Saving Christmas (2014)

1. Welcome, everyone.

2. I am so glad you're here.

3. I love Christmas.

4. I admit it, I love everything about Christmas time.

5. I love the cookies, I love the fire,

6. I love the presents, I love the stockings,

7. I love the tree, I love the fudge,

8. I love the lights.

9. It's a great time for growing out the winter beard.

10. I love everything about it.

11. I love the music, I love the carols and the hymns,

12. I love all the kids.

13. And I love the spirit in the air at Christmas time,

14. wherever you go.

15. There's something that makes people want to be more kind.

16. At Christmas, they want to be more compassionate,

17. more helpful, more generous.

18. Donations go up all around the world.

19. Something that makes people bring others in

20. from out of the cold and help them,

21. clothe them, feed them.

22. And best of all, I think there's something about Christmas

23. that all of us sense deep inside that says,

24. "Something big happened, and because of it,

25. everything is going to be okay."

26. And I love hot chocolate!

27. But have you noticed, there's some people

28. who would love to put a big wet blanket on all of this.

29. They don't want us to love Christmas so much

30. and celebrate it the way we do.

31. There's this one group over here that says,

32. "Hey, if you want to sing your songs and do your stuff

33. at Christmas time, that's fine, but tone it down.

34. Don't sing so loud." Right?

35. "Just, you take your private stuff

36. and you just keep it in your house.

37. Don't let it spill out into the public

38. and bother the rest of us.

39. Just keep it tucked in and private."

40. And then there's this other group over here

41. who's actually on the inside who's telling us,

42. "Everything you're doing,

43. all this stuff, the images, the characters,

44. the traditions, it's all wrong.

45. It has nothing to do with Christmas.

46. As a matter of fact, you should just take all of that,

47. wrap it up and throw it out the door

48. because it's all bad."

49. You know, what are they gonna do next,

50. tell us hot chocolate's bad for us?

51. That the Druids invented it?

52. So what are we supposed to do?

53. I mean, it can get pretty confusing.

54. And all this bickering is definitely not

55. doing anything good for our kids.

56. Maybe we need a word from the outside.

57. A voice, someone who can remind us

58. of the true meaning of Christmas.

59. Because maybe somewhere along the way,

60. we lost sight of the real story.

61. Maybe we've got it wrong.

62. Or, maybe we're listening to the wrong people.

63. Or, maybe, just maybe,

64. someone like Santa Claus is actually on the team?

65. Sir?

66. Go away.

67. He's here, Sir.

68. Where?

69. Here, at the Tavern.

70. Grab my coat.

71. Stories are tricky things,

72. especially the ones that we've heard lots of times.

73. There was a time when we didn't mind hearing

74. the same stories over and over again.

75. In fact, when we were children,

76. we insisted on hearing them on an endless loop.

77. In fact, we'd even beg and plead with our parents

78. until they either gave up or gave in.

79. Then we got older, and we thought maybe

80. it's time for some new stories.

81. We wanted to be surprised.

82. We wanted more twists and turns, and we'd roll our eyes

83. if something ever got too predictable.

84. But then we had kids of our own,

85. and we found ourselves telling them

86. the same stories our parents told us.

87. Only we thought that maybe the stories

88. were a bit too scary.

89. We got nervous that the wolf or the witch

90. might actually give them nightmares.

91. So, we eased off on the bad guys or even left them out entirely.

92. Our heroes got tamed

93. and cut down to more manageable size.

94. They needed to be less intense, more jolly.

95. But the stories we hear

96. and the stories we tell shape us.

97. They teach us how to live by showing us how to live.

98. You and I are in a story right now

99. and how we enter this story matters.

100. Hey, everybody.

101. That's me enjoying the party.

102. And that's my sister.

103. She's throwing the party.

104. No one loves a Christmas party more than her.

105. As always, amazing.

106. Hey, you really stepped it up this year.

107. You got Santa Claus.

108. Where'd you find him?

109. What do you have to pay a guy like that?

110. It's Uncle Bill.

111. Maybe it was the beard. I didn't see him.

112. Hey, does Uncle Bill work?

113. Does he have a job?

114. No, that's why we hired him.

115. No.

116. Hey, uh, where's Christian?

117. Oh, he's in the other room.

118. Yeah? How's he doing?

119. Is he okay?

120. Yeah. Yeah.

121. - Yeah, he's fine. - You sure?

122. Yeah.

123. I don't know.

124. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

125. Hey, do I need to break some legs?

126. Is he not treating you right?

127. No.

128. I'll take him out in the back right now.

129. No, no. He's fine, really!

130. He's just... he's just not into Christmas this year.

131. That's all.

132. All right, who wants hot chocolate?

133. I'm hot chocolate guy!

134. Come on in, guys!

135. Remember how I said earlier that you and I are

136. in the middle of a story?

137. The difference between our story and the stories we heard as kids

138. is that we get to help write ours,

139. and we can choose to be the hero or the villain.

140. We can be the wise man or the fool.

141. We can be Tiny Tim or Uncle Scrooge.

142. Even Uncle Scrooge has a story, and he has his reasons.

143. Problems don't take a break just because it's Christmas time.

144. Maybe someone's missed his Christmas bonus this year

145. or maybe he lost his job or even a loved one.

146. Or maybe, just maybe,

147. he just doesn't like Christmas under any circumstances.

148. And that's Christian, my brother-in-law.

149. My sister wasn't exaggerating.

150. He is not into Christmas this year.

151. You just don't know someone's story

152. until you see what's going on inside his head.

