Dec. 26, 2024
"A Son Is Given" - Christmas Message | Pastor Harley Doneburg | December 22nd, 2024
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Join us as Pastor Harley Doneburg gives a special Christmas message.
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Audio edited and mastered by:
Michael Gross
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Christmas, the most celebrated time of the year.
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Amazing, I love it, you might love it.
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I like it because you not only get Christmas,
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you get Christmas Eve, there's gifts, there's food,
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family should have been first probably.
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And there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
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there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
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there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
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there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
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and there's New Year's, it follows right after
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and then you make all your resolutions
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and start to lose some of the weight
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that you put on at Christmas time.
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So enjoyable, I love it, I love the music,
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I love every part of it.
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And it should be a time of family, joy, celebration,
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really remembrance of what Jesus did,
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but it's not that way for everyone, it's not that way.
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Studies show that Christmas triggers anxiety,
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depression, stress, emptiness, loneliness,
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more than any other time of the year.
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And I think it's because the message of hope
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and the gospel that God gave His only Son.
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Our message is lost, it's been either replaced or forgotten.
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And sometimes we forget as Christians,
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you can forget easily in the hustle and bustle.
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When I was growing up, Christmas to me
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wasn't Jesus in a manger, although I'm sure people told me that.
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For me it was everything that's being kind of pushed,
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Santa, elves, North Pole, those types of things,
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you know, gifts, it was like better than my birthday,
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I felt like, Christmas.
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So when I realized actually what Christmas was about,
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I got saved, I became a Christian,
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I understood that this was God's gift
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sent in a manger as a baby to us, Savior of the world.
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I made sure I told my kids that,
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and maybe I've told you guys this story.
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Lydia, our firstborn, she's our oldest, she just had a baby,
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but we made sure we told her what Christmas is all about.
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And when she was very young, she was I think at Walmart,
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and there was a Santa Claus Christmas ornament type of thing,
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but he was full-sized, not full-sized, but he was pretty big,
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three or four feet tall with the beard and the hat and the red suit,
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he had everything there, and Lydia kind of walked up to him,
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because we had been teaching her what Christmas meant,
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and she was rubbing his beard strangely, rubbing it,
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and she grabbed him by the beard, and she looked him in the eye
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and said, you racked up Jesus' birthday,
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pushed him back on the shelf, you know.
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We taught her well, that little girl.
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But it's true, and anxiety, depression,
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we lose sight of what the meaning of the season is.
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Christmas is a witness to the world.
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It's a celebration of the single most important event in human history
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that God sends his only Son on our behalf.
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So we're going to take a look at the announcement of that birth
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and the first Christmas, if you turn with me to Luke 1 for a moment.
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We're going to jump into just a few Scriptures this morning.
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We did a few extra worship songs this morning.
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We have to make up for it by going extra long today.
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Just kidding.
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The announcement to Mary, Luke 1.
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We're going to take a look at this young lady, probably 15 or 16 years old.
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It says this in verse 26 of Luke 1.
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Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God
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to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed,
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that's the spouse that's engaged, but literally married.
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They would be considered married.
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To a man named Joseph of the house of David,
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and the virgin's name was Mary.
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Having come in, the angel said to her,
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and the voice highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.
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But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying
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and considered what manner of greeting this was.
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And the angel said to her, don't be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God.
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Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and call his name Jesus.
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And he will be great, he'll be called the son of the highest,
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and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David.
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He'll reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there'll be no end.
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And then Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I don't know a man?
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And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you,
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and the power of the highest will overshadow you.
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Therefore also, the Holy One who is to be called the son of God,
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that Holy One who is to be born will be called the son of God.
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Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative has conceived a son in her old age.
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And this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.
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For with God, nothing will be impossible.
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And then Mary's response at 15.
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Behold the maidservant of the Lord, let it be according to your word.
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And the angel departed from her.
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Amazing, Mary, she's 15, 16 years old, and an angel tells her,
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listen, you're blessed among women.
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You're chosen.
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That was the hope of every young Jewish girl, to bring forth Messiah.
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And here she is.
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The angel makes this announcement, and Mary says, let it be according to your word.
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And the stigma, what she had to hold on to and walk through her whole life,
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people's accusations, what Jesus dealt with 30 years later.
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People said, the scribes and Pharisees religious leaders says,
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hey, we're not born of fornication like you.
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And Jesus wore that, Mary wore that, the accusation that it was some adulterous affair
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that Mary had when the reality was God took Jesus and placed him in the womb of this young girl.
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And Mary said, I'll do it.
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And the announcement came to her.
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Let's take a peek at the announcement to her husband, Joseph and Matthew.
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If you turn there with me for a second.
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There was a cost for Mary.
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There's a cost for Joseph too.
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Joseph would be the stepdad.
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Matthew chapter one.
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In verse 18, it says this, that the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.
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After his mother, Mary was betrothed to Joseph.
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Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
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Verse 19 says Joseph, her husband being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example,
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was minded to put her away secretly or privately.
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Imagine Joseph.
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Mary says, hey, Joseph, I got to tell you a story here.
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May not believe this, but I'm pregnant.
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Joseph, you know, they're engaged, blasting her, exposing her.
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And what he'd done, he loved Mary.
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He says, you know what, I'm going to put her away.
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Divorce her, but I'm not going to let anyone know because of this woman.
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And he didn't treat her bad.
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But it was hard to believe.
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Imagine Mary having to tell Joseph, her parents, his parents, I'm pregnant.
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Yeah, no, not Joseph.
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It wasn't anyone else.
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This is a special baby.
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She tells Joseph and Joseph is not believing, but it says this, verse 20, while he thought about these things, he goes to bed, anxiety.
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He thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take to you, marry your wife.
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Considered married already, not consummated in the marriage yet, but engaged.
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For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she'll bring forth a son and you'll call his name Jesus.
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For he will save his people from their sins.
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Jesus, and that's what the angel told Mary.
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His name is going to be called Jesus.
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Common name, Joshua in Hebrew, Jesus.
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And it means Jehovah is salvation.
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Kind of a common name.
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A lot of Joshua's.
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We have a Joshua, but it meant something and names mean something.
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We're going to look at a few of the names of Jesus this morning.
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A few of the things that he was called in a second.
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We're going to look at what Isaiah said that he'll be called Emmanuel.
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God with us.
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His name is Jesus.
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Isaiah 59 also says this, that the Lord's hand isn't short, that it cannot save.
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Save and his ear isn't heavy.
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That he cannot hear.
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But he says, this is the problem.
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Your sins have separated you from him.
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The problem with humanity is a sin problem.
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It's in our DNA.
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And you know that because if you have kids or you know kids, hopefully mom and dad isn't teaching them to lie, steal, be mean to their brothers and sisters, right?
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Because that stuff is inside of them already.
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It comes out happened in the garden when man chose to rebel against God and sin in the garden.
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Adam and Eve.
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This thing was passed down called sin.
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And Isaiah says, and that has separated you from your God.
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It's not that God can't hear.
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It's not that his hand is short.
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The problem is sin is separating you from him.
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He wants to help and he wants to listen.
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But the problem is sin.
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And people.
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So God's message to humanity is the angel says, Listen, call his name Jesus.
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Jehovah is salvation because God wants to save you.
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That's his desire to step into your life.
