Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for just a night that we get to worship you, to praise you as king, to praise you as Lord.
[00:00:10] Father, I thank you that you are the light of this world.
[00:00:14] And I pray tonight that your light will shine within us, that the dark spots that are there and tucked away, Father, that you will shine that great light, and that we will know something better of who you are. In your son's name we pray. Amen. I heard a disgusting TED talk that I'm about to share with you, but it's memorable. Okay, so it is from a woman named Vanessa Van Edwards. And she was talking about this idea of your emotions are contagious.
[00:00:49] And she said there was a study done that they put these sweat pads under the armpits of runners, and then they put sweat pads to collect the sweat under the armpits of skydivers.
[00:01:07] Here's the gross part.
[00:01:09] Then some sort of unsuspecting volunteer went into the lab that day and sniffed the pads while hooked up to an MFRI machine, f MRI machine.
[00:01:24] And what happened was when they smelled the sweat pads of the skydivers, their area in their brain with fear lit up, and they learned that you are contagious.
[00:01:42] And so she wanted to study this and really get into it to try and understand how deep does this go?
[00:01:50] And so they did a study where they looked at micro face expressions. Have any of you. A while back, there was something that went viral where you would pretend like there was something scary in the room to see if the people would react.
[00:02:05] I tried to find the video because I did this to my husband, and I just couldn't find the video. But the idea was you pretend like, something scary in the room to see if they react and then get scared. He got something. I don't know if scared is the right word. Angry. He got something.
[00:02:25] But what they say is this. This expression where you lift up your eyebrows, you get your eyelids out of the way, and you take a gasp. Like, fear is contagious, but the beauty is so is joy.
[00:02:40] And they did a study where they tried to show people the face of an authentically happy person.
[00:02:49] And just by looking at the picture, they caught the happiness.
[00:02:55] My dad and I took this ridiculous picture years ago. Do you remember face swap where you would.
[00:03:02] Yeah. Where you would take the picture, but they'd swap your face.
[00:03:07] I don't know if this is freaky or delightful, but I love this picture because here's what you can see in it. You can see an authentic smile from both of us. You see the crinkles you see, the laugh go way up into our eyes. And this was taken years ago. And my dad said, you know, sometimes when I'm having a bad day or a hard meeting, I walk out of my office, I walk outside, and I just pulled up this picture, and it brings me joy. And I was looking at it today, and it just brought me joy. Look at his face on my head.
[00:03:42] It's awesome. I hope you're watching at home, dad.
[00:03:47] But they say that when you have an authentic smile that reaches to your eyes, everyone try it. Like it's up in your eyes. Yes.
[00:03:57] That it not only helps other people catch joy, but it actually helps you catch joy.
[00:04:05] They did another study, and this study was the tone of your voice. And it would be someone who you didn't like and you answered the phone, and someone you did like, and you would answer the phone, and then they played the tone of the voice to see which was more pleasing if you would like the person or if you wouldn't like the person. And so the happy tone when someone you liked was obviously much more pleasing. And it's these nonverbal and verbal cues that we're giving out that are contagious.
[00:04:37] One of my favorite studies was they put a bunch of people, like 500 people in a room, and they gave some of them social cues to start a conversation. So the social cues were like, been busy lately? Where are you from? What do you do? Sound familiar?
[00:04:58] And they filmed all over this room to pick up which conversations were the most healthy, which conversations were the most delightful, which conversations you kind of wanted to be in and around. And they found that those questions were the least happy, good, fulfilling conversations. When you ask these questions, they said that the brain cues in on hits, not misses. So let me explain. If someone says to you, have you been busy lately? Your brain instantly goes to all the hits of busy. And now your anxiety.
[00:05:42] Higher.
[00:05:44] But when you ask a question like, have you done anything exciting?
[00:05:49] Your brain goes to the hits. And then there's surges of dopamine, which is the good stuff.
[00:05:57] And your brain goes to all the things that you've done that have been exciting. And so she said, just by switching the social cues, you're contagious, you become more memorable.
[00:06:11] Let me give you all the questions because I thought it was super helpful. And maybe if you have a party, this will be good.
[00:06:16] So have you done anything exciting lately? Going on a vacation.
[00:06:22] And then the last one, did anything good happen today? Tuck that in your pocket and thank me later, okay?
[00:06:31] But Each of these studies showed that you, you are contagious.
[00:06:36] But the question is, what are you spreading?
[00:06:39] Are you spreading fear and unhappiness?
[00:06:44] Are you spreading a confidence and a love?
