It's a Wonderful Life | Christmas at the Movies Week 2 - Live Service Teaching

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- Well, hey, welcome to Crossroads.

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I'm Andy. I'm the pastor for Crossroads Anywhere.

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And today our senior pastor, Brian Tome

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is going to be unpacking the Christmas classic

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It's a Wonderful Life.

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But before we get there, I've got two quick things

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that I want to put on your radar.

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A buddy of mine, Nick, he's a teammate

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and a 20 something.

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He's actually the co host of a podcast

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that we have called A Better Answer,

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is starting a group trying to form community

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of other people that are in that life stage.

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It's such an important season of life

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where you're making plans and preparing

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and just setting the trajectory for decades to come.

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And we find that happens best in the context of community.

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If you want to connect with other people

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that are kind of right where you're at in life,

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head to crossroads.net/anywhere.

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Secondly, I don't know what the weather

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is like where you are, maybe it's beautiful.

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Maybe it's like where I am in the Midwest

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and it is freezing.

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We're going to take advantage of

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this whole Crossroads Anywhere thing.

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We've got people all over the country

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and all over the world.

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We're actually going to be traveling

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because we want to be with you.

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We don't want to connect just online

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or just through video like this.

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We want to be together.

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We're doing our first meetup.

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We're going to be doing them all year long every month.

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But our first meetup is going to be

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in the Tampa and Orlando areas.

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We'd love to connect with you.

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If you are in Florida, head to Crossroads.net/anywhere

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to raise your hand so that we can come

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hopefully see you before too long.

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All right.

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Now we're going to jump into It's a Wonderful Life

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with Brian right now.

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- Christmas at the movies is perfect with some coffee.

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Don't be that ring-a-ling ding dong, ding, ding talking.

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So if we see this glow of a cellular telephone

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we'll take them and we'll break them,

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and we won't say we were mistaken. You've been warned.

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Merry Christmas. [breaking FX]

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- Well, today we look at the classic movie

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It's a Wonderful Life.

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I'm curious how many of us in here --

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I am curious of this.

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How many of us in here have actually seen

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the movie It's a Wonderful Life?

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You've actually seen it.

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How many people have have not seen it?

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How many people have not seeing it?

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Okay.

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All the people who've seen it go, [grumbling].

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Okay.

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How many people just don't raise their hand in church?

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So let's do real quick again, seen it raise your hand.

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Not seen it.

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Okay. All right. Well, good.

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So, this is going to be a stroll down memory lane

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for some of us who have seen it.

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And for others of us,

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I'm going to try to fill you in this movie.

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Not because I'm a big evangelist for the movie necessarily,

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but because there's certain things that are in this script

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that I don't know that Frank Capra,

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who actually wrote, produced the movie,

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oversaw the whole project.

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I don't know if he really knew what he was producing,

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but he was producing something that was very,

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I believe, very close to the heart of God.

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Not the movie is close to the heart of God,

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but there are things in it

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that are all through the Bible

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that I want you to understand today,

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because -- have to raised our hand again.

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Who wants a wonderful life?

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Who wants a wonderful life?

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Who wants a loser life? Who wants to loser?

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Yeah, I want a wonderful life. I do.

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And this is what we're going to talk about today.

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So let's pray before I go any further.

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God, I want the best for every life that's with us,

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no matter where we are this morning.

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I mean, geographically or spiritually,

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I want the best for us.

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And I believe you want the best for us, too.

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And these things are what you have talked about

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again and again and modeled inside of Your Word.

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So help me to get those out in an understandable

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and winsome way.

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And thank you, God, for the honor of doing so.

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And I pray these things according to character

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and identity of Jesus. Amen.

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So It's A Wonderful Life was a movie I never thought of

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or heard of until I started dating my wife, Libby.

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It is her favorite movie, so she watched it every year.

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So we've been doing this for 34 years.

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Something like 34 years.

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I watch it pretty much every year.

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She watches it every year, and she loves it

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because it was her grandmother's favorite movie.

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So she thinks about her grandmother,

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which is like her favorite person in the world

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and who's dead a long, long time,

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and her self and family stuff.

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It's just kind of a a really good, nostalgic thing.

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This was, by the way, by the way,

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this is a black and white movie, black and white.

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If you see the movie, understand that

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this is a world of yesteryear in America,

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it's in black and white.

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Actually, it's actually in white.

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It's all white all the time.

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Everyone's white in the movie.

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It's all a white perspective,

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except there's one person of color.

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And she, of course, is the maid. Right?

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That's just the way it was way, way back when.

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But try to see past that,

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to just see the things that are talked about.

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In this black and white film, by the way,

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black and white.

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But, you know, we have today?

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We actually have this thing called Technicolor.

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Yeah.

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Wooh, yes. We do.

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This gets hot, too, by the way.

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This movie, as it was put together way back when,

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was meant to be a feel good movie,

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but it was a very controversial movie from the beginning.

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You know, God is good with you feeling good.

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I don't know if you know that or not.

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He's okay with you feeling good.

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In fact, He's really, really, really good

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with you having peace,

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because peace is part of what Christmas is.

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The Book of Luke 2:13, if I go there, it says this.

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This is angels.

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This is angels who are proclaiming

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what's going to happen with the birth of Jesus,

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which is what we celebrate at Christmas.

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And they say this:

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Peace.

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Feeling good, things going maybe wonderfully.

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This movie has become a classic for two reasons.

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One reason is it was such a bad movie

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when it was first reviewed, when it was first saw

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that it really went out of circulation

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and no one really came to show up for it.

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And therefore they never really went through

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the process of copyrighting it.

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So television stations said, "Free content,

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we don't have to pay for.

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We'll start running free content."

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And then it became an ultimate classic.

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That was one reason.

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The second reason was it didn't quite strike

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the right chord with its audiences.