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Listen to all your problems, everything you've got going on.
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And he wants to save your life.
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The first issue he wants to deal with is an eternal one. Salvation.
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Eternal life.
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He wants to help.
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Paul, as he wrote to Timothy, kind of a son in the faith, he was discipling Timothy in the ministry.
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He told the first letter that he wrote to Timothy in the very first chapter, the fifteenth verse.
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He says, Timothy, remember this, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
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Remember that when you walk into the ministry, when you're heading into ministering to people.
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They get messed up that are broken, that are hurting, self-inflicted wounds, addictions, different things going on.
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Paul says, Timothy, remember this.
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Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, messed up people, people that mess their lives up.
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That make mistakes willingly and unwillingly, knowingly, unknowingly, hurt by others, hurting others.
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Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Timothy, remember that.
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And then he goes on and finishes that epistle. Then he writes him another letter.
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But he wants to put an exclamation point on a very important fact that Jesus came into this world to save sinners.
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That's what the meaning of Christmas is, the first Christmas. Why Jesus came.
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If you move on with me and Matthew, it says this.
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He'll call his name Jesus. He'll save his people from their sins.
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Jesus wants to deal with a sin issue first.
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In verse 22, it says, So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet,
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saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they'll call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us.
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So Isaiah also says in chapter 7, here's a sign. Here's something that's going to happen.
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The Virgin is going to conceive and bring forth a son. And here's what his name is going to be called.
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Another one of Jesus's names is Emmanuel. Amazing name. I love that name.
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Because it means God is with you. Right? God is with you.
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That's what God wants to be. That's what Jesus came to do, is to be with you.
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Not separate, not distant from you.
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He wants to save you, help you, listen to you, but he wants to spend time with you.
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That's what Emmanuel means. He's a God that is with you.
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Right? You know, you go to, I don't know, if you went to the White House,
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you probably couldn't meet the president or the vice president. They'd be distant.
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You might turn on the TV or watch a news clip and hear them speak.
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But if you went there, you might not be able to get in.
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I've been to Africa before, a couple of different places on the mission field.
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And one place I went in Uganda were some of the slums.
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You know what? You had access to everyone there. You could talk to anyone and everyone. They were right there.
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They would kind of flock to you when they see you. Well, that's the type of thing Jesus wants to have that kind of relationship.
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He doesn't want to be distant. He doesn't want to just turn on the TV and hear about him or come on Sunday morning and have him just be talked about.
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But he actually wants to spend time with you personally.
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He wants to be able to whisper in your ear. He wants to talk to you out of the Bible. He wants to tell you how much he loves you.
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That's what's amazing about Jesus. His name.
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The angel says, Listen, he's also going to be called Emmanuel. He's going to be God with you.
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Not going to be distant. He's going to be right with you.
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Something that was a derogatory name given by the religious leaders to Jesus.
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You might remember this. They said this mocking him that he's a friend of sinners.
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Jesus is a friend of sinners. Look at the crowd he hangs out with. Look at the people he spends time with.
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Look at that guy. Terrible who he hangs out with.
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We hang out with the upper class, the spiritual people, religious.
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But Jesus, they said, You know what? He's a friend of sinners. That's great.
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That's good news for you and I, isn't it?
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Because that's who we are.
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Friend of sinners. A friend. You know, the Bible says that a friend.
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Solomon says this that a friend loves at all times.
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Loves at all times. Jesus loves you. That's why he came and died for you.
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To bridge the gap, the separation between God and man.
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That's how much Jesus loves you. A friend loves at all times.
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He's not out to get you.
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But he came to die for you and I.
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Friend of sinners. People who miss the mark. They don't measure up.
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They don't have it all together. They've got problems. Addictions.
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Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost.
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Amazing. And the appreciation for someone like the woman at the well.
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Or the woman caught in adultery. That Jesus was a friend of sinners.
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Or the tax collectors that were ostracized.
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Like Matthew or Zacchaeus. The disciples. You and I.
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We can be thankful that the scribes and Pharisees called him that.
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Because we fit right in that category. He's a friend of sinners.
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Loves you and I. Cares about us.
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Micah 5-2 says this.
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Written 700 years in advance. Along with Isaiah was also.
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Micah 5-2 says, But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you're little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth has been from old, from everlasting, from eternity past.
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Now we read Luke chapter 2. It says, It came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
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In the census first took place while Pyreneas was governor in Syria.
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And all went to be registered. Everyone to his own city.
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And Joseph went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth under Judea.
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We had south towards Jerusalem to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary.
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His betrothed wife was with child.
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How does Jesus get from Nazareth to Bethlehem?
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An 80 mile journey taxes, unfortunately, taxes.
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And so they go there to be registered because of taxes.
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And it says this.
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Verse six. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
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And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end.
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Amazing. This 80 mile journey on a donkey.
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Heading from Galilee to Jerusalem. Can you imagine being pregnant at the end of your pregnancy?
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Lee and I did that when we bought a house in town here. We moved into Perry when Lydia wasn't born yet. It was our first baby.
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We bought the house and we're working on it, getting all the rooms settled, got a little baby room for Lydia with a carpet and had, you know, got it all settled.
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And then finally, the first night we were first night, it was like, all right, we can take a breather for a night.
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We laid down. It felt like as soon as we laid down, Lee was like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have the baby. Like, what can we have one minute of peace?
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Like, do I got to do this all again? No. She basically did everything.
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But can you imagine 80 miles on a donkey to head back to unknown?
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Like, are we going to have a place to stay? No, BGYN, no mom and no no little baby, you know, whatever that's got all the diapers and binkies and all the diaper bag, all the cool stuff in it.
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And all the little outfits, the first shoes, the all those they they don't have that.
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You know, they're making this journey and they get to the end. Sorry, we don't have any room.
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Maybe you could stay in our barn. Really? Stay in the bar. I'm about to have a baby.
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And they go there. Maybe a cave is probably what it was.
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And Mary gives birth in this barn.
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And they take the baby and they put him in a manger, which sounds so nice, doesn't it?
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We have a manger scenes and all this major is so nice. It's a feeding trough where animals eat.
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I told the kids this week,
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Kailin called me up says, Harley, can you do chapel?
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I'm like, yeah, I can.
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And I just told the kids this week, listen, a manger, guys, that's a feeding trough.
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And maybe you've seen cows eat. I don't know if goats or sheep.
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Maybe that's what was lived in this.
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But if you see cows eat, I've seen them before.
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They're chewing and eating and this foam starts to build up on the side of their mouth and it's falling in the stuff they're eating.
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Well, that's where they lay Jesus.
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Like it's not this nice crib or bassinet or sort of thing that swings back and forth.
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They lay him in this manger. Like exactly.
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Like that's what I'd be doing. Like, oh, my goodness, this is where we got to put them.
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But in the manger, Jesus is so accessible to anyone and everyone.
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Wasn't born in a palace where you couldn't get to him.
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He was in a barn.
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He was there for anyone and everyone.
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First, they went to the inn. Hey, can you get any room for us?
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How much money you got?
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This is all I got. Sorry.
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That's enough for the barn.
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You can stay in the barn.
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That's OK, because that's why Jesus came.
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He came humble, accessible for anyone and everyone to reach in, to go in and touch him and see him.
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He was there.
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It says this in verse eight.
