What I Want For Christmas After Hours

Hello, this is Matt Slick from the Matt Slick Live Podcast, where I defend the Christian faith and lay out our foundations of the truth of God's Word. Your chosen Truth Network Podcast is starting in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, share it, but most of all, thank you for listening and for choosing the Truth Podcast Network.

This is the Truth Network. Coming to you from an entrenched barricade deep in the heart of central North Carolina, Masculine Journey After Hours, a time to go deeper and be more transparent on the topic covered on this week's broadcast. So, sit back and join us on this adventure. The Masculine Journey After Hours starts here now.

Welcome to Masculine Journey After Hours. It is glad to have our intro. I like that. That's nice. Gives me time to think and kind of process and think about what I want. And so that's where we are. That's the topic for today. Not what Sam wants, but what is it that you want for Christmas? If someone is to ask you, and as we heard from David earlier, his is a tree stand and he had some some solid reasoning for it, although I think it's more about shooting the deer, but I think it is probably true that he wants quiet time with God.

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, go back and listen to the previous show and that would be at masculinejourney.org. And while you're there, you could go ahead and register for a boot camp that's coming up or for entrenchment that's coming up sooner. And what's the best thing about an entrenchment, Jim? Robby says it all the time. Best thing about an entrenchment? I was thinking of the entrenched barricade that keeps the gophers and voles.

I'll just ask Robby. Good idea. F-R-E-E. Free. The best part about it is the entrenchment is free.

So you could go to masculinejourney.org and register for the entrenchment. And it just takes me back to the text with Jim earlier today. He forgot a lot of things in that today too. All you had to say was earlier text with Jim. You didn't have to say today.

It could have been yesterday, the day before. They all blend together now. They all kind of blend together, yeah.

They do. So we are talking about the topic, what is it that you want for Christmas? And in our first show, we went through most of our clips. So we're going to have a lot of conversation in this particular show. And so what the interesting thing is, we'll see where God takes us. And so, but before we get there, Harold and I both still need to answer, what is it that we want for Christmas?

So Harold, I'll defer to you and say, what is it that you really want for Christmas? Wow. So this time it's age before beauty. Oh, there we go. We both like that.

Compared to many it's age and beauty. Well, not to sound like the young lady on the Miss Universe thing and everything. I want world peace.

I want no hunger. I'm gonna make a selfish statement. I am an inverter, veteran, nitpicker. I pick and I fuss. Things upset me. And I get on other people's nerves because of that.

God and the Holy Spirit has made me a whole lot better than I used to be. But one of the things that I think I would like is to not be such a nitpicker so that I can not displease my sweetheart as much as I do now. Looking about things and whether it's politics or sports or whatever it is, I seem to focus on the negative.

I want to be a more positive person. And one of the things that occurred to me earlier today in a Bible study that I do on the phone, the UBible study, it occurred to me that sometimes we pray prayers that we think on the outset. That is really selfish. But what we may not be aware of, like Abraham and Sarah, Zechariah and Elizabeth, that we may be praying for what God already has lined up. And we just don't know it. So, you know, when they were praying for a child at a time when they couldn't reasonably expect one, that was God's plan. And the same thing could be true with us, that we pray things like, you know, why do I want to be less of a nitpicker? Because that makes me more appealing to non-believers. Because as a believer, I project a negative image when I complain. Because God has blessed me so greatly. I get teased about being short, and that doesn't bother me. It used to, but it hasn't for a long time, because I have other gifts that offset. So, you know, I'm trying to focus on the fact that God knew what He needed me to be, and He made me that way.

And if I complain about the way I am, I'm complaining against God, and that ain't a good thing. So, that's sort of, I guess, a summary of what I want for Christmas. Now, is that something you came up with, or Jan gave you that?

She will be very pleased to hear that, and she will encourage me to do it. Okay. But yeah, that's mine.

All right, that's good, that's good. I was intrigued by and wondering if we needed a definition of nitpicker. I mean, I know it, but we have multiple generations sitting in this room, and probably even more out in the audience. Well, a nitpicker, in my opinion, is somebody that takes a molehill and it becomes a mountain. That's another old expression. I was going to say to people, I don't know that one anymore. So, I'm not sure I have a current expression that would fit, but it's focusing on the negative.

Do you have an example? Spill the beans. You don't have to, Harold. We're just kidding. We're not supposed to be political around here. That's a good place to go with that one. You probably shouldn't go there. So, we'll just kind of stay away from that one.

I'll go ahead and jump in with my clip. Sorry, Harold. We'll come back to the non-political statement. Well, I just thought it was interesting that your clip was aiming right at Harold's shortness. It was.