153. Where some see youthful joy,

154. others see phony smiles and spoiled, bratty kids.

155. Where some see laughter and holiday cheer,

156. others see pretense and obligations.

157. Where some see festive decorations,

158. others see perverted symbols with hidden meanings.

159. Where some see innocent toys,

160. others see pointless distractions.

161. Where some see generosity and the joy of giving,

162. others see needless spending and bad stewardship.

163. Commercialism, greed, holiday junk, materialism,

164. paganism, elf worship.

165. The list goes on and on.

166. Some people are determined to see the worst

167. in even the best of things,

168. a big slap in the face to the true meaning of Christmas.

169. My man, Christian!

170. How you doing?

171. What's up, Deandre?

172. How you been?

173. You know me, blessed and highly favored.

174. And?

175. Saved and sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost

176. and that with a burning fire!

177. And?

178. Made evident by speaking in tongues, of course.

179. You guys and your verses.

180. You really need to work on your exegesis.

181. Extra Jesus?

182. Man, I've had my extra Jesus

183. ever since I was baptized for the second time. Ha!

184. You gonna give me some? Yeah.

185. That's not what I meant...

186. - You get that memo? - About what?

187. No more crazy shirt Fridays.

188. From who?

189. The man, corporate.

190. They think they gonna tell us what to do.

191. We gonna go to HR.

192. I'm gonna take it straight to HR.

193. You got to read your emails.

194. If we don't have crazy shirt Fridays,

195. it's the end for us, man.

196. That's all we got! What else do we get?

197. Floor two? I don't want floor two.

198. You know what happens down in floor two? I don't.

199. Don't want to find out 'cause I'm on floor four,

200. and I like it that way.

201. We gonna keep it that way.

202. We gonna march if we have to.

203. Straight power. Me and you.

204. My people have been through enough.

205. First they come in, start telling us what we gonna do,

206. and then they start taking over,

207. telling us we can't have Fridays,

208. then you can't have Thursdays,

209. then you can't have Tuesdays, and what's left?

210. Wednesday. Hump day!

211. That's already a day. That's not our day.

212. We need a day for us, crazy shirt Fridays.

213. Do you know how many crazy shirts I've got

214. that my wife gave me for Christmas?

215. What am I gonna do with those?

216. - Are you listening to me? - What?

217. I'm gonna get some hot chocolate.

218. I'll send you the email again, all right?

219. I'm out.

220. And when we see someone struggling around Christmas,

221. we should reach out.

222. Hey, Christian!

223. Nope. Not here.

224. Just Bill on the couch.

225. And if that person goes missing from the Christmas party,

226. especially if it's at his own home,

227. a good place to look would be somewhere quiet,

228. free from Christmas.

229. Ah, the car in the driveway.

230. See, if this were a story,

231. that's exactly where you would expect to find him,

232. and you would know that this character needs an intervention.

233. - Hey. - Hey.

234. I was wondering where you were.

235. Just, you know... taking a break.

236. You okay?

237. Yeah.

238. It just gets... noisy, yeah.

239. I was driving home today, and, uh...

240. right on Main, everything's lit up.

241. I'm driving by a store, and I, I see...

242. I see a little girl and her mom.

243. The little girl's got this look on her face like...

244. And her Mom's looking at her like, "Oh, it's okay, okay,"

245. And you know, the mom's got bags with her.

246. You can tell they've been, they've been shopping,

247. and the little girl is just so upset.

248. Obviously, whatever she wants, she's not getting.

249. Everybody just wants stuff.

250. And then, then I, come here

251. and I look at here, and I look at the...

252. I look at the food, I look at like, a ham.

253. I didn't even know we could get a ham that big.

254. I see the presents.

255. I see, I see... I see the tree.

256. I see... I see Santa.

257. It's like, what are we gonna do?

258. We're gonna open those presents.

259. Nieces and nephews are gonna get all excited,

260. they're gonna tear through...

261. And it's like three weeks from now,

262. no one's gonna be playing with it.

263. And that money spent...

264. how many kids could we have fed?

265. How many wells could we have dug?

266. Yeah.

267. That's Christmas.

268. Don't... don't...

269. I love your sister, I love her to death.

270. And she loves, she loves doing this.

271. She loves putting all the lights up and...

272. But I look... I look at what Christmas is.

273. I think to myself, "This cannot be what God wants."

274. And deep... and deep in the corner,

275. stuck in the corner will be a little snow globe,

276. a little nativity scene, a little baby Jesus.

277. We stick it somewhere in the corner,

278. don't really see it, and it's a trinket

279. while a big old Christmas tree just...

280. "I'm the big tree!

281. I'm the big center... I'm the big centerpiece

282. of all of Christmas."

283. And Santa's over there, and over here...

284. yeah, let's just put Jesus in the corner."

285. Let's put him right there,

286. and put a little glass thing around him.

287. Shake it upside down.

288. It's winter.

289. Snow falls all over, all over baby Jesus.

290. And then finally, he was not born in December.

291. This is not what Christmas is all about.

292. I hear you.

293. - I get it. - My man.

294. But this is all wrong.

295. This is all wrong.

296. No.

297. You're all wrong.

298. About what?

299. About everything you just said.

300. I said a lot.

301. Yeah, and it's all wrong.

302. I think you mean well,

303. but you got the whole thing wrong.

304. You, you drank the Kool-Aid.

305. You, you took the bait, hook, line and sinker.

306. You swallowed the whole thing.

307. Guess what?

308. Everything you see inside there,

309. it's all about Christmas.

310. It's all about Jesus, and you're spoiling the whole thing.

311. Not just for your wife,

312. but for everybody inside your house.