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There's the announcement to the shepherds, the birth announcement.
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Maybe you've got birth announcements in the mail.
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An angel goes to these guys.
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It says there was in the same country shepherds living out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
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Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
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And they were greatly afraid.
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And the angel said, Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
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For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
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And this will be assigned to you.
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You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, the unthinkable.
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That'll be your sign.
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And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill towards man.
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He's not out to get you.
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He's got goodwill for you.
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His heart is towards you.
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He loves you.
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He came to save you.
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And he said, The sign isn't going to be the angels singing what they said.
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Here's going to be the sign.
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You're going to find this baby.
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That's what you want to follow.
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That's what you want to watch.
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The announcement to shepherds, strangers, not religious leaders, not scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees, but to shepherds in the field.
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Probably taking care of the Passover sheep just outside of Jerusalem waiting.
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And the announcement to these shepherds was, here's the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.
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Come and take a look.
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You like lambs?
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You like sheep?
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Here's the best one you'll ever see.
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It's the Lamb of God.
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He takes away the sins of the world.
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Come and check him out.
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So the invitation to the shepherds, and then they say, don't be afraid.
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This world is full of fear, isn't it?
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We talked about it a little bit last week.
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What am I worried about?
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What am I afraid of?
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I'm afraid I don't have enough to…
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Honey, remind me what to worry about again.
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Sometimes we just are afraid.
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The Bible says 365 times.
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Interesting.
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Fear not.
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One for every day.
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You just have to find the right one.
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Don't be afraid.
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Because we're afraid of what?
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Being alone.
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Not having enough.
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Afraid of dying.
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There are a lot of fears in this world.
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And the angels say, hey, don't fear.
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I bring you good tidings of great joy.
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Good tidings.
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That's the gospel.
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Good news.
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That there's good news.
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And it's of great joy to all people.
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There's no exclusions.
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It's for anyone and everyone.
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For whosoever.
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There's born…
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Verse 11.
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There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
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Interesting.
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The angel says…
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Because if you've ever had a baby, it's like I'm a recent grandpa.
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Here in the last three weeks, Lydian had a baby, little Jordan.
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And if you had a baby, it would be…
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You know, it was born to Lydian.
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Well, the angel says, hey, you know what?
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This baby was born to you.
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It's for you.
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It's personal.
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It's not just Joseph and Mary's baby.
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This little baby is for you.
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It's personal for you.
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Pretty amazing that you can have a relationship with a living God, that he cares that much.
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He came to this manger, into this world in such a humble way, and it wasn't just for
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Mary and Joseph.
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It's for you and I, for the shepherds, for anyone and everyone who wants to receive him,
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because he loves us that much.
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He's a gift.
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And this will be a sign.
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You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
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And suddenly there was an angel.
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There was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, saying, glory to God in
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the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men.
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I don't know.
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For years, I thought God was out to get me.
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I'd make mistakes.
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I'd do things.
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I'm like, oh, man, God is so mad at me.
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Angry, upset.
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And it drove me from him rather than pulling me to him.
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But when I realized that Jesus had sin is bad.
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That's why it required death.
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Jesus had to die for it.
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And when he saved someone, he changed him.
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Not the same person.
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You don't desire the same things.
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He forgives us of our sins.
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He's not out to get you.
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Got goodwill for you.
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He's got a good plan for you.
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You have to receive it.
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He's not out to get you.
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He's there to save you.
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He wants to improve you.
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His plan is better than yours.
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His will is better.
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If you would turn with me to Isaiah, Chapter six, Isaiah,
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Chapter nine.
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I'm sorry.
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Is that Chapter nine?
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And we'll close right here.
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Isaiah, Chapter nine, Verse six, for unto us a child is born
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and unto us a son is given.
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Very familiar passage.
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And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
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And his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God,
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everlasting father, Prince of Peace.
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Our perspective is a child is born.
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I'm breaking all my rules with Jordan, my new grandson.
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Normally I like to have babies.
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I like to hold them at least a month later, maybe two.
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Like, all right, now I'm ready.
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They seem a little frail for me early on, but I've been holding
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them like since they came over.
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Every time they come over, it's like, hey, Grandpa, you want to
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hold them?
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Yeah, let me have them.
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Normally I don't do that.
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I try to hold off a little bit.
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But people pinch babies' cheeks.
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People love babies.
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There's something about them.
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They don't like changing them maybe, but there's a lot of other
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things that people like about babies.
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And this is the perspective for unto us a child is born.
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And if it stops there, it's just another baby, there's a problem.
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Then the heavenly perspective says this.
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Unto us a son is given.
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That's the greatest gift God could give is his son.
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And you probably, it's Christmastime, we love giving
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gifts, you love being thoughtful.
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You know, I stress out.
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Leah said, Leah told my kids, maybe I told you guys this
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already, hurt my feelings.
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She's told that not to go to Walmart, get a basket, fill it
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up with all these random things.
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Last minute.
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But I don't feel like they're random things.
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I think they're thoughtful gifts.
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You know, put some cool things in there and it's the basket.
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You can use the basket.
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You can use everything in it.
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I kind of like that.
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But she didn't want that this year.
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I had to put a little more thought into it.
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The gifts, right?
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And sometimes you get what you want, and sometimes you get
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what you need, and sometimes the things that you need are your
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favorite gifts.
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And God, his gift to us was exactly what we needed.
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We needed forgiveness of sins.
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His number one gift, he knows what we needed.
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Unto us a son is given.
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I'm going to give you exactly what you need.
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Right?
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And then he goes on to give us a list of names.
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And when I thought about this, I thought about, obviously we're
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talking about some of the names of Jesus because names have
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00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,000
meaning.
468
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,000
They say something about a person.
469
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,000
And I thought about a toolkit.
470
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,000
And sometimes you look at a toolkit and you think, yeah, I
471
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,000
need that one tool, but if I buy this kit, it's got the one tool
472
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000
I need and a whole bunch of other ones.
473
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,000
Well, that's what God did by giving us his son.
474
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,000
It's not only he gave us the number one gift, the most
475
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,000
amazing thing we needed out of that.
476
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,000
I hate to say this, disrespectful.
477
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,000
I don't want to be disrespectful, but he gave us the greatest
478
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,000
gift.
479
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,000
But with that, he gave us so much more.
480
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,000
You get every other 16 tool kit, you get them all.
481
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:41,000
He says not only that, a child is born, but a son is given.
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00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Beyond just a child being born, that happens all the time.
483
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,000
There's a special one.
484
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,000
Something happened 2000 years ago.
485
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,000
And the government will be upon his shoulders and his name, his
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00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
nature, his character.
487
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,000
Number one, he says will be wonderful.
488
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000
Amazing.
489
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000
He's going to be wonderful.
490
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,000
It means hard to understand, too high.
491
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,000
And that's what God is.
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00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,000
It's hard to understand.
493
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,000
The Bible says God's hand spans the universe, that he spoke this
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00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,000
world into existence.
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00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,000
It's hard to really, God told Moses, listen, if you see me, no
496
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,000
man can see me and live.
497
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,000
I'll let my glory pass by you.
498
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,000
You can see the back of me.
499
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,000
God is so big, but you know what he did?
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00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,000
He sent his son to be small so we could know him.
501
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,000
So he could tell us who God is.