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Frank Capra, who's the creator of a movie,

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he wanted a movie coming out of World War II

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to make people feel good,

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and he wanted it to be optimistic.

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It's actually a challenging movie in many ways.

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But some people didn't like this optimism.

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The Independent says this:

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I like that undemanding optimism.

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Yeah, right.

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So, if you're an undemanding optimist, then you're stupid.

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If you're an undemanding optimist,

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you choose to see things the positive way,

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then you check your brain at the door.

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Maybe that's why cynicism is so valued today.

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We really -- we really think the smartest people

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are the most cynical people. Why is that?

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We think the smartest people are the most negative people.

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That's really weird.

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That's part of why our life isn't wonderful.

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Frank Capra, when he created this movie,

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I don't know if he had any relationship with God or not,

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but what he has in this movie, through and through,

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is the values that we find in the Bible.

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Now, Christmas is in the Bible.

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Christmas as a holiday

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isn't a massive thing in the Bible.

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Christians came along later and said,

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"Hey, we should celebrate the birth of Jesus,

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it coincides with this other holiday.

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Let's do this," and off it's gone.

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And sometimes we get carried away.

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Like we get carried away when we

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set up our Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.

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That is a -- that is a heinous sin in the eyes of God.

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Actually, I'm lightening up on that a little bit.

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I am.

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We set our tree up before Thanksgiving this year

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because Lib wants it.

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I know, I know. I'm sorry.

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I'm a good husband. That's all I can say.

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Because she's always wanted it earlier,

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she wants it earlier.

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And by the way, no lie, right now the tree is dead.

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So therefore you reap what you sow.

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Honestly, it's a fire hazard.

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Can't even put the lights on.

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It's really -- it's really, really bad.

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But part of the reason why I caved to her this year

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is because, "You know what, honey?

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If it helps you be more optimistic and happy.

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Awesome. Great."

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In fact, I repent of any judgment of all of you people,

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except the ones of you

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that put up decorations on Halloween.

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You are disgusting.

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That is just not --

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Look, let's celebrate Halloween,

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then let's do Thanksgiving, let's do Christmas.

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But nonetheless, umbrella of mercy.

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I'm sorry for judging all of you.

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I think what you're trying to do

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is you're just trying to feel good.

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What's wrong with that?

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You're trying to be optimistic.

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You're trying to think of something

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that's out there and in the future.

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And this is why all of us want Christmas,

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including the atheists and agnostics.

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We want Christmas because

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we want something to make us feel.

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We're looking for something to make us a bit more optimistic.

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It's a Wonderful Life does that.

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If you want a Wonderful life,

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you follow the life of Jesus.

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And it just so happens the life of Jesus

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is actually in the life, I believe, of George Bailey.

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George Bailey is the main character

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of It's a Wonderful Life.

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He works in Bedford Falls.

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And in Bedford Falls, his dad starts a savings and loan,

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which is not an official bank,

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but it's a place to give people, loan people money

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who wouldn't be able to get into a house otherwise.

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And George has a number of things going for him.

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These things are the things that build a wonderful life.

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Number one. Number one vision.

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George has a vision.

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The Bible says that without vision, people perish.

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We need a vision. What is it?

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A vision is something that's out there.

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It's not here. I don't have it right now.

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It's something out there.

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It's a place where I'm going to

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where I can sink my teeth into.

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I'm planning against, I'm spending against,

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I'm praying for.

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And what's between where we are right now

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and vision are two things: time and difficulty.

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That's why many of us don't have vision.

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We don't want to spend the time.

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We don't want to go through the difficulty.

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We want it now.

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I want a fun day right now.

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I want an easy day right now.

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I've got a feeling that tonight's going to be

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a good, good night tonight.

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I want it.

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I don't want it next week. I want it now.

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And vision is always something substantive.

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The reason why we don't have right now

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is it's not automatic.

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If it was automatic,

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then it would be something we all had.

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We wouldn't -- You don't need a vision

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to be able to breathe,

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unless you're on a breathing -- ventilator.

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You don't need a vision for things

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that are naturally going to happen to you.

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You need a vision for things that are out there

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that are difficult.

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And many of us just don't have any.

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And it's sad when we don't have anything

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that we don't have right now, but we're working towards

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and we're enduring difficulty for

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and we're planning towards and we're spending towards.

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George has a vision and it comes up

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again and again throughout this whole movie.

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His vision is to go to Europe and visit Europe,

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get inspiration of the greatest buildings in Europe,

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and then be an architect and come back to Bedford Falls,

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come back to America and build amazing structures.

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His vision isn't to run a savings and loan.

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His vision is to be a great builder

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that can impact the country.

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And he cast this vision for himself,

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and he casts his vision for others again and again,

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including the first date

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that he has with his future wife, Mary.

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- What'd you wish, George?

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- Well, not just one wish. A whole hat full of them.

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Mary, I know what I'm going to do tomorrow

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and the next day and next year and a year after that.

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I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town

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off my feet and I'm going to see the world:

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Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum.

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Then I'm coming back here and go to college

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and see what they know.

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And then I'm going to build things.

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I'm going to build airfields,

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I'm going to build skyscrapers a hundred stories high.

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I'm going to build bridges a mile long.

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What are you going to throw a rock?

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[shattering glass]

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Hey, that's pretty good.

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What do you wish, Mary?

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- [singing] Buffalo gals, can't you come out tonight?

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Can't you come out tonight, can't you come out tonight?

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Buffalo gals, can't you come out tonight

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and dance by the light of the moon.

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-What you wish when you threw that rock.

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- Oh, no. - Tell me.

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- If I told you, it might not come true.

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- What is it you want, Mary?

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What do you want? You want the moon?

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Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it

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and pull it down.

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Hey, that's pretty good idea.

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I'll give you the moon, Mary. - I'll take it.

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- Oh, it is good.