It was. His shortcomings. And honestly.

Yeah, the shortcomings. Yeah, there you go. And to hear how well he thought his out, now I'm kind of embarrassed to play my clip.

I really am because that was really well said, and I'm like, wow, that's deep. That's good. And so, that's why you have so much wisdom, Harold. That's why he's the sage and we're not. That's true. And knowledge flows downhill, so he gets it all. That's true. Oh, I like that, Jim. Yeah. So, what does that say about you? Well.

It starts somewhere. I also thought about the fact that, you know, there's 18 inches between the heart and the head, you'll hear sometimes. Well, for you, for Harold, it's a little less.

And I was wondering if it was. But there's also 18 inches between the top of his head and the top of my head. That's true.

That's a good point. It's symmetrical. All right. So, we will get on to my clip that now seems very, you know, small.

Small is a good word for it. It is. It is. And so, this clip is from the movie Elf. And so, when I was thinking about what I really want for Christmas, yeah, there's things that we touch, we all touch on.

You know, that's a piece of it. But when I think about my favorite times at Christmas, they all involve laughter. Whether it's, you know, the other night when we're having our Christmas party and we're laughing together with my kids, with my family, the best times revolve around laughter. And laughter just does something. It's hard to be depressed and laugh. It's hard to be lots of things and laugh. And so, laughter, as I used to say back in Reader's Digest, which is an old magazine, David, I know you don't know what that is. But it was Reader's Digest that laughter is the best medicine. And it really is. And so, when I was thinking about that. And he's saying, what's a magazine? Yeah, that's true too.

That's a good point. As he scrolls on his phone. Yeah, he's looking up magazine on his phone now if we're talking.

But when you think back. He thinks that goes in his rifle for a deer stand. That is a magazine. Yeah, good point.

He's ordering one off eBay right now. Amazon. But I kept thinking about what's a clip. And so, I'm looking at clips and this clip comes to mind. And so, in this scene, it's from the movie Elf.

And you have never seen the movie to set it up to where it makes sense. You have Will Ferrell who grows up at the North Pole and he thinks he's an elf, although he's six foot something. He's really big guy.

Right? And so, he's very clumsy up there. And he learns that who he thought was his dad was not really his dad. And so, he goes on a journey to go meet his father. And so, when he catches up with his father, his father writes books for a living. And he's really stuck. And he can't find a book to write.

And he's on a strong deadline. And so, he invites in this consultant who happens to be a little person. It's Peter Dinglish. And he's an actor.

He's a little person. And what happens is Will Ferrell comes in and sees the consultant and this conversation ensues. And so, we're going to talk about it after we come back. Paris and fail.

Each one of them with a 70-inch plasma screen. So, I suggest you wipe that stupid smile off your face before I come over there and smack it off. You're feeling strong, my friend. Call me elf one more time. He's an angry elf. Look at you.

I wasn't ready for that. Call me elf one more time. Call me elf. You're an elf. He thinks he's an elf. Listen, Miles. Listen, Miles.

He must be a South Pole elf. Admittedly, I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan. But this movie in spots just really cracked me up. And this is one of them that just really makes me laugh out loud at that particular clip. And as I think about that, and I think back to the Christmases, just the times that my kids and I would watch Christmas movies and laugh at the same things, it's been so much a part of our life over the years that even now when they're in different states or in different cities in North Carolina, they'll send me little snapshots of them watching a movie, their favorite part. You know, my daughter was doing that the other day with Christmas Vacation.

You know, she was sending me little snippets from Las Vegas to saying, yeah, I remember how much you would laugh at this, Dad. And just the laughter that comes along with camaraderie comes along with fellowship, whether that be with your family, your friends, so forth. And so for me, that's a special part of Christmas. And probably one of my favorite parts is just getting together with the ones I love and laughing and enjoying ourselves. And I know you share this with me, Sam, and I don't know that everybody hears from God this way, but some of the hardest times I've laughed is when God has blindsided me with something silly. And God has a great sense of humor and often speaks to me in funny ways. And I know you've admitted that too, but I'd love to spend some time this season laughing with God. Yeah.

And that kind of brings me to my next question for you guys, since we're kind of out of clips. And so separate from thinking about Christmas, right? So if Jesus showed up this Christmas, which he shows up all the time, but let's say he just stood right in front of you right now and said, tell me what your heart really, really wants. Not just at Christmas, but right now, what does your heart really want? What would your answer be? You would have it. Jesus standing in front of you. Okay.

For me, that would be the it that I would really, really want. Okay. Yeah. So it would be fulfilled in that question. Okay. That's not going to make for a long discussion.

