The Magic of Believing

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads church. I'm Sean.

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- And I'm Hannah.

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- And we're so glad you're watching with us online today

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or gathering in a community watch party

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sitting with other people all around the globe.

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And a special shout out to my friends

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in Batesville, Indiana.

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You know, Crossroads is a church

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you can fully belong to no matter where you live.

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There's thousands of you who join us online every week,

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and we'd love to know who you are.

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You can text the word "Anywhere" to 301301,

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so that someone from our team

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can get a chance to chat with you

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and help you get connected here at Crossroads.

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- That's right. So wherever you are,

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we're glad you're part of our community

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and we actually get to experience church all together.

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Today we're going to be starting our service

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with singing together in what we call worship.

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And you can do that no matter where you are.

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So if you're watching at home with your family,

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listening to this on your drive to work,

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or even lying in bed, I invite you to perk up

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and take and lean into the truth that's in these songs.

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Let's worship together.

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- Hey, merry Christmas everyone.

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Hey, if we haven't met, my name is Justin.

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And all this whole month, we've been singing

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some of our favorite Christmas songs about Jesus

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to remind us of His story, to remind us that He's King,

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and to sing them as worship songs to Him.

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But as we sing our favorite Christmas songs,

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we're singing songs that are like 200 years old

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and some words in Latin, like this next song,

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which is one of my favorite.

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Anybody love Angels We Have Heard on High?

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Yeah, see, it's one of my favorites.

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But then we get to the chorus and we say,

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Gloria in excelsis Deo,

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not Gloria in egg shells Deo. Okay?

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Gloria in excelsis Deo.

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And I want you to know what it means

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before you sing it.

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So, Gloria, you can probably figure it out.

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Gloria means glory.

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In excelsis, excellent or the highest.

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And Deo means God. So glory in the highest to God.

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It's exactly what the angels sang

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on the night of Jesus's birth.

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And it's a chance for me and you to remember

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He gets all the glory and I get none.

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He's the one that's that supreme and above all things.

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So we're going to join with the angels

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and sing together. Let's go.

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- Let's pray together.

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Jesus, thank you for coming.

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Thank you for rescuing us.

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Thank you for leaving Your throne and coming humbly.

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Thank you for bringing life.

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Thank you for your joy, your peace, and your hope.

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No one else can carry it like You do

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and no one else can bring it to us like You do.

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You're the source of it. You're everything.

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We sing, we pray these words all because of you, Jesus.

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Amen. Amen.

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Yeah. That's right.

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Y'all sound beautiful today.

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Why don't you turn to somebody next to you

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and say, "Hey, Merry Christmas.

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Glad to be here with you."

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If you're online, glad you're here with us, too.

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Merry Christmas to you.

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- Experience the story of Christmas,

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a simple baby coming to earth

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bringing a beautiful light

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and living a powerful life.

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- Hey, the word Christmas can come with

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the expectation of hope, of peace and of joy.

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But that's not always the experience.

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And just because it's Christmas, it doesn't mean

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we automatically feel peaceful

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or even hopeful, unfortunately.

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Well, hey, we know that.

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And so this year for Christmas Eve services,

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we are focusing on the truth that

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Jesus is the light of the world

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and He comes and He came so that

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we could have actual hope, actual peace

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and experience real intangible joy.

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- Yeah, we would love for you to join us

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for a service online or in person,

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starting on December 23rd at 7:00 pm.

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You can find all of our service times

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and locations at crossroads.net.

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And if you're really struggling with anxiety,

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depression, or grief this season,

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we really would love to help.

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You know, Crossroads is not just

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a church service to watch.

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We're real, actual people who really care about you.

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And the simplest way to connect is to email us

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at anywhere@crossroads.net

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or just chat in at crossroads.net.

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But just know that you don't have

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to make it through the holidays alone.

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- Hey, there's a team of generous givers here

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at Crossroads that have been making a huge impact.

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And one of the ways that you're experiencing

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that impact right now is watching us.

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Every person who comes into our building,

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who clicks online to watch, that's a person

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with a real story, who gets the opportunity

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to experience more of God because of generosity.

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If you want to join that team of generous givers,

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if you want to make a year end gift,

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or if you would just like to learn more

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about how we spend money at Crossroads,

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you can do all of that at Crossroads.net/give.

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- All right. We've been in this series,

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Christmas at the Movies, taking a look at

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how the story of Jesus shows up

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in some of the most iconic Christmas movies.

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Time for our last one.

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Ho ho ho, and Merry Christmas.

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- Christmas at the Movies

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is perfect with some coffee.

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Don't need that ring-a-ling, ding-a-dong,

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ding-a-ding, talkin.

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So if we see the glow

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of a cellular telephone

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we'll take 'em and we'll break 'em,

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and we won't say we were mistaken.

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You've been warned.

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Merry Christmas. [glass breaks]

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- Wow. It's really fun to be here today.

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And we're going to look at one of my favorite movies,

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and maybe yours too, if you haven't seen it before,

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it's called The Santa Clause with Tim Allen.

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Any The Santa Clause fans in here? [cheers]

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All right, now, let me tell you something here.

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First of all, I mentioned a couple of weeks ago

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during Die Hard, which we all now know

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Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

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We all agree with that, right? Right, right. Yes, yes.

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I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that

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even if the writers aren't intending

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to communicate the story of God,

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when something moves us, it's because

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it contains the story of God,

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whether they understood they're writing that or not.

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And this actually is in the movie called The Santa Clause.

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And as I'll mention, just in just a moment,

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every movie about a Santa Claus,

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and if you look looking really closely,

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this is not makeup that's left over from Die Hard.

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I don't know if you can see this because this is not.

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This is real legitimate bruise.

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And no, there's not a domestic violence issue

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happening at the Tome house.

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Just so you know, so we can move on.

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I was in the barn up at Base Camp.

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It was before dawn. It was dark.

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And I was walking out and I didn't have a headlamp,

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but as I was walking I could see the door

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and there was light coming through the door.

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I said, "No problem," I could see some doors,

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reflecting off the other structure.

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So I'm just walking in and wham!

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I just walked right into this pole. Bam!

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Just freaking crushed me.

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I saw stars like a comic book

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and muscles in my back tightened up,

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and I wanted to punch something all simultaneously.

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It was horrible. So I'm -- I'm healing up.

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Just, all right, we're done with that, right?

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Now we can go? Okay. All right.

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Hey, let's pray before we go into

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what I want to look at tonight

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and today and this morning.