502
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,000
So when you read the Gospels, you can understand who God
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00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,000
really is.
504
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:46,000
You read the Bible and you can understand God's heart and his
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00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,000
mind towards us.
506
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,000
He's wonderful.
507
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Yeah, he's so high, but yet he became so small so we could know
508
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,000
him.
509
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,000
That's one of the most amazing things about the Bible and who
510
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,000
Jesus Christ is, that God is wonderful.
511
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,000
He wants us to know him.
512
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,000
He's a counselor.
513
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,000
Why?
514
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,000
Because we need counsel, don't we?
515
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,000
We need direction.
516
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,000
We need somebody to talk to.
517
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Sometimes we need somebody because we don't know the
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00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,000
direction, the next step to take in our life.
519
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,000
We don't know where to carry our burdens.
520
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,000
We don't know who we can tell.
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00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,000
Will they share it with other people?
522
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,000
Will they give us good counsel?
523
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,000
Do they even care about what I'm going through?
524
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:38,000
Are they just listening to me?
525
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,000
Is there someone to talk and sort things out, to bear my
526
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,000
burdens?
527
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,000
Well, guess what?
528
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,000
Jesus is a counselor.
529
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,000
He's wonderful and he's a counselor.
530
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:54,000
He's a mighty God.
531
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,000
Remember the angel told Mary, hey, is there anything too hard
532
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:58,000
for me?
533
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,000
He's a mighty God.
534
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,000
Is there anything too hard?
535
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,000
Ephesians says that he's able to do exceedingly, abundantly
536
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,000
above all that we ask or think.
537
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:10,000
He goes above.
538
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,000
He can do whatever.
539
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,000
There's nothing too hard for him.
540
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,000
He's a mighty God.
541
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,000
You run into a situation in your life like, how am I going to
542
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,000
get out of this?
543
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,000
How am I going to sort this out?
544
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Lord, what are you going to do?
545
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:29,000
Remember, he's a mighty God.
546
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,000
And then it says this.
547
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:36,000
His name will also be called everlasting father.
548
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,000
He won't give up on you.
549
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,000
He's everlasting.
550
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,000
He's eternal.
551
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,000
He's a dad.
552
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000
He's a protector.
553
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,000
He's a provider.
554
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:46,000
He's someone to lean on.
555
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:51,000
He's someone to teach you.
556
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,000
If you've ever had, maybe you didn't have a dad growing up, a
557
00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:00,000
good example, maybe you had a bad example, guess what?
558
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,000
You have one here.
559
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,000
The prophet said, listen, he's going to be everlasting father.
560
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,000
He's going to be right there.
561
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:13,000
You're going to provide, protect, teach you, steer you.
562
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:18,000
You're going to be able to lean on him.
563
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,000
And then he says, finally, he's the prince of peace.
564
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,000
Anyone lack peace today?
565
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,000
Because Jesus is the prince of peace.
566
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,000
He wants to give you peace in the midst of a storm.
567
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,000
He can calm the storm.
568
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,000
So much in this world filters into our life and it takes, robs
569
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,000
our peace, takes our peace.
570
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,000
And then we can go right to Jesus Christ and he wants to
571
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,000
give us peace.
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00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:53,000
When the storm is raging, when the storms come and trials hit
573
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,000
and difficulties hit.
574
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,000
He's a prince of peace.
575
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Wants to bring peace into your lives.
576
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:05,000
So listen, as we, we're going to close here.
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00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:10,000
I don't know if I went too long, but this Christmas season,
578
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:14,000
remember the greatest gift, the first Christmas, the whole
579
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:15,000
design of it.
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00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
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00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,000
He came into the world to save sinners.
582
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,000
He loves you so much.
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00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000
His plans for you, you are good.
584
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,000
Listen, read the names.
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00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,000
He's Emmanuel.
586
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000
He's everlasting father.
587
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,000
He's wonderful.
588
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:35,000
He's a counselor, prince of peace.
589
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,000
Cares so much for your life.
590
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Wants to infuse those things in your life.
591
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,000
He's not a distant God.
592
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,000
He wants to be close to you.
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00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,000
So I pray this Christmas season, this year, you'd be close to
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00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,000
him.
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00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,000
Draw close to him.
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00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,000
The Bible says, and he'll draw close to you.
597
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,000
That's a promise.
598
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,000
It's a guarantee.
599
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,000
You can hold onto those promises.
600
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,000
So Lord, we're thankful for your love.
601
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:03,000
Thank you for the greatest gift you could have ever given.
602
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
It's not only what we need.
603
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
It's what we want.
604
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:11,000
And it's so special, Lord.
605
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,000
And it's not unattainable.
606
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:18,000
Lord, so easy.
607
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:24,000
You made yourself so accessible to us, Lord, because you care.
608
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:29,000
So I pray this year, Lord, that we would always remember that,
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00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,000
Lord, as we navigate this season, Lord.
610
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:38,000
It can be difficult and there can be anxiety and stress.
611
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,000
I pray we'd remember that you're with us, Lord, and you love us,
612
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,000
Jesus.
613
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,000
In your name.
614
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,000
Amen.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000
Christmas, the most celebrated time of the year.
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00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:08,000
Amazing, I love it, you might love it.
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00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,000
I like it because you not only get Christmas,
4
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you get Christmas Eve, there's gifts, there's food,
5
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,000
family should have been first probably.
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00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:22,000
And there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
7
00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:24,000
there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
8
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there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
9
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,000
there's Christmas, there's Christmas,
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and there's New Year's, it follows right after
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and then you make all your resolutions
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and start to lose some of the weight
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00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,000
that you put on at Christmas time.
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So enjoyable, I love it, I love the music,
15
00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,000
I love every part of it.
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And it should be a time of family, joy, celebration,
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00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,000
really remembrance of what Jesus did,
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but it's not that way for everyone, it's not that way.
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Studies show that Christmas triggers anxiety,
20
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depression, stress, emptiness, loneliness,
21
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,000
more than any other time of the year.
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And I think it's because the message of hope
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00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000
and the gospel that God gave His only Son.
24
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:17,000
Our message is lost, it's been either replaced or forgotten.
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00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,000
And sometimes we forget as Christians,
26
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,000
you can forget easily in the hustle and bustle.
27
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,000
When I was growing up, Christmas to me
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wasn't Jesus in a manger, although I'm sure people told me that.
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For me it was everything that's being kind of pushed,
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Santa, elves, North Pole, those types of things,
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you know, gifts, it was like better than my birthday,
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I felt like, Christmas.
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So when I realized actually what Christmas was about,
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I got saved, I became a Christian,
35
00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:57,000
I understood that this was God's gift
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00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:03,000
sent in a manger as a baby to us, Savior of the world.
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I made sure I told my kids that,
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and maybe I've told you guys this story.
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Lydia, our firstborn, she's our oldest, she just had a baby,
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but we made sure we told her what Christmas is all about.
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And when she was very young, she was I think at Walmart,
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and there was a Santa Claus Christmas ornament type of thing,
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but he was full-sized, not full-sized, but he was pretty big,
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three or four feet tall with the beard and the hat and the red suit,
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00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,000
he had everything there, and Lydia kind of walked up to him,
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because we had been teaching her what Christmas meant,
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and she was rubbing his beard strangely, rubbing it,
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and she grabbed him by the beard, and she looked him in the eye
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and said, you racked up Jesus' birthday,
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pushed him back on the shelf, you know.