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He has a dream and he's telling people about it.

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It's the focus of his life.

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Now, here's the thing, when you have a vision,

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a place where you're going,

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the way you get there is time and difficulty.

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Another way to put it is sacrifice, sacrifice.

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Sacrifice sounds like a really noble concept.

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If you think sacrifice is a really great idea

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and a noble ideal, then you, my friend,

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have never sacrificed, because it sucks.

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And I mean that.

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Very few people have ever actually sacrificed.

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There's some of us who have had things taken away from us,

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some of us who have lost things.

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That's not the same thing as saying,

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"I could have this, but I'm going to give that up

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so that I can eventually have that."

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It's sacrifice, choosing to give something up

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because God would be happy or you want to trade up

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to eventually maybe have a vision.

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George sacrifices again and again and again and again,

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in this movie, over and over again.

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He sees his brother,

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his little brother in the first scene comes down,

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he falls into an icy pond.

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George jumps in to save him,

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and he sacrifices the hearing in one ear

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by trying to save a child.

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He sacrifices.

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He sacrifices when he wants --

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it's first turn to go to college,

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but he can't because his brother is going,

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so he doesn't go to college.

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George decides to not go on a trip.

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He welcomes his brother who comes back home.

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I can't remember it after the war or after college,

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and George is ready to hand it off to him,

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the savings and loan.

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Good, you're going to do the savings and loan.

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And now I'm going to go after my dreams.

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And he realizes his brother has just gotten married

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and now they have dreams.

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And George sacrifices again and says,

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"Okay, Harry, you live your life

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and I'm going to sacrifice.

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I'm going to stay here doing the building and loan,

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the savings and loan."

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He has a wedding. Him and Mary get married.

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And they finally are going to be going to Europe.

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And he's got a wad of cash in his hand

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because they don't have credit cards back then.

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And after their wedding,

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they're in the car on the way to the train station

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to get to the airport and everything else.

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He sees there's a run on the town bank.

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The depression is happening. There's crashes.

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People are going to draw their money out.

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And he thinks, "Oh, no, they're going to do

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the same things at the savings and loan my dad started.

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And we don't have all the cash on hand.

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We're going to be run out of business."

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And so he runs out with all the cash.

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And as people come to get all their money out,

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he talks them down and he gives them

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just part of their deposits back

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so he can keep the savings and loan alive, afloat.

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So, the poor people who can't qualify

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for a conventional bank loan can actually qualify

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for a loan and get their own house

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instead of being in a slum.

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He sacrifices over and over again.

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It's inspiring when somebody sacrifices.

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It's inspiring because we really just rarely see it.

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I'm personally really inspired by our Dayton community.

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We bought an old Sears for our Dayton community.

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They've been in a school forever and ever and ever,

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and so bought an old Sears.

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And they recently just got done with the campaign.

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I say they because Dayton, I said they

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because you know there's more people

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who are not Dayton than there are.

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Dayton just had a campaign and they are committed

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to sacrificing above and beyond what they regularly give

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for three years to rehab this whole thing.

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Sacrifice, it's tough.

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Go without things you could have had.

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Lib and I realized a few weeks

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before that campaign in Dayton started, we realized,

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"Oh, yeah, I am the senior pastor of Dayton.

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I guess we need a sacrifice too."

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And so we went through this whole process

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and I always go to those with my feet dragging.

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It's never exciting to sacrifice.

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If you think it's exciting to sacrifice,

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you're not sacrificing.

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That's why it's called sacrifice.

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But then on the back end, whatever sacrifice we've had,

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I'm not talking about financially.

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I'm talking also about sacrificing

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your preferred vacation to do a mission trip.

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I'm talking about sacrificing your preferred date night

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for something the person you're dating would rather do.

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I'm talking about sacrificing whatever it might be,

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just saying I could have this,

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but choose to not have this so I could have that,

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or somebody else could have that.

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George sacrifices.

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When he sacrifices, he's being like Jesus,

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because Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice.

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He went to a cross, sacrificed His life on a cross

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so that you and I wouldn't have to make any sacrifices

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when we die to get to heaven

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because Jesus paid the debt that you and I already owe

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so that we wouldn't have to pay that debt.

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He sacrificed for us.

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When Jesus is born, which is what Christmas is about,

00:19:46

there's an interesting sign of sacrifice that comes to Him.

00:19:50

Let's read it in the Book of Matthew Chapter two.

00:19:52

This is the visit of the Magi, of the Wise Men.

00:19:57

These are people who are likely a sect of Zoroastrianism

00:20:02

over in the Far East, over from Persia.

00:20:05

And they get this dream.

00:20:06

They get this vision

00:20:07

that this very important individual being born.

00:20:09

And they they come, they go on journey.

00:20:11

They go on pilgrimage to find Him.

00:20:13

And when they find Him, let's see what happens,

00:20:15

verse 11 of Matthew 2:

00:20:25

Let's just stop right there.

00:20:26

Wait. Go into the house.

00:20:27

I thought, this is a stable.

00:20:29

Okay. Jesus was placed in a manger.

00:20:31

That's a feeding bowl for cows.

00:20:34

The Magi don't show up until at this point

00:20:36

they're settled in the house.

00:20:37

So Jesus could have been 2 years old at this point,

00:20:39

3 years old, 4 year old. We don't know.

00:20:41

But I mean, it takes a while to, like,

00:20:43

do a long journey and comes.

00:20:45

So Mary and Joseph are now settled.

00:20:47

They come and they find Him and then it says this:

00:20:58

Opening their treasures.

00:21:00

You know what I think?

00:21:01

I think what says opened their treasures,

00:21:03

it doesn't say then they brought out their treasures.

00:21:07

It says when they opened their treasures,

00:21:09

as if these are -- these are very rich people.

00:21:12

They've got camels and they open--

00:21:14

They go, "Hmm, now, now, which things

00:21:17

would be the most appropriate for Jesus?