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God, you are good to do in us what only You can do.

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And I pray You do something inside of us that

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has been happening in people during Christmas

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for thousands of years, literally thousands of years.

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Help us to take on Your identity.

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Help us to believe. Help us to be faithful.

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Help us to bless You.

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And help me to get those points across with clarity.

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And thank you, God, for the honor it is

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to just talk about Your transcendence.

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And I pray these things according to

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the character and identity of Jesus. Amen.

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So in the movie The Santa Clause,

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we have Tim Allen, who is going to become the Santa.

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His name is Scott.

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And Scott is sort of a normal, average, everyday American.

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He's hurried, he's harried.

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He also deals with a little bit of honesty issues.

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He's just, you know, he's really not together.

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He's basically overwhelmed in his life

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and that leads him to some,

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some maybe questionable choices.

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Here's our main character.

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- Thank you very much.

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This was really a team effort, and we just

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want to thank every one of you individually.

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- But we don't have time for that, do we? [laughter]

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In all seriousness, here at B&R Toys,

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we're not just about making a profit in quality toys,

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we're also about families.

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But our families aren't here with us right now,

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which is probably why Johnson's secretary

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is sitting in his lap. [chuckles]

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You guys have a great party. Have a great year.

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Drive safe. Thanks very much.

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[applause]

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Laura, I was hoping to catch you

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before you left your house.

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I ran real late today.

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You wouldn't believe the traffic out here.

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[honks] Yeah, same to you!

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And that's not very ladylike.

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Heh. Anyway, I'll try to get to my house

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as soon as I can.

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Oh, there's the problem right there, 3 car pileup.

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I'm really going to be late.

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- Yeah, this guy is a jerk. He is.

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He doesn't have a moral compass

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and he's lying to his family.

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He's separated from his wife, or divorced, rather.

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And he's got a little kid we'll meet in just a moment

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who's actually a pretty good little kid.

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But this guy doesn't have any peace.

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A lot of us don't have a lot of peace either

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over this holiday season.

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In fact, the people in the original Christmas

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didn't have a lot of peace either.

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The people were going to focus on today

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are generally not included in the Christmas story,

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though they for sure are.

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The Christmas story in the Bible takes place

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in the books of Matthew and in the book of Luke.

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And we have Jesus and his family,

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his parents, Mary and Joseph.

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And we also have, born at the same time, his cousin John,

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who's going to be John the Baptist,

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and Jesus's aunt or aunt Elizabeth

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and uncle, who is Zechariah.

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And here's what it says about them in Luke 1:7.

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But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren,

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and both were advanced in years.

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This means in that cultural code of that time

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that they do not have peace,

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because the cultural expectation is that

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you would have a child if you were married.

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This is how you could run your family business.

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This is a sign that God was blessing you.

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And the fact that they never had a child,

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and now their past child rearing years,

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was a point of embarrassment or shame for them.

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It was hard for them to have peace in the midst of this.

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Now, what Santa does when Santa comes into the movies,

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or Santa is talked about inside of our families,

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it's something that everybody can believe in.

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Everybody wants to believe in it.

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Basically, Santa is what even atheists

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and agnostics, why they can celebrate Christmas

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because they want to believe in Santa,

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or at least have the idea of Santa.

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Which, if you ever thought about this before,

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is actually a God figure.

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Santa is an entity that you can't see.

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He's mysterious.

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He is an entity that is big and vast

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and omnipresent, omniscient because

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he can go all over the world and deliver gifts.

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And by the way, he delivers gifts because

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we want our deities or our sense of hope

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to be in a God or a person who is generous.

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All of the things that we love about Santa

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are all of the things that God actually is in reality.

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Very little is known about Santa.

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It's a little hard to understand where legend meets reality.

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Yet for sure there was a guy who was named Nicholas.

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This is a guy who was born in about 270 A.D.

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on a town on the on the sea of modern day Turkey.

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He had a very privileged childhood.

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And then his parents died,

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and perhaps this caused him some grief,

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which is why he took his parents' money.

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Again, we don't know exactly where reality

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and history and where legend comes in.

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But he would give gifts to bless people.

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He was known as incredibly generous.

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In fact, he would go on and be a verifiable bishop

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in the Catholic Church or in the church rather

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in 270 A.D., or rather a bit after that.

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And as the legend or as the story goes,

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because he had a heart for people

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who were abandoned or had a hard way,

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there was a man who was praying because

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his daughter was going to be given away in marriage.

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And in that time, when you gave away a daughter in marriage,

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you were expected to give a dowry,

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to give payment to that family or to that groom

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to help get the marriage started, all this stuff

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were the cultural expectation.

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This guy had no money to give as the dowry,

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so therefore he didn't know

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how his daughter would get married.

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So he was praying and somebody outside

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heard that he was praying and the next day

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in through the window was a gold bag.

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The guy was like, "Wow, this is crazy."

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And then sometime later, the same thing happened

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to his second daughter. He had three daughters.

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Second daughter, same thing.

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Got engaged, but he had no money for a dowry.

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He was praying, the next day there was

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a bag of gold to give the dowry to the next family.

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Of course you know the story with the third one,

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except this time he says, "Nope, nope, nope, nope.

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I want to see what's happening. I'm praying here,

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something's going to happen in the next 24 hours."

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He's waiting, he's waiting.

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The person knows that he's waiting.

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And as the story goes, he hears footsteps up on the roof

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and gold comes down through the chimney

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and it sticks in some of the socks

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that were there being dried out by the fire.

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And now we have the birth of Christmas traditions.

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How much of that's true, how much of that isn't

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you can determine on your own.

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But what we do know is that Saint Nick

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was a defender of the faith.

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The very first council that the church ever had,

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which is when somebody in authority,

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this was Constantine, called together

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all the Christian big shots and said,

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"We got to nail down our theology here,"

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at the Council of Nicaea.

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Nick was apparently there.

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And the first major heresy of the church dealt with

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was against Arias.

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Arias believed that Jesus was actually a mirage,

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Jesus wasn't actually real.

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That He definitely died on the Cross

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and that He rose from the dead,

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but he wasn't actual physical matter.

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He was only spiritual.

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This is the first heresy the church dealt with.

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And as the story goes, Saint Nick

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was so offended by this that

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he actually punched him in the face.

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My kind of Santa.

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And then he dies on December 6th, 343,

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which is now recognized as Feast Day.

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There's something magical about this figure,

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about this entity.

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When we see him today, it warms our heart.