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We taught her well, that little girl.
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But it's true, and anxiety, depression,
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we lose sight of what the meaning of the season is.
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Christmas is a witness to the world.
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It's a celebration of the single most important event in human history
56
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that God sends his only Son on our behalf.
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So we're going to take a look at the announcement of that birth
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and the first Christmas, if you turn with me to Luke 1 for a moment.
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We're going to jump into just a few Scriptures this morning.
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We did a few extra worship songs this morning.
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We have to make up for it by going extra long today.
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Just kidding.
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The announcement to Mary, Luke 1.
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We're going to take a look at this young lady, probably 15 or 16 years old.
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It says this in verse 26 of Luke 1.
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Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God
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to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed,
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that's the spouse that's engaged, but literally married.
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They would be considered married.
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To a man named Joseph of the house of David,
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and the virgin's name was Mary.
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Having come in, the angel said to her,
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and the voice highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.
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But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying
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and considered what manner of greeting this was.
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And the angel said to her, don't be afraid, Mary, for you found favor with God.
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Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and call his name Jesus.
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And he will be great, he'll be called the son of the highest,
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and the Lord will give him the throne of his father David.
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He'll reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there'll be no end.
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And then Mary said to the angel, how can this be, since I don't know a man?
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And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you,
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and the power of the highest will overshadow you.
84
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Therefore also, the Holy One who is to be called the son of God,
85
00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:18,000
that Holy One who is to be born will be called the son of God.
86
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Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative has conceived a son in her old age.
87
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And this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.
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For with God, nothing will be impossible.
89
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And then Mary's response at 15.
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Behold the maidservant of the Lord, let it be according to your word.
91
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And the angel departed from her.
92
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Amazing, Mary, she's 15, 16 years old, and an angel tells her,
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listen, you're blessed among women.
94
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You're chosen.
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00:05:54,000 --> 00:06:02,000
That was the hope of every young Jewish girl, to bring forth Messiah.
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00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:03,000
And here she is.
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The angel makes this announcement, and Mary says, let it be according to your word.
98
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And the stigma, what she had to hold on to and walk through her whole life,
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people's accusations, what Jesus dealt with 30 years later.
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People said, the scribes and Pharisees religious leaders says,
101
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hey, we're not born of fornication like you.
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And Jesus wore that, Mary wore that, the accusation that it was some adulterous affair
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that Mary had when the reality was God took Jesus and placed him in the womb of this young girl.
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And Mary said, I'll do it.
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And the announcement came to her.
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Let's take a peek at the announcement to her husband, Joseph and Matthew.
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If you turn there with me for a second.
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There was a cost for Mary.
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There's a cost for Joseph too.
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Joseph would be the stepdad.
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Matthew chapter one.
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In verse 18, it says this, that the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.
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After his mother, Mary was betrothed to Joseph.
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Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
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Verse 19 says Joseph, her husband being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example,
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was minded to put her away secretly or privately.
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Imagine Joseph.
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Mary says, hey, Joseph, I got to tell you a story here.
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May not believe this, but I'm pregnant.
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Joseph, you know, they're engaged, blasting her, exposing her.
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And what he'd done, he loved Mary.
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He says, you know what, I'm going to put her away.
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Divorce her, but I'm not going to let anyone know because of this woman.
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And he didn't treat her bad.
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But it was hard to believe.
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Imagine Mary having to tell Joseph, her parents, his parents, I'm pregnant.
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Yeah, no, not Joseph.
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It wasn't anyone else.
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This is a special baby.
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She tells Joseph and Joseph is not believing, but it says this, verse 20, while he thought about these things, he goes to bed, anxiety.
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He thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take to you, marry your wife.
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Considered married already, not consummated in the marriage yet, but engaged.
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For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she'll bring forth a son and you'll call his name Jesus.
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For he will save his people from their sins.
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Jesus, and that's what the angel told Mary.
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His name is going to be called Jesus.
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Common name, Joshua in Hebrew, Jesus.
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And it means Jehovah is salvation.
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Kind of a common name.
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A lot of Joshua's.
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We have a Joshua, but it meant something and names mean something.
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We're going to look at a few of the names of Jesus this morning.
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A few of the things that he was called in a second.
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We're going to look at what Isaiah said that he'll be called Emmanuel.
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God with us.
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His name is Jesus.
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Isaiah 59 also says this, that the Lord's hand isn't short, that it cannot save.
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Save and his ear isn't heavy.
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That he cannot hear.
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But he says, this is the problem.
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Your sins have separated you from him.
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The problem with humanity is a sin problem.
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It's in our DNA.
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And you know that because if you have kids or you know kids, hopefully mom and dad isn't teaching them to lie, steal, be mean to their brothers and sisters, right?
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Because that stuff is inside of them already.
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It comes out happened in the garden when man chose to rebel against God and sin in the garden.
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Adam and Eve.
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This thing was passed down called sin.
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And Isaiah says, and that has separated you from your God.
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It's not that God can't hear.
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It's not that his hand is short.
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The problem is sin is separating you from him.
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He wants to help and he wants to listen.
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But the problem is sin.
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And people.
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So God's message to humanity is the angel says, Listen, call his name Jesus.
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Jehovah is salvation because God wants to save you.
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That's his desire to step into your life.
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Listen to all your problems, everything you've got going on.
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And he wants to save your life.
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The first issue he wants to deal with is an eternal one. Salvation.
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Eternal life.
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He wants to help.
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Paul, as he wrote to Timothy, kind of a son in the faith, he was discipling Timothy in the ministry.
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He told the first letter that he wrote to Timothy in the very first chapter, the fifteenth verse.
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He says, Timothy, remember this, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.
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Remember that when you walk into the ministry, when you're heading into ministering to people.
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They get messed up that are broken, that are hurting, self-inflicted wounds, addictions, different things going on.
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Paul says, Timothy, remember this.
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Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, messed up people, people that mess their lives up.
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That make mistakes willingly and unwillingly, knowingly, unknowingly, hurt by others, hurting others.
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Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Timothy, remember that.
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And then he goes on and finishes that epistle. Then he writes him another letter.
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But he wants to put an exclamation point on a very important fact that Jesus came into this world to save sinners.
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That's what the meaning of Christmas is, the first Christmas. Why Jesus came.
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If you move on with me and Matthew, it says this.
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He'll call his name Jesus. He'll save his people from their sins.
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Jesus wants to deal with a sin issue first.
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In verse 22, it says, So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet,
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saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they'll call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us.
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So Isaiah also says in chapter 7, here's a sign. Here's something that's going to happen.
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The Virgin is going to conceive and bring forth a son. And here's what his name is going to be called.
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Another one of Jesus's names is Emmanuel. Amazing name. I love that name.
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Because it means God is with you. Right? God is with you.
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That's what God wants to be. That's what Jesus came to do, is to be with you.
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Not separate, not distant from you.
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He wants to save you, help you, listen to you, but he wants to spend time with you.
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That's what Emmanuel means. He's a God that is with you.
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Right? You know, you go to, I don't know, if you went to the White House,
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you probably couldn't meet the president or the vice president. They'd be distant.
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You might turn on the TV or watch a news clip and hear them speak.
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But if you went there, you might not be able to get in.