00:21:20

What would we like?"

00:21:21

They look at all their treasures they have with them,

00:21:23

and they choose three things: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

00:21:27

Gold is only what royalty would have.

00:21:33

It was top shelf thing.

00:21:36

Why? Because they have a king that is here.

00:21:39

Frankincense. Frankincense was used in worship,

00:21:42

burning of incense.

00:21:43

Jesus is like a priest.

00:21:44

He intercedes with us before God.

00:21:48

And then you got myrrh.

00:21:50

Myrrh, it's interesting. What is myrrh?

00:21:52

Myrrh could be just something that's valuable.

00:21:54

It's believed that Mary and Joseph,

00:21:55

this is actually what broke them out of poverty,

00:21:57

that's what I believe.

00:21:58

This I believe is what actually broke them out of poverty.

00:22:01

These gifts that they got when their son was a toddler

00:22:04

were incredibly value and maybe gave Joseph

00:22:07

a leg up to start investing in his business,

00:22:09

expanding his business.

00:22:11

This is all -- don't know any of that.

00:22:12

But all we know is Jesus was so poor,

00:22:15

He was so poor that they didn't have

00:22:16

a whole cloth to wrap around Him.

00:22:18

That's why He was wrapped in swaddling cloths,

00:22:20

not a whole blanket, swaddling cloths.

00:22:22

Mary and Joseph sacrificed to bring their son into the world.

00:22:26

They sacrifice their reputation to be able

00:22:29

to have a child that people thought was born out of wedlock.

00:22:34

And now they get rewarded.

00:22:36

They get these -- all of this, these resources.

00:22:39

But the last one, myrrh, is pretty interesting.

00:22:41

It was a valuable healing element.

00:22:43

You know what else myrrh was?

00:22:44

Myrrh was also embalming fluid.

00:22:48

It was spices that you would take

00:22:50

and you would put on the body and you would wrap it up.

00:22:53

In fact, Nicodemus comes in and John, 19:39-40,

00:22:57

I'm not going to read it for you right now,

00:22:59

but says Nicodemus comes and he brings the myrrh.

00:23:04

He brings the myrrh, he brings the embalming fluid

00:23:06

for the corpse of Jesus after Jesus goes to the cross.

00:23:09

I mean, how weird and wonderful is it

00:23:14

that at Jesus' birth He's given a gift like this.

00:23:17

It's weird that you would give embalming fluid,

00:23:20

and it's wonderful that it was like,

00:23:22

"Hey, hey, buddy, this is your vision.

00:23:24

This your vision. Your vision is to die.

00:23:27

The peak of your life is going to be

00:23:30

when you sacrifice your life."

00:23:33

Maybe the reason why more of us

00:23:35

don't have a more wonderful life

00:23:36

is we don't view that at all.

00:23:37

I only sacrifice when I have no other options.

00:23:41

I only give things over to God,

00:23:43

I only stop doing things when I'm backed up in a corner

00:23:46

and I have to just surrender it.

00:23:49

George sacrifices. Jesus sacrificed.

00:23:52

He didn't want to. He didn't want to go to the cross.

00:23:54

He's in the Garden of Gethsemani before He's arrested,

00:23:57

and it says He's sweating blood.

00:24:00

And He says, "God, I don't want to do this.

00:24:02

Take this cup from me, but not My will be done,

00:24:05

but Your will be done."

00:24:06

Jesus is sacrificing his preferences for the will of God.

00:24:11

Everybody who has a wonderful life, a truly wonderful,

00:24:14

not an easy life, not an approved of life by the masses.

00:24:18

Everybody who has a wonderful life, a life in totality,

00:24:23

understands vision and understands sacrifice.

00:24:27

Now, as George has this vision,

00:24:29

and he has these again, again and again and again and again.

00:24:33

And he, and by the way,

00:24:34

when he gives up these sacrifices,

00:24:36

he doesn't like them.

00:24:38

He's never like, "Oh, goody, I'll wait."

00:24:39

He doesn't like them.

00:24:41

In fact, there's times you can see

00:24:42

his anger over his sacrifices.

00:24:45

At one point, he's got a friend of his.

00:24:48

His name is Sam.

00:24:49

He's in the plastics industry.

00:24:51

He's making all kinds of money.

00:24:53

And Sam comes to celebrate his friend

00:24:55

who's now he has this multinational corporation.

00:24:57

Sam does.

00:24:58

Comes back to Bedford Falls

00:24:59

to see this new housing development

00:25:02

that the savings and loan has put in

00:25:04

under George's leadership

00:25:06

for people to have these houses.

00:25:08

And Sam comes down to celebrate

00:25:09

and there's this really pivotal scene where Sam is --

00:25:12

He's down in his really, really expensive Cadillac,

00:25:15

and his wife has a fur around her neck.

00:25:18

And then there's this old jalopy,

00:25:20

I guess like a model T, I think,

00:25:21

that George's is in.

00:25:23

And his wife, Mary's got this just unassuming scarf.

00:25:25

It's like you could see

00:25:27

the contrasting nature of both of them.

00:25:28

And then when they part, George is frustrated

00:25:31

and he kicks the door of his car.

00:25:35

You can see sometimes vision frustrates.

00:25:37

Sacrifice isn't a noble thing. It's difficult.

00:25:40

We don't like it, and we see that with George.

00:25:43

And that's why it's so tempting for George to turn back.

00:25:50

The figure that I believe represents

00:25:53

all that's wrong in the world is Mr. Potter.

00:25:57

Mr. Potter is this old, cranky guy

00:26:00

who owns everything in the town.

00:26:03

Mr. Potter, who, by the way,

00:26:05

is the grandfather of Harry Potter.

00:26:08

[laughter]

00:26:12

Mr. Potter has cares nothing about anybody.