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I spent time this last week with

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the best Santa figure I've ever seen.

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He goes by the name of Gabby Claus,

00:31:08

and he's actually part of our church.

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I didn't know that until I was interacting with him.

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He's had a gig where he goes around as Santa Claus.

00:31:17

He dyes his beard, he's gained weight.

00:31:21

He wears all the stuff, and he goes around

00:31:23

and he blesses children.

00:31:26

While he was in the podcast with me,

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if you want to hear it, you can and you'll cry,

00:31:31

because there's some amazingly touching moments.

00:31:33

He says that he goes and he mentors other people

00:31:35

who want to be Santa because Santa, he says,

00:31:39

ends up being like a priest figure.

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He said, "People tell me things that are very, very personal."

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One of his more recent ones is

00:31:46

he got into an elevator

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after seeing a child in the hospital,

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and he had an older woman in the elevator.

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And she said, "Well, I know what I want

00:31:56

Santa to bring me for Christmas."

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And he said what?

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She said, "I would like Santa to tell my husband

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it's okay to go home."

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And he realized that he was in hospice

00:32:09

and this woman is baring her soul

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like she's talking to a priest or a divine entity

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who can empathize and help.

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He said, "It's a powerful thing."

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This is why we long to believe in a Santa figure.

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And this is why every Santa movie there is,

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there's always a number of predictable things.

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One, there's a child who believes.

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Two, there's a parent figure who humors the child

00:32:36

and isn't, like, really into it, but okay, I'll go along with it.

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And then three, there's a parent figure,

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whether a step parent figure or new parent,

00:32:43

whatever, it's a step because like, "This is awful.

00:32:45

This is ridiculous.

00:32:46

Don't allow this child to believe this."

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These three characters are in

00:32:51

every single Santa situation, because

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these are the three spiritual entities that we have

00:32:56

in all of our sites this morning.

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Someone who believes in God.

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Someone who goes, "Oh, I'm okay with it.

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I'm okay with it. I'll go to church,

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I'll go along with it."

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And somebody who just can't stand the idea

00:33:07

that there is a God, that there's such a thing

00:33:09

as a virgin birth, there's such a thing

00:33:11

as miracles that happen every once in a while,

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and they dig in their feet.

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The way we react to Santa is the way we react to God.

00:33:21

Now there's four things as we're going to look here

00:33:24

at Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah.

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There's four things if you want to have peace,

00:33:30

if you want to have a transcendent peace,

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you're going to have to wrestle with four things

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that are main characters we're looking at today,

00:33:38

who are Elizabeth and Zechariah deal with.

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The first is this. The first is this.

00:33:44

We have to put on a different identity,

00:33:51

put on a different identity.

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The key scene in The Santa Clause happens

00:34:00

when Tim Allen, whether he knows it or not,

00:34:03

is about to take on a new identity.

00:34:07

- I heard a clatter. - All right, Charlie.

00:34:11

- There, a clatter.

00:34:12

- Charlie, what are you talking about?

00:34:14

You know, "It came a big noise."

00:34:16

It's coming from outside.

00:34:18

- Charlie, it's just the wind or something.

00:34:20

Come on, let's go back to bed.

00:34:22

[thumping]

00:34:34

- Hey, you. - What's that? Oh!

00:34:37

- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:34:48

- He's got some ID on him, I bet.

00:34:50

Fella, if you can hear me,

00:34:51

I'm just looking for your identification.

00:34:55

If something should happen to me, put on my suit.

00:34:57

The reindeer will know what to do.

00:34:59

Yeah, right.

00:35:08

- Whoa!

00:35:17

Dad! He disappeared. Whoa!

00:35:25

- He's naked somewhere.

00:35:29

This thing, you never know where it's been,

00:35:32

a thousand malls.

00:35:35

Well, I hope you're happy, Comet. Hope you're happy.

00:35:39

But most of all, I hope the guy that lives here

00:35:42

is a tailor. Nice coat.

00:35:47

Well, how do I look? Nice?

00:35:51

- You forgot the sash. - You're right.

00:35:53

This completes the ensemble.

00:35:58

All right. Got my boots.

00:36:00

Now I've got the suit on.

00:36:02

How am I supposed to know what to leave?

00:36:04

- The key moment happens

00:36:07

when Tim Allen puts on the Santa suit.

00:36:10

And the reason why this is so important

00:36:13

is that he takes on, even though

00:36:16

he doesn't know this is what he's doing,

00:36:18

he takes on the identity of Santa.

00:36:22

You ever put on new clothes

00:36:25

and immediately you take on a new identity?

00:36:27

Everyone has done this, you know.

00:36:29

You know, when you do this? Halloween.

00:36:32

Right, you get dressed up as the Hulk

00:36:35

or a damsel in distress or whatever it is.

00:36:38

And anybody who puts on a Hulk costume,

00:36:40

they're like, they put on like, oh, you know,

00:36:42

they're just like this every time.

00:36:43

Or damsel in distress all of a sudden feels more beautiful.

00:36:46

Whatever it is, you put that costume on

00:36:48

and you take on the characteristics in your mind

00:36:50

for a moment of a new identity.

00:36:53

So I used to like riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

00:36:57

You felt like you were a Hells Angel

00:36:59

because you wore leather.

00:37:00

You were like, yeah, you know, that was your thing.

00:37:02

Took on a new identity.

00:37:04

When he puts this on, he takes on a new identity of Santa.

00:37:07

Hey, have you ever considered that

00:37:10

what God invites you to is not a new morality?

00:37:14

God does not invite you to even a new spirituality.

00:37:19

God invites you to a new identity.

00:37:23

When we receive Him, we clothe ourselves with His identity,

00:37:29

we clothe ourselves with Jesus

00:37:33

and we actually become Him.

00:37:36

In the book of Galatians 3:27, it says this:

00:37:40

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ

00:37:44

have put on Christ.

00:37:46

You put him on.

00:37:48

This is why baptism is such a significant thing.

00:37:50

I'm not talking about the infant kind,

00:37:52

I'm talking about when you in and of your own mind,

00:37:54

you decide that you're going to go into the grave.

00:37:57

You identify with Jesus because He went into the grave,

00:38:01

and He came back three days later in power.

00:38:04

And when someone goes into the watery grave,

00:38:07

they die to themselves,

00:38:09

they die to the effects of their sin,

00:38:12

and they are raised in power.

00:38:14

Because, as that verse says, you've put on Christ.

00:38:17

You've taken on a new identity.

