 We welcome you to hope today and that's exactly what you're going to get. I know we are nearing the Christmas season and we are here to encourage you that you can stay hopeful through the entire season and into the new year. So I'm Amanda Brocker. This is my co-host today, Tom Hollis, and we're ready to kick off this week. We are. And you know, of all the Christian media that's out, and there's a lot now, and it's really good. There's a lot of Christian movies and different things that are coming out. Nothing has quite hit like The Chosen. If you've seen The Chosen, I'm sure you have. If you haven't, you need to. It's the best thing really that we've seen in a long time. But anyway, Jerry Jenkins, you may know him from the left behind series that he wrote with Tim LaHaye, with his son Dallas Jenkins does the program, The Chosen. But Jerry has written a book about it and it's about season four. And you know what? It is a great conversation that Amy and I had a little while ago with him. You're going to really want to hear this. He dives into the whole thing of how he kind of thinks, Amanda. He kind of thinks behind the scenes of what is going on in everyone's mind and heart as the things that we know from the Gospels are unfolding. It's a really good conversation. Just this last night, my youngest son, Jonathan, and I, he wanted to watch something and it's like, well, what do we watch? We've seen every Christmas movie, probably multiple times, but he picked The Chosen and we just started with season one. We went through four episodes and you had to just like make yourself stop. Okay, we have to end this. But I loved, you know, it initiated conversation and he was just like asking me different questions because we don't often think about the humanity of the characters in the Bible. And I think that's so important to realize they were people just like us. Jesus, though he was God, was fully man. And like it really helps open up our thought process that the things people go through. I think that as I watched The Chosen a lot of times, the way they react to things is kind of the way we, they're almost like 21st century people playing those carrot, which is what they actually are, but some of it's written that way too. And so it kind of helps to bring that forward to apply to how we are. And that's what I love about The Chosen, that there's so much in it that you can do that with. I think we got something coming up, don't we? We sure do. It is meaningful Monday. It's so important to take a moment and think about things in life. And today we want to look at something meaningful. On today's meaningful Monday, Christmas is known as a great time for giving. This Christmas season, it's important to remember those who are less fortunate, who have lost family members or are in the midst of other challenges. As Christians, those of us who are able to give of our time and treasure, we asked ourselves, you know, how can we help our local community? There are several ways you can give back and here are some of them. I love the first one. It's to put together packages to give to our troops in the military. And I will say that my son Caleb, who's in the Air Force down in North Carolina, he received a package that had a little coloring page from a child and just a bunch of goodies in the bag. And he felt so valued and loved by that. So I do. I encourage everyone out there, if you know any service men or women, send those care packages. Let them know that they're valuable and we appreciate them. And this was somebody he didn't know, right? It was just a class. It was. Yes. Yeah. So what a great idea. Absolutely. I think a church or a rotary group did this for the military. Yes. And then what about going to the nursing home and visiting some of the residents? Yeah. So this was another one. Hey, I got to participate in right here in Monroeville. We went caroling a group of us from our church and just visited. And one lady, her name was Joanne, and she just kept thanking us because we broke down into groups and like talked to individual people. Right. And just she was very taken that we would take time to stop by and visit. I don't think that we often realize how important that is. I mean, it is such a key thing that whenever we have the opportunity to do something to bless someone and to help someone, we can think so much about ourselves during this time. It's great, Amanda, when we have opportunity, but you have some more, don't you? I do. So we can organize a food drive. We could set up a clothing drive. You know, wait a minute. This sounds like the dream center. In fact, if you don't know Amanda and Gary, her husband, they're the directors of the dream center here in Pittsburgh and they have a feeding program. In fact, I'm preaching later today. I'm sharing in your chapel and then you'll have a Christmas meal. And so it's it's a great thing that you're you do a lot of these things. I think that are on this list. I know it's so this is I didn't even pick this list. Y'all, Neil, our director did, but I love it. And let me just tell you the scripture that they use is Matthew 2540. It says the king will reply. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. This is the why we do it. It's not to be seen, not, you know, for any other thing. What about leaving cookies for your delivery or your male people? Or I used to be a delivery person. Believe me, delivery people love their cookies. At a time, they want to give them cookies. That's right. So how about leaving some cookies for your male or delivery people? I read that one or having treats for first responders. Wait a minute. Donating your air miles. You know, maybe someone wants to go see their family member, but they don't have the money for the ticket. You can donate your air miles. And how about volunteering at a shelter? I mean, there's so many great ideas. This article was by Marissa Zimmett from Great American Pure Flix Insider. So thank you for this great article and those ideas. I pray that God will inspire you to do something meaningful for the people around you. Absolutely. I mean, that means so much at this time, more than any time. But God will make those ways available as you are available. Well, we're going to take a quick break and coming back. We're going to talk to Jerry Jenkins about the chosen. Hope happens here at Cornerstone Television. All this month, we're offering a joy filled DVD Christmas with the chosen, the messengers for your best gift to the ministry. Gather around the manger with loved ones and experience the first Christmas through the eyes of Mary and Joseph. Follow the young couple as they take the long road to Bethlehem and prepare for Jesus birth. Plus, enjoy an extraordinary lineup of musicians performing both new and classic Christmas songs from the set of the chosen, such as Phil Wickham, Brandon Lake, Maverick City Music, Cain and many others. Thank you for your generosity that makes the Ministry of Cornerstone Television possible. Request your Christmas with the chosen DVD when you give this month. Call 888-665-4483 or give online at ctvn.org slash donate. From all of us here, we wish you a very Merry Christmas. Our next guest is a bestselling author and is known for his popular left behind books and the chosen book series, which is based on the TV series created by his son, Dallas. Jerry Jenkins offers us a beautiful novel about Jesus and his disciples in the chosen and I will give you rest. Jerry, it's great to have you back with us on Hope Today. Thanks so much, Tom. Great to be with you and Amy. Well, I just have to ask you and I know we've talked before about the books that you've written. So tell us about this one particularly and about the title. I will give you rest. What's the significance there? Yeah, that's really the theme of season three of the chosen. And the basic story in this one, the major story is Simon Peter and his wife losing a child before birth. And Simon doesn't know about it. He's on the road with Jesus. He comes back and when he finds out both he and Eden are pretty upset because they've seen Jesus heal people. They're even aware that he's brought somebody back from the dead and they wonder why he didn't act in their case. This was really an interesting and fun project to work on because, you know, as you know, we don't know the name of Simon Peter's wife. We know he was married because his mother-in-law was healed by Jesus. But the writers of the chosen have given her a name and given them a relationship and an interaction that really makes them relatable. That's the creative, sort of plausible imaginations that these guys have and how they put that together. And I get to add to that with the novels and add inner monologue and even other characters and dialogue and things like that. So it's a special project and a meaningful book because people are relating. They're saying, no matter what I'm going through, I can see why they had these questions and why they're flawed people. And we want people to see Jesus in these novels, but we also want them to see themselves in the flawed characters around him. Jerry, I love the story behind the story. And I love how you read between the lines. How do you research? How do you study for these characters? You know, like take a disciple and think about his parents and think about where he lived and how they thought, what do you do to research and to study these characters? Yeah, the toughest challenge for a novelist. I mean, the job we have is to try to become our characters. Well, we're talking about people from 2000 years ago, some men, some women. And so, you know, I'm trying to imagine myself in their place and say, if this was me, what would I think? What would I say? How would I feel about what's going on? But as far as researching, I've been to the Holy Land several times and also I study, you know, lots of books and videos about the Holy Land because I want the reader to feel like they're there, too. I want them to feel that dust and dirt and that heat and realize they're wearing sandals, they're wearing robes. They're, you know, I want to know about what they eat and the distances between cities. So I'm studying books like Manners and Customs of Bible Lands and, you know, dozens of others. But the key is to try to feel like you're you're there and that you want the reader to be there, too. Jerry, just something that was just alluded to when you talk about like the first story in the book is