Steve: Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster.
Steve: You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006.
Steve: It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day,
Steve: so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Steve: Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age.
Steve: However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one.
Steve: WhyChristmas.com is still current and active,
Steve: and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet.
Steve: LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com, and the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511.
Steve: Hello and welcome to day three of the Lifespring Advent Calendar.
Steve: I'm your host, Steve Webb.
Steve: Now, although it's day three of the calendar, today is the official start of Advent,
Steve: so I wonder what we'll find behind the door today.
Steve: I did hear that we have a special guest today with James,
Steve: Gold and Platinum Album winner and Dove Award recipient, Mr. Brian Duncan,
Steve: whose music we're using for the Lifespring Advent Calendar theme.
Steve: Now, let's open this door here.
James: As you said Steve, it's the proper start of Advent today as it's Advent Sunday.
James: So happy Advent everybody.
James: The four Sundays in Advent have different meanings
James: and different churches also give them different meanings.
James: So that can get a bit confusing.
James: But on our calendar, today represents the prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible
James: who foretold the coming of Jesus.
James: So let's light our first Advent candle and find out more about the prophets.
James: The Old Testament is the part of the Bible written before Jesus was born.
James: And although he's not specifically named in the Old Testament,
James: God used many prophets to tell his people, the Jews,
James: about the saviour of the world, his son, that was going to be born.
James: You might have heard some of them read in churches at Christmas time.
James: One of the most important prophets was Isaiah.
James: He lived about 700 years before Jesus was born, but he still wrote about Jesus.
James: Because in Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 it says,
James: Therefore the Lord will give to you a sign.
James: The virgin will be with child and she will give birth to a son and he will be called Emmanuel,
James: which means God with us.
James: That's a major part of the Christmas story written a long time before it happened.
James: In Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2, 6 and 7 it says more about the baby.
James: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
Steve: On those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Steve: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
Steve: and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Steve: Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.
Steve: He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
Steve: establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Steve: The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
James: Now that sounds like a very special baby to me.
James: And in chapter 11 of Isaiah, it talks about the kind of man that the baby would grow up to be.
Steve: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse, from his roots a branch will bear fruit.
Steve: The spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
Steve: the spirit of counsel and of power, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
Steve: And he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
Steve: He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears.
Steve: But with righteousness, he will judge the needy.
Steve: With justice, he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
James: Now you'll notice a branch and a shoot are mentioned in there.
James: And they're signs of new life and new beginnings.
James: So God was saying that this baby and man would become a new way of God working on earth today.
James: Wow!
James: Living about the same time was another Jewish prophet called Micah.
James: He often also prophesied about a new beginning from God
James: and even named the place that it would happen.
James: In Micah chapter 5 verses 2 to 5 it says
Steve: But you Bethlehem, though you were small among the clans of Judah
Steve: out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel
Steve: whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
Steve: Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor gives birth
Steve: and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites.
Steve: He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord
Steve: in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God
Steve: and they will live securely
Steve: for then his greatness will reach the ends of the earth
Steve: and he will be their peace.
James: so we're not only told about the new beginning and king would be born to a virgin but we're also
James: told it would be in the small town of bethlehem there are also many other prophecies about jesus
James: is coming in the old testament but going through all of them would take quite a long time
James: so when you hear the christmas story this year remember it didn't just take place about two
James: thousand years ago but god had planned jesus is coming or advent for a long time before that
Steve: thank you James and thanks Brian Duncan for helping us out today
Steve: wow there was a lot behind that door today James Cooper and Brian Duncan quite a pair
Steve: hey please come on back tomorrow to see what's behind the door then I'm Steve Webb and this has
Steve: in day three of the LifeSpring Advent Calendar.