Dr. Jessica Peck hosts the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families

Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite part of the afternoon, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. And listen, we are getting so close to the Christmas season. I know, I know there are those of you who say, not yet. I don't do anything until after Thanksgiving. But as you know, we've reached a compromise here. We're talking about preparing for the holiday season and we really need to prepare our hearts. We don't want December 1st to roll around and think, are we doing Advent this year? What are we doing as a service project? And we've been talking with you about many ways that you can serve, many ways that you can prepare your family. And we have talked about Operation Christmas Child, which is ongoing until Monday. The time is almost out on that, but you can go to samaritanspurse.org/occ I've already packed my boxes and sent them off to the distribution center. You can do that too. And today we are going to talk about Advent.

Today we're talking with pastor and author Taylor Combs about Advent

Now, as the holiday season is approaching, many of us feel that rush, that kind of sense of panic. I don't know about you. I was driving around in my neighborhood and I saw a house that already had all of their Christmas lights outside. No, it wasn't my house, but I may or may not already have some Christmas decorations up. But I did see a house that had a countdown to Christmas and the first number was in the three. So it was we are just about 30ish days, a little more than 30 days from Christmas. And many of us feel all of the things that we need to do, the shopping, the planning, the events piling up as we overcrowd our schedule. But Christians throughout history have practiced something different, something a little more quiet and something just more profoundly spiritual. We're talking about Advent. And today I'm talking with pastor and author Taylor Combs, whose new 25 day illustrated devotional, the one we're waiting for, helps families re center their hearts around the coming of Jesus. And what else could we ask for more than that for the Christmas season? Taylor has a background in ministry, historical theology and church planting. And he's here to remind us what Advent really is and why this season is changes everything. So more than preparing your pantry as we've been doing with Kathi Lipp, or preparing anything else, we need to prepare our hearts the most Taylor, I'm so glad to have you join us today. Thank you so much for stopping by.

Taylor Combs: Yeah, thank you, Jessica, for having me. I'm excited to talk about Advent.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Me too. Well, before we dive into that, why don't you just introduce yourself to our listeners, tell them a little bit about you and how you came to know the Lord and you're called a ministry and. And what brought you to sit behind this microphone today?

Taylor Combs: Yeah, well, I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, just a few hours north of where I live now in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in a Christian home with Christian parents, was raised in church. And probably, like a lot of people, who grew up in church, I professed faith at a fairly young age. But then several years of, of wandering and not growing, not being discipled, and you kind of look back and you go, okay, I'm not 100% sure how genuine that profession of faith was, but, when I was a senior in high school, through a ministry called Young Life, which I'm sure many of your listeners are familiar with, the Lord used that to. To, really cause the Gospel to land in my heart in a new way and brought this spiritual renewal that really changed the direction of my life completely. And, from there, went to college, went to Lipscomb University in Nashville, which is where I've been Now for almost 15 years, and studied Bible, studied ministry and theology there. Still did not know that it would be something I would do vocationally. but over time, the Lord kind of moved my heart toward, hey, you know, maybe you're going to do something in ministry. Okay, Maybe something sort of parachurch ministry. Okay, now maybe something in the church. And then it was just this gradual over time. I remember in. In very early 2018, just having this realization, okay, I think the Lord's calling me to be a pastor of a church and share that with my wife and the elders at our church at the time. And, a very long story short, we ended up planting King's Cross Church in East Nashville, Tennessee, in 2022. I say east Nashville for folks who don't live in Nashville. We're really in the city, but it's a very particular neighborhood, with particular culture and a particular spiritual climate. And so we've been at that work now for almost five years. And it's been. Been wonderful. The Lord's been really gracious, and, it's been a sweet, sweet time. about, I don't know, a year And a half, two years ago, friend of mine who works, at B&H Publishing Group, who published this book, reached out, said, hey, I have this idea of an Advent family devotional, and I want our friends, Aiden and Natalie Peterson to illustrate it. Aiden and Natalie, who illustrated this book, they're members at our church. They're dear friends, and they're the most amazing people and the most gifted artists. And she said, and I want you to write it. And so it really wasn't on my bingo card to do, but when she told me that she was working on it and Aiden and Natalie were going to illustrated, it was like, I can't. I can't say no to this opportunity. And so that brought about the one we're waiting for, which has been, just a sweet, encouraging thing to work on. And we're excited that it's out now.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, praise the Lord for all of that, Taylor.