00:38:20

And this was prophesied,

00:38:22

this whole process in the Old Testament,

00:38:24

in the book of Isaiah chapter 61 says:

00:38:26

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

00:38:28

my soul shall exalt in my God,

00:38:31

for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

00:38:35

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

00:38:39

He gives us new clothes, meaning He gives us new identity.

00:38:46

Coming to Christ is not about learning a new morality.

00:38:51

It's not about a new religiosity.

00:38:53

It's not about a new spirituality.

00:38:56

It's not about new theological beliefs.

00:38:58

All those things might be there,

00:39:01

but it is about having a new identity.

00:39:06

This is why the person who receives Christ

00:39:09

never has to live in fear, and therefore

00:39:11

you can have a peace that passes all understanding.

00:39:15

Because if you get hit by a reindeer,

00:39:18

just like grandma gets run over by a reindeer,

00:39:20

if you get hit by a reindeer and you go to heaven,

00:39:23

as Romans says, "There is therefore now

00:39:25

no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

00:39:28

That means in an identity with Him,

00:39:30

because when you go to see Him, whenever you die here,

00:39:34

He sees you, and He actually doesn't even see you

00:39:37

as much as He sees His Son,

00:39:38

because you've taken on His identity.

00:39:41

And therefore you don't have to worry about

00:39:43

being condemned by God because Jesus already took

00:39:47

the condemnation as a sinless being,

00:39:49

a sinless entity when He went to the Cross.

00:39:53

And I can live with the full assurance

00:39:56

that God is okay with me, that God is good with me.

00:39:59

That whatever I sin with today doesn't determine

00:40:02

my eternal destiny or even how much God loves me.

00:40:05

I'll tell you when you come to the realization

00:40:07

that God is good with you, He's just good with you,

00:40:10

Whew! Man, you can start to take risks in life,

00:40:15

you can start to make aggressive moves in your life,

00:40:17

you can start to get over yourself in life.

00:40:19

It's a beautiful and amazing thing.

00:40:22

We trade in our old clothes

00:40:25

and we take on new clothes, a new identity.

00:40:29

I wonder how much of this, the fact that

00:40:32

this is not happening, is contributing to

00:40:34

our mental health epidemic that we have.

00:40:37

I mean, it's everywhere. We all know this.

00:40:39

Americans have arguably never had less peace

00:40:42

than we do now, and arguably there's fewer of us

00:40:45

that understand an identity in Christ

00:40:48

and are clothed with Him than perhaps

00:40:50

ever before in American history.

00:40:51

That's debatable, but just my opinion.

00:40:54

Mental Health America in 2022 says:

00:40:56

19.86% of adults

00:40:58

are experiencing mental illness right now.

00:41:00

It's 50 million Americans.

00:41:03

They also say:

00:41:04

The national rate of adults experiencing suicidal ideation,

00:41:07

that is, the ideas and thinking about it

00:41:09

and planning it has increased

00:41:11

every year since 2011-2012.

00:41:16

Because if your peace is on anything,

00:41:18

other than the identity of Christ,

00:41:20

it's not going to last.

00:41:21

If your peace is on the economy,

00:41:22

there's going to be a market correction.

00:41:25

If your peace is based on how well your family is doing,

00:41:28

there's going to be an adultery in your family,

00:41:30

there's going to be a death in the family,

00:41:31

there's going to be a --

00:41:32

There's going to be a miscarriage in the family,

00:41:34

there's going to be a divorce in the family,

00:41:36

there's going -- There's going to be something,

00:41:38

if that's what your peace is dependent on.

00:41:40

If your peace is dependent on

00:41:41

how well your career is going,

00:41:42

you will be right sized eventually.

00:41:44

Somebody else will come up and take your place.

00:41:46

If you're feeling at peace is based on

00:41:50

your physical goals and how you're doing physically,

00:41:53

things will sag eventually.

00:41:54

It happens to everybody and hair grows

00:41:58

places that you would never imagine it grows

00:41:59

and it grows fast.

00:42:01

Your peace can't be in your body beautiful.

00:42:04

I'll tell you what though,

00:42:05

the clothing of Jesus never gets old,

00:42:07

it never wears out, and very few of us ever put it on.

00:42:11

We'd rather put on morality or self-sufficiency

00:42:14

or religiosity, but receiving Jesus

00:42:18

and wrapping Him around you

00:42:19

and stepping into His identity, Whew! Friends,

00:42:22

I'm telling you, it is new world with new power.

00:42:26

Now let's go back to Zechariah here

00:42:29

and see what happens with him.

00:42:32

Here's what it says in verse 11.

00:42:34

And there appeared to him, by the way,

00:42:36

let me say something about Zechariah.

00:42:37

Zechariah is a priest. He's a priest.

00:42:40

And so they would have basically a lottery

00:42:43

of which of the priests that were there

00:42:44

at the temple that day were going to go in

00:42:47

and serve inside the Holy of Holies.

00:42:49

And they didn't really want to win this lottery

00:42:52

because they believed the Holy of Holies

00:42:54

was where the most intense presence of God was.

00:42:57

And they believed, if you weren't fit

00:42:59

or if God was in a bad mood, you just might die.

00:43:02

So people didn't want to have this job.

00:43:09

But Zechariah gets it this day.

00:43:12

And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord

00:43:16

standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

00:43:19

And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him,

00:43:21

and fear fell upon him.

00:43:23

But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid,

00:43:26

Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard,

00:43:28

and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,

00:43:32

and you shall call his name John.

00:43:35

And you will have joy and gladness,

00:43:38

and many will rejoice at the birth,

00:43:40

for he will be great before the Lord."

00:43:43

It's a bit of a prophecy.

00:43:44

Jesus says that John the Baptist,

00:43:46

who again is his cousin,

00:43:49

who is going to be the son of Mary

00:43:50

and this Zechariah, Jesus says

00:43:52

he's the greatest person who walked the earth.

00:43:54

That's what Jesus said about him.

00:43:58

He is told, "Zechariah, you're going to have a son

00:44:02

and you are to name him John."

00:44:05

I also think it's interesting that he says,

00:44:06

"Your prayer has been heard.

00:44:09

Your prayer has been heard."

00:44:11

It's taken a long time for this prayer

00:44:14

to be acted on by God.

00:44:16

These people are old.

00:44:18

They are past childbearing age.

00:44:22

And so this looks to be like God is acting

00:44:25

on a prayer that was prayed, I don't know,

00:44:28

10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, we don't know.