00:26:15

He only wants himself.

00:26:17

He's not going to sacrifice anything.

00:26:18

He's not going to give anything.

00:26:20

Even when he accidentally, at the scene's climax,

00:26:23

accidentally gets the money of the silver --

00:26:27

of the savings and loan.

00:26:29

He accidentally received it.

00:26:31

So, it's an interesting scene.

00:26:32

He doesn't even return what isn't his?

00:26:35

He keeps it because he's all about getting ahead

00:26:38

at the expense of other people.

00:26:40

Potter represents what the world does to us,

00:26:43

represents the gnawing feeling that I'm losing,

00:26:46

that I'm doing something wrong,

00:26:47

that I'm not measuring up.

00:26:49

And what do you know?

00:26:51

George and the savings and loan

00:26:53

is cleaning his business's clock.

00:26:55

People are just there.

00:26:56

It's the one thing in the town that he can't have.

00:26:58

And so Mr. Potter finally realizes the epitome,

00:27:02

the representation of the world.

00:27:04

He thinks, "Hey, let's just get George to come work for me,

00:27:09

and then we'll eliminate all the thingsthat I don't like."

00:27:13

Let's look at that scene.

00:27:15

- The point is, I want to hire you.

00:27:17

- Hire me?

00:27:18

- I want you to manage my affairs. Run my properties.

00:27:22

George, I'll start you out at $20,000 a year.

00:27:31

- 20? $20,000 a year?

00:27:34

- You wouldn't mind living in the nicest house in town,

00:27:37

buying your wife a lot of fine clothes,

00:27:40

a couple of business trips to New York a year,

00:27:43

maybe once in a while Europe.

00:27:45

You wouldn't mind that, would you, George?

00:27:46

- Would I?

00:27:50

You're not talking to somebody else around here, are you?

00:27:53

This is me. You remember me? George Bailey.

00:27:56

- George Bailey.

00:27:57

George Bailey, whose ship has just come in,

00:28:01

provided he has enough brains to climb aboard.

00:28:13

- Holy maceral.

00:28:18

Well, how about the billing and loan?

00:28:20

- Oh, confounded, man.

00:28:22

Are you afraid of success?

00:28:23

I'm offering you a three year contract

00:28:26

at $20,000 a year starting today.

00:28:28

Is it a deal or isn't it?

00:28:32

- Well, Mr. Potter, I --

00:28:34

I know I ought to jump at the chance, but I just --

00:28:38

I wonder if it'd be possible for you

00:28:41

to give me 24 hours to think it over.

00:28:43

- Sure, sure.

00:28:44

You go on home and talk about it to your wife.

00:28:47

- I'd like to do that.

00:28:48

- Yeah. In the meantime, I'll draw up the papers.

00:28:51

- All right. - Okay, George?

00:28:55

- Okay, Mr. Potter.

00:29:06

No, no. Now, wait a minute here.

00:29:09

I don't need 24 hours.

00:29:11

I don't have to talk to anybody,

00:29:12

I know right now, and the answer is no, no, dog gone it.

00:29:16

You sit around here and you spin your little webs

00:29:18

and you think the whole world revolves around you

00:29:20

and your money.

00:29:21

Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter.

00:29:23

In the -- in the whole vast configuration of things,

00:29:26

I'd say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider.

00:29:29

You --

00:29:31

And that goes for you, too.

00:29:38

And it goes for you too.

00:29:42

- I love that.

00:29:43

You just see he's tempted, like,

00:29:44

everything could have, the trip to Europe,

00:29:46

the salary, everything.

00:29:48

But he realizes, no, I've got to sacrifice this offer

00:29:51

because this would not be good for the town.

00:29:54

This is why he has a wonderful life.

00:29:56

I don't -- I don't know when Jesus really understood

00:29:58

what his life was about.

00:29:59

All I know is eventually He said, "I'm going to do that."

00:30:02

The way that George gets through things

00:30:04

is also similar to how Jesus chose to conduct His life.

00:30:08

Jesus chose to conduct his life with disciples,

00:30:10

with people around him, with friends.

00:30:12

And George, man, he builds into people left and right.

00:30:16

He's got this deep, deep, deep well of friends,

00:30:19

friends who he's helped get a house,

00:30:22

friends who he's given wisdom to,

00:30:24

friends who he's laughed with,

00:30:25

friends who he's been generous to.

00:30:27

He just has a really, really deep bench of people

00:30:30

who are around him.

00:30:32

That's one of the other things we need

00:30:34

for a Wonderful Life is we need community.

00:30:36

It's not a nice to have. It's a have to have.

00:30:39

And you don't know if you have community or not

00:30:42

until things are going poorly,

00:30:44

and then you either reap what you'VE sown,

00:30:47

you have someone bless you and gather around you

00:30:49

and sit in the mud puddle and prop you up and help you.

00:30:52

Or you sit alone and you get bitter

00:30:56

and you get more lonely.

00:30:58

We have not because we sacrificed not.

00:31:02

And friends, some of you are around other people

00:31:04

who are about other people and not just themselves.

00:31:07

And so when George is low, he's lost all of his money

00:31:11

because he's saved the building and loan.

00:31:13

He's lost it all.

00:31:16

And now he's dejected.

00:31:17

His honeymoon is now in tatters.

00:31:19

He can't go travel to Europe.

00:31:21

He has no money.

00:31:23

And that house that he and Mary on their first date

00:31:25

threw rocks through the windows,

00:31:27

that house ends up becoming the stopping point

00:31:30

for their honeymoon. And it is their honeymoon.

00:31:32

His friends gather together.

00:31:33

His friends see how he sacrificed, what he's done.

00:31:36

And so they try to make a makeshift honeymoon

00:31:39

in an old, beaten down house

00:31:40

that they've been throwing rocks through.