The illustrators illustrated a book about a man with spinal muscular atrophy

That. That is so encouraging to hear. And God's ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. And I think of the verse, you just delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. And what you don't know about that verse, when you first learn it, I think at least was my experience that it's not that God gives you what you want. He actually your desires change and they align with what God wants for you. And that is the beautiful part of that. And I'm so glad to have you sitting here at, those illustrators you were talking about. My producer actually noticed that they also illustrated a book from a guest we featured called We Carry Kevan, which is the story of Kevan Chandler, who has spinal muscular atrophy. Great children's book to get. By the way, there is a version for grownups to read about Kevin's journey, backpacking across Europe, sharing the love of God, and for kids, especially kids with special needs and disability. So I was really excited to see. Cause I was already a fan of all of that.

Tell me about historical theology before we talk about Advent

And one more question, Taylor, before we talk about Advent, tell me about this historical theology, because I think some listeners are going to be curious about that perspective. I know my pastor always tells us when we're reading our Bible, we're looking at Eastern culture with Western eyes. But what is historical theology?

Taylor Combs: That's a good question. so really when you look at the academic theological disciplines, they've often been divided up into categories, and that's helpful to a degree. It can be a little bit unhelpful because they need to inform one another. Right. But biblical theology is, when you're doing. You're studying the text itself. of Scripture, the Old and New Testaments. Systematic theology is when you're kind of extrapolating theological truths from. From the Bible and fitting them together to. To create a sort of a system of doctrine or belief or theology. Historical theology is when you study theology through the lens of church history, or this gets a little bit into the weeds, but you can study history through the lens of theology. So it's kind of. You can put the emphasis on the historical part or on the theology part. my work was very recent. It was 20th century evangelical Christianity in the United States. particularly the first quarter of the 20th century is what I studied. So I'm there. There are far smarter historians and theologians who have engaged much more difficult stuff. I kind of stayed close to home in what I was studying. But, yeah, I do think that Christians, we often forget that there are 2,000 years of church history between Scripture and us. And it's not that that history is authoritative on the level of Scripture by any means. If you only have access to the Bible and the Spirit, that's enough. And yet it's also really good to be informed by history. I've heard one theologian say that church, history helps us on our journey, on our pilgrimage, as we're sort of meandering through the wilderness of life. Church history helps us know which mushrooms are poisonous, what to stay away from on the journey, and what can benefit us. And I've certainly found that to be the case.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, Taylor, you're making me feel a little old. I'm hearing my kids say, yeah, mom, you know, you don't know. You were born in literally the previous century, which was painfully the 20th century. So I'm glad to know that was church history that you studied, Taylor.

Taylor Combs: That's right.

How does Advent inform us today about preparing for the Christmas season

Dr. Jessica Peck: But talk to us about the history of Advent and its roots, because it does have roots in church history. And what is that? How does that inform us today about preparing for the Christmas season?

Taylor Combs: Yeah, well, the roots of Advent and really the entire. What we call the liturgical calendar, the Christian year, go, back to centuries and centuries. it's something that Christians have been observing for a very long time. You go back to the, you know, a few centuries into church history, and people are observing feast days and fast days where they're commemorating certain things. And many of us, like, I grew up in a Baptist church. I pastor a Baptist church now, and that was very foreign to me. I wasn't familiar with any of those things. And it's certainly not the case, again, that observing the liturgical calendar is something that Christians are required to do or anything like that. But you look at it and you go, okay, there's a wisdom of the centuries that sort of baked into this structure, even beginning the Christian year with Advent and Christmas. it reorients us and the way that we see the world. And so we've found it to be, you know, our preaching and things aren't controlled by the church calendar at our church. But incorporating some of those elements has been something that's been, I think, really beneficial for our church. It's been beneficial for our family. It's been beneficial for me personally, just to, to kind of step into some rhythms that Christians long before me were, were walking in, and that Christians long after me will be walking in. And so, yeah, Advent is, is, is along with Lent, probably the best known season in the church calendar outside of, more liturgical traditions. And it's a time where we remember, the longing and the waiting for the coming of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ. It's a. It comes from a Latin word that means arrival or coming. And so during this time, we're, we're embracing the posture of waiting and longing and looking for the coming of the Savior, hence the name of the book. Right. The one we are waiting for as we're waiting for the Redeemer, for the Messiah to come.

Dr. Jessica Peck: That's a big shift in thought, though. That's because culture tells us, hey, it's time to celebrate Christmas. But you really are looking to elevate our vision, to really lift our eyes, to look for. What does it mean to wait for Christ? This concept of anticipation? Why does that matter today? What does that have to do with 21st century Christians? How do you see that? Gospel truth translating?