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I've been to Africa before, a couple of different places on the mission field.
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And one place I went in Uganda were some of the slums.
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You know what? You had access to everyone there. You could talk to anyone and everyone. They were right there.
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They would kind of flock to you when they see you. Well, that's the type of thing Jesus wants to have that kind of relationship.
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He doesn't want to be distant. He doesn't want to just turn on the TV and hear about him or come on Sunday morning and have him just be talked about.
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But he actually wants to spend time with you personally.
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He wants to be able to whisper in your ear. He wants to talk to you out of the Bible. He wants to tell you how much he loves you.
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That's what's amazing about Jesus. His name.
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The angel says, Listen, he's also going to be called Emmanuel. He's going to be God with you.
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Not going to be distant. He's going to be right with you.
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Something that was a derogatory name given by the religious leaders to Jesus.
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You might remember this. They said this mocking him that he's a friend of sinners.
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Jesus is a friend of sinners. Look at the crowd he hangs out with. Look at the people he spends time with.
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Look at that guy. Terrible who he hangs out with.
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We hang out with the upper class, the spiritual people, religious.
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But Jesus, they said, You know what? He's a friend of sinners. That's great.
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That's good news for you and I, isn't it?
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Because that's who we are.
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Friend of sinners. A friend. You know, the Bible says that a friend.
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Solomon says this that a friend loves at all times.
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Loves at all times. Jesus loves you. That's why he came and died for you.
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To bridge the gap, the separation between God and man.
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That's how much Jesus loves you. A friend loves at all times.
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He's not out to get you.
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But he came to die for you and I.
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Friend of sinners. People who miss the mark. They don't measure up.
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They don't have it all together. They've got problems. Addictions.
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Jesus said that he came to seek and save the lost.
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Amazing. And the appreciation for someone like the woman at the well.
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Or the woman caught in adultery. That Jesus was a friend of sinners.
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Or the tax collectors that were ostracized.
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Like Matthew or Zacchaeus. The disciples. You and I.
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We can be thankful that the scribes and Pharisees called him that.
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Because we fit right in that category. He's a friend of sinners.
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Loves you and I. Cares about us.
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Micah 5-2 says this.
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Written 700 years in advance. Along with Isaiah was also.
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Micah 5-2 says, But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you're little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth has been from old, from everlasting, from eternity past.
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Now we read Luke chapter 2. It says, It came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
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In the census first took place while Pyreneas was governor in Syria.
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And all went to be registered. Everyone to his own city.
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And Joseph went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth under Judea.
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We had south towards Jerusalem to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary.
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His betrothed wife was with child.
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How does Jesus get from Nazareth to Bethlehem?
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An 80 mile journey taxes, unfortunately, taxes.
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And so they go there to be registered because of taxes.
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And it says this.
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Verse six. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
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And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end.
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Amazing. This 80 mile journey on a donkey.
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Heading from Galilee to Jerusalem. Can you imagine being pregnant at the end of your pregnancy?
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Lee and I did that when we bought a house in town here. We moved into Perry when Lydia wasn't born yet. It was our first baby.
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We bought the house and we're working on it, getting all the rooms settled, got a little baby room for Lydia with a carpet and had, you know, got it all settled.
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And then finally, the first night we were first night, it was like, all right, we can take a breather for a night.
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We laid down. It felt like as soon as we laid down, Lee was like, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna have the baby. Like, what can we have one minute of peace?
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Like, do I got to do this all again? No. She basically did everything.
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But can you imagine 80 miles on a donkey to head back to unknown?
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Like, are we going to have a place to stay? No, BGYN, no mom and no no little baby, you know, whatever that's got all the diapers and binkies and all the diaper bag, all the cool stuff in it.
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And all the little outfits, the first shoes, the all those they they don't have that.
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You know, they're making this journey and they get to the end. Sorry, we don't have any room.
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Maybe you could stay in our barn. Really? Stay in the bar. I'm about to have a baby.
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And they go there. Maybe a cave is probably what it was.
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And Mary gives birth in this barn.
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And they take the baby and they put him in a manger, which sounds so nice, doesn't it?
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We have a manger scenes and all this major is so nice. It's a feeding trough where animals eat.
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I told the kids this week,
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Kailin called me up says, Harley, can you do chapel?
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I'm like, yeah, I can.
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And I just told the kids this week, listen, a manger, guys, that's a feeding trough.
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And maybe you've seen cows eat. I don't know if goats or sheep.
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Maybe that's what was lived in this.
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But if you see cows eat, I've seen them before.
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They're chewing and eating and this foam starts to build up on the side of their mouth and it's falling in the stuff they're eating.
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Well, that's where they lay Jesus.
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Like it's not this nice crib or bassinet or sort of thing that swings back and forth.
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They lay him in this manger. Like exactly.
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Like that's what I'd be doing. Like, oh, my goodness, this is where we got to put them.
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But in the manger, Jesus is so accessible to anyone and everyone.
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Wasn't born in a palace where you couldn't get to him.
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He was in a barn.
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He was there for anyone and everyone.
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First, they went to the inn. Hey, can you get any room for us?
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How much money you got?
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This is all I got. Sorry.
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That's enough for the barn.
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You can stay in the barn.
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That's OK, because that's why Jesus came.
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He came humble, accessible for anyone and everyone to reach in, to go in and touch him and see him.
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He was there.
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It says this in verse eight.
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There's the announcement to the shepherds, the birth announcement.
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Maybe you've got birth announcements in the mail.
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An angel goes to these guys.
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It says there was in the same country shepherds living out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
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Behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
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And they were greatly afraid.
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And the angel said, Don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
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For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
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And this will be assigned to you.
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You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, the unthinkable.
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That'll be your sign.
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And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill towards man.
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He's not out to get you.
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He's got goodwill for you.
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His heart is towards you.
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He loves you.
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He came to save you.
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And he said, The sign isn't going to be the angels singing what they said.
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Here's going to be the sign.
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You're going to find this baby.
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That's what you want to follow.
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That's what you want to watch.
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The announcement to shepherds, strangers, not religious leaders, not scribes and Pharisees, Sadducees, but to shepherds in the field.
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Probably taking care of the Passover sheep just outside of Jerusalem waiting.
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And the announcement to these shepherds was, here's the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.
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Come and take a look.
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You like lambs?
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You like sheep?
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Here's the best one you'll ever see.
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It's the Lamb of God.
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He takes away the sins of the world.
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Come and check him out.
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00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:11,000
So the invitation to the shepherds, and then they say, don't be afraid.
327
00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:14,000
This world is full of fear, isn't it?
328
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:16,000
We talked about it a little bit last week.
329
00:25:16,000 --> 00:25:17,000
What am I worried about?
330
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:18,000
What am I afraid of?
331
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,000
I'm afraid I don't have enough to…
332
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:23,000
Honey, remind me what to worry about again.
333
00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,000
Sometimes we just are afraid.
334
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,000
The Bible says 365 times.
335
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:30,000
Interesting.
336
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:31,000
Fear not.
337
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:33,000
One for every day.
338
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,000
You just have to find the right one.
339
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:36,000
Don't be afraid.
340
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,000
Because we're afraid of what?
341
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:40,000
Being alone.
342
00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:42,000
Not having enough.
343
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,000
Afraid of dying.
