Have you ever felt like no one truly gets you? In this Christmas-themed message, discover how Jesus, our High Priest, knows your every struggle and pain. Hebrews 4:15-16 assures us that He sympathizes with our weaknesses and invites us to approach His throne of grace boldly.
Listen as we unpack the incredible gift of understanding Jesus offers, providing comfort and hope for the misunderstood.
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Creators & Guests
What is The Greater Guild Loading Screen?
Welcome to The Greater Guild's Loading Screen, the ultimate podcast where the sacred and the geeky collide! Dive deep into the Holy Scriptures with us as we explore sermons sprinkled with your favorite gaming quests, cosplay characters, and anime adventures. Whether you're a Paladin of Prayer, a Cosplay Crusader, or an Otaku of the Old Testament, this is your sanctuary.
Join our fellowship as we level up our faith through the lens of epic battles, legendary heroes, and fantastical worlds. From the wisdom of the Proverbs to the valor of the Apostles, we'll draw parallels between biblical narratives and the beloved realms of gaming, cosplay, and anime.
Tune in for:
Sermon Side Quests: Discover the deeper meaning behind Scripture with analogies from your favorite games and anime.
Cosplay Character Spotlight: Unveil the biblical virtues embodied by iconic characters and how they inspire our spiritual journey.
Anime Apologetics: Engage in lively discussions that bridge the gap between faith and fandom, unraveling the spiritual themes in popular series.
So, grab your controller, don your cosplay armor, and get ready to embark on an epic quest of faith and fandom. Church Nerds United is here to guide you on a heroic journey, one episode at a time. May the faith be with you!
Hey there, nerds and geeks. Welcome to Church Nerds United, the podcast where faith meets fandom and we level up in God's truth. Today, we're kicking off our brand new Christmas series, The Gift, with a message that hits close to home, no one understands me. Have you ever felt like no one gets you? Your struggles, your pain, or even your joys?
Greater Guild Announcer:Well, here's the good news. Jesus does. As our high priest, he understands us completely and walks with us through every battle. So grab your favorite cozy beverage, settle in, and let's dive into a powerful message about the gift of being fully known and deeply loved.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Welcome to today's message in our Christmas series, The Gift. This season, like every year, we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. And today, we're reflecting on the gift of understanding, the assurance that, Jesus knows us deeply and walks with us in our strength in our strengths and struggles. So when we talk about today's service, it's titled No One Understands Me.
Pastor Brandon Holm:And it'll explore how Jesus, as our high priest, fully understands our weaknesses, our pain, and our joy. So let's dive into the word of God with this theme of hope and connection. From the beginning, the divide between God's holiness and humanity's sinfulness has been one of the most crucial themes in scripture. God is not just good or powerful. He is holy.
Pastor Brandon Holm:The word holy comes from the Greek word, agios, which means set apart or other. This means God is entirely distinct, pure, and perfect in every way. Consider Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 6:1 through 5. The prophet sees God seated on his throne, surrounded by angels who are crying, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Isaiah, he has an immediate response of terror and exclaims, woe is me. I am ruined, or I am a man of unclean lips. Isaiah recognized that in the presence of God's holiness, his sinfulness was laid bare. But what does this mean for us today? Many in our modern culture dismiss the concept of sin.
Pastor Brandon Holm:It's often seen as an outdated idea and is replaced by phrases like, you know, mistakes or personal flaws. Yet if we diminish the reality of sin, we also diminish the gravity of God's holiness. Without understanding the vastness of God's perfection, we can't grasp the depth of our need for his grace. In our geek culture, we often see this tension reflected in the story as we love. Think of the relationship between Frodo and the ring in the Lord of the Rings trilogy or even the book.
Pastor Brandon Holm:The ring represents corruption and sin, and it's constantly drawing Frodo away from what is good. Spikes Frodo's noble intentions, the ring reveals his vulnerability and the chasm between his desires and purity. Similarly, our sin separates us from God's holiness, and it exposes our need for a savior. God's holiness isn't just one of his many attribute. Attribute is the culmination of his attributes.