00:31:47

- Hey, this is the company's posters,

00:31:49

and a company won't like this.

00:31:50

- How would you like to get a ticket next week?

00:31:52

Is there any romance in you?

00:31:53

- Sure I have, but I got rid of it.

00:31:55

-Liver pills!

00:31:56

Who wants to see liver pills on their honeymoon?

00:31:59

What we want is romantic places, beautiful places,

00:32:01

places George wants to go.

00:32:03

[whistle]

00:32:04

- Hey, Bert. Here he comes.

00:32:06

- Come on. We got to get this up. He's coming.

00:32:08

Who?

00:32:09

The groom, idiot. This is their honeymoon.

00:32:11

Come on, get that ladder.

00:32:12

- What are they, ducks?

00:32:15

- Get that ladder up.

00:32:17

- All right. All right.

00:32:18

- Hurry up. Hurry up. - I'm hurring.

00:32:29

- Hiya. Good evening, sir.

00:32:35

Entray, monsieur, entray.

00:33:58

- Welcome home, Mr. Bailey.

00:34:06

- Well, I'll --

00:34:13

Mary, where did you --

00:34:22

(music) I love you truly,

00:34:27

truly, dear.

00:34:36

- Oh, Mary.

00:34:41

- Remember the night we broke the windows on this old house?

00:34:45

This is what I wished for.

00:34:51

- Darling, you're wonderful.

00:34:54

[singing] I love you truly,

00:35:02

truly, dear.

00:35:10

- Man, I'm gonna start crying.

00:35:14

Yeah. You know, if you haven't seen it,

00:35:16

I'm not ruining anything for you.

00:35:17

Seriously, some of us have seen it 30 times.

00:35:19

You'll see something I'm not even talking about in this.

00:35:21

But, George, he's got this deep, abiding friendship.

00:35:24

He's got this deep, abiding community.

00:35:26

At the end of the movie, one of the pinnacle lines is

00:35:31

they say you're a rich man, George.

00:35:33

Not because he ever has any money in the film,

00:35:36

but because of his friends, of his community

00:35:39

he is rich.

00:35:41

We need to realize this, friends,

00:35:42

because we all get freaked out about the economy

00:35:44

or get people freaked about their savings accounts

00:35:46

and all that kind of stuff.

00:35:47

And it's appropriate to have a certain level of concern

00:35:50

over those things for sure.

00:35:52

But I don't think most of us

00:35:54

are anywhere near as concerned

00:35:56

about the depth of our relational life.

00:35:57

We just think it should be automatic

00:35:59

or it's not going to happen at all.

00:36:01

George had the richness he had because

00:36:04

he made sacrifices and built into people around him.

00:36:07

And it was hard for him.

00:36:09

Towards the end of the movie he's not doing well.

00:36:13

There's a bank examiner that comes to savings and loan

00:36:16

and there's money missing because his uncle Billy

00:36:19

has lost it, fallen into Potter's lap.

00:36:22

It's a long story I'm not going to share.

00:36:23

But basically the building and loan is going to be shut down.

00:36:26

He's frustrated and he can't take the pressure anymore.

00:36:29

So he's about -- he's about ready to kill himself.

00:36:32

He feels that far down.

00:36:34

And then an angel comes to help him understand

00:36:39

the value of his life.

00:36:41

And one of the things that they do

00:36:42

is the angel takes him through Bedford Falls,

00:36:46

which if you hadn't existed, George,

00:36:49

it wouldn't be Bedford Falls.

00:36:50

It will be Pottersville.

00:36:52

And in Pottersville,

00:36:54

there's all kind of seedy businesses

00:36:55

and all that sort of thing.

00:36:57

And he's trying to give him a vision

00:36:59

of what his life would look like.

00:37:02

I struggled with this when I first watch this.

00:37:04

I didn't like this movie all that much

00:37:06

when I first watched this, because

00:37:09

when it gets into things in the spiritual realm,

00:37:11

I've had a good bit of experience

00:37:13

in the spiritual realm

00:37:14

and I know a bit about the Bible.

00:37:17

And so this --

00:37:18

how this angel is set up just kind of really rubbed me wrong

00:37:21

because it's not the way it is,

00:37:23

but it's Hollywood or they didn't know any better,

00:37:25

so I'll give them grace on that.

00:37:27

But this angel, his name is Clarence.

00:37:29

He's a previous human being who has not yet

00:37:33

ascended into the highest order in heaven.

00:37:36

And that's not who angels are.

00:37:38

Angels aren't previous human beings who then become angels.

00:37:41

Angels are separate beings that God has created.

00:37:44

And some of them have wings, perhaps,

00:37:46

and some of them don't have wings,

00:37:48

but they're separate created entities.

00:37:50

And Clarence comes down and he does what he's doing.

00:37:54

And I always go, "Oh, yeah, it just bothers me."

00:37:56

And he was like this almost like a guardian angel.

00:37:59

My religiosity, my anti-religiosity

00:38:02

made me hate the phrase guardian angel.

00:38:04

I heard people talk about guardian angel all the time.

00:38:06

And I just thought it was this construct,

00:38:08

this thing that wasn't actually true.

00:38:10

And then I started to realize, oh, no, no, it is true.

00:38:13

In fact, there's a lot of support

00:38:15

in the Bible for an angel.

00:38:17

And this angel keeps George from being dead.

00:38:22

I'm curious, how many of us in here,

00:38:25

you honestly believe and you could point to a place

00:38:27

when you say, "I actually should have died,

00:38:29

I should be dead?"

00:38:30

How many of us? That's me. I'm --

00:38:34

Thankful for the for the lives, others haven't.

00:38:36

But hopefully, it may be actually,

00:38:38

maybe you didn't raise your hand

00:38:40

because an angel kept it from actually happening.

00:38:42

You even knew it was as serious as it could be.