344
00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:48,000
There are a lot of fears in this world.
345
00:25:48,000 --> 00:25:51,000
And the angels say, hey, don't fear.
346
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,000
I bring you good tidings of great joy.
347
00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:56,000
Good tidings.
348
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,000
That's the gospel.
349
00:25:57,000 --> 00:25:58,000
Good news.
350
00:25:58,000 --> 00:25:59,000
That there's good news.
351
00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,000
And it's of great joy to all people.
352
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:03,000
There's no exclusions.
353
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:07,000
It's for anyone and everyone.
354
00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:10,000
For whosoever.
355
00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:11,000
There's born…
356
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:12,000
Verse 11.
357
00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:19,000
There is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
358
00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:21,000
Interesting.
359
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,000
The angel says…
360
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:28,000
Because if you've ever had a baby, it's like I'm a recent grandpa.
361
00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:35,000
Here in the last three weeks, Lydian had a baby, little Jordan.
362
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,000
And if you had a baby, it would be…
363
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:40,000
You know, it was born to Lydian.
364
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:43,000
Well, the angel says, hey, you know what?
365
00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,000
This baby was born to you.
366
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:46,000
It's for you.
367
00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:47,000
It's personal.
368
00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,000
It's not just Joseph and Mary's baby.
369
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,000
This little baby is for you.
370
00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:57,000
It's personal for you.
371
00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:02,500
Pretty amazing that you can have a relationship with a living God, that he cares that much.
372
00:27:02,500 --> 00:27:07,000
He came to this manger, into this world in such a humble way, and it wasn't just for
373
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:08,000
Mary and Joseph.
374
00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:15,000
It's for you and I, for the shepherds, for anyone and everyone who wants to receive him,
375
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,000
because he loves us that much.
376
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:27,000
He's a gift.
377
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,000
And this will be a sign.
378
00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:33,000
You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
379
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,000
And suddenly there was an angel.
380
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:41,000
There was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God, saying, glory to God in
381
00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:49,000
the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men.
382
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:50,000
I don't know.
383
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,000
For years, I thought God was out to get me.
384
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:54,000
I'd make mistakes.
385
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,000
I'd do things.
386
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:58,000
I'm like, oh, man, God is so mad at me.
387
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:02,000
Angry, upset.
388
00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:06,000
And it drove me from him rather than pulling me to him.
389
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:09,000
But when I realized that Jesus had sin is bad.
390
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:11,000
That's why it required death.
391
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,000
Jesus had to die for it.
392
00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:19,000
And when he saved someone, he changed him.
393
00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:21,000
Not the same person.
394
00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,000
You don't desire the same things.
395
00:28:23,000 --> 00:28:25,000
He forgives us of our sins.
396
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:27,000
He's not out to get you.
397
00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:28,000
Got goodwill for you.
398
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:30,000
He's got a good plan for you.
399
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:33,000
You have to receive it.
400
00:28:33,000 --> 00:28:35,000
He's not out to get you.
401
00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,000
He's there to save you.
402
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,000
He wants to improve you.
403
00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,000
His plan is better than yours.
404
00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:44,000
His will is better.
405
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:49,000
If you would turn with me to Isaiah, Chapter six, Isaiah,
406
00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:50,000
Chapter nine.
407
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,000
I'm sorry.
408
00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:54,000
Is that Chapter nine?
409
00:28:54,000 --> 00:29:05,000
And we'll close right here.
410
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:10,000
Isaiah, Chapter nine, Verse six, for unto us a child is born
411
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,000
and unto us a son is given.
412
00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:15,000
Very familiar passage.
413
00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,000
And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
414
00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:23,000
And his name will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God,
415
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:27,000
everlasting father, Prince of Peace.
416
00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:32,000
Our perspective is a child is born.
417
00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:36,000
I'm breaking all my rules with Jordan, my new grandson.
418
00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,000
Normally I like to have babies.
419
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:43,000
I like to hold them at least a month later, maybe two.
420
00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,000
Like, all right, now I'm ready.
421
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,000
They seem a little frail for me early on, but I've been holding
422
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,000
them like since they came over.
423
00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:54,000
Every time they come over, it's like, hey, Grandpa, you want to
424
00:29:54,000 --> 00:29:55,000
hold them?
425
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:56,000
Yeah, let me have them.
426
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,000
Normally I don't do that.
427
00:29:57,000 --> 00:30:00,000
I try to hold off a little bit.
428
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:05,000
But people pinch babies' cheeks.
429
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,000
People love babies.
430
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:08,000
There's something about them.
431
00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:11,000
They don't like changing them maybe, but there's a lot of other
432
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:15,000
things that people like about babies.
433
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:22,000
And this is the perspective for unto us a child is born.
434
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:29,000
And if it stops there, it's just another baby, there's a problem.
435
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:34,000
Then the heavenly perspective says this.
436
00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:36,000
Unto us a son is given.
437
00:30:36,000 --> 00:30:42,000
That's the greatest gift God could give is his son.
438
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:45,000
And you probably, it's Christmastime, we love giving
439
00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,000
gifts, you love being thoughtful.
440
00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:49,000
You know, I stress out.
441
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:52,000
Leah said, Leah told my kids, maybe I told you guys this
442
00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,000
already, hurt my feelings.
443
00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:59,000
She's told that not to go to Walmart, get a basket, fill it
444
00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:01,000
up with all these random things.
445
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,000
Last minute.
446
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:05,000
But I don't feel like they're random things.
447
00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:07,000
I think they're thoughtful gifts.
448
00:31:07,000 --> 00:31:09,000
You know, put some cool things in there and it's the basket.
449
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:11,000
You can use the basket.
450
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:12,000
You can use everything in it.
451
00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:14,000
I kind of like that.
452
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,000
But she didn't want that this year.
453
00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,000
I had to put a little more thought into it.
454
00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:20,000
The gifts, right?
455
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,000
And sometimes you get what you want, and sometimes you get
456
00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,000
what you need, and sometimes the things that you need are your
457
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,000
favorite gifts.
458
00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:34,000
And God, his gift to us was exactly what we needed.
459
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:36,000
We needed forgiveness of sins.
460
00:31:36,000 --> 00:31:40,000
His number one gift, he knows what we needed.
461
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,000
Unto us a son is given.
462
00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:45,000
I'm going to give you exactly what you need.
463
00:31:45,000 --> 00:31:46,000
Right?
464
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:48,000
And then he goes on to give us a list of names.
465
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,000
And when I thought about this, I thought about, obviously we're
466
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:55,000
talking about some of the names of Jesus because names have
467
00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:56,000
meaning.
468
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,000
They say something about a person.
469
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,000
And I thought about a toolkit.
470
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:05,000
And sometimes you look at a toolkit and you think, yeah, I
471
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:09,000
need that one tool, but if I buy this kit, it's got the one tool
472
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,000
I need and a whole bunch of other ones.
473
00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,000
Well, that's what God did by giving us his son.
474
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,000
It's not only he gave us the number one gift, the most
475
00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:22,000
amazing thing we needed out of that.
476
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,000
I hate to say this, disrespectful.
477
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:27,000
I don't want to be disrespectful, but he gave us the greatest
478
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:28,000
gift.
479
00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:30,000
But with that, he gave us so much more.
480
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:35,000
You get every other 16 tool kit, you get them all.