Taylor Combs: Yeah, well, that's something you can think about on a very high level and something you can get really, really granular with. Right. I'd say on a high level, there's wisdom to the fact that, you know, Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas Eve, and this, the Christmas season which Follows it is 12 days in the church calendar. So that the wise ancient Christians saw wisdom in four weeks of waiting and only 12 days of celebrating. And as you said, we go, no, it's November 1st. It's time to celebrate. And, you know, I, I hope I don't offend any listeners. So people will boil it down to, well, it's just your taste that you like to wait. And I'll go, yeah, it is just my taste, and it's fine if you disagree. I had a co. I used to have A co worker when I worked in. In book publishing who we would always, she would tease me and call me a Scrooge because I always wanted to wait until Advent m to listen to any Christmas music. But I do think there's actually, there's something that forms us about waiting and embodying this posture of I don't have everything that I need. The world is not the way that it should be. We want to see redemption. We want to see renewal. We want to see Christ come and make all things new and in the grand scope of history. You know, you get this in the Old Testament when God's people are in exile and they're waiting to be delivered, they're waiting to be brought back into the promised land. They're waiting for a Messiah. And God, through his prophets, is sending all these messages that I'm going to redeem you. I've been reading Isaiah, lately in my personal devotional time, and, you know, he says, blessed are those who wait on the Lord. Those who wait on the Lord are going to see him do something that's. They're not going to believe if I told you what I'm going to do. And we look back and we go, okay, that was answered in the first coming of Christ and his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection. But now we're still waiting on another coming of Christ. He said, I'm going to come back for you. And Acts 1, the angel says, just the same way you saw him leave, he's going to come back again with the promise that he will fully and finally renew all things. And this final vision of Revelation 21, God will dwell with his people and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. Sickness and sorrow and suffering will be no more, and all things will be made new. And that's. That's what we're waiting. We live in this unique time period between the two Advents, between the two comings of Christ. And we want to remember that that's. That's the ultimate reality of our world and to posture our hearts in that direction. And I think that changes the way that we. We do life on a very grand, granular level as well. Right. Like.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, that's what we're going to talk about. We're already at our first break, but I want to. I have a lot more questions, Taylor, about how it does impact our everyday life. You've given me a lot of food for thought. And when we come back, we'll be talking more with Taylor Combs. I encourage you to think about doing Advent, for your family. And this might be the one that you're waiting for. That's what the book is called, the one we're waiting for. We'll be right back. Candice talks about finding out she was pregnant. Thankfully, an ultrasound provided by PreBorn allowed her to hear her baby's heartbeat. The sonogram sealed the deal for me. My baby was like this tiny little spectrum of hope. And I saw his heart beating on the screen and knowing that there's life growing inside, I mean, that sonogram changed my life. I went from just Candace to mom. Thank you. To everybody that has given these gifts. You guys are giving more than money. You guys are giving love. PreBorn currently has clinics that do not have ultrasound machines. Would you consider a leadership gift and sponsor a machine today? These life Saving machines cost $15,000 more than most centers can afford. Your donation will save countless lives for years to come. Dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby or go to preborn.com/AFR. 'Til from.

King Of Kings by Brooke Ligertwood and Hillsong Worship : Heaven you came running There was mercy in your eyes to fulfill the law and prophets To a virgin came the word From a throne of endless glory To a cradle in the dirt. Praise the Father, praise the son, praise the Spirit. three in one God of glory, Majesty. Praise forever to the King of kings.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is King of Kings by Brooke Ligertwood and Hillsong Worship. I love that song. I remember the first time I ever heard that song. My daughter had heard it at her church where she was at college, and she played it when we were traveling for Thanksgiving and I probably played it for maybe 90 miles straight. There's a version of that song that has angels we have heard on high in the middle, so you may want to put that on your Christmas playlist. But one thing I do want to put on your Christmas to do list is to really pray about doing an Advent devotional with your family. Maybe it's something you do every year. Maybe you do the same thing. Maybe you do something different. Maybe you've never done it, but you thought, I've always wanted to do that. You have time. This is the good news.

Taylor Combs has a new Advent devotional designed for families

And today we're back talking with Taylor Combs about his brand new Advent devotional called the One we're Waiting for. It's a beautiful hardcover devotional that would make a really special family keepsake and something that you could open every Christmas season. And it is designed for families. And one thing that makes this resource really special is how it walks readers through the Old Testament and shows how every story points to a coming king. That is one of my favorite things to do right now. I have a notebook where I'm learning. I did not go to seminary, so I am learning about all of the connections in the Bible that are just so beautiful. The ark of the Gospel story.

Taylor: Advent is countercultural because you talk about waiting

But before we get there, Taylor, right before the break, we were talking a little bit about why Advent matters today. And Advent is really countercultural because you talk about waiting. And actually on Friday, on, my Friday show, you guys don't want to miss it because I'm going to talk about patience and I'm going to talk about waiting and self control as a fruit of the spirit and how it relates to this holiday season. But really tailor in a culture that just kind of rushes past reflection. We don't have any time for that. Advent really slows us down, makes us wait, makes us sit in that anticipation and longing. And it really pushes back on the consumerism that is just even worse with all of the marketing, the algorithm, the AI that is there. How do you see Advent as countercultural in a, In a beautiful way?