00:38:44

That's very possible. [applause]

00:38:47

Now when I tell you this, just understand

00:38:50

this is something comes up in the Bible again and again.

00:38:52

I'll give you some examples.

00:38:53

Hebrews 11:14:

00:39:04

So, angels are separate entities that come

00:39:06

and they serve those who are in the family of God.

00:39:09

Not all people,

00:39:11

those who will inherit the family of God.

00:39:13

They're ministering spirits.

00:39:15

And we don't talk too much about angels

00:39:17

because angels don't want to be talked about,

00:39:19

because angels aren't about themselves.

00:39:21

Whenever someone's really into angels, there's a problem.

00:39:23

You don't want to be really into angels.

00:39:25

You want to be really into Jesus, not into angels.

00:39:27

Because angels are about Jesus. They're not about themselves.

00:39:31

But having said that, but having said that,

00:39:34

angels will come and take the form of a human being

00:39:37

from time to time.

00:39:38

The Bible says many have entertained angels

00:39:41

and don't even know it.

00:39:42

They took on the form of am angel.

00:39:45

I've heard some stories of my mother-in-law

00:39:47

believes that her dead sister,

00:39:48

who died while she was babysitting her,

00:39:50

came and visited her the night that she was --

00:39:52

one night.

00:39:53

And I was like, "No, Carole didn't come visit you.

00:39:56

She didn't."

00:39:57

Maybe -- Maybe an angel took her form

00:40:01

to come and give you comfort."

00:40:03

But Jesus makes it very, very clear

00:40:04

that no one passes from here to there.

00:40:06

So angels are real,

00:40:08

we just have a lot of misperceptions about them.

00:40:10

One of the things understand is you're really important,

00:40:12

and if you're a follower of Christ,

00:40:14

you have an angel assigned to you.

00:40:16

That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool.

00:40:18

You say, "Well, you just can't get that from one verse."

00:40:20

Okay. Let me give a couple of others.

00:40:22

The Book of Acts 12:15, Peter is in jail

00:40:27

and there's a miraculous way for him to escape.

00:40:30

And all the other believers, his friends,

00:40:32

his community, are hunkered down

00:40:34

thinking they have no out at all.

00:40:36

They're freaked out.

00:40:38

Peter shows up.

00:40:39

Can't get in the door, knocks.

00:40:40

Someone goes and sees who it is.

00:40:42

It's like, "Ah, Peter," slams the door in his face.

00:40:45

"Oh, my gosh."

00:40:46

Goes back tells them, "Hey. Hey. Peter's here.

00:40:49

I just saw Peter."

00:40:50

They're like, "Oh, it's not Peter.

00:40:51

He's in a Roman jail. He's not getting out of that."

00:40:54

And they say this.

00:40:55

They say -- they say this:

00:41:07

It's his angel.

00:41:09

They're going, "No, it's probably just

00:41:11

his guardian angel looking like him."

00:41:13

That's what the early followers believed.

00:41:16

Jesus in Matthew 18:10, here's what He says.

00:41:30

Their angels, possessive T-H-E-I-R, not tere are angels,

00:41:34

Their personal angel always sees the face of God in heaven.

00:41:40

I mean, I think that's why I'm alive.

00:41:41

It's the only way I understand me being alive

00:41:44

because there was an angel

00:41:45

that's helped me from time to time.

00:41:47

And sometimes, whatever, angels chose not to do that

00:41:49

and we die and life goes on, you know?

00:41:51

And life is difficult. We sacrifice.

00:41:53

This isn't ensuring life is going to be easy,

00:41:55

but I'm saying there is an X factor.

00:41:57

You have a wonderful life when you're following Jesus

00:42:00

and you have an angel that's assigned to you.

00:42:04

Back in my day, little kids didn't play video games.

00:42:07

They weren't invented.

00:42:08

We built tree houses.

00:42:10

Tree houses on somebody else's land or public land.

00:42:14

We'd take our dad's tools

00:42:16

and find rusty nails we would straighten.

00:42:17

And we would -- we would raid a local subdivision

00:42:20

where new houses were being built.

00:42:21

We'd steal their wood, God bless America.

00:42:24

And then we would go out.

00:42:26

We would build these tree houses.

00:42:27

And I mean, I mean, like 20, 30 feet up in the air,

00:42:31

on limbs as big as my thumb

00:42:34

with nails that weren't very long enough to hold the wood.

00:42:38

And I say, "Well, how in the world do we never fall?

00:42:42

And no --"

00:42:44

One of us had an angel. That's why, no question.

00:42:46

How in the world am I going 70 to 80 miles an hour

00:42:50

on a rented Harley-Davidson in Montana

00:42:53

about a decade ago

00:42:56

and I hit a deer going 80 miles an hour.

00:42:58

And I go through the deer

00:43:00

and I go down the road about 60 yards,

00:43:02

flying and rolling, and I don't have a helmet on?

00:43:08

And what I get is I get five stitches

00:43:09

in my left two knuckles.

00:43:11

People go, "You should have worn a helmet."

00:43:12

No. I should have worn gloves.

00:43:14

That's what I should have worn.

00:43:17

You'll never be able to tell me

00:43:18

that wasn't my guardian angel on job that day.

00:43:23

The perfect geometry for me to hit my back brake poorly

00:43:26

so it skids so when I hit that thing, I go over,

00:43:30

not headfirst, I go over sideways and land on my side,

00:43:34

impacting the body and take it and go off it.

00:43:37

Ridiculous. Ridiculous.

00:43:39

That's what God does.

00:43:40

Now I say this to us to go this should be encouraging.

00:43:43

It's encouraging.

00:43:45

You're really important to God.

00:43:47

He's got a safety net around you.

00:43:48

Don't abuse it.

00:43:49

It doesn't always work for whatever reason,

00:43:51

but you're really important.

00:43:53

And he wants you, and you need to have a wonderful life.