No, but I got other material if you want it. My fault was I need more information. Are we here on earth or are we in heaven? No, you're alive.

Okay. Jesus showed up. Then it's take me home is my answer to that one. So my never-ending quest, it seems like if he was standing here is that prayer without seizing kind of thing. Like if I felt like I would experience my life in fellowship with him a lot more than I am currently doing it. And God showed me something. I'd been studying this passage off and on for months. He kept on sending me back to the scene in Exodus where Moses is told, you know, God's basically trying to break Moses's agreement. When you think about it, Moses has made an agreement that the people of Israel are not going to believe him. And God's trying to get him to break that agreement. It's an interesting discussion when you look at it from that perspective of the masculine journey is, you know, Moses, you got an agreement, buddy.

And your agreement is you really don't have faith in your own people. And so what he tells him to do is really fascinating. And I got this from like four different angles, a Hebrew lecturer, a Greek Orthodox, Orthodox lecture that I heard. And all these, when you put them together, this is what you get. When he told Moses to throw down his staff or put down his staff, a staff is literally, and this is Robby's interpretation, it's always Jesus, right? It's what Jeremiah saw at the beginning of Jeremiah is he saw a staff. It's what's in the Ark of the Covenant is the staff. And the idea is this vertical relationship that Harold understands also well. But the idea is if you're holding onto a staff, you're literally holding onto God.

You're at that point that I'm talking about that you want to be in relationship with Jesus 24 seven. Well, if you let go of the staff, what happens? It becomes a serpent.

Are you following me? And I mean, how many times have we let go? And the next thing you know, serpent, you know. But the beautiful thing about what God is telling him is if you let go, guess what? Pick it back up again.

Right? And so it's almost like God's telling Moses, look, I know you're not going to be able to hang onto the staff all the time. But don't forget, anytime you pick it up, he has control of the serpent, right? Anytime you pick it up, it's no longer a serpent. It's the staff again. A herpetologist is not going to pick it up by its tail.

That's true. A herpetologist is not, but I don't know what a herpetologist, but I'm sure Jim does. I do.

I had a cousin that's a herpetologist. So if Jesus was here, I mean, that seems like he's working with me on that and continuing to answer my prayer, but it really is what I've longed for. My heart's longed for to figure out how to get that. And even today, as I did shoot a deer from a beautiful deer stand, David, that I was sitting in that was with friends. But as I was standing there looking at the deer, I was like, man, you were there right before it. You were there as I was going up, but you weren't there at the moment that I want. And it's just, oh well, because I didn't have Terry there to remind me. But I did thank him a lot for the deer. So I was standing there over it, but I was like, man, how did I, how did I, you know, but your, your heart just takes over at some point. I am in Jesus out the window.

I dropped the staff, but there you go. Thank you. I, I have time to let you guys answer. And so I try to think about what my answer might be. And mine is really pretty selfish on the onset. It is, I think the net outcome hopefully wouldn't be, but I'd like to have my whole heart restored. Wow. To know what it would feel like to not be selfish at all. Just think all what you could do for other people. Yeah. I, I, yeah, I think it actually could treat people the way I should treat them all the time and not have those other thoughts that I shouldn't have from time to time that I think we all have.

Um, especially driving for me, but anyway, to have my whole heart and to live from it. Wow. How amazing that would be.

How amazing that would be. And God's given it to us. Every time we go to a bootcamp, we get more of our heart restored. You know, you can sit there and say, guys, how can you really go to 10 boot camps, five boot camps, 15 boot camps, 20 boot camps, whatever that number is, is because God's always there and God continues to restore more and more of our heart back.

It is the layers. Yeah. And yeah, I've never been the one where he didn't poke at something that was to getting right to that very thing, which makes all the difference in the world and all that we've talked about between relationships and all this stuff.

So w you know, that's a really, yeah. Every one of the things that we asked for at Christmas, including laughter, God's provided to me through a bootcamp, right? The ability to forgive others and to forgive myself that I never thought I could only came through his work on my heart at a bootcamp. The deepening of relationships has happened because he's changed me, which allows me to love others differently. You know, and I can look back and say, well, that's just all God in the midst of that, but it's all coming from getting more and more of a heart back.

And once you get that, you just want more. At least I do. Yeah, because that's where you love from. Yeah. And, and having been to, and I've got my number down, it's umpteen. Is it? Yeah. I, I'm pretty sure I'm in the teens.

