. Okay, sit down, we're going to write with markers and paper.

We're gonna write Christmas cards to everyone who gave you a gift. We talked about the gingerbread house. You can do those from scratch where you can get kids. Now, I know here it broke an arrow down the street.

They've got an ice skating rink. You can always go hit the ice if you want. Do you like doing that? Give burn some calories, get everybody out, take the photos, have some fun with it. But the kids also, even adults, you can go and you can have a candy cane hunt.

You can hide them and to tell the kids go find them. Now, we talked about the white elephant exchange. So if you want to bring something that you really don't want or whatever, you can exchange them. Make fun of having an ugly sweater Christmas sweaters night or day, or whoever has the ugliest one gets a prize.

If you have someone who can play the piano, as someone who's gifted and they're comfortable, have them play sing along, encouraging them, encouraging them to advance in their musical abilities. So if you've got the Christmas movies to watch, if you've got people can play music, if you can go on a walk, I think there's just some good ideas. Obviously, if you've got a family that's very outgoing, you can host a Christmas karaoke. Karaoke night karaoke, or you could everyone sit around and they hey, what's your goal for New Year's next year? Start kind of a pre New Year's resolution discussion.

And if you're a home alone obviously connect with family members on your electronic devices. So hope, hopefully these are some good ideas. I know a little it's a lot different than what I'm normally going to be doing, but I thought we should keep it simple on this podcast because Christmas should be about Christ, for Christ, for the believers, for the whole family, about love and about joy and about giving, and for those in your family that are struggling, Encourage them, invite them, be patient, understanding that we're all that we all go through trials and we don't know who's what why. Back as saying if you're if you're single, or if you're a couple and you're and you're not doing as well and you're believer, or even if you're not a believer and you're feeling called to go and talk or be around people want to know more about why Christians believe what they believe than just look up a local church service and go go find out why God would, why God would be so in love with people that even after they fell the original sin, that he had a plan in place to go and save some.

It's a beautiful story. So hopefully you've enjoyed this Christian podcast. If it's a if you want to share with your friends and family, that would be great. Going into the year.

Next year we're going to be we'll have segmented shows, so we'll just I might talk about like the top political story and just to let you know why it matters. For example, MSN has an article here from news a new January sixth report shows that Trump admin had actually ordered for military support in January sixth, but it was turned down, So we should talk about why. From the sources here in Broken Narrow City Council agreed to extend one of the main main side roads, one of the main roads here in town, Olive Avenue. So that's something that we could talk about.

But I want to just make sure that you're you're plugged in, you're connected, if you're in Oklahoma, that you can that we can really enjoy living in the Sooner state. If you don't live in Oklahoma, too bad, No kidding, You're welcome here. If you love people, you're your conservative, No, we want people that come in that want to walk into and help them, to help us to grow this pursuit of liberty and being left alone so we can pursue happiness. We can help people and the federal government is not that present in our lives.

So this has been anchored in Oklahoma. Get My name is Eric Thompson. Please shares with your friends and family, and again check out gets eastock dot com if you want to make sure that you are keeping your immune system primed up so you don't get sick in the first place. That's so much better.

I'll see next time here on Anchored in Oklahoma,

Take Care.