Taylor Combs: Yeah, that's a great question. And you know, we're, we're as guilty of the busyness as, as anybody. We were talking, during the break. I have three young children and, was texting with my wife earlier today about a conflict between two Nutcracker performances that we want to take our oldest daughter to. So we get all the, all the stuff in December. but yeah, there's something slow and forcing yourself to wait. Almost like the, the discipline of fasting. Right. As the, the great theologian Tom Petty put it, the waiting is the hardest part. And I love that song of his. And I think he's right that, that waiting is not easy. It's. There's a kind of self denial of refusal to, to reach out and grasp something. and that causes us to slow down, to think, to, to ponder, to pray, to focus. It's not. You don't, you don't want to focus on all the ways that the world is still messed up. You don't want to focus on all the ways that your own heart and life are still broken and sinful and in need of a redeemer. And again, Christ has come once, and in his coming, he defeated sin once for all. He removed the penalty of sin from us on the cross. But sin is still at work in our hearts. It's still at work in our world. And we're waiting on him to come back and return and renew that. And so I think on a very practical level, I was reading this morning because I'm preaching a sermon from the very end of Exodus on Sunday when God's presence comes in the glory cloud in the tabernacle and it says whenever he got up, whenever the cloud got up and moved, they followed. And when it sat down, they stopped. And this commentator that I was reading made the point that, the people aren't going to God to push their agenda on him, but they're called to just wait and see. Where he moves is where they're going to move. And when he stops, they're not going to say, oh God, let's keep on going, but they're going to stop. And we can apply that to so many, so many aspects of our life, I think during the Advent season, but also all, all year round.

Taylor: How does this devotional relate to Advent and biblical worldview

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, that's one of the beautiful things about this devotional is because there, there is something to be said for reading the Christmas story. And I know that my husband does that with my kids every Christmas morning before even the first gift is opened. We are opening the greatest gift, and that is God's word that we have. And to read about the greatest gift that God ever gave the world. But we really need to look at the Bible in an age where biblical worldview is at a crisis point, where we have just dramatically dropping rates of people with a biblical worldview. And at the same time, Taylor, we've got people who are curious, people who are seeking, we have Bible sales soaring, but we also have this kind of chaotic space of influencers and we really need discipleship and we need to know the Bible from COVID to cover to know the arc of God's redempt story. How do you tell the Bible as a unified story in this devotional? How does that relate to Advent?

Taylor Combs: Yeah, that's a great, great question. So I'll start with what I think must have been the greatest Bible study session of all time. This is in Luke 24. After his resurrection, Jesus appears to two of his followers who are walking on the road to a place called Emmaus, which we don't really know anything about. And they don't know that it's him. He somehow disguises himself from him, from them, and they're all down and out. And he says, what's wrong? And they say, well, don't you know this Jesus guy? We thought he was the Savior, the Messiah, the Christ, but he died. And it says that Jesus stopped with him and he opened up the scriptures to them. And showed them all the things concerning himself in all of the Scriptures and shows them that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and die and be crucified before he rose and came into his glory. And then it says he stops to eat a meal with them and in the breaking of the bread they realize it's him and then he's gone. And the, the theological conviction that. Yeah, right. The conviction that comes from that. And elsewhere in the Gospel of John, he says to the Pharisees, you pour over the Scriptures because you think you find life in them, but you don't realize they're pointing to me. The conviction is that the whole Bible is about Jesus. And you know, I grew up in a church context where, and this is. No, I don't mean to, to speak ill of any church. I think it was doing, they were doing their best. But I left with a lot of moral lessons, which the Bible includes moral lessons, a lot of rules. The Bible includes rules, even some history and some knowledge. But I wasn't shown very early on how the whole story is pointing to the one hero who can actually save us from our greatest problem. And that's just been a rediscovery for me or a discovery for me into adulthood. And there's so many resources that help you think about that. But the most helpful thing for me has been this four part story of the whole Bible. Creation, fall, redemption and restoration and seeing how from creation to the fall of Adam and Eve, through God's redemptive work, all throughout the Bible and restoration that comes when Christ comes again. All of it is pointing to, to Christ. and there's several books and resources out there that are helpful. I mean, I, we read to our kids the Jesus Storybook Bible a lot. And I think that book just does a great job of pointing us to Christ on every page and really inspired this, this devotional a lot as well.