313. You're listening to the wrong people.

314. Are we seeing the same party?

315. Are we seeing the same everything

316. that's going on in there?

317. Yeah.

318. Okay, so, okay, so... explain to me

319. how when I walk into that Christmas party,

320. which is going on all over the world...

321. Uh-huh.

322. Explain to me how that Christmas party

323. honors and glorifies Jesus.

324. 'Cause I'm not seeing it.

325. Where do I start?

326. Let's start with your snow globe.

327. The Nativity.

328. Now, I want you to visualize this.

329. Close your eyes and, and visualize this.

330. Okay, alright, I'll play.

331. I see it.

332. A baby is born.

333. If you had to pick one valuable thing

334. in all of the decorations around your house at Christmas time,

335. it would probably be your Nativity set.

336. But Christian, I don't even think you see

337. what's so amazing about that scene

338. because to think that it's only valuable

339. because the baby Jesus is there

340. misses a huge part of what's going on.

341. The birth of the baby is valuable

342. because of the story he enters into.

343. I want you to see a cave, not a stable

344. or some little prairie farm barn thing.

345. First of all, a manger is a feeding trough,

346. and it's probably going to be carved out of a rock.

347. It's going to be in a cave,

348. and upon that rock you would feed your animals.

349. Now, move beyond the cute and traditional

350. where everything is safe and soft,

351. where everyone has white skin and clean clothes.

352. See a cave, see a place for food.

353. Now, let's get this story right.

354. This was a child that was born into a world

355. where the world power wanted to kill him

356. just for being born.

357. k of soldiers surrounding the

358. You need to think of Herod's soldiers

359. moving through the streets,

360. finding babies and murdering them.

361. And mothers weeping for their children.

362. Let's set the stage.

363. We're very careful about having Mary there,

364. kneeling by her newborn miracle.

365. Joseph is there, surely amazed at what had just happened.

366. Baby Jesus is there,

367. and the Bible draws our attention

368. to something that we usually think of as just a prop.

369. Let's take everything away for a moment.

370. Let's take away Joseph,

371. leaving just a young girl and her newborn infant.

372. Now, let's take away Mary, leaving the baby.

373. Let's even take away the baby himself for just a moment.

374. Now, don't panic.

375. It's not because he isn't

376. the most important person in the story.

377. He is.

378. But because by getting a look at this prop,

379. we'll get a better idea of why he was born in the first place.

380. Swaddling cloth.

381. What is this swaddling cloth?

382. Is it just a blanket for a baby?

383. We usually only think of the baby Jesus

384. being wrapped in cloths,

385. but the Bible brings these cloths back into the story

386. one more time...

387. at his tomb when they rolled that stone away.

388. The cloth in the tomb was empty

389. because it could not hold the body wrapped inside.

390. Jesus escaped death as a baby by the hand of God,

391. and he conquered death as an adult

392. by that very same hand,

393. and because that cloth could not hold him,

394. death still cannot win.

395. Did you ever wonder why the wise men

396. brought frankincense and myrrh at Jesus' birth?

397. Those are burial spices.

398. Why would they bring burial spices to a baby shower?

399. The birth scene is a picture of a coming burial scene.

400. The soldiers don't get to kill the baby, though.

401. He came to die, but it was according to his Father's plan,

402. in his timing and on his terms.

403. The death of Jesus was not the tragic end to the story.

404. It was the plan all along,

405. to offer up his body as bread for the hungry

406. and to shed his blood to cover the sins of the guilty.

407. Now, put Jesus back into that cloth

408. and let that image paint the picture for you.

409. A baby who came to die,

410. but not until the appointed time.

411. Yes, that's the reason for the season right there.

412. I got to admit I never saw the whole swaddling cloth thing.

413. I, I didn't either.

414. But that's my point.

415. Like, I can open the Bible,

416. I can look right there, and I can go, "Oh, there it is!

417. Like, I didn't, I didn't even see that!"

418. Like, that stuff blows my mind!

419. Like, that's, that's all I'm saying.

420. And Herod's soldiers

421. and kind of looking at that whole thing like that's...

422. I feel like we need to have like little Herod soldiers

423. like all around, you know, the chimney...

424. Right.

425. For me to be able to see like, this is what's going on.

426. Right, right.

427. My man, Deandre. What's happening?

428. You get that memo?

429. Oh, you know I got that memo.

430. It's not a laughing matter, though man.

431. You know what's really going on here.

432. Yes.

433. No, no, no, I don't.

434. Three words: war on Christmas.

435. Oh yeah.

436. I think it would be in our best interest

437. before we go any further. we got to be really careful.

438. You never know who's listening or watching.

439. Cups up.

440. All right, man, check this out.

441. We got to go on the offensive.

442. It's like the rapper, Sugar Free said, "If you stay ready,

443. you ain't got to get ready."

444. They're already taking away our freedom of speech.

445. I can't say Merry Christmas at work no more.

446. I have to say Happy Holidays, but I am not in a daze.

447. I am wide awake.

448. It's deeper than that, though.

449. You heard about Area 51?

450. What about Area 52?

451. That's where they keeping all the mangers and trees

452. and Nativity scenes they keep taking down.

453. Speaking of down, you know why the Pope really stepped down?

454. Da Vinci code, right? Wrong.

455. There's a whole Picasso code.

456. I'm actually still working on that one.

457. Come on, man, they got fluoride in our water.

458. I'm saying, that's gotta cause at least Asperger's.

459. Speaking of burgers,

460. you probably ain't even had one in years.