[00:06:49] The Bible is full of this theme of light from the beginning to the end. You will find this theme run through because here is the truth. Our God is light.
[00:07:03] And in Isaiah, it was 700 years before Jesus was born. The prophet spoke and he says, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned.
[00:07:23] Isaiah was saying there is deep darkness, darkness here. But soon a savior is coming.
[00:07:31] Soon a light is going to shine into the deepest, darkest parts of this world and our hearts.
[00:07:38] Every single one of us knows the reality of what darkness feels like.
[00:07:44] Every one of us knows the reality of the pain in our life.
[00:07:48] Maybe we've caused it or someone's put it on us, but. But we've all felt the deep dark spots.
[00:07:56] Maybe it's the grief of this Christmas we're going to be spending without some of the people you love the most for the first time.
[00:08:05] And it's a grief, it's a dark spot.
[00:08:10] Maybe for some of you it's financial and you just don't know how you're going to pay the bills and it just feels like a darkness.
[00:08:17] Maybe for some of you it's relationships.
[00:08:21] Maybe for some of you your body is just betraying you in every way and you just don't feel good.
[00:08:31] Every single one of us have experienced the darkness. But Isaiah reminded us that we have seen a great light.
[00:08:40] John says it like this. It's so interesting because in Matthew and Luke you get the picture of Jesus birth.
[00:08:47] But John doesn't start that way. In the very first paragraph that John starts to write this book telling about Jesus and who he is, I just imagine him digging in and thinking like, okay, how can I say this? How can I start this? And in John 1, verse 4, he says, in him was life and that life was the light of all mankind.
[00:09:12] That light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
[00:09:20] I don't know what your darkness feels like, but I know at some point we've all had it and we all feel it. And sometimes we can feel like it's overcoming us.
[00:09:30] But tonight I want you to connect to the great light.
[00:09:35] Tonight I want to connect you to a God who has overcome the darkness.
[00:09:40] And if there is a peace in your life that feels dark and that it's not, you're just overcome, then you need to invite the light of Jesus Christ in.
[00:09:53] Some of us know the pain of darkness, but we know the beauty of seeing the great light.
[00:10:04] We know the beauty of that Jesus Christ has to offer.
[00:10:11] And so I just challenge us.
[00:10:15] Because Matthew puts it like this.
[00:10:18] He says, this is Jesus talking. He says, you are the light of the world.
[00:10:27] Jesus was talking to us.
[00:10:33] We've seen a great light he has shined upon us.
[00:10:38] In him is life and the light for all of us. And when we have seen the light, when we've received this life within us, we shine.
[00:10:51] I'll never understand why God wants to partner with us. I just. I fully don't understand it. If I was God, I would never use the broken right.
[00:11:02] But in his good plan, he says, you are the light of the world.
[00:11:09] A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
[00:11:13] Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house.
[00:11:23] In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see, see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
[00:11:33] We have been touched by a great light.
[00:11:38] And if you don't know or haven't met that great light, I ask you to open your heart to him tonight.
[00:11:45] I've tried a lot of things in this world that have not worked.
[00:11:49] And the only place that I have found dignity and purpose and clarity, calling and meaning in this life is in the light of Jesus Christ.
[00:12:00] For those of you who know it, who feel it, who have been transformed by it, I urge you to stand on that great hill, to let your light shine before men because you are contagious.
[00:12:17] Let your light shine. Because what happens is when you feel it and then you reflect it, God is glorified.
[00:12:26] And this Christmas you are going to have plenty of opportunity to be contagious.
[00:12:34] Would you open your heart to being contagious with our great God and shining a light in the kind of way that others can see and glorify him who is in heaven.
[00:12:51] Let's pray.
[00:12:54] Dear Heavenly Father, I love you. I thank you for this scripture. I thank you that you. You encompass light, that you are the God of life and light.
[00:13:05] And I pray tonight that as we continue to worship you, Father, that you will fill us that the darkness and the spots that we have, Father, that you will fill it and flood us with your goodness.
[00:13:20] Father, I pray that we don't waste the pain if we have to feel the grief, Father, I pray that we use it and we don't waste it. That it'll draw us to love others deeper, to be more kind.
[00:13:41] Father, if it's the pain of relationships, I pray that we don't waste it, but we go to you and we grow deeper in intimacy.
[00:13:52] Father, if it's the pain of our own thoughts and the brokenness of who we think we are, I pray that it will draw us deeper to you and we do not waste the pain. Because you are a mighty God and a great light. And so, I pray, let your light shine.
[00:14:11] In your mighty son's name we pray. Amen.