Dr. Jessica Peck: What are some examples you can give us, Taylor, of some of those, of those arcs that people are thinking? Okay, some, I know some people are out there thinking, oh yes, I know so many. And some people are thinking, what are you talking about? Give us an example of that. Because you don't think about, oh, let's talk about Christmas, let's go back to Noah's Ark or Creation, even, as you said, give us a couple of examples of those.

Taylor Combs: Sure. Well, I think just approaching Scripture with the questions, what is humanity's great problem that we see in this story and what is the solution that God has offered in Christ? And so, you can do this with every character, especially every significant character in the Old Testament, where they did things well, Jesus does them better. And where they completely messed up, Jesus perfectly succeeds. So Adam is the first human who is the representative and head of all humanity, who, disobeys God and sins and grasps and reaches out for what he was not to take. But Jesus is the head of a new humanity, who comes and perfectly obeys his father instead of the disobedience of Adam, Noah, for example, you get in Noah's genealogy, you get his dad naming him Noah because he says, maybe this will be the deliverer that we've been waiting for. And as a reader who's a Christian, you go, okay, he does bring a type of redemption to people. God starts humanity over through him. But then the first thing he does after the flood is not very good, right? When he comes out of the, out of the ark and you go, okay, Jesus is a much better deliverer than Noah was, who brings a true redemption and a true renewal, who brings us through the waters of baptism, not just the waters of the flood. And, you can go on. You know, I get. I mentioned preaching through Exodus, but the past story of the Passover is almost on the nose, right? It's like the, the people are gonna. God is gonna visit death upon the people, but if they shed the blood of a sacrificial lamb and cover their doorpost with it, death will pass over them. Well, Christ is the great Passover lamb. And when we're covered with his blood by faith, death passes over us so that we don't have to receive the penalty for our. Our sins that we deserve to receive. you could go on and on. And many of these are picked up on in the New Testament. Some of them are not. But I, just. I think if you, if you start looking through that lens asking, what is the great problem of humanity here and how has Jesus solved it? You end up finding it all over the place. In the Old Testament it is.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And, and it's just a book that keeps on giving. You just cannot. It's not possible to learn everything that is in there. And I think that, you know, there's a lot of times when you're first starting to read your Bible, and I've seen a lot of people online who are saying this, hey, I'm reading the Bible for the first time ever. You know, what tips do you have for me? And it's just such an interesting journ, because at first it kind of. Maybe it's motivated by curiosity. Maybe it's motivated by obligation. Like, oh, if I check this box, you know, I'm walking down that road. But as you learn more and read more of God's word, I'm sure, Taylor, you've had the same experience. I have a hunger for it that becomes, insatiable. I want to read more. I want to know more. Because it's amazing to me that I can read this book over and over and over again and always, always learn something new. And I think this is why we need to open it up with. With our families and to have those moments. And, Taylor, you said your kids are really little. And I had this experience when my kids were little. Advent did not look like a, an Instagram post. Okay? It did not look perfect. There was, you know, somebody that was unhappy, somebody that was dressed in a costume, you know, somebody that was, you know, misbehaving or those kinds of things. But. But really it's the little small acts of obedience over time.

This book is designed to be used as a family Advent devotional

So I want you to set the stage for how this book is formatted. What it would look like for a family to pick this up and to use it as their Advent devotional and an Advent journey for this year for Christmas.

Taylor Combs: Yeah, well, it's, as you mentioned, it's 25 days, so it's set up for the book of. For the month of December, beginning the first and then, concluding on Christmas Day. Each of the devotionals you should be able to read in five or six minutes. They're really short. And so you could gather your family around the table at dinner if that's what works for you. I know we do breakfast table devotion sometimes or work through a catechism or something at breakfast, because it's like we're already here, and I don't have to wrangle you some other time during the day, so you find what works for you. one of the amazing things about, this book is that Aedan and Natalie designed ornaments for every day. And so there's actually ornaments that you can cut out of the back of the book and make a craft. And so you can lead your kids through that. If you have, you know, your oldest child or something is really into leading, you can have them read the book to the family, engage them however you can. I think I say this as a pastor, as, well, just whatever works for your family. Don't. Don't allow the pressure of how other people do it, or don't allow perfect to be the enemy of good. Right? Do what works for your family. And I think spend five minutes to do the reading. If the ornaments work for your family, do that. That's great. You do it in the morning, do it in the evening, hang the ornaments on the tree. If you want to light Advent candles in your home, you could do that. You could just Google how to Advent candles work and you can find that. but. But I would just encourage you do the reading. And beyond that, whatever works for your family.