00:44:33

Hey, hey, just because there seems to be

00:44:37

silence with your prayer, don't stop.

00:44:40

If you think that this is something

00:44:42

that is God honoring and God will get behind,

00:44:45

don't stop. Don't give up hope. Just keep going.

00:44:51

If we're not clothed in Christ, by the way,

00:44:54

we won't pray because we're afraid.

00:44:57

It's like we're afraid to ask Santa for anything

00:45:01

because we don't want to be disappointed.

00:45:03

Some of us have no prayer life at all

00:45:05

because we refuse to pray, and so therefore

00:45:07

we're never encouraged to pray, and therefore we don't pray.

00:45:09

And we don't even want to start praying

00:45:11

because we're scared to death if I pray something

00:45:15

and God doesn't come through,

00:45:16

it means that He's not real, or even worse yet,

00:45:18

He doesn't love me.

00:45:21

And that's what people think who don't understand

00:45:24

that you can be clothed with Christ

00:45:26

and wrapped up in Him, and you don't have to have

00:45:29

your faith dependent on what God does

00:45:31

or doesn't do for your prayer.

00:45:32

You just interact and talk with Him

00:45:34

because you are in Him, you are in the family.

00:45:36

Does this make any sense at all?

00:45:37

Am I ringing any bell for anybody?

00:45:39

Because, friends, this is unbelievable news.

00:45:41

This is a whole new realm of living and understanding.

00:45:46

And if our identity is anything else,

00:45:49

it's not going to work, it's not going to give us peace.

00:45:54

Scott, or Tim Allen now, is trying to understand

00:45:59

these -- this clothing he has

00:46:01

and he just doesn't believe it makes any difference

00:46:05

this new identity he has.

00:46:07

And he ends up going to North Pole

00:46:10

and starting to learn some lessons.

00:46:13

- Who are you?

00:46:15

- I'm Bernard. Nice to meet you, Santa.

00:46:17

- I'm not Santa.

00:46:21

- The other Santa disappeared, right?

00:46:24

- Wait a minute.

00:46:25

Look, I am not Santa Claus.

00:46:29

Ah.

00:46:30

- Did you or did you not read the card?

00:46:32

- Yeah, I read the card.

00:46:33

- Then you're the new Santa.

00:46:35

In putting on the hat and jacket,

00:46:36

you accepted the contract.

00:46:37

- What contract?

00:46:39

- The card and the Santa suit.

00:46:40

You said you read it, right?

00:46:42

So when you put on the suit,

00:46:43

you fell subject to the Santa Clause. Here.

00:46:45

- The Santa Clause?

00:46:47

- You got the card? Okay, look.

00:46:51

The Santa Clause: In putting on this suit

00:46:53

and entering the sleigh, the wearer waives

00:46:55

any and all rights to any previous identity,

00:46:57

real or implied, and fully accepts the duties

00:46:59

and responsibilities of Santa Clause in perpetuity

00:47:03

until such time that wearer becomes unable to do so

00:47:06

by either accident or design.

00:47:08

- What does that mean?

00:47:09

- It means you put on the suit, you're the big guy.

00:47:12

- Look, Barnaby, I just want to go home.

00:47:16

- Oh, he just doesn't understand it.

00:47:19

He doesn't get it, but now he does.

00:47:22

He's stuck, and he's going to find out

00:47:24

he's stuck for the better in this brand new identity.

00:47:27

And eventually he's going to choose to believe.

00:47:29

The second thing that we learn from this story

00:47:32

that's important for us to have

00:47:34

a peace that passes all understanding,

00:47:36

and that is, choose to believe.

00:47:40

Choose to believe.

00:47:42

Belief is a -- it's a choice.

00:47:45

It's something you choose.

00:47:49

Some of us think that belief just comes upon us

00:47:51

because there's irrefutable evidence.

00:47:54

Well, there's irrefutable evidence to some people,

00:47:56

but not to others.

00:47:57

That's why there's such a thing as a hung jury.

00:48:00

No one just wakes up andm bam! You believe.

00:48:04

You decide to believe.

00:48:06

And the same data will cause one person to believe

00:48:11

and another person not to believe

00:48:13

because one person chooses to believe

00:48:15

and the other person chooses not to believe,

00:48:17

in anything, whatever it is.

00:48:19

Belief is an aggressive action that you and I

00:48:23

choose to make, the action of belief.

00:48:26

And here in this story, Zechariah doesn't believe.

00:48:32

He's choosing not to believe.

00:48:33

And we're going to see in just a moment

00:48:35

there's some ramifications to this.

00:48:37

Actually, let's go ahead and read this right now.

00:48:39

Here's what it says in verse 18.

00:48:41

And Zechariah said to the angel,

00:48:43

"How shall I know this?

00:48:45

For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years."

00:48:49

And the angel answered him, "I am Gabriel,

00:48:52

and I stand in the presence of God.

00:48:55

And I was sent to speak to you

00:48:56

and to bring you this good news.

00:48:58

And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak

00:49:02

until the day that these things take place,

00:49:04

because you did not believe my words

00:49:07

which will be fulfilled in their time."

00:49:12

We'll say, "Well, I would believe if just I had a sign.

00:49:17

I would believe if I had a visitation.

00:49:19

I would believe if I saw a miracle."

00:49:21

Well, Zechariah has all these things.

00:49:24

He has an angel who shows up and talks to him

00:49:29

and tells him your prayer from before,

00:49:31

you having a son, good news. It's going to happen.

00:49:35

Zechariah doesn't believe. Why?

00:49:37

Because he chooses not to believe.

00:49:41

And the angel, we're going to see in just a moment,

00:49:43

he gets upset.

00:49:45

How many of us are like Zechariah?

00:49:47

We choose not to believe.

00:49:50

We think it's maybe just a quirk that we have,

00:49:53

but really at is heart we're choosing to not believe.

00:49:59

Last week or excuse me, two weeks ago,

00:50:02

when we talked about Die Hard, I talked about

00:50:04

the sin of pride, and I talked a bit about

00:50:06

how humility is a key spiritual power.

00:50:09

And it's humility that causes us to ask somebody to pray,

00:50:14

pray for us, because we're humble

00:50:15

and we admit a need and we ask somebody,

00:50:17

we lower ourselves and ask somebody to pray for us.

00:50:20

I had one person come up to me last weekend

00:50:23

to get prayed for physically, one person.

00:50:25

And it was a guy I've known for a long, long time.

00:50:28

I'll give you his name.

00:50:29

His name is Dave Stansbury .