481
00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:41,000
He says not only that, a child is born, but a son is given.
482
00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:45,000
Beyond just a child being born, that happens all the time.
483
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:46,000
There's a special one.
484
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:49,000
Something happened 2000 years ago.
485
00:32:49,000 --> 00:32:53,000
And the government will be upon his shoulders and his name, his
486
00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,000
nature, his character.
487
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,000
Number one, he says will be wonderful.
488
00:32:58,000 --> 00:33:00,000
Amazing.
489
00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:03,000
He's going to be wonderful.
490
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,000
It means hard to understand, too high.
491
00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:09,000
And that's what God is.
492
00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:11,000
It's hard to understand.
493
00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:14,000
The Bible says God's hand spans the universe, that he spoke this
494
00:33:14,000 --> 00:33:16,000
world into existence.
495
00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:19,000
It's hard to really, God told Moses, listen, if you see me, no
496
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,000
man can see me and live.
497
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,000
I'll let my glory pass by you.
498
00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:29,000
You can see the back of me.
499
00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,000
God is so big, but you know what he did?
500
00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:35,000
He sent his son to be small so we could know him.
501
00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,000
So he could tell us who God is.
502
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:40,000
So when you read the Gospels, you can understand who God
503
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,000
really is.
504
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:46,000
You read the Bible and you can understand God's heart and his
505
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,000
mind towards us.
506
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,000
He's wonderful.
507
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,000
Yeah, he's so high, but yet he became so small so we could know
508
00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,000
him.
509
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:58,000
That's one of the most amazing things about the Bible and who
510
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:02,000
Jesus Christ is, that God is wonderful.
511
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:04,000
He wants us to know him.
512
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,000
He's a counselor.
513
00:34:06,000 --> 00:34:08,000
Why?
514
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,000
Because we need counsel, don't we?
515
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,000
We need direction.
516
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:13,000
We need somebody to talk to.
517
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,000
Sometimes we need somebody because we don't know the
518
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:19,000
direction, the next step to take in our life.
519
00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,000
We don't know where to carry our burdens.
520
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:24,000
We don't know who we can tell.
521
00:34:24,000 --> 00:34:27,000
Will they share it with other people?
522
00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:31,000
Will they give us good counsel?
523
00:34:31,000 --> 00:34:34,000
Do they even care about what I'm going through?
524
00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:38,000
Are they just listening to me?
525
00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:42,000
Is there someone to talk and sort things out, to bear my
526
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:43,000
burdens?
527
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,000
Well, guess what?
528
00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:47,000
Jesus is a counselor.
529
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,000
He's wonderful and he's a counselor.
530
00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:54,000
He's a mighty God.
531
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,000
Remember the angel told Mary, hey, is there anything too hard
532
00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:58,000
for me?
533
00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:00,000
He's a mighty God.
534
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,000
Is there anything too hard?
535
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,000
Ephesians says that he's able to do exceedingly, abundantly
536
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:09,000
above all that we ask or think.
537
00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:10,000
He goes above.
538
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,000
He can do whatever.
539
00:35:12,000 --> 00:35:14,000
There's nothing too hard for him.
540
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:16,000
He's a mighty God.
541
00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,000
You run into a situation in your life like, how am I going to
542
00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:20,000
get out of this?
543
00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,000
How am I going to sort this out?
544
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:24,000
Lord, what are you going to do?
545
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:29,000
Remember, he's a mighty God.
546
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:32,000
And then it says this.
547
00:35:32,000 --> 00:35:36,000
His name will also be called everlasting father.
548
00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,000
He won't give up on you.
549
00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:39,000
He's everlasting.
550
00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:40,000
He's eternal.
551
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:41,000
He's a dad.
552
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:43,000
He's a protector.
553
00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,000
He's a provider.
554
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:46,000
He's someone to lean on.
555
00:35:46,000 --> 00:35:51,000
He's someone to teach you.
556
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:55,000
If you've ever had, maybe you didn't have a dad growing up, a
557
00:35:55,000 --> 00:36:00,000
good example, maybe you had a bad example, guess what?
558
00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:03,000
You have one here.
559
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,000
The prophet said, listen, he's going to be everlasting father.
560
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,000
He's going to be right there.
561
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:13,000
You're going to provide, protect, teach you, steer you.
562
00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:18,000
You're going to be able to lean on him.
563
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:21,000
And then he says, finally, he's the prince of peace.
564
00:36:21,000 --> 00:36:24,000
Anyone lack peace today?
565
00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,000
Because Jesus is the prince of peace.
566
00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:30,000
He wants to give you peace in the midst of a storm.
567
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:34,000
He can calm the storm.
568
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,000
So much in this world filters into our life and it takes, robs
569
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,000
our peace, takes our peace.
570
00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:45,000
And then we can go right to Jesus Christ and he wants to
571
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:46,000
give us peace.
572
00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:53,000
When the storm is raging, when the storms come and trials hit
573
00:36:53,000 --> 00:36:55,000
and difficulties hit.
574
00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,000
He's a prince of peace.
575
00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,000
Wants to bring peace into your lives.
576
00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:05,000
So listen, as we, we're going to close here.
577
00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:10,000
I don't know if I went too long, but this Christmas season,
578
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:14,000
remember the greatest gift, the first Christmas, the whole
579
00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:15,000
design of it.
580
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,000
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
581
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:21,000
He came into the world to save sinners.
582
00:37:21,000 --> 00:37:23,000
He loves you so much.
583
00:37:23,000 --> 00:37:25,000
His plans for you, you are good.
584
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:26,000
Listen, read the names.
585
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,000
He's Emmanuel.
586
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000
He's everlasting father.
587
00:37:30,000 --> 00:37:31,000
He's wonderful.
588
00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:35,000
He's a counselor, prince of peace.
589
00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:37,000
Cares so much for your life.
590
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000
Wants to infuse those things in your life.
591
00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:41,000
He's not a distant God.
592
00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:42,000
He wants to be close to you.
593
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:46,000
So I pray this Christmas season, this year, you'd be close to
594
00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:47,000
him.
595
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,000
Draw close to him.
596
00:37:49,000 --> 00:37:51,000
The Bible says, and he'll draw close to you.
597
00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:52,000
That's a promise.
598
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,000
It's a guarantee.
599
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,000
You can hold onto those promises.
600
00:37:55,000 --> 00:37:58,000
So Lord, we're thankful for your love.
601
00:37:58,000 --> 00:38:03,000
Thank you for the greatest gift you could have ever given.
602
00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,000
It's not only what we need.
603
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,000
It's what we want.
604
00:38:07,000 --> 00:38:11,000
And it's so special, Lord.
605
00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:13,000
And it's not unattainable.
606
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:18,000
Lord, so easy.
607
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:24,000
You made yourself so accessible to us, Lord, because you care.
608
00:38:24,000 --> 00:38:29,000
So I pray this year, Lord, that we would always remember that,
609
00:38:29,000 --> 00:38:32,000
Lord, as we navigate this season, Lord.
610
00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:38,000
It can be difficult and there can be anxiety and stress.
611
00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,000
I pray we'd remember that you're with us, Lord, and you love us,
612
00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:44,000
Jesus.
613
00:38:44,000 --> 00:38:45,000
In your name.
614
00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,000
Amen.