What if you could see that struggling relationship, that stalled project, that personal challenge in an entirely different light—God's light? The same creative pattern God used in Genesis—speaking light over chaos—is available to recreate your situation right now. Discover six practical steps to release God's light over the areas where you need transformation. This is about supernatural vision that opens doors to new seasons. When God's light hits your chaos, creation begins.

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See the full episode transcript below.

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If this episode gave you a fresh perspective on Kingdom Living, share it with someone who needs encouragement.

Be sure to follow the podcast—each episode is designed to help you think more clearly and pursue the kind of life only Jesus makes possible.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: What Happens When God's Light Hits Your Situation

Coming up, how you see things—really how we see everything—can actually transform things, opening the door to new seasons. Welcome, friend. I'm Brian Del Turco.

I believe that Jesus Christ knows how our lives work best and that He is passionate about developing us as His followers, as intimate friends and co-agents in His kingdom. If you want to go further with King Jesus and His enterprise, this is the podcast for you. I'm glad you're here.

Jesus Dynamics: Ask, Seek, and Knock

We have a newish feature in the episode called Jesus Dynamics. Let's get right to it. I was driving somewhere recently, just about a week ago, and I felt like the Lord dropped this in my heart—Jesus' statement about asking, seeking, and knocking in the Sermon on the Mount. You can read about this in Matthew, I think it's chapter seven, probably in the Gospel of Luke as well.

In the Greek language, the tense is a little bit different. Greek has, I believe, six tenses, whereas English has only three. In this tense, as it was written, it means to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened.

Here's what I felt. It all starts with conversation with the Father. Ask, talk with Him, get His input. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own insight, but in all of your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make your pathways smooth. Ask, even request in prayer.

Then begin to seek, begin to probe, begin to explore, begin to step out, begin to lean forward, lean into scenarios and horizons and opportunities, and even lean into challenges to overcome them, my friend. And then knock. Do you know that knocking is an expression of faith? Just as asking is, knocking on doors, checking out opportunities, seeing what opens up—and then it creates a narrow pathway on the other side of that door that leads you into a new space, a new level, some new territory that the Lord has for you.

Remember, it's about perseverance. Ask and keep on asking. Same with seeking and knocking. And don't just stop with prayer. Begin to seek, begin to quest. Actually begin to put some feet to your prayers and go out. Start knocking, start building things, start creating, start innovating, start pressing into opportunities and challenges.

The Power of Seeing in a New Light

Well, I'm excited about this topic today. Father, we ask for new light, fresh, extraordinary light from You to break out of our heart. May we see

Forget the sanitized nativity—Christmas is a beachhead, an invasion, a sentence of doom upon the dragon. Brian Del Turco unveils Christmas through Revelation 12 and G.K. Chesterton's vision of the cave as an "outlaw's den"—a fortress in enemy territory where the King returned to shake kingdoms from below. This isn't about warm feelings and Michael Bublé—it's about understanding that the incarnation set in motion an advancing process that continues through us today. Discover four practical ways to live in "365 Advent". Pull out the eggnog if you fancy, but remember this: the dragon rages, but you reign in Christ.

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See the full episode transcript below.

👉 Support the podcast (use the Smart Edit BMAC page): buymeacoffee.com/SmartEdit

👉 Explore more episodes: JesusSmart.com/podcast

If this episode gave you a fresh perspective on Kingdom Living, share it with someone who needs encouragement.

Be sure to follow the podcast—each episode is designed to help you think more clearly and pursue the kind of life only Jesus makes possible.

Stay current via The Smart Edit newsletter—Elevate your faith. Live smart. Make an impact. Free. Weekly. 5 minutes to grow. Sign up at JesusSmart.com.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: The Outlaw Christ-Child: Why Christmas is Still a Revolution

Hey, dragon, you've been resisting, you've been fighting, you've been raging, but we have a message for you. Ho, ho, ho, from King Jesus.

Well, I have my little Christmas tree with twinkling lights that my daughter so kindly set me up with right here by my podcasting equipment. I'm ready to go. This is the first in a miniseries on Christmas. Welcome to Jesus Smart, the podcast. Brian Del Turco here. Thanks for connecting with me today.