00:43:58

Clarence, this angel does his job.

00:44:01

George sees how good his life actually is.

00:44:05

And he goes all the way back to the house

00:44:08

and the bank examiners there with a beady eyes

00:44:10

who's going to throw him in jail with a sheriff

00:44:12

who's got the warrant for his arrest and all that?

00:44:14

And the money has to be money made whole that's been lost.

00:44:18

And look what happens to George through his friends.

00:44:23

- I made the rounds of my charge accounts.

00:44:32

- I'm not going to go, George. I changed my mind.

00:44:41

- Oh, I've been saving this money for a divorce,

00:44:44

if I ever get a husband.

00:44:47

Merry Christmas.

00:44:51

There you are, George.

00:44:52

I got got the faculty all up out of bed.

00:44:54

Here's something for you to play with.

00:44:58

- I wouldn't have a roof over my head

00:44:59

if it wasn't for you, George.

00:45:01

- Just a minute. Just a minute.

00:45:02

Quiet, everybody. Quiet. Quiet.

00:45:04

Now, get this. It's from London.

00:45:06

- Oh.

00:45:08

- Mr. Gower cabled you need cash. Stop.

00:45:10

My office instructed to advance you up to $25,000. Stop.

00:45:15

Hee haw! And Merry Christmas, Sam Wainwright.

00:45:18

[everyone talking at once]

00:45:27

- Mr. Martini. How about some wine?

00:45:36

[singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing]

00:46:10

Harry Bailey.

00:46:17

Harry. Harry.

00:46:23

- I got him home from the airport as quick as I could.

00:46:26

The fool flew all the way up here in the blizzard.

00:46:28

- Harry, how about your banquet in New York?

00:46:29

- Oh, I left right in the middle of it,

00:46:31

as soon as I got Mary's telegram.

00:46:32

Good idea, Ernie. A toast to my big brother, George,

00:46:36

the richest man in town.

00:46:37

[cheers]

00:46:41

[singing Auld Lang Syne]

00:47:01

Oh, man, it's really good.

00:47:03

[applause]

00:47:05

His brother comes in at the end.

00:47:07

You know. Harry --

00:47:09

Harry is an awful person.

00:47:12

He sucks. Seriously.

00:47:14

Because the whole movie, all he does, he takes, takes, takes.

00:47:17

He's a nice guy. Really happy.

00:47:20

But he takes. He never said --

00:47:22

even at the end, even at the end,

00:47:24

everyone's giving money to help.

00:47:25

He doesn't. He just takes a drink.

00:47:27

Great, drink. I'm making a toast.

00:47:29

Good public appearance.

00:47:30

But he never gives anything the entire time,

00:47:34

I mean in terms of himself, never sacrifices.

00:47:37

He does not have a wonderful life.

00:47:38

He smiles a lot.

00:47:40

But he doesn't have a wonderful life.

00:47:42

Look, you can have -- you can have a life like George

00:47:45

or you can have a life like Harry.

00:47:47

Actually, more consistent,

00:47:49

you can have a life like Jesus

00:47:52

or you can have a life like everybody else.

00:47:55

The path to a wonderful life is this:

00:47:58

Have a vision in your life,

00:48:01

get ready to sacrifice,

00:48:03

have friends around you that you enjoy life with

00:48:05

and you're a backstop for one another,

00:48:08

and see that there are angels.

00:48:11

Recognize that there's an X factor

00:48:13

in the presence of God that you get if you have Jesus.

00:48:17

That should give you a little motivation

00:48:20

and encouragement to take a risk.

00:48:23

God wants you to have this year a wonderful life.

00:48:26

Let me pray for you and I pray here.

00:48:27

There's some folks who are like,

00:48:29

"Hey, I've never heard the Angel perk thing before."

00:48:31

Maybe that does it for you to get you over the edge

00:48:33

and actually become a follower to receive Jesus.

00:48:36

Pray for you right now.

00:48:37

God, I thank you for your your generosity

00:48:41

in giving us Jesus.

00:48:43

And we pray that you would fill us with your vision and wisdom.

00:48:50

And God, some of us want to receive you for the first time.

00:48:52

We're thankful for your sacrifice.

00:48:53

We say, "Jesus, I want you in my life.

00:48:57

I ask you forgive me of my sin.

00:49:01

I asked you fill me with your Holy Spirit.

00:49:05

I commit the rest of my life to you."

00:49:08

Lord, thank you for being patient with our lives

00:49:11

and for having a vision for us to have a wonderful life.

00:49:14

You're good because of your son Jesus was so good to us.

00:49:17

I pray these things in His name. Amen.

00:49:23

- Hey, thank you guys so much for joining us today.

00:49:25

I've got two quick things before you go.

00:49:27

The first is this is a big time for a year end giving.

00:49:31

Crossroads is no different.

00:49:32

We're a nonprofit and we want to help you

00:49:35

make the most of your year end gifts.

00:49:37

We believe in the work that we do

00:49:39

and have seen it change lives all across

00:49:42

the nation and the world.

00:49:43

If you're considering where to allocate your year end giving,

00:49:46

hey, head to Crossroads.net/give for more info

00:49:50

and to join the team there.

00:49:51

Secondly, hey, we want to keep you in the loop

00:49:54

on what's going on with us as a community.

00:49:56

If you go to Crossroads.net/anywhere,

00:49:58

scroll all the way down to the bottom in orange,

00:50:00

there's a spot where you can create an account

00:50:02

that'll make sure you don't miss a single great thing

00:50:05

or a bit of content or chance to connect here at Crossroads.

00:50:08

Hey, thank you guys so much.

00:50:10

Real quick, I have a Christmas gift for you.

00:50:12

Next week we're going to be hearing from

00:50:13

our very own Chuck Mingo.

00:50:15

You don't want to miss it. See you next week.

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