00:50:31

And Dave had had a cancer about a few years ago.

00:50:34

And for the last two years he has,

00:50:37

after radiation and everything, he's had --

00:50:39

He's not been able to produce any saliva,

00:50:41

which is really horrible because you can't swallow.

00:50:44

So he's had nonstop a Camelbak on his back

00:50:47

or a bottle of water for the last two years.

00:50:51

And that's not it. That's not anything.

00:50:53

It's been a prison to him, as he tells me, a prison.

00:50:56

Can't go anywhere without water.

00:51:00

You can't taste anything.

00:51:02

So and things he does taste tastes horrible.

00:51:04

And so he's losing weight.

00:51:06

He's perilously close to going on a feeding tube

00:51:08

because he just can't keep weight on.

00:51:10

He said, you're in prison. "I can't --

00:51:12

There's places I would want to go, but I can't go,

00:51:14

I can't go." What would he say?

00:51:16

Oh, "I can't go into the airport.

00:51:17

I got to check my water.

00:51:19

I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it

00:51:20

and live from the time I have to check my water

00:51:23

to go through TSA until I get to the gate,

00:51:25

because I can't swallow, I got nothing going on.

00:51:27

I don't know when I'm going to get the next bit of moisture."

00:51:30

He said it has been a prison.

00:51:31

So he come up and he asked to be prayed for.

00:51:33

I said, "Great, I'll pray for you."

00:51:35

Put my hands on him, prayed for him.

00:51:37

He said, "I felt what ball --" He said, "I felt ball bearings

00:51:41

rolling down on either side of my jaw."

00:51:42

And he said, "I thought you were taking

00:51:44

your fingers and going like this."

00:51:46

And he asked his wife, Lori, like, "Did that happen?"

00:51:48

She said, "No. He kept his hands there."

00:51:50

And I stopped and said, "You feel anything?"

00:51:51

And he went --

00:51:54

He said, "I think, I think I feel saliva."

00:51:56

I said, "Really?" "Yeah."

00:51:57

"Spit in my hand." He spit in my hand,

00:52:02

slapped his own saliva on the side of his face. Right?

00:52:07

I start praying for him and he said,

00:52:10

"Man, I -- I have, I have saliva."

00:52:14

I said, "No kidding?" "Yeah."

00:52:16

He goes immediately, did something

00:52:17

he could have never done before.

00:52:19

He goes to a Mexican restaurant because

00:52:21

he can never have anything with tomato,

00:52:22

he said it tasted like acid.

00:52:24

He couldn't tell the difference between anything.

00:52:26

It just was horrible.

00:52:27

He could never have a carbonated beverage

00:52:30

because it was like battery acid. It was horrible.

00:52:32

So he goes to this Mexican restaurant

00:52:36

and this the video his wife takes.

00:52:39

God, thank you. Thank you, God. Thank you.

00:52:51

[applause]

00:52:57

- And he starts freaking out. There's a --

00:52:59

And by the way, there were so many people

00:53:00

praying for him, I was probably,

00:53:02

my prayer's probably just the camel on a --

00:53:04

Straw on a camel's back.

00:53:05

He started, he and his wife started crying

00:53:07

in the restaurant server comes over and says,

00:53:09

"Everything going okay?"

00:53:10

He said, "We just had this miracle happen,"

00:53:12

and he tells it. She sits down.

00:53:13

She just lost her mom to a similar cancer.

00:53:15

She starts crying.

00:53:16

They start start holding each other.

00:53:18

And he's having these interactions

00:53:20

for like the last two weeks.

00:53:21

Neighbors who see him walk around without a water bottle.

00:53:24

"What's going on? What's going on?"

00:53:25

He said, "Well, here's what happened to me."

00:53:27

He goes to the doctor.

00:53:28

The doctor puts a scope down his throat.

00:53:30

He goes, "Yeah, yeah, you got saliva."

00:53:33

He said, "What happened?"

00:53:35

And he tells him what happened.

00:53:36

And the doctor says, "Well, I guess that did it then."

00:53:40

[laughter]

00:53:44

It's amazing. It's amazing.

00:53:47

He chose to believe and ask for prayer.

00:53:51

He chose to believe.

00:53:53

And maybe nothing happened.

00:53:55

Many, many, many, most of us,

00:53:57

most, most, most of us who are going to ask

00:54:00

for a physical miracle are not going to have it.

00:54:02

That's why it's called a miracle.

00:54:04

But if you don't choose to believe and ask,

00:54:08

the Bible says you have not, because you ask not.

00:54:10

Many of us refuse to believe

00:54:13

because we don't have the identity of Christ.

00:54:15

We feel like we are unworthy.

00:54:17

We feel like God doesn't care about us.

00:54:19

No, He cares. You are Him. You are the body of Christ.

00:54:21

That's what it means to be in the church,

00:54:23

the body of Christ, because we are clothed with Him.

00:54:26

And you have to choose to believe

00:54:28

that you're important to God.

00:54:30

You have to choose to believe that He loves you.

00:54:32

You have to choose to believe that

00:54:34

He's not going to abandon you or forsake you.

00:54:36

You have to choose to believe that there is

00:54:39

the X factor of the presence of His Spirit

00:54:41

inside those who are cloaked with Him.

00:54:44

This is a deep teaching.

00:54:46

Can you hear it? Can you receive it?

00:54:50

This is what separates the players from the receivers

00:54:55

is this right here.

00:54:58

And this is included in this movie,

00:55:00

which is why I believe it moves us,

00:55:03

even if we don't know the spiritual truth behind it.

00:55:08

It's beautiful. It's wonderful.

00:55:16

Verse 18.

00:55:20

Oh, I just read verse 18, didn't I?

00:55:22

Right. Next one.

00:55:26

And the people were waiting

00:55:27

and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.

00:55:29

The people were like, "Wait, what are you doing?

00:55:31

Why are you just --"

00:55:32

He's in there because they don't really go in,

00:55:34

do their thing, get out because

00:55:35

they want to get killed, or so they think.

00:55:37

There's no evidence that God ever did this.

00:55:39

This is their fear.

00:55:40

"He's in there for a while. My gosh, what's going on?"

00:55:42

And he finally comes out.

00:55:43

They're thinking he's dead

00:55:45

because no one's been in there as long as he has.

00:55:47

And verse 17 says this.

00:55:49

And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them,

00:55:52

and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple.

00:55:55

And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.

00:55:59

And when his time of service was ended,

00:56:02

he went to his home.

00:56:04

He comes out and he can't speak.