Dr. Jessica Peck: You know, one thing I was sharing with you that we were chatting about during the break, Taylor, is that my kids are a lot older now. My kid, I'm, We're launching our kids into adulthood. And it's amazing to me how they remember those small little rituals that we had. Those small. What seemed like, you know, it was maybe even insignificant, but it really sticks with them. And in my experience, you know, you say, hey, we're going to do this book and cut the ornaments out. You do it twice, and then the kids are going to be bringing it to you, holding you accountable, saying, you know, we need to do that. And I know, Taylor, there's a lot of families who feel just very overwhelmed trying to lead spiritual formation, trying to talk about these. And Advent really offers a natural on ramp into discipleship. This could be something that families could carry forward and have family devotionals, family times of gathered prayer, gathered worship. I'm telling you, you know, now looking at my kids and seeing the fruit of those seeds that we planted two decades ago, literally, it is the sweetest season. It is just so amazing to see that happen. And I encourage readers to and listeners to think about reading this book. And whatever you choose for Advent to choose something. And there's a lot of great feedback on this book, in particular. And when we come back from our next break, which is already coming up, Taylor, it's going too fast. I know you're going to help us think about how to prepare our hearts and our homes for Advent and some practical ways. We'll talk some more about how Advent is countercultural and the impact of discipleship, forming those family rhythms and preparing your own heart. Because children are looking for authenticity more than I think at any point in modern history. They want to know what is real. In an age of artificial intelligence, you can give them a living, breathing faith that is more real than any anything they will ever encounter online. There is nothing counterfeit to replace that. So I encourage you to think about Advent. check out Taylor Combs book, the one we're waiting for. It is a beautiful tradition and you have time to do it. I'll be right back after the break. With more from Taylor Combs.

The leaders of the early Christian movement  were literate

Here's Dr. Ben Witherington from the American Family Studios documentary the God who Speaks.

Dr. Ben Witherington: The fact that early Christianity has texts in an oral culture is in itself remarkable. The fact that it has 27 different texts indicates that this early Christianity was led by a social elite that was literate. The leaders of the early Christian movement were literate. Unlike the vast majority of the population, the movement was led by more socially elite people like Paul, who had been well educated and could write even in forms of Greek rhetoric. So the notion that early Christians were sort of uneducated ignoramuses is a myth. Visit thegodwhospeaks.org.

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus by Christy Nockles: From our fears and sins, release us let us find our rest in Thee Israel's strength and consolation Hope of. All the earth Thou art Dear desire of every nation Joy of every longing heart

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is come now Long Expected Jesus by Christy Nockles

Please consider having an Advent devotional with your family

And that's what we're talking about today, is waiting for Jesus. We're talking to Pastor Taylor Combs, and he has beautifully illustrated for us that we're in a period of waiting. We're between waiting. So we know that Jesus has come to earth. As a baby, he died. He rose again. He is in heaven, and we are waiting on him to return. And I pray that you would prayerfully consider having an Advent devotional with your family. We have plenty of time. We are more than a week before Thanksgiving now. You have time to get something. And I encourage you to pick up this resource, the one we're Waiting for by Taylor Combs. And it's a beautiful keepsake. It has all kinds of activities for your families. A short devotional, as Taylor said, that your children could lead, which would be beautiful. Retold Bible stories from showing the arc of the gospel story from creation all the way back to Jesus coming again. It's got reflection questions that you can ask your kids, kids of all ages. And it also has suggested worship songs, which I think worship, that was one of our very first healthy habits we talked about way back in January. Worship is a great discipleship tool. And one of the things I love about the hymns is, that they're so theologically rich and knowing that generations, centuries of Christians have sung lyrics before us and stand to tell that timeless truth is just a beautiful thing.

Taylor: It's easy to outsource discipleship of our families

And so, Taylor, I want to ask you about discipleship, about using this as discipleship. That's where I was going before the break. I think there's a lot of Families who feel overwhelmed by that. There's a lot of families. Like you said, we live in, we live in the, in the rat race. You know, we live at the speed of a smartphone. We are constantly going and pushing against busy. But I think it's really easy to try to outsource discipleship of our families, whether that's from content creators and listening to things that can be edifying, just like this program today. We hope that it is edifying, but it's not intended to be the sole discipleship for you. There is a difference in walking in a church with people who know you, people who see you, people who know your life, who are going to speak words of truth to you, even when it's hard, even when it's not what you want to hear that is so important. How do you see this, this devotional that you read, that you wrote Taylor, as a potential launching pad for really rethinking, making sure that you are engaged in discipleship as a family? Who is discipling you?