about Matthew and his parents when he first becomes a tax collector and and the rejection of his parents, the embarrassment of his parents. Like that I love that kind of reading the back reading into the back story. What was your thought process in doing that? Well, fortunately, you know, I'm I'm sort of deconstructing the TV series and putting it into a novel. So the sequence is already there. The basic story is there from Dallas and his co-writers. But the interesting thing about Matthew is all we know in scripture are a few verses. We know that he was a tax collector and that he was a Jew. And so he was hated by his own people. He was really looked down upon even by the Romans who hired him. They just use him for for income. And so we're trying to create a backstory of who is he and how did he become this way and what did his parents think? And again, this that part of it is not in the scripture. Some some people say, oh, you're adding to or taking away from scripture. We feel that that warning about not adding to or taking away from the message means the message. It means the gospel. We don't ever want to violate what the Bible says about the gospel. We're simply saying, this is a plausible way that this could have happened. This is what its family could have looked like. And I think readers and viewers give us that literary license to say that makes sense. We're not sending Jesus to other galaxies in a rocket ship or something crazy like that. We're simply saying, here's the stories we know. And here's what we think could have led up to those. And and people are finding it very relatable. Jerry, I love the father-son relationship that you and Dallas have and really working together in the kingdom. And I want to just ask about the success of the chosen. I mean, you have to live under a rock to not have heard about the chosen at this point. But the fact that, I mean, really, what both of you are doing are you you're just revealing the Bible and Jesus and the disciples and the stories and the miracles to millions of people. Do you have any secret sauce? Is do you ever come into conflict? Do you ever disagree on a narrative? Do you how do you work through it and and and and make something so beautiful? You know, it's it's really an interesting dynamic. And the fact that that lightning sort of struck the same family twice within a generation. And I was in my mid 40s, my left behind hit. Dallas is now in his 40s now when when the chosen hits. And we're astounded by it. The joke in our family is he used to be known as Jerry Jenkins son. I'm now known as Dallas Jenkins father and may it ever be so. Well, we get along great. We're both strong personalities and have opinions and sure, we disagree at times. In fact, the very first novel I wrote for season one, I stayed too close to what was on the screen. And Dallas and his co-writer said, hey, we want you doing this because of your imagination and your ability as a storyteller. So add to it. And that gave me a lot of freedom. It's just it's just great. I've always thought that everything Dallas has done in his career has been brilliant this time I was right then. So it's I feel like I'm sort of pressing my nose up against the glass asking if I can play to Jerry, I'm so interested. I like what you said that lightning has struck twice for your family in this. But you've written over 21 bestsellers when you were a teenager. What's your story? What was it like growing up? Did you think you wanted to be a writer? When did you know that you wanted to be a writer, especially a writer of this type of book? Well, that's really kind of an interesting story, because I did always want to be a writer. I talked my way into a sports writing job when I was 14 years old. I was even too young to drive. My mother had to drive me to the high school games I was covering and back to the newspaper office where I could pick out my stories. And I thought that was going to be my life. But a couple of years later, I felt a definite call during a camp meeting. I even felt under conviction, went forward and answered a call to full time Christian work. And I thought that meant, well, I'll have to give up the sports writing, give up the writing and study to be a pastor or a missionary. But a wise counselor that night said to me, don't be too quick to give up the writing because God often equips us before he calls us. And if he's equipped you with this gift, that may be the vehicle you use to fulfill the call. So my call, ironically enough, is not to writing. My call is to full time Christian work. And writing just happens to be the vehicle I use to fulfill that, which changes my whole view of writing. I don't worry about bestsellers or great reviews or big royalty change. All that stuff has come. But I succeed when I obey. And that means writing the manuscript. The rest of that is in God's hands and in the hands of the market. Jerry, I have a secret passion for historical fiction and so much so that I mean, I have several stories that are going through in my head and about my, you know, Papa that was in World War Two and Prisoner of War and missing in action. And it's a beautiful love story and full of prayer. How does somebody like me, just basic, somebody