A Sacrifice that Brings Hope | Christmas Time Week 2

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Hey, this is Brian.

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Good stuff happening in our church, Crossroads in 2020,

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although I'm excited that 2020 is about to be over.

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Let's get ready for 2021.

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But let's also recognize that

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God has used us incredibly beautifully.

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Many of us are givers out of a spiritual discipline.

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We give a percentage of our income to God as clockwork.

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Others of us give in different ways.

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I want to make sure you understand

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God has used us and used your giving

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in a massive, massive way.

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Do you realize when we support Compassion International

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we try to get more folks to help kids

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who are in poverty and who need educated?

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And for all of the country we accounted

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for more than 40% of all new sponsorships

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for Compassion International.

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Come on. That's amazing.

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Some would have said, "Well, why would you do that?

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Why would you try to funnel your resources

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outside of your own church

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when this is a critical, difficult time for all of us?

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There's a lot of financial uncertainty.'

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Yeah, there is.

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We're not a business. We're a church.

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We don't save our money for a rainy day.

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Right now, it's raining right now in our country.

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It's raining right now.

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And we've been spending the resources

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that God brought us through your generosity.

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We want to continue to do that,

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which is why ending 2020 financially strong

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would be really, really important.

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So please take a look at your finances,

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look at how God has blessed you,

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and just pick something that you know

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that would honor God to help us continue

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to build into the things that God is calling you

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and I, our church to.

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A lot of ministry is yet to be done in 2020 and 2021

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and our giving fuels and pushes that.

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So thanks for being on the team.

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I look forward to the future with you.

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(cuckoo clock)

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- Is Christmas cancelled this year?

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- Does Santa have to wear a mask?

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- Does Santa have COVID?

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- Am I still going to get presents?

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- Yeah, this year's a little cuckoo.

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The good news, Christmas is coming,

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a season of hope and light.

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It might just be exactly what this weary world needs most.

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Christmas Time 2020:

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A new weekly series from Crossroads.

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- Are we still having Christmas?

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- Heck, yeah, we are, kid.

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Check out the Crossroads app on your smart TV

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or go to Crossroads.net/Christmas.

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(cuckoo clock)

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- Welcome to Crossroads.

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We're in week two of our Christmas series

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called Christmas Time.

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And I am right now at a tree farm,

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a Christmas tree farm.

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A lot of people get freaked out about,

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"Oh, Christmas trees.

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It must be some old pagan thing.

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It's actually not in the Bible."

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Well, Christmas trees may not be in the Bible,

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but the spiritual meaning of Christmas trees

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are because Jesus actually has

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a connection to the Christmas tree.

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Jesus is known as the Lamb of God.

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Christmas is all about the Lamb coming into the world.

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And believe it or not, it has a connection

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with this living, actual breathing Christmas tree.

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So we're going to talk about that today.

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Before we get into that,

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can't think of anything better to do right now

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than connect with God through worship.

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Let's sing to Him right now.

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Let's connect with Him and with each other

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by telling Him He's really, really good and He's worthy.

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And let's do that by singing.

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- One of the things I love about the holidays

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is it means we get to come together.

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And I know here in 2020 that looks way different

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than all of us ever imagined.

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It looks different for me and my family.

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But it is still a time,

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whether with close friends or close family,

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where we still come together.

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And in these next few moments

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with these songs that we sing,

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you're going to be tempted

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to think we're not together.

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You're going to be tempted to think

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this is a music video that you're watching.

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No, no, no.

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This is a time where we come together as a church

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to sing and give Him our hearts and our focus.

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So lean in this time, come together with us

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and let's worship Him.

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- Hey, I'm Hannah,

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and welcome to the Crossroads Christmas Workshop.

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- I'm Kyle.

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We're here to spend a little extra joy

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to all the little boys and girls this Christmas.

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- And you know what?

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We get to read all these sorts of cool letters

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that come in from all around the world.

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And this year we've got a lot more questions

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than normal because, you know, 2020.

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- It's been a different year.

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I don't even like bringing this up.

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I feel like it's already in our minds.

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You already know why it's been such a terrible year.

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- Right.

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- Because back kind of late winter,

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the whole world found out about this event

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that Prince Harry and Meghan were stepping down.

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It's just like every day has been different for me.

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I think every day has been different

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for you because of that.

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So just maybe just keep -- Just keep going.

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I don't want to talk about it.

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- Yeah, Kyle, definitely been a hard year.

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But you know what?

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These are important questions.

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And we wanted to just, you know,

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get into a couple of them

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and read some of them for you guys.

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- Yeah, this one comes from Arrow in Kentucky,

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addressed to Mr. Santa Claus, North Pole, America.

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Arrow, first of all, North Pole, not in America.