Taylor Combs: Yeah, that's a great question. And it's what I think about a lot as a parent, but also as a pastor. you know, I have this fear in the back of my head that my kids are going to grow up and be pastor's kids with all kinds of baggage and, and they're going to, you know, have all this, you know, stuff that they have to work through. And I think that though, that what you said was you kind of hinted on this, just the role of church in all this. Right. And I would say there's a couple of things to keep in mind. And one is, to not put too much pressure on yourself to feel like you have to have church with your family every day. They're going to pick up, if you live an authentically Christian life in front of your kids, they're going to pick up so much of that and they're going to see that and they're going to know, okay, like, they prayed with me, they prayed on their own. I woke up in the mornings and came out for breakfast and there was mom or dad reading their Bible. They're gospel fluent in the way they talk about things. they're pointing me back to Jesus. And that stuff is way more important than the formal stuff like, you know, Deuteronomy, when you walk, by the way, when you're walking, when you're on the road, when you're coming and going, talk, talk, talk with your kids about this stuff. And that sets you up for some of the more formal stuff, like sitting down with a family devotional, which I would say, you know, do, do sometimes you don't have to do it every single day of your life. You don't have to beat yourself up if you don't get around to it. but. But live an authentically Christian life toward your kids in front of them. That can include apologizing to them when you mess up, you know, telling them you're a sinner. Don't. They shouldn't be 10 and have their minds blown that mom and dad are sinners too. Right. and then use that to try and when you can do what fits with your family. Like I said, at breakfast time or at dinner time. And then the other thing of that is be very involved in a local church. There's so many pressures that pull us away from church, travel, sports and just everything. And Nashville is a place where it's like once a month, there's a weekend that kids get off school for a long weekend and everybody's out of town. And that's okay sometimes. But it's like, like don't use that as an excuse to disconnect from the local church. If you live authentically as a Christian in front of them and they're hearing the Bible and hearing the Gospel, I think that's going to do a lot of work.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I completely agree. And you know, there was a time when my kids were in grade school that it was very easy to be more prescriptive on that schedule. They all went to bed at 8 o' clock, and so we would have a gathering together and it was easy to do those, like you said, the Jesus storybook Bible, or we had lots of other devotionals that we would usually do. And as they get to high school and they're all going different directions and they all have different schedules and different school activities, it gets harder to do. But one of the things that we have really, adhered to as a family is going to church together every Sunday. And it's a beautiful thing. I love it now, Taylor, because I'll open up, you know, my little life360 app and see all of my whole family, you know, is all in church on Sunday, wherever we are. One of the things that we did when our kids were growing up is if we were traveling, we would go to find a church wherever we, wherever we were. And it's a good call for churches to make sure you have a good website, because that's how we were finding you. But we would have our kids look at that. How do you decide where to go to church? Because we went to the same church the whole years they were growing up. And so there's something valuable, I think, and, and having them feel like a visitor, but also just finding other believers all over the world. Really, we could go anywhere, we could walk into a church and we could find fellowship. I think that is, is a beautiful thing of just one of those daily disciplines that you have or just regular disciplines that you have that the Lord blesses. And what do you see as other ways that we can live out our faith as, as parents, especially because that, that's really where I think it is. Taylor, they're watching us. They're looking for that authenticity. What are ways that we can do that and walk in relationship rather than this prescriptive, legalistic, kind of fear based, fear based kind of worldview.

Taylor Combs: Yeah, well, that's something I struggle with. Even, you know, it's like the gospel is, you're saved by grace through faith, and then in gratitude to that, you begin to do good works. Not if I do enough good works. I'll be saved and earn God's grace. And yet with my children, who I don't think are born again yet, I still have to give them rules. Right. And so I mean one of the things that I practically tell my 5 year old all the time is, and now I'll ask it to her as a question, will I love you any more if you obey me better? No. Will I love you any less if you don't obey me? No. Why? Because God doesn't love me anymore or any less based on my performance or my obedience. So just being explicit about that kind of stuff because you still have to practically, you still have to have rules, you still have to have consequences or punishments when, you know, discipline, when the rules aren't obeyed. so that's, that's hard. But then I think just genuinely, I mean, checking yourself, pursuing a really genuine relationship with the Lord. And I don't. There's not a, there's not a secret formula to that other than, you know, I think a lot about Galatians 4. God has sent his son into the world born as a. Born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law. And he sent his spirit into our hearts by whom we cry out Abba, Father. So there's this objective, we know that Jesus came into the world to save us. And then this subjective experiential, he sends the Spirit into our hearts. And I'm not personally, very charismatic. I come from a pretty, pretty quiet, kind of reserved, traditional. But I'm. I've just thought of this more in the last few years, like, praying, lord, I believe that you've redeemed me through your son. Would you cause me to experience the fruit of that by the indwelling of your spirit and just praying for that, asking for that, being around other believers, to encourage that in one another is what I would say.