00:56:06

The angel is offended and said, "You wanted a sign.

00:56:09

You asked for something to be given to you

00:56:12

from your prayer, we've heard, we've responded.

00:56:16

You've chosen not to believe, so therefore

00:56:19

you're not going to be able to speak until it happens."

00:56:23

Makes me wonder, like, how many things

00:56:25

aren't right in my life because God's trying to

00:56:27

get my attention that

00:56:28

I'm choosing not to believe something.

00:56:29

I don't know, but it happened at least once.

00:56:32

That was right here.

00:56:36

He can't speak and he can't talk about it either.

00:56:39

He doesn't know sign language.

00:56:41

I don't know if he had a chalkboard.

00:56:43

He somehow got to communicate exactly

00:56:45

what happened to everybody who is around him.

00:56:52

Next verse, verse 24.

00:56:55

And after these days. Oh. I'm sorry.

00:56:59

Let's stop right here.

00:57:00

This is really, really interesting stuff

00:57:04

because now he has to go home

00:57:08

and he has to tell his wife Elizabeth

00:57:10

what's happened.

00:57:11

"Hey, honey, you'll never guess

00:57:14

what happened to me at work today.

00:57:16

I saw an angel, and he said our prayer

00:57:19

has been heard and God has said yes.

00:57:23

And that child we wanted, it's now going to come.

00:57:28

Oh my goodness, that is crazy."

00:57:35

Why is this crazy?

00:57:36

Because it mentions a number of times,

00:57:37

if you haven't seen in this,

00:57:39

it mentions a number of times that they're old,

00:57:41

they're past age.

00:57:42

And let me spell this out for you.

00:57:44

By the way, if I haven't ruined

00:57:45

your kid's Christmas already. Here we go.

00:57:47

I'll give you this one if you.

00:57:49

That's why I have Kids' Club, by the way.

00:57:50

The key element of this story is that they are old

00:57:54

and they can't have sex anymore.

00:57:56

It says very clearly in the text.

00:57:59

That means he can't have an erection and she is dry

00:58:04

and it's not possible to have a child.

00:58:07

It's another miracle birth,

00:58:09

two crazy ones in the Christmas story.

00:58:11

We've got Mary, who has a birth, who's never had sex,

00:58:16

and now we're going to have a birth

00:58:18

with two people who can't have sex.

00:58:21

But they're going to have to choose to believe

00:58:25

and hit the bedroom anyway, even though

00:58:29

they don't have the little bunnies

00:58:31

of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.

00:58:33

They're going to have to go and just trust God

00:58:37

and try something that they haven't tried

00:58:41

for who knows how long.

00:58:44

They're going to have to choose to believe.

00:58:47

And what this is, this is an act of faith.

00:58:50

They're being faithful. Verse 57.

00:58:56

Now the time for Elizabeth to give birth,

00:58:59

and she bore a son.

00:59:01

And her neighbors and relatives heard that

00:59:03

the Lord had shown great mercy to her,

00:59:04

and they rejoiced with her.

00:59:06

And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child.

00:59:09

Which is what they would do eight days after being birthed

00:59:11

they would circumcise if it was a boy.

00:59:13

And they would have called him Zechariah after his father.

00:59:17

That's a normal cultural thing,

00:59:19

actually fairly common today. You know?

00:59:21

Oldest son sometimes gets the father's name.

00:59:23

You've been waiting for a child. You got blessed with a son.

00:59:25

You're going to certainly call him

00:59:27

the father's name, Zechariah. Right?

00:59:29

But his mother answered, "No; he shall be called John."

00:59:36

And they said to her, "None of your relatives

00:59:39

is called John."

00:59:43

And they began to make signs to his father,

00:59:47

that is, to Zechariah,

00:59:49

inquiring what he wanted him to be called.

00:59:53

They're going, "Wait, wait, wait. John? What?

00:59:56

That doesn't make any sense."

00:59:58

And they're looking at Zechariah.

00:59:59

They're trying to make signs,

01:00:00

some early form of sign language.

01:00:02

Do you want this? They're trying to do this.

01:00:04

And he's just not, he's not on their page at all.

01:00:09

Verse four.

01:00:10

And he asked for a writing tablet

01:00:13

and wrote, "His name is John."

01:00:19

Oh, gosh. I find this so inspiring

01:00:21

because it's about him being faithful.

01:00:24

He faithfully chose to believe,

01:00:27

and then he faithfully got up the nerve

01:00:30

to go and have sex with his wife.

01:00:32

And now the first thing he says,

01:00:35

he hasn't been able to speak for nine months

01:00:37

because he had his speech taken away

01:00:39

because he chose not to believe.

01:00:41

And by the way, if you choose to believe,

01:00:42

you don't have to have perfect belief.

01:00:44

Jesus says at one time, all you need

01:00:46

is a mustard seed of faith.

01:00:47

I'm not talking about having 100% faith

01:00:50

that your thing is going to be given a yes.

01:00:52

I'm saying you have to have enough faith,

01:00:54

enough belief to actually ask and to move.

01:00:58

And so even though he doesn't believe,

01:01:01

that's why he loses his speech.

01:01:04

And you would think, well, loses his speech

01:01:06

and therefore he believed.

01:01:07

Well, we don't know that.

01:01:09

He might not have believed until after whenever.

01:01:12

Now, though it appears he believes

01:01:14

because his first words,

01:01:16

after being quite frankly unfaithful

01:01:20

and not believing, his first words are

01:01:23

to obey and be faithful and believe

01:01:26

the word that God gave him.

01:01:27

His first words, "His name is John."

01:01:32

I tell you what, the first words of somebody

01:01:35

who's choosing to be faithful are always the most painful.

01:01:37

They're always the most beautiful, prayerful words

01:01:41

because they reflect being cloaked

01:01:42

in the identity of the Master.

01:01:45

His name is John.

01:01:49

And they all wondered.

01:01:51

And immediately his mouth was open

01:01:53

and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

01:01:55

And fear came on all the neighbors.

01:01:57

And all these things were talked about

01:02:00

throughout the hill country of Judea.

01:02:02

Just like my friend Dave, all this stuff

01:02:04

was being talked about in his neighborhood.

01:02:07

It's that way with Zechariah because

01:02:09

something has happened, because he is faithful

01:02:13

and by doing this he blesses God.

01:02:16

He blesses God by honoring this.

01:02:18

The fourth step, we bless God.

01:02:21

God is never blessed when we're about ourselves.