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I'm going to let that slide, open your letter anyway.

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See what you have to say.

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OK, Arrow asks: how will Santa stay safe

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from Coronavirus and get to all the houses?

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- That's such a good question.

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You know what?

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Santa doesn't come out until everyone goes to bed.

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So it's like a safe quarantine situation.

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But you know what?

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Consider, rather than milk and cookies this year,

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maybe we leave out some disinfectant wipes

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that are different colors and we pull them out.

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It's like red, green, red, green, red, green.

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That would be amazing. He would love that.

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- Something else to think about.

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Santa can't get sick.

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- Oh, I didn't know that.

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- He can't, he has Santa-bodies, so he's safe.

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It's cool. He can't get sick.

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- I think that counts as a dad joke. Yup.

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All right. This next one, let's get into it.

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This next one is from Javelle from Detroit.

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Let's see what he's got to say.

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How can I give back and help others this Christmas?

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- First of all, can you get to my house

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and influence my children?

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Because that is an amazing question.

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- Oh, my goodness. Incredible question.

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You know what? One of the ways that Kyle and I

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are trying to make a difference around here

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and around everywhere is by giving.

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- If you want to give

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or just learn more about where it goes to,

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you can go to Crossroads.net/give.

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- You know, there's a lot going on this December.

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I mean, a lot.

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But we have an incredible Christmas special

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that you can experience wherever you are.

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I mean, we've just been putting the work in.

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- Working hard.

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- We might even have this mug at the Christmas Special.

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It's going to be amazing.

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- I don't know. It's going to be amazing.

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To see it you can download the Crossroads TV app

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to watch it on the big screen,

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or you can go to Crossroads.net/Christmas

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to learn a little bit more about all things Christmas.

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- Now, let's get to Brian.

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He's going to talk about

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how Jesus came with a purpose of dying.

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- I'm sharpening up this knife,

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it's going to have some significance later on.

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I'm always hesitant to do that in front of people

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because everyone has an opinion

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about how you're supposed to sharpen a knife

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and, "Oh, it's too dangerous. You're not doing right."

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I'm getting it sharp, OK?

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It has significance for us today.

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We're going to talk about lambs, talk about shepherds.

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I'm not going to do a deep dive on shepherds.

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We're going to have a Christmas Special coming up.

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It's going to be amazing.

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You're not going to want to miss it.

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You're going to want to get all your friends,

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It's going to be seriously one of

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the most inspiring things you could possibly do

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this Christmas.

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We're not going to talk about shepherds,

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but we're going to talk about the lamb.

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What does the lamb have to do with Christmas?

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The Bible refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God.

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What does that mean?

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A lot of us would say, "I know what that means, I think."

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Oftentimes we we don't ask questions because

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we don't want to appear to look dumb or sound dumb.

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You're not dumb at all.

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You're very smart to be here,

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to be stimulated spiritually today.

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That's what I want to try to do is build into

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and get you to a new place spiritually.

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And I want to read for us a classic Christmas text

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from the Book of Luke 2, and here's what it says:

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The point of a shepherd's job is to be around the lambs.

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There is deep, deep spiritual significance about that.

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These lambs had very little control over their life

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and in many ways they were victims.

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Do you find yourself frustrated

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with how little control you have over life these days?

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I do. I do. I find I've lost all control.

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Things have been happening all through 2020

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that I can't control.

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I can't control the economy.

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I can't control the pandemic.

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I can't control the government's response to the pandemic.

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I can't control how much money

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Mike Brown pays the offensive linemen

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who are supposed to protect Joe Burrow.

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I can't control any of it.

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And in a sense, I'm a victim of something

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and of things that I can't control.

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That's actually the first big idea

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I want to blow out today, we're all victims.

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I'm here at a Christmas tree farm,

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and we're going to go out and have

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a little bit of fun with Christmas trees.

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Christmas trees are sort of like lambs

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in that their meaning is to die.

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That is their point.

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These Christmas trees are victims

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of our holiday festivities.

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I'm going to take my death instrument out

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to those trees or as Gimli would say, "And my axe."

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All the Lord of the Rings geeks going,

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"Oh, he quoted Gimli."

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Yes, I think I got that one exactly right.

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We're going to take this sucker

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and we're going to go out into this Christmas tree farm

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and we're going to see

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the deep spiritual significance of Christmas trees,

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of lambs, and of what it looks like to have a life

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that is ruled by the meaning of Christmas.

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This jacket has been in front of more campfires

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than you can imagine.

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It's just not worth buying a new one.

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So whenever I start to see fuzz come out,

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I stick some tape on it.

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You could say that this jacket is a victim.

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We're born victims. We're all victims.

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That doesn't sound very complimentary.

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Let me let me try to explain this a little bit.

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When