461. That ain't no ground beef, homie.

462. That's pink slime.

463. I seen it on YouTube. Look it up.

464. You know what you got to do?

465. Get like me and wifey,

466. strictly ostrich and emu meat, homie.

467. Delicious and exotic.

468. Come on, you got the chemtrails and HAARP

469. trying to control the weather

470. with the womp, womp, womp sounds.

471. GMO's and pesticides.

472. You know there's a huge honey bee shortage, right?

473. Exactly.

474. Colony collapse disorder.

475. Ah, that rhymes with new world order.

476. Coincidence? I thinks not.

477. I saw "Loose Change," I know what's up

478. with the whole Koch brothers, Halliburton,

479. Dick Cheney, Enron, Fannie Mac, Freddie Mae tie-in.

480. But I mean, that's obvious.

481. Look, man, I saw it on Fox News, so you know it's true.

482. War on Christmas, it's everywhere.

483. Hey! Who needs more coffee?

484. Uh, no, we're good.

485. Delicious, though.

486. All right, man, I think we're cool.

487. Cups down.

488. So you know what we got to do, right?

489. What?

490. The only thing we can do.

491. Christmas trees.

492. News flash!

493. Christmas tree, not in the Bible!

494. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Deuteronomy.

495. Did I miss it?

496. I miss Leviticus sometimes,

497. but I'm pretty sure it's not in there.

498. That's the big thing I got sitting in my house right now,

499. is a big Christmas tree.

500. That's a pagan...

501. that's a pagan idol symbol worshipping thingy.

502. You know that, right?

503. That's what they would worship the god with.

504. You know, the gods.

505. - What gods? - The gods.

506. Which gods?

507. Thorsus, Thorsirus, Thor... it's always a Norwegian...

508. It's, that's what they would do.

509. It was winter, it was the Winter Solstice.

510. News flash, it's December.

511. Jesus was not born in December,

512. and we're celebrating his birthday in December.

513. Hello?

514. When was he born?

515. Probably, he was probably, probably...

516. I don't know, but he wasn't born in December.

517. Everyone knows that. So, we're celebrating that...

518. And the trees are like, it's about like,

519. the evergreen trees represents eternal life...

520. - Yes. - And fertility, fertility gods.

521. Wikipedia. Yeah.

522. And people would worship these symbols then,

523. and they believed that if they worshipped these symbols

524. and they laid down their offerings and their gifts,

525. that they would inherit eternal life.

526. You know this.

527. And this is... this is all idolatry.

528. Yes, it's idolatry in my house.

529. How do your kids react every morning on Christmas?

530. What do they do? Tell me.

531. What do they do?

532. I make my kids wait at the top of the staircase.

533. I don't let them come down the stairs

534. until my wife and I get everything ready, the tree,

535. and the anticipation builds, and they run down the stairs

536. when I tell them they can, and they run out to the tree,

537. and they just are blown away

538. by all the presents sitting at the base of the tree.

539. That's exactly what the Druids did.

540. - Right. - Druids.

541. You look this up. This is all history.

542. So, where, I ask again,

543. where are Christmas trees in the Bible?

544. I'm glad you asked.

545. I'll close my eyes again.

546. Here I go, I'm waiting.

547. Okay. What's the chapter?

548. What's the verse?

549. Do you have a weird, obscure verse in Numbers?

550. Where... where am I going?

551. Where do I start in the Bible?

552. Christmas trees, I'm waiting.

553. Where do I go?

554. I'm glad my sister married you.

555. This is awesome.

556. Bro, bro, look at me.

557. Where we going in the Bible?

558. Genesis.

559. The whole biblical story starts in a tree lot.

560. The Garden of Eden was full of trees.

561. Adam and Eve were given the fruit of these trees to eat,

562. but the story calls our attention

563. to two of these trees in particular.

564. First, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil

565. and then later the tree of life.

566. One tree was off limits because by eating it,

567. man would surely die.

568. But Adam ate from the first tree and was thrown out of the garden

569. so that he couldn't eat from the second.

570. Mankind would have to wait

571. until the path to that tree was reopened,

572. but I'm getting ahead of myself.

573. We'll come back to that later.

574. Let's talk about that evergreen tree in your house

575. decorated with stylized fruit and lights

576. that's making you so nervous.

577. You're anxious because you can't find it in the Bible.

578. Well, let me help you.

579. When God created the world, he filled it with trees.

580. He hung fruit on the trees.

581. When it was time for him to build his house

582. and make it beautiful, God brought trees inside.

583. The walls of his temple were frescoed with images of trees.

584. The lamp stand in his tabernacle was an almond tree.

585. And guess what he placed on the branches of the tree

586. in his house?

587. Lights.

588. Beautiful green trees decorated with fruit

589. shimmering with lights inside a house.

590. That's God's idea, not the Druids.

591. And the early church had plenty of good reasons

592. to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25,

593. and it had nothing to do with the winter solstice.

594. By the way, last I checked,

595. it was God who made the winter solstice

596. when he set the planets on their path around the sun.

597. And it's actually quite fitting

598. that we celebrate the birth of Jesus in the bleak, mid-winter

599. when the world appears to be sleeping and dying,

600. the darkest and coldest time of year.

601. Right then at that time, we're proclaiming the turn of history

602. from darkness to light, from coldness to warmth,

603. and from death to life.