watching, they have they have a desire to write. There's different stories going through their head. What's their next step? I know you are also passionate about writing courses. Your website is just jam packed with incredible information. What's sort of that next step to get it out of imaginary into action? Yeah, just just check in with Jerry Jenkins dot com and we can help you for just pennies a day. I didn't realize this was going to be a commercial. But I feel obligated to pass it along and to pay it forward. I feel so blessed in my career. And so I've taken I mean, this is my fiftieth year as a published author and I just want to pass along everything I know to people who want to do this. You're not alone. Our research shows that about 81 percent of Americans believe they have a book in them. Now, most of them are probably wrong, but many of them would be right. And it sounds like what you want to do, you want to write out of your passion. And that's the key. And so I try to teach people, you know, don't don't become a writer just to be a writer because it sounds glamorous. It may sound glamorous, but it's really like having homework every night for the rest of your life. It can be grueling. But if you're writing out of your passions and the overflow of your passions about what you really care about, that's the key. And I tell most people, don't try to start your career with a book. Start with shorter stuff, learn to hone your skills, learn to work with an editor, learn to be critiqued and your time will come. A book is not where you start. It's where you arrive, but you'll get there. And we'd love to have you. Sign up. What kind of atmosphere do you need set to sit down and write and be creative? Do you need the right music on? You need your coffee there? But like, what does that space look like? Yeah, my space has changed quite a bit in the last 50 years. I can remember when Diana and I didn't have kids yet. And and my office was basically a six foot board that I suspended over two kitchen chairs in front of a saggy couch. And I had a manual typewriter nowadays. You know, I've got this beautiful office that I'm sitting in now. And, you know, the the fun of it is I do find it grueling. The writing itself is grueling, but the but the rewards have been great. And it's it's just a fun thing to do. I'm not trying to sound falsely modest, but I really believe I'm mono gifted. I don't sing or dance or preach. Writing is what I do. And so I feel obligated to exercise that. You know, I just love that you said you were committed to full time Christian work and you ended up the writing was the way because that was me as well. Not being called to Sunday mornings. Last thing I thought, though, was TV. You know, it's interesting how God brings us to the place we need to be. Let me ask you about the the the left behind series again, because what is it about the the the popularity of this? What are people have people told you about what has it done in their life? And why does it continue to be so popular? That's the thing that still amazes me. And the first left behind title came out twenty eight years ago. And as you know, it's sold in the tens of millions, but it is still selling today. We're we're moving about 15000 units of this per month, even to this day. It still astounds me. That's a once in a lifetime experience for any writer. In fact, it's for very few writers. But I think it's because we live in scary times. People are petrified and they're curious about the future. And whether people are believers, of course, that's our core audience. They know we've written fiction based on Bible prophecy. But even people who are not believers are just curious and say and saying, you know, they're checking Nostradamus and other, you know, clairvoyant type people. What what does the future hold? And they hear about fiction based on Bible prophecy. And I think they're curious. And then because it came out just before the end of the millennium, for some reason, people were thinking about them when they think about the millennium, they think about the end of the world. I'm not sure why, but they were, you know, they thought, could the end of the millennium mean the end of the world? And if so, what would happen? Whatever it was, we hear from people, I think, I mean, Dr. Lehi has been gone for seven years now. But when he was here, we would hear from people by email or by phone or in person, thousands of people telling us they came to faith through reading these these books. And that's our whole goal is to get people into the Bible, get them to know Jesus. And that's that that's the point of the chosen, too. We want people, we're not want to be a substitute for the Bible. We want them to be back in church, back in the Bible, back to their faith or new to the faith so they get to know Jesus. I'm holding in my hand novel three of the chosen that you have written based on the TV series. And you said in this, I will give you rest. What do you mean? Rest from in our culture now, we don't do rest very well. Yeah, nobody rests anymore, do they? And yet, you know, God is our example. He rested after creating the world. And Jesus got away to pray and to think and to rest. It really behooves us to