01:02:24

And when I'm about myself is when I don't believe

01:02:27

and when I'm not faithful

01:02:28

and when I'm not blessing God.

01:02:30

He chooses to bless God.

01:02:32

Now, Tim Allen, he takes on the identity

01:02:35

and he starts to change.

01:02:36

Here's this pivotal scene in the movie.

01:02:41

- Calvin?

01:02:46

- Sorry. Um, did I miss anything?

01:02:49

- No, we were just about to order lunch.

01:02:52

- Great. I'm starving.

01:02:54

- I'll have a salad and iced tea and dressing on the side.

01:02:58

- Uh, pasta and tomatoes, and very light on the oil.

01:03:01

Can you do that?

01:03:02

- And I'll have a Caesar, no dressing

01:03:04

and one of those homemade cookies,

01:03:06

the warm chocolate chip, no nuts.

01:03:08

And a little slice of cheesecake, creme brulée,

01:03:10

and a hot fudge sundae, extra hot fudge

01:03:17

on the side.

01:03:19

[Jeopardy "Think" music]

01:03:35

- Finished?

01:03:40

- Okay, now we've got Santa.

01:03:42

He's up in the North Pole.

01:03:43

He's getting ready for Christmas.

01:03:47

This year Santa is not going out in his sleigh.

01:03:50

This time he's going Total Tank.

01:03:55

- Wait a minute. No way.

01:03:56

No way Santa is going anywhere without his sleigh.

01:03:59

- He would if he's trying to sell the Total Tank.

01:04:02

- Well, isn't that a pretty picture?

01:04:04

Santa rolling down the block in a panzer?

01:04:07

Well, kids, I certainly hope you've been good this year,

01:04:10

because it looks like Santa just took out

01:04:11

the Pearson home. In coming!

01:04:14

Oh, and another thing,

01:04:15

have any of you tried to build a Total Tank?

01:04:18

It's got 10,000 parts.

01:04:19

And even if you do get it together,

01:04:20

it breaks ten minutes later.

01:04:22

Then you got to spend more money just to buy new parts.

01:04:24

- I thought that was the whole point.

01:04:25

- No, no, no, no.

01:04:27

All we got to do is develop a basic,

01:04:30

a simple, inexpensive toy that will nurture

01:04:32

a child's creative thinking.

01:04:34

- Calvin.

01:04:36

- Here, try the brown one.

01:04:38

- Can I see you outside a minute?

01:04:42

- See how he's taking on the identity now.

01:04:44

He's gained weight. He's looking like Santa.

01:04:46

He was a very fit guy before, now he's gaining weight.

01:04:48

Earlier in the movie, he would have been a crass guy,

01:04:50

would have been about anything to make money.

01:04:52

And now he's drawing a line like, "No, no, no,

01:04:54

no, no, that doesn't work."

01:04:56

When God starts to get a hold of your life

01:04:59

and you start to step into His identity,

01:05:02

you start changing

01:05:03

and you don't even know that you're changing.

01:05:05

You don't even have a growth goal in mind necessarily.

01:05:08

Things just gradually start to morph and change.

01:05:12

And it's a beautiful thing.

01:05:13

And every Santa movie has this metamorphosis,

01:05:18

not necessarily of the Santa figure,

01:05:21

but of somebody.

01:05:23

I said there was three things

01:05:25

that always happens in every Santa themed movie.

01:05:27

Actually there's four.

01:05:28

One, there's a small child who believes.

01:05:30

Two, there's a parent figure who is open.

01:05:33

Three, there's another parent figure

01:05:34

who is adamantly against.

01:05:36

And four, at the end, everybody believes.

01:05:41

That always happens.

01:05:43

And it happens here in this movie as well.

01:05:47

Scott's former wife had a dream of having

01:05:50

a game she never got.

01:05:52

Her new husband that Scott's in war with

01:05:55

always wanted to have a little Oscar Meyer weenie,

01:05:57

little fidget kind of thing.

01:05:59

And in the end, when they see

01:06:01

and they choose to believe,

01:06:03

their Christmas comes true as well. Here it is.

01:06:08

- You gave me a wonderful gift, Charlie,

01:06:11

listen, a wonderful gift.

01:06:13

You believed in me when nobody else did.

01:06:16

You helped make me Santa.

01:06:19

Selfish? Come on.

01:06:22

You're the least, the least selfish person I know.

01:06:29

- I love you, Santa Claus.

01:06:43

- Go, go, go, go. - Team 1, heads up.

01:06:50

- Chief, look up there!

01:06:57

- Santa. - Look.

01:07:15

- I'm sorry. Charlie. - That's okay, Neal.

01:07:18

You're just denying your inner child.

01:07:21

[laughter]

01:07:22

- You'll make a great psychiatrist one day, kid.

01:07:26

- No. I think I'm going to go into the family business.

01:07:38

- Look out below.

01:07:51

- My Wienie Whistle.

01:08:00

[whistles]

01:08:04

- At this point, I cry every time.

01:08:08

Not because I get excited

01:08:10

when people believe in Santa,

01:08:14

in something that isn't true.

01:08:18

I cry because of the spiritual truth behind it.

01:08:22

There's just something beautiful

01:08:24

when someone chooses to believe that Jesus is God.

01:08:27

There's something beautiful

01:08:29

when we choose to believe that

01:08:31

He has good intentions for us,

01:08:33

and He's a kind and generous God.

01:08:36

And that's the power of that movie

01:08:39

and all those Santa movies.

01:08:41

It's the belief that something can happen

01:08:44

that's beautiful and can give me a peace

01:08:47

that passes all understanding.

01:08:50

In the book of Romans, there's basically

01:08:51

this benediction that I would like

01:08:54

to speak over you today as we get ready to leave.

01:08:57

It's a benediction that's around belief.

01:09:00

It's a benediction that's around peace. Here it is.

01:09:06

May the God of all hope

01:09:11

fill you with all joy and peace in believing,

01:09:17

so that by the power of the Holy Spirit,

01:09:21

you may abound in hope,

01:09:27

now and forevermore. Amen.

01:09:34

- Thanks so much for joining us today.

01:09:35

I hope that something Brian said really sticks with you

01:09:38

and that you're able to apply it to your life and grow.

01:09:41

As always, if you want to get engaged around here,

01:09:43

we'd love to connect with you at crossroads.net/Anywhere.

01:09:47

- Yeah, thank you so much for being here,

01:09:49

and we'll see you back here

01:09:50

for Christmas Eve on December 23rd.

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