604. So, enough with what pagans want us to see.

605. Let's look at what God wants us to see.

606. Let's go back to our story.

607. As I was saying,

608. Adam stole the fruit from God's tree and ate it.

609. Now, when you steal something, you're required to put it back.

610. But how could he?

611. Adam had already eaten it.

612. It had gone down inside, and become part of him.

613. The only way that Adam could put the fruit back on the tree

614. would be, as crazy as it sounds,

615. he would have to put himself up on that tree.

616. Now, think.

617. What did Jesus do?

618. He was the last Adam.

619. Jesus was able to do what Adam could not do.

620. He put himself up on a tree, making us right with God.

621. Jesus was God's blessed fruit hung on his blessed tree.

622. Remember that swaddling cloth?

623. It comes back into the story again at Jesus' burial.

624. Nicodemus brings all the funeral preparations,

625. frankincense, myrrh, aloe and cloth.

626. And why is he bringing the cloth?

627. To wrap the body of our crucified Savior,

628. Jesus, put to death on a tree.

629. The Bible begins with trees.

630. Adam stole the fruit from God's tree and ate it.

631. The fruit that the first Adam stole was put back on the tree

632. by the last Adam when he, himself, hung on a wooden cross.

633. So, when you walk into a Christmas tree lot,

634. I want you to see hundreds of crosses

635. that will never be used because of Jesus' finished work.

636. He paid the price that we could never have paid.

637. He took the curse that was rightly ours.

638. He reconciled us to God.

639. He is the light of the world that has pierced the darkness.

640. So, when you see empty Christmas trees,

641. see an empty cross.

642. And when you see the empty cross,

643. see the empty cloth lying in an empty tomb.

644. And when you see an empty tomb, do what the disciples did,

645. turn and run to tell the story that Jesus is alive.

646. That's pretty cool.

647. It's awesome.

648. Just I wasn't... and I almost feel bad.

649. I wasn't looking closely enough at...

650. I just didn't, I didn't, I didn't see that.

651. I didn't...

652. Hey, I didn't see it either.

653. That's why I'm sharing it with you.

654. Santa Claus... in the Bible.

655. Unless I missed somewhere in the Bible

656. where God sends his only begotten...

657. Elf?

658. Elf, Santa dude, like...

659. Reindeer pulling a sleigh?

660. Just tell me right now you're not going to pull like...

661. Sliding down a chimney.

662. Zephaniah 4 or like 3rd Corinthians 15,

663. like, "Oh, there's Santa Claus.

664. I didn't even see it right there!"

665. Just tell me right now.

666. Okay, we're good, right?

667. That's not going to happen, okay.

668. So, hold on, hold on.

669. So, I'm, I'm safe in saying

670. that there is no Santa Claus in the Bible?

671. No, there is no Santa Claus in the Bible, but...

672. Okay. Hold, eh...

673. No, no, no, hold on.

674. Hold on, hold on.

675. Just think about it, think about it for one minute.

676. That's the guy, Santa, that's obliterated Jesus.

677. Jesus is gone!

678. The reason for the season is Santa Claus!

679. What the kids are saying all across the world is not,

680. "I'm so excited to celebrate the birth of Jesus!"

681. No, they're saying, "I'm so excited

682. to get my picture taken with Santa Claus!

683. You're going to bring me presents!"

684. S-A-N-T-A.

685. Rearrange the letters. Satan.

686. Santa, Satan. Same letters.

687. - Right? - Right.

688. Coincidence?

689. Yeah.

690. Okay, and who's completely gotten rid of Jesus?

691. Satan. Santa.

692. Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

693. Where's ho, ho, ho, ho, ho in the Bible?

694. Ho, ho, ho. Bible.

695. What's the next line?

696. Right, omniscient.

697. Omniscience, omnipresence.

698. He rewards the good, and he punishes the bad.

699. Last I checked, that was God.

700. By the way, this is works based.

701. Last I checked, saved by grace.

702. This is, this is a complete hijacking.

703. This is a hijacking...

704. high-handed hijacking, handedness jacking.

705. It's like a carjacking but like of our religion.

706. And guess what, Santa got in the car,

707. kicked Jesus out and was like,

708. "rolling, rolling, rolling," and took it.

709. Gone.

710. Christmas is gone.

711. It's all about Santa.

712. Where in the Bible? Where in the Bible?

713. Where in the Bible? Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip.

714. Red letter, red letter, red letter.

715. Where is it?

716. So, okay. Hold on.

717. I can't, I can't wait for this one.

718. Here we go, here we go.

719. I'm ready. Eyes are closed.

720. I'm looking at, I see him.

721. Hold on, I see his face.

722. Oh, I see his face.

723. What do you see?

724. You see a little elf and he's in a sleigh

725. and he's in a little red cap with a little red,

726. little red outfit.

727. - Yeah. - He's got a sack over his back.

728. And he's being pulled by a team of reindeer.

729. Right. Not in the Bible.

730. And he's gonna land on a roof,

731. and he's gonna slide down a chimney,

732. and he's going to fill stockings

733. and put presents around the base of a tree.

734. - Right. - Right?

735. - Right. - Okay.

736. Let me tell you about the real Santa Claus.

737. Oh, I'm ready.

738. The real Santa Claus was a real bad, bad dude.

739. And when I say bad, I mean bad in the good way.

740. So Christian, you want Christmas to be all about Jesus?

741. You think you're fighting the good fight

742. by scowling at decorations and scoffing at presents

743. and mocking Christmas trees?

744. Let me show you how a real defender of the faith does it.

745. Now, if I tried to show you how this really happened,

746. you'd see a lot of guys in robes wearing tall hats,

747. carrying scepters and swinging incense everywhere.