do that. But this also has a double meaning because of this story of Simon Peter and his wife losing the child and really being angry about the fact that Jesus didn't seem to intervene. He realized that, you know, they come to realize that Jesus has a bigger purpose and that things will work out. We may not have answers this side of heaven. But the big question that Simon Peter has and the big learn yearning and longing at the end of the story is he wants Jesus to never let him go. Don't let me go. He says, and Jesus tells him he'll be with him forever. And that's the message for the reader. Jerry Jenkins, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for writing the book and all the books that you have written. Thank you for being Dallas's dad. And thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you, Tom. Good to be with you and Amy. I love those words that Jerry said, Jesus is with you forever. He is with us forever. And it's so important to remember that. Well, we want to continue a discussion about that interview because I think it was very powerful. But before we get there, I want to ask you, do you have your own hope today newsletter? If not, we want to get this into your hands. Please give us a call or email us. Let us connect with you. You know, in here, it's so important. We have all of our highlights of our programs coming up. We actually have some specials that will air on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that are very good. So you want to tune in. We want you to have your newsletter. But Tom, that interview, I just love so much of what he said, except the part about like homework every day of your life. I don't think I'm signing up. Well, I think that one of the things that Jerry was mentioning is that all of us have a calling and a ministry. We don't know what that is. Sometimes he knew he wasn't called to pulpit ministry, filling a pulpit every Sunday and preaching the word of God. Praise God for all the men and women that are called to that. But he knew he was called to write and and God has blessed him in that and done some amazing things. And God surprises us. I mentioned in that interview that I meant I didn't expect to be sitting here on television. I don't think you expected that either. But God recognizes that when we're beginning to move in those giftings that he's given us and you have those, you may not say, I don't talk like that. I don't sing. I don't play an instrument. You have giftings. You have giftings of mercy, of giftings of grace, of giftings that God wants to use in so many different ways to bless others. And just keep waiting on God, but keep moving in the direction. He took courses, he learned, he studied how to write. And so those kind of things, Amanda, are important that we recognize our gift thing from God, but also move into that training phase. I think it's so important that we as people have the tendency to look around us at what someone else is doing and maybe even desire that. And it's like God has placed gifts within each one of us. And if we're too busy looking around, then we miss out on him growing that gift. And you know what's so important, Tom, is that when we operate in obedience and even though, you know, God bless them to be able to be writers of movies and books, that's their gifting and they're flourishing in that. But if they would not have obeyed God, there are how many people that have been affected by their movies, their books that it has drawn them. So not only does it affect your individual life, but it affects the people that you were assigned to impact if you are not moving in your own gift. And don't think that someone else is going to impact them. Maybe God will bring someone, but he wants to use you to impact the lives around you, if you know Christ. And I want to take that just that moment as we in the last few seconds here to ask you, do you know Christ? We wouldn't want to talk all about Jesus, all about the chosen, all about the Christ and not talk about, do you know the Christ of Christmas? Do you know the one who's come? You know, he has come for you. That's why it says for the joy set before him and toward the cross. And that joy is that you would be reconciled back to Christ. So do you know him? If you don't, then you can make today that day that you enter into that relationship. Just open the door of your heart and invite him to be your Lord and Savior. Savior means that he's going to forgive you of your sins. We've all committed sin. We've all done wrong in the sight of God, every one of us, and we all need to be forgiven. So just ask him to forgive you of your sins. And then for him to be Lord means that he's taking over, he's in charge of your life now. And that means not that he's going to make you do things you don't want to do, it means you're going to find out the purpose for which you were created and the God for which you were created. So make him Savior and Lord. Just say, Lord, Jesus, come into my life. Be my Lord and Savior. Forgive me of my sins. And be, make me who you want me to be. When you do that, everything's going to change. You will be born again and you will know him and you'll begin to know hope today. You'll begin to know the author of hope.