Pastor Brandon Holm:He his love is holy. His justice is holy. His mercy is holy. This means that God cannot tolerate sin. It's entirely incompatible with his nature.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Now that's why it says in Habakkuk, chapter 1 verse 13, your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. This this truth may feel heavy, but it is foundational to understanding the gospel. Now enter the sacrificial system of the old testament. This was God's provision to temporarily address the sinfulness of humanity.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Leviticus 16 describes the day of atonement where the high priest would enter the holy of holies, offer sacrifices to atone for the people's sins. The priest would sprinkle the blood of an innocent animal, and on the mercy seat, and it symbolizes the payment for sin. This act wasn't random or archaic. It showed the cost of sin and God's provision of forgiveness. Even the idea of the scapegoat during the ceremony is a powerful illustration.
Pastor Brandon Holm:The priest would simply symbolically transfer the sins of the people onto the goat, which was then sent into the wilderness signifying the removal of sin. So this visual teaches us 2 truths. You know, sin is serious, and God is merciful. Again, in our geek culture, it's like when a hero sacrifices themselves for the good of the entire group. No one can really illustrate this better than Spock in the second Star Trek movie, the wrath of wrath of Khan, where he states dying in a highly radioactive room, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
Pastor Brandon Holm:This echoes the sacrificial system and ultimately points to the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus. God's holiness demands justice for sin, but his love and mercy provides a way for us to be restored. The sacrificial system was not the end, but a foreshadowing of something greater. It reminds us of the weight of our sin and the lengths God goes to bridge the gap. This understanding sets the stage for Jesus, the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan of redemption.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Now the concept of Jesus as our high priest is central to understanding his role in our relationship with God. In in the Old Testament, priests served as mediators between God and his people. They performed sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins and interceded on behalf of the people through prayer. But in Hebrews 5 1 through 3, it really explains it that every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offering gifts and sacrifices for sin. However, the system of the old testament priesthood was imperfect and temporary.
Pastor Brandon Holm:The priests themselves were sinful and had to offer sacrifices not only for the people, but also for their own sins. Moreover, the sacrifices they offered, which was with goats, lambs, and even bulls, would only cover the sin for a short amount of time. These sacrifices were a shadow of what was to come, pointing towards a better solution. This is where Jesus, the ultimate high priest steps in. Hebrews 4 14 declares, since we since then we have a high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Jesus is not just another priest. He is the high priest who surpasses all others. Unlike the human priests of old, Jesus is sinless and perfect. Hebrews 726 says, such a high priest truly meets our needs. 1 who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.
Pastor Brandon Holm:One of the most powerful aspects of Jesus' priesthood is that he didn't offer the blood of animals as a temporary solution for sin. Instead, he offered his own life as a perfect once for all sacrifice. Hebrews 10:10 states, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ through once and for all. In his death on the cross, Jesus sacrificed the satisfied the justice of God, paying the penalty for sin, and opened the way for humanity to be reconciled to God. In our culture here as geeks, this can be likened to the ultimate hero taking the final unbeatable challenge to secure a lasting peace for everyone.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Again, think of a character like Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia who willingly sacrifices himself to break the curse of sin and death over Narnia. Aslan's sacrifice mirrors the much greater reality of Jesus' atonement, which is not bound to a fictional world, but transforms the lives of everyone who believes in him. Not only does Jesus' priesthood deal with sin, but it also gives us direct access to God. So as you remember, the Old Testament priests acted as intermediaries, but Jesus removes the barriers. I mean, when he died, the veil in the temple, and it's this huge cloth, and it separated the holy of holies from the rest of the people.
Pastor Brandon Holm:When he died, it was torn in 2. This act symbolizes that though Jesus that through Jesus, excuse me, we now have open access to God. As Hebrews 416 proclaims, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive the mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Jesus as our high priest is also deeply personal. He didn't perform his priestly role from a distance.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Instead, he entered into our world, experienced our struggles, and walked among us. His priesthood isn't just a theological concept. It's a relational truth. Jesus understands our pain and intercedes for us daily offering not only, forgiveness but also ongoing grace and mercy. In his role as high priest, Jesus fulfills both the justice and the mercy of God.