748. It'd be a mess.

749. I want you to imagine this a little more...

750. Lord of the Rings-y.

751. Sir?

752. Go away.

753. He's here, Sir.

754. Where?

755. Here, at the Tavern.

756. Grab my coat.

757. His real name was Nicholas.

758. He was a devout Christian.

759. He was the Bishop of Myra, a city in modern day Turkey.

760. He was left with a large sum of money when his parents died,

761. and he became famous for his kindness

762. toward the poor and his generous giving of gifts to children.

763. He was there at the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325,

764. one of the most important events of church history

765. use one of the most rtant doctrines of the faith

766. was being challenged.

767. There were leaders in the church that had begun

768. to deny the deity of Christ,

769. the doctrine that confessed Jesus as the Son of God,

770. God in the flesh.

771. Nicholas did not take kindly to those

772. who wanted to reduce Jesus to a mere man.

773. The Council of Nicaea ended up producing what is known today

774. as the Nicene Creed,

775. a profession of faith used by churches all around the world.

776. The Creed affirmed the deity of Christ

777. and the three persons of the trinity,

778. but that affirmation didn't happen

779. without Nicholas and a fight.

780. He was a real man who fought for a real truth

781. against a real enemy of the faith.

782. Leading the charge in this heresy was a Bishop named Arius.

783. He was known as a charismatic and compelling speaker.

784. He was traveling from region to region spreading his heresy

785. like a plague, saying that Jesus was less than God.

786. Nicholas had heard enough of Arius' babbling.

787. He would be the shepherd that protects his sheep

788. from the wolves.

789. In the beginning was the Word...

790. and the Word was with God and the Word... was God.

791. and the Word was with God and the Word... was God.

792. The official record says that at a critical moment

793. during the Council, Nicholas put the heretic Arius to shame,

794. not only by word but also by deed, smiting him on the cheek.

795. Now, of course, not everyone at the Council was happy

796. with his less than jolly actions.

797. In fact, they were so displeased,

798. they removed his title as Bishop,

799. but he was so loved by the people

800. that they gave it back to him.

801. In fact, he was even sainted.

802. That's why we call him St. Nicholas.

803. Those were difficult and desperate times.

804. Truth was on the line,

805. and it was not the time for this pastor to go soft on truth

806. or stay quiet for the sake of being politically correct.

807. Nicholas was a hero who became legendary.

808. And that legend became larger than life

809. and reached mythic proportions.

810. In France, he was called Pere Noel.

811. In Sweden, he was Tomte.

812. In Norway, he was Julenissen.

813. In the Netherlands, he was Sinterklaas.

814. Everyone wanted a piece of him.

815. Oh, look who it is.

816. Better?

817. You get that out of your system?

818. Come on. We've got work to do.

819. Come on.

820. Let's go bless some kids tonight.

821. We've got gifts to give.

822. Ho, ho, ho, ho.

823. So, Christian, the guy you think is distracting

824. everyone's attention from the birth of the Christ child

825. is actually the defender of the faith you want to be.

826. Santa...

827. is the man!

828. Yeah, he is.

829. Bro, let me just say this.

830. I know you love my sister.

831. I know you love Christ.

832. I know you love Christmas,

833. and you want it to be all about what it's all about.

834. But all this is good!

835. All this is what it's all about.

836. You just need to see it with new eyes.

837. I've missed it.

838. I've absolutely... missed it.

839. Oh, dude, I am...

840. I'm that guy in the story.

841. I'm the jerk.

842. Oh, dude, this is bad.

843. This is bad.

844. I'm that guy.

845. Oh, dude, I'm staying in this car all night.

846. This is horrible.

847. Do me a favor, go back in,

848. say like, "Christian got a rash," or something.

849. Like, I broke out in something.

850. Like I had like some eggnog.

851. Something that I had no idea that I was allergic to.

852. I was like, I couldn't like...

853. - Someone spiked the egg nog? - Acid flaccid something.

854. Like, yes, yes.

855. And I, and I... and I had to go.

856. I had to go get the eggnog shot.

857. Whatever they give for that, nog shot.

858. No.

859. There's a better way to end this story.

860. You know what you need to do?

861. You need to be the guy...

862. who walks back into your house, walks up to your wife and says,

863. "I was wrong. I blew it."

864. You know what you need to do.

865. What if you did that?

866. No, you're right, I should do it.

867. Or you. It's your sister.

868. - No, it's me. - It's your wife.

869. It's me. It's me.

870. The best ending to this story is you being the guy...

871. that everyone roots for.

872. You be the guy who saves Christmas.

873. You being the guy who's all in.

874. I'm going to be that guy.

875. I'm going to be that guy.

876. I'm going to be that guy. I'm going to be that guy.

877. I'm going to be that guy.

878. Go, bro.

879. I'm going to be that guy.

880. I'm going to be that guy!

881. I'm going... I'm going...

882. I'm going to be the... grrrr.

883. I'm going to be that guy.

884. I'm going to be that guy.

885. I'm going to be that guy.

886. What's up baby, I'm going to be that guy.

887. What you got going on, girl?

888. I'm going to be that...

889. I'm going to be that guy.

890. Whoa.

891. Looks like somebody's having a moment.

892. Umm.

893. So take it all in, all the glory of Christmas.

894. Now, see Christmas through new eyes.

895. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up, everybody!

896. Whew! Work, Holy Spirit, ha!

897. - Can I get a amen? - Amen!

898. The scales are falling off.

899. Glory! Ah, glory! Hmm.

900. Sometimes you have to be brought low

901. to be humbled as a little child

902. to get the right perspective on Christmas.