I think it's the high teens might've stuck up to 20, but it doesn't matter. But every time I've been, I've had a close encounter with God. And as you said, they're very different, but I was talking to somebody trying to get them to go to bootcamp recently. And my wife brought over a piece of paper and held it front in front of me. And I don't know if this is, uh, it's wonderful. But then I think, does that mean I'm rotten the rest of the time?

She, she wrote that every time you've been to a bootcamp, you've come back better and more loving, more caring. And if, if for no other reason, that's a good thing. But, um, I was thinking about your whole heart and that would be wonderful.

And David would like that cause you'd play his clips. Well, maybe it didn't say, I didn't say lack of discerning heart, just whole heart. Our hearts should be discerning.

Yeah. Well, you can say I got a long way to go. Um, Danny, what about you? Well, I was thinking about it and, um, just been in the season that I'm in and Malachi 4 comes to, comes to my mind. He says, he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. And I think my, my question or what I would want from Jesus would be to know that my children, my adult children know him. Because, you know, that's, that's, I mean, we, when we talk about eternity, we talk about spending eternity with those we love and that kind of thing. And you want to know that your children, and I don't know that I know that now. That's a good point.

Thank you. Harold, do you have anything that you would answer Jesus today with that question? Well, exactly what Danny just said, that my children and grandchildren and stuff would would know the Lord.

And welcome me into heaven. And now I feel like my answer was selfish because those are very selfless, very good answers, guys. Yeah.

I don't know. Mine was about me. But it is all about me. So is mine at the end of the day.

Yeah, they all are. But one thing that really came to my mind as we were going through the show is I can see that we've all spent really deep amount of time thinking about the topic. And honestly, I could tell it's because with the clips and what we were saying, especially before the show and in the show is I think what we, what I would recommend really for all the listeners is really take something like this and just go dive in deep with it with God and just meditate on it. It's like, what do you really, really want? Because things like, yeah, I want Jesus as a simple, quick answer, but okay, well, how would that really look in your life, like your heart back and relationships and love in your life? And how does that manifest itself out in others?

And not just for yourself, but how does that then expand? Because there's a lot there, because I, you know, I'm kind of by myself and I'm like, everybody was leaving for Christmas going somewhere. And I'm like, okay, I'm going to go visit my mom.

It's been over a year now since I've been back. And I'm like, that'll be great. We'll just go. And then she's like, well, so-and-so is gone.

So-and-so is gone. We're already doing this at other times. I'm like, oh, this is going to be nice. It's just going to be my mom and I just being able to say, being able to sit down and talk and chat.

We'll go visit a few other people at times, but it's just, it's no hustle bustle. And it's just go back, relax, have fun. And I'm just really looking forward to that in the season this year.

I think it'll be great. Yeah. Well, yeah. Well, you know, as you were talking, I was thinking about the whole heart thing, you know, and never really thought that if that would be possible, right on this side of heaven or whatever you want to call it. And you know, my life, you know, on the other side of that, it doesn't insulate you from getting hurt. Jesus had his whole heart and man, he had to deal with everything. Betrayal, you name it.

Right. But I just wonder how much different it would be to have that whole heart. And I know it's still hurt, but man, to have that connection to God and still have that intact, that'd have to be good. I would invite a tremendous amount of warfare because when you look at wholehearted characters in Bible history, David, he brought it.

Paul, you know, the more whole hearted you get, Satan sees that and you become public enemy number one. Let me rethink. The biggest mole on the whack-a-mole board. Yeah.

It's got the big old mallet for this big old head. It was Jesus in front of you, not Aladdin. Okay. That's insane. That's a good point.

Any other thoughts on what you'd want for Christmas or about this coming up Christmas? We've got about a minute left. I was kind of wondering if we could have done that one more specifically, because we all did the kind of world. I have another one I could ask the listeners for. I had an answer for you. Okay.

You want to totally know all the meaning in the Song of Solomon. Oh, there you go. That would be. But also, I would like some feedback from our listeners. Yeah. Like, man, you know, you guys get our emails all there.

Robby at Masculine Journey, Sam at Masculine Journey. Like, what would you like to hear in 2023? What are some topics, what are some things that would interest you? You know, because obviously, you know, we want to involve you, whether you get a chance to meet you to boot camp or whatever, but that would be an awesome thing to get.

Yeah. And if you can't send us an email, you can find us on Facebook. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram.

We're on everything, not Jim or so. I mean, Masculine Journey. You can find us collectively on it. But go to masculinejourney.org to register for the upcoming boot camp. That's coming up March 30th through April 2nd. But first, we have a free, yes, that's right, free entrenchment coming up January 27th and 28th, masculinejourney.org. We'll talk to you next week. This is the Truth Network.