Dr. Jessica Peck: And, you know, so challenging, especially at the holiday times, because we do want to do all of the fun things. We want to go to the Nutcracker or, you know, whatever other fun Christmas things. And there are some of those things that are great to spend time with your family. God is pleased by that. When we are invested in our family, we are invested in building those relationships and strengthening bonds through having fun. Because we know kids learn better when they're having fun. Those things are all good. How do you contrast Advent with, you know, this. How do we. It's almost like we have it in silos, right? Like, okay, here's the. The Christian part of Christmas, and here's the Christmas part of Christmas. It feels like, how do we really push against Some of that comes on us, though. The pressure, the schedule, the family relationship drama that happens, the consumerism that is rampant, you know, and we see the Gen Alpha Christmas list getting more and more expensive. How. How do we navigate that, you know, without making it just almost like two separate things?

Taylor Combs: Yeah. Well, I would say if you're asking that question, you're. You're ahead of the curve and you're probably doing all right, because our culture, and this isn't true of our culture only every culture that people live in works on them at, like, a subterranean level. We just don't realize the extent to which we are constantly having our hearts and our desires and our loves formed and shaped by the culture that we live in. And if we're going to counteract that, we have to actively challenge it, ask questions, have people speak into our lives. And so the very fact, if you're listening, that you're pausing and asking, how do I engage the Christmas season in a way that isn't totally formed by my culture and is formed rather by Christ, you're probably doing a pretty good job at it, I would say, because.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I feel like people are gonna think I paid you.

Taylor Combs: Yeah. Ah, no, I mean, most people just aren't asking the question. So, I think that's. I think that's really, really good. And then I think, you know, one. One thing that I'd say too, that, is one of the things that is personally true is just for folks who go through this season and it's not fun for them, like, Christmas is hard. Christmas is sad. It makes them think of a loved one that they've lost. That song that you played is my favorite Christmas hymn. Dear Desire of every nation Joy of every longing heart. I mean, it doesn't get better than that. And, I hope that Advent and observing Advent will give some people like that permission to feel the way that they feel in December. And to know that if I don't have, you know, quite the register for all the cocoa and carols that everybody around me has, that's okay. Like Jesus meets you in that. In that longing as well. And I hope that'll be an encouragement to people.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I hope so too, because there are people who are grieving, there are people who are envious of the families with the matching pajama pictures, which. That. That's not ever gonna be my family. I'm never going to be that organized. But yeah, you're right. Just sitting in that wondering and sitting in that struggle. I think these are great conversations for us to have at home and to, and to ask your kids. Now my kids are old enough, Taylor, I can ask them for feedback and accountability. What do you think we're doing? Well. And honoring Christ in the Christmas season. And what do you think we need to do better? Let me tell you, they do not hold back. They say that.

One thing I would encourage our listeners to do now is to go to church

But I think one thing I would encourage our listeners to do now is to go to church. Go to church. Especially during the Christmas season, you should always go to church. But maybe it's been a while since you've been. This would be a great time to go. And Taylor, I would love to hear you just issue an invitation to people to re. Engage with church.

Taylor Combs: Yeah, I think we live in a more isolated and lonely and anxious time than we've ever lived in. And it's not just. I think that's objective. You can go look it up. Right. And church is the remedy to that. It just is.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Amen.

Taylor Combs: And not only do we find one another there, but we find Christ there in a unique way. He's with us by his spirit all the time, but he's also promised to be with us when two or more are gathered in my name in a unique way. and I think Christmas time, there's a lower barrier of entry. So like you said, Jessica, if you've been out for a while go to a church and sing some Christmas hymns. And it's like you people are expecting new people to come in during that season. it's a time of year where I invite more unbelieving friends to come to church because it's just. There's a lower barrier of entry. If your church has a Christmas Eve service, Great show, up at the candlelight service. And, yeah, it's just. It is. It is a place where we can taste and see the goodness of the Lord in a. In a unique way.

Dr. Jessica Peck: I absolutely love it. I agree. There's just something really special about standing with people and expressing your beliefs in a public way and seeing people share in the joy and the waiting and the longing. Because we're waiting and we're in this together. I hope that you won't wait to decide to have. Have an Advent season with your family to celebrate Advent, to observe Advent in some way. I hope that you'll get a copy of Taylor Combs book, the one we're waiting for. Beautiful, beautiful keepsake book that could really put memories in the heart of your child that will last a, lifetime. And even beyond that. And whatever you are doing, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you. Make his face to show, shine upon you and be gracious to you, and I'll see you right back here tomorrow.

Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Pastor and Author Taylor Combs joins Jessica to talk about the upcoming Advent season and preparing our hearts to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Rx for Hope: Look to December with Anticipation and Joy