903. Look at the presents around your tree.

904. When you see them from this perspective,

905. see how they look like a city skyline.

906. Imagine the new Jerusalem,

907. a heavenly city whose builder and architect is God,

908. and the wall of the city was adorned

909. with all kinds of precious stones.

910. And what's at the center of that city?

911. A tree.

912. The tree of life, made available

913. by the conquering blood of Jesus to all who believe.

914. This tree, full of healing leaves.

915. This tree, full of fruit.

916. This tree, full of lights that shine in the darkness,

917. lights that shine over the city.

918. So, see the lights, the stars over Bethlehem

919. announcing the birth of the Prince of Peace.

920. Lesser lights that remind us

921. that Jesus is the light of the world

922. and that we are to let our light shine before men.

923. And there's another thing.

924. ook at those presents again, stacked and wrapped

925. and made beautiful, waiting to be torn open.

926. This isn't bad stewardship.

927. This is doing what God does.

928. He has always been giving gifts to his children

929. at the base of trees.

930. Abraham was given the gift of a son at the Oaks of Mamre.

931. The Cedars of Lebanon were given as materials

932. for Solomon's temple.

933. r salvation was given to us t the base of a tree.

934. So, does this tree belong in your house?

935. Should it be loaded with fruit and lights and presents?

936. Hmm. Whoa, whoa, whoa!

937. Part the red sea!

938. And now that you know who the real Santa is,

939. I got a question for you.

940. Would you like to take a picture with him?

941. Our Christmas traditions are so rich and so full

942. if only we had the eyes to see them.

943. It's time to step out of the car,

944. out of the quiet and safe place where we've been hiding.

945. It's time to tell everyone

946. that every inch of this creation belongs to Jesus.

947. So, you're out of the car.

948. Are your eyes open?

949. What do you see?

950. A soldier?

951. We need to make traditions of our own.

952. We need to infuse old symbols with new meaning.

953. We need to rearrange our lives and our homes

954. so that every single thing points to Jesus.

955. We need to tell our children new stories.

956. We need to be bold.

957. Remember those soldiers at the Nativity?

958. These were Herod's strongest warriors doing his bidding.

959. Every toy soldier can be a reminder

960. of the whole story of how a baby was spared in his infancy

961. to become the warrior that ensured

962. that death finally was killed.

963. So, bring the soldiers close.

964. Let them be near the nativity, and remind your children

965. that every character in God's story has a place.

966. And if you've been that guy, if you spent the holidays

967. terrorizing your family and your friends,

968. scowling at Santa, frustrating your wife,

969. it's time to make it right.

970. Christmas, after all,

971. is ultimately about making all things right.

972. You okay?

973. Honey, I've been a bit of a jerk this Christmas season.

974. Yeah, you have.

975. You deserve so much better,

976. and this Christmas, I want to give you something

977. I've been wanting to give you for a long time.

978. What do you got in mind, big papa?

979. Now, what happens in most stories at this point?

980. I mean, if you were writing this story right now,

981. what would you want to have happen?

982. The cliche kiss, right?

983. But, if we learned one thing in all this, let's not forget

984. that sometimes our heroes do the unexpected.

985. I went ahead and just organized a hip hop dance crew

986. that encompasses all the joy in gospel,

987. bursting in excitement that I alone as one man

988. just cannot express.

989. No, really, I did.

990. Hit it, Deandre!

991. Oh, man, I got just the track for you!

992. How about some Family Force Five?

993. "Angels We Have Heard on High".

994. Come on, people, let's do this!

995. Yeah! I want to see a choir in here.

996. A God squad. You know how we do.

997. Ooh, Marshall Foster's in the house

998. kicking it old school.

999. He on to me. You know how we do it.

1000. Altos, sopranos and tenors.

1001. Let's do this, baby! Unh!

1002. Oh, flying in, flying in!

1003. Come on!

1004. All right, everybody!

1005. Let's feast!

1006. Well, that's why I show up for these parties.

1007. So, this is Christmas.

1008. Pull out your best dishes, your finest linens,

1009. your nicest silverware, the biggest ham.

1010. Every side dish you can possibly imagine,

1011. and the richest butter.

1012. It's time to feast.

1013. Invite your neighbors, you co-workers,

1014. your friends and your family and make the most of Christmas.

1015. Fill your table with laughter and stories and songs.

1016. Don't miss a single opportunity

1017. to pass along the joy of the season.

1018. And don't buy into the complaint about materialism

1019. during Christmas.

1020. Sure, don't max out your credit cards

1021. or use presents to buy friends, but remember,

1022. this is a celebration of the eternal God

1023. taking on a material body.

1024. So, it's right that our holiday is marked with material things.

1025. Things we can see with our eyes

1026. and touch with our hands and look upon.

1027. Ribbons, decorations, hot chocolate, lights,

1028. presents, giant hams, stuffing, fudge, Christmas cards,

1029. and more hot chocolate piled high with whip cream.

1030. How could we possibly capture all that Christmas is?

1031. We could eat until we split at the seams.

1032. We could smile until our cheeks hurt

1033. and laugh until our bellies ache.

1034. We could sing until our voices grew hoarse,

1035. and we would not have even scratched the surface

1036. of this glorious day.

1037. Throw your doors open and invite the world

1038. into the story of this king and his kingdom.

1039. This is our story, our city, our tree, our lights,

1040. our presents, our songs, our Saint Nick,

1041. our hope, our future, our Savior.

1042. My brother-in-law is seeing it for the first time,

1043. and once your eyes have been opened, you can't go back.