Pastor Brandon Holm:He offers a solution to the problem of sin that the old testament system could only point towards. He is the ultimate bridge between a holy God and a sinful humanity, and through him, we are made new. One of the most comforting aspects of Jesus as our high priest is his deep and personal understanding of us. Hebrews 4:15 affirms this truth. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Jesus doesn't merely observe our struggles from a distance he has lived them. Think about this profound reality. Jesus, the son of God, stepped into the limitations of humanity. He experienced the full spectrum of human emotions and challenges. If you feel anxious or overwhelmed, remember that Jesus felt anguish so deep in the garden of Geth Gethsemane, never pronounced that word.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Sorry. That his sweat became like drops of blood. If you face rejection, Jesus experienced betrayal from Judas, one of his closest companions and denial from Peter Peter, a loyal disciple. Jesus understanding extends even to the mundane struggles of a life. He knew hungrier hunger after fasting for 40 days.
Pastor Brandon Holm:He felt the pain of loss when his friend Lazarus died and he wept openly sharing in the grief grief of others. Even as a sinless son of god, he experienced the weight of temptation as the devil sought to exploit his vulnerabilities in the wilderness. This truth is a gift to us. It means that whenever we are whatever we're facing, we can be assured that Jesus has been there. He understands the pressures of life, the weight of sorrow, and even the sting of loneliness.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Isaiah 533 describes him as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. Yet unlike us, Jesus did not sin. His victory over temptation shows us that he is not only sympathetic to our struggles but also able to help us overcome them. This reality speaks powerfully to the heart of geek culture. Many of us have felt like outsiders, misunderstood by family, peers, or society as a whole.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Jesus knows what it's like to be misunderstood and judged. From his birth in the manger to his death on the cross, his life defied expectations and norms. People questioned his legitimacy and still do today. People still mock his teachings as they did back then, and many rejected his love like still many do today. Yet his he continued his mission with unwavering purpose and compassion.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Imagine Jesus is the ultimate ally in your favorite RPG. He isn't just a healer standing from the sidelines. He's in the thick of battle with you, taking hits and clearing obstacles. He's not a distance a distant observer, but one who understands every struggle you face, fighting alongside you and guiding you towards victory. As I said, Hebrews 416 gives us a profound invitation.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Because Jesus understands us, we don't need to approach him with fear or hesitation. We can come boldly knowing he will meet us with grace and mercy. This means we can be honest with him about pain, doubt, even our failures. He really knows them and welcomes us into his presence.
Pastor Brandon Holm:Jesus' understanding of our struggles isn't just comforting. It's transformative. It assures us that we are never alone no matter how isolated we feel. His empathy strengthens us, and his grace empowers us to face life's challenges with courage and hope. Whatever you are carrying today know that Jesus sees you, understands you, and invites you to draw near him.
Pastor Brandon Holm:So as we celebrate Christmas, let's embrace the truth that we are fully known and loved by Jesus. The gift of his understanding is profound. Whenever you're you know, whatever you're facing, loneliness, stress, or the feeling of being misunderstood, Jesus is your refuge. Take time this week to come boldly to him in prayer. Carry your heart, your struggles, and your victories.
Pastor Brandon Holm:For as it says in Matthew 11 28, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Greater Guild Announcer:Thanks for joining us today on Church Nerds United. I hope this first message from our Christmas series, The Gift, reminded you that you're never alone. Jesus understands you deeply and walks with you, no matter how misunderstood you might feel. If this message encouraged you, be sure to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast. Don't forget to follow us on Twitch, YouTube, and all your favorite platforms for more uplifting messages and geeky fun.
Greater Guild Announcer:And, hey, if you wanna connect further, head over to greaterguild.org. Until next time, keep leveling up your faith and geeking out for God. See you in the next episode. And remember, you're loved, known, and understood.