The Central Miracle of Christianity

C.S. Lewis, in his book Miracles, writes that the central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. That's sort of a theological word which simply means God became flesh. Jesus came into the earth in the form of a human being. Lewis writes that they say that God became man. Of course, this is true. Every other miracle prepares for the incarnation or exhibits the reality of the incarnation or results from this, the incarnation.

In the Christian story, Lewis writes, God descends to re-ascend. Now listen to this, because you and I are swept up in this. In Christ, He comes down, down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity. But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him. Isn't that powerful?

Paul put it this way in his letter to the Philippians: "I press toward the mark of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Beyond the Hallmark Christmas

Now, I live with a lot of ladies—one wife and many daughters. We have four daughters, two still at home. So I know a lot about Hallmark. I have memorized the script-writing templates of Hallmark movies. I can predict the outcome of a Hallmark movie.

I don't mind. I enjoy sitting with my wife on a couch during the holiday season while they have a Hallmark movie on, and maybe we're eating a little something. And quite often, I might have, if I can just be honest with you, earbuds in. And I'm listening to maybe a podcast or something like that, kind of multitasking, glancing up at the Hallmark movie once in a while, but then getting some good solid content as well. This is how I—these are my coping mechanisms. This is how I make it with four daughters.

So I don't mind doing that. But I'm always after a deeper, more militant message concerning Christmas. And I know that this may challenge some people. Maybe not. Maybe...

We're coining a new Christmas greeting: "Have yourself a very 'chaordic' Christmas!" Chaordic—where chaos meets order. With decades planting churches in Rome and Brussels and serving with Convoy of Hope, Terry Hoggard helps us see Christmas as the ultimate disruptive innovation—an ongoing dance between heaven and earth. Discover why crisis is often the catalyst for much-desired transformation. This isn't your typical feel-good Christmas message. It's a call to intentional disruption and wholehearted seeking. Because when you're all in, God rolls out a pathway you never imagined possible.

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See the full episode transcript below.

👉 Support the podcast (use the Smart Edit BMAC page): buymeacoffee.com/SmartEdit

👉 Enhanced show notes: JesusSmart.com/359-chaordic-christmas

👉 Explore more episodes: JesusSmart.com/podcast

If this episode gave you a fresh perspective on Kingdom Living, share it with someone who needs encouragement.

Be sure to follow the podcast—each episode is designed to help you think more clearly and pursue the kind of life only Jesus makes possible.

Stay current via The Smart Edit newsletter—Elevate your faith. Live smart. Make an impact. Free. Weekly. 5 minutes to grow. Sign up at JesusSmart.com.

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Have Yourself a Very Chaordic Christmas: When Chaos Meets Order with Terry Hoggard

Brian: Hey there, friend. Merry Christmas. I'm glad you're with us. Thanks for connecting today. I'm Brian Del Turco, and you are connected with Jesus Smart, the podcast. Jesus knows how this life works best.

This is such an inspiring conversation, number 211—now being recast as episode 359. Here's the title—I'm confident you have not heard a Christmas greeting like this before: "Have Yourself a Very Chaordic Christmas" with Terry Hoggard. This, my friend, is a new wrinkle on keeping Christmas well.

Meet Terry Hoggard

Terry Hoggard is our special guest. He's a veteran missionary who has led international churches in Rome and Brussels. He's a leader of international leaders, a life coach, and he's an executive leader in Convoy of Hope, an international relief organization.

Here's an idea: why not gift this episode with a friend or two, and then they can gift it to others? I think you'll see that this is a gift worth re-gifting. But you get to keep the value when you gift a podcast episode.

Terry really encourages us that it is going to take a wholehearted mindset and heart set—the strength of our desire, the fortitude of our will. We have to have an all-in approach to engage this Christmas dance between heaven and earth.

The True Joy of Christmas

Here's the true joy of Christmas: when we understand that heaven and earth merge in us through the indwelling Christ, all bets are off. Unlimited potential can be released. You see, it's more than remembering Jesus as a baby in a manger. Christmas is a breakthrough merging of heaven and earth, and this changes everything.

The incarnation means that heaven and earth are reconnected again in a new way. A seamlessness between heaven and earth has been re-established. Think of it—it is the grounds on which we can now pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

What can this mean for you? What can it mean for me? God wants to be reconnected with us. Reconciliation is a huge meta theme in the kingdom of God—putting things back together again. And a huge part of what Jesus is after is the reunification of heaven and earth.

From Barely Enough to...