Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Did You Learn This Year? | Christmas | Isaiah 11:10-16

Episode Date: December 29, 2021

Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here to grow in your faith in the new year. And what are you going to learn next year? If you're being honest, you probably don't know what you don't know yet. Tanya closes out our Christmas series by reflecting on the importance of prophecies and what we can learn from them in Isaiah 11:10-16. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks Twitter: https://twitter.com/tmbtpodcast Passages: Isaiah 11:10-16 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmeth. I'm Keith Simon. And I'm Patrick Miller. Right now, we're in our Christmas series, but starting in January, we're going back to the basics and guiding you through the first books of the Bible, starting in Genesis. Invite a friend to join you on the journey, starting January 1st. Hey, listeners, I'm excited to tell you about a new way to connect with 10-minute Bible talks in the new year. When you sign up for our brand new 10-minute Bible Talks email newsletter, you're going to get a blessedly short email once a week.

And it's going to have guides on spiritual disciplines, inspiring challenges for you to grow. It's going to give you more background on the passages we cover, and there'll even be quick studies of Hebrew and Greek words. It will be the one email that asks nothing from you but gives you something instead. Each week will be a little different, and you're going to love the variety. So stop what you're doing, click the link in the show notes, and join us in your inbox. Now, let's hop into today's episode. Sit in any end of your company meeting, and you're bound to hear phrases like, hindsight is 2020, and let's do some vision casting.

We know it's good practice to look backward and learn from our past, and we know it's excellent practice to look forward. When we look at prophecy in the Bible, we can't help but see that the practice is actually rooted in God's design. God gave the prophets vision and words to point us forward to what he would do. And then he gave the gospel writers the ability to see and tell us how Jesus perfectly fulfilled those words. And the Bible continues to cast vision for what God will do as we wait for him to make all things new. We're wrapping up our Christmas series with the words and prophecy of Isaiah chapter 11 about what we'll have.

Happen on that day, a day that extends beyond the typical story we celebrate at Christmas, where the lights in the sanctuary go down with a baby in a manger. Isaiah 1110 On that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. Contrary to our smaller narratives, Christmas doesn't end with a letdown that the parties are over, and the tree needs to come down. And the joy of Christmas doesn't climax

when the stockings are hung and the presents are open. It doesn't end when we turn the page in our planers to the one with resolutions and weight loss goals. The story of our lives is based on God's faithfulness. To be with us now as we wait for that day, when His kingdom will come,

and we will have eternal rest and peace with him. Prophecy teaches us us to be people who recognize God's faithfulness that has come, and people who look forward to that which is yet to come, because God is faithful. As we learn more about how the Bible fits together perfectly, we're encouraged and empowered to continue learning, to continue growing, so we can continue to partner with God. So let's start by looking back on 2021. How did God enable you to partner with him this year as you learned new things, as you learned how to better understand and love people more fully, how to use the way you were created to point people to Jesus. I'll share mine in hopes that it

will inspire you to seek God in the ebbs and flows of your ups and downs of 2021. So what I've learned in 2021, or better yet, what I'm currently learning. Number one, how college applications work. There's this thing called the Common App, and now a senior can put all their info in, and the application goes to all the colleges at once. It's pretty amazing. Two, I'm learning how to be on a podcast. I'm learning how to write in a way that is relevant and how to use my voice and how to keep Macs

from scratching himself under my desk while I'm recording. Three, I'm learning how it can be unhealthy and inauthentic to minimize conflict instead of addressing it and how to grow from conflict instead of beating myself up over it. Four, I'm learning how not to overreact when my kids are struggling and how to wait for the right time or a better way to respond instead. Five. I'm learning how to ask for help for things I think I should be good at. And I'm learning that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, but a fruit of humility. And when I recognize I need help, I can thank God that he's softening my prideful heart.

Six. I'm learning that situations where people leave or change directions don't have have to be negative or complicated. Moving on can be good and healthy, and we can partner with God as we encourage people in their changes and set boundaries for our own thoughts by not making it all about us. Seven. Okay, this one might be eye-opening to you. You've probably heard the term gaslighting, but do you know where it comes from? So to start, to Gaslight, is to use a position, usually of power or authority, to change a narrative.

But I learned that the term comes from a 1938 play called Gaslight, where a husband manipulates his wife into believing she's mentally ill, so we can have her admitted to an asylum and claim her inheritance. You're welcome for that. 8. I'm learning how, I think recent, is the right word. Systemic racism is. On a college visit with my son, the tour guide told us that the first black student was admitted into the university in 1962. For many of us, that either includes our parents, our grandparents, or maybe even us. There are so many effects of racism that I have yet to learn. Nine, I'm learning that the path isn't always straight in people's lives.

I can't assume to know God's timeline, and I can better partner with God by being with them and for them instead of judging them. 10. Finally, I'm learning there's a lot I just don't know yet. A life with God is a life of discovery and growth, where we don't trust in our own understanding

but acknowledge him as he makes our path straight and reveals his plan. So, looking forward, well, my next page and my planner says, I just haven't learned that yet. We live in a world where Jesus has come as our Savior, but we wait for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. As people who live in the now and the not yet, we are growing and learning as we partner with God. There is much we just haven't learned yet.

How different would our thoughts, conversations, and relationships about others and with others be? If we spent more time thinking, I just haven't learned that yet, and less time being the expert on everything. The prophecy of Isaiah 11 points us to a day when the nations will be united, when all people will call on the name of Jesus, when the enemy, sin, will be destroyed, when God's people will experience the glorious rest of being in his presence. We wait for God to perfectly fulfill this promise while we partner with him to learn more today.

Before you forget, sign up for the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes, and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.