1044. All the best to you and your family this Christmas.

1045. I have to say, things have improved around here.

1046. Main man, Christian.

1047. How you doin', man?

1048. How you doin', Deandre?

1049. How you been?

1050. Bring it back, here we go.

1051. Alright.

1052. Here we go, and action.

1053. My main man, Christian!

1054. How you doin'?

1055. What's up, Deandre?

1056. How you been?

1057. You know me, blessed and highly favored.

1058. - And? - Ha-ha ha...

1059. Bring it back, here we go.

1060. - Blessed and highly favored. - Blessed and highly favored...

1061. Here we go, it's digital, roll all day, here we go.

1062. It's the end for us, man. That's all we got!

1063. What else do we get?

1064. Floor two? I don't want floor two.

1065. Do you know what happens down at floor two?

1066. I don't, don't wanna find out

1067. 'cause I'm on floor four and I like it that way.

1068. We gonna keep it that way.

1069. We gonna march if we have to.

1070. Straight power, me and you.

1071. They're not gonna do this to us, man.

1072. We done been here before.

1073. My people have been through enough.

1074. I think you Jewish,

1075. so your people have been through enough too.

1076. We all done been through it, and that's enough.

1077. - How many people you got? - All of us, we all people.

1078. Came from Adam, right?

1079. Six, seven, I don't know.

1080. We got a whole bunch.

1081. But who's countin'? They ain't countin'.

1082. All they see is people. Me, you, all of us...

1083. - Fingers, do your fingers. - Five, six, seven.

1084. I don't even know what I'm saying right now.

1085. I'm just gonna talk and move my hands and keep going crazy

1086. till you get everything you need from this camera.

1087. I'm not gonna... tell them to come get me 'cause we here.

1088. We got it all up, mmm. Can't silence me.

1089. - We shall overcome one day! - Do a little spin.

1090. And they ain't gonna tell me what to do...

1091. - Do a little spin. - We gonna do it, we gonna do it.

1092. We gonna take it to, we gonna march,

1093. we gonna do the running man,

1094. we gonna do everything we got to do 'cause they don't get us.

1095. No, man, it ain't gonna happen that way.

1096. Get back in position and question me,

1097. - You listening? - You listening?

1098. You heard what I said?

1099. - We say ho! - Ho!

1100. - Ho! - Ho!

1101. - Ho! Ho! - Ho! Ho!

1102. Now, stop!

1103. - Oh, we bad. - Hammer time.

1104. Oh, we bad.

1105. Am I good here, Andy?

1106. Kirk, what do you do for dry mouth in between scenes?

1107. What do you do?

1108. Um, just water.

1109. Water, or do you do like a fruit thing, like celery?

1110. - What do you do? - What happened to the ranch?

1111. - Isn't it terrible? - Oh, my goodness.

1112. I don't know how you guys do this.

1113. Here we go, quiet please. Here we go.

1114. Sound, speed.

1115. Hey Kirk, can you puff up my sweater dirt... dust?

1116. - Pull camera. - Speeding.

1117. Just hit it, hit, hit, hit.

1118. Hit, hit, hit, hit...

1119. and step out.

1120. - I like fat geese. - We're rolling, here we go.

1121. Okay, speed and I'll go ahead and give it a clap.

1122. Fat geese, giant hams.

1123. I love fat geese and giant fams.

1124. Here we go.

1125. - I'm ready. - Hey!

1126. So, you know what we gotta do, right?

1127. I do.

1128. You gotta drink some stuff down the wrong pipe

1129. and then you go, hah!

1130. - Throat lozenges. - Then you go, hah!

1131. So you know what we gotta do, right?

1132. What?

1133. There's only one thing we can do.

1134. We gotta call Kirk Cameron,

1135. get him involved, make a movie about it,

1136. then we got ourselves a movement.

1137. You know I love movements.

1138. Start beat-boxing on that.

1139. It be the movement, improvement

1140. They say the new world order

1141. flipping in the air just like a quarter.

1142. How's your daughter, how's your father,

1143. how's your sister?

1144. Excuse me, mister, how do you do?

1145. You want some coffee?

1146. My name is Raphi, maybe Shames Worthy.

1147. Maybe you've heard of me, maybe it's rapping like this.

1148. Swiss Miss, soft as cocoa.

1149. You know, no, no, yes, yes, Wes, Wes,

1150. all day, every day, every which way.

1151. Look at what the plants say.

1152. I listen to nature, mother nature, father nature.

1153. Your father hates you.

1154. Oh, I'm sorry, Dad, what did I do?

1155. You know what you did, call all your crew,

1156. call your friends, dress up in some baby blue.

1157. Come back, write an essay.

1158. Tunnel Rats, that's what they say.

1159. Sleigh, sleigh, pray every day.

1160. Essential.

1161. Monumental.

1162. Environmental.

1163. Heart... control.

1164. They wanna take your soul.

1165. They wanna beat Solid Gold.

1166. I'm on a roll.

1167. They wanna say things and think about 'em.

1168. I doubt 'em, bing!

1169. 'Cause you know what it is.

1170. Music, Cameron, music, movie biz.

1171. - Kirk, Kirk... - Cameron.

1172. - Kirk, - Kirk,

1173. - Kirk, - Kirk Cameron.

1174. - It be the, be the... - Kirk Cameron.

1175. - Camfam, - Kirk,

1176. Kirk, Kirk Cameron.

1177. Kirk, Kirk, it ain't James.

1178. - Kirk, - Kirk,

1179. Kirk, Kirk Cameron.

1180. Movement.

1181. We don't stop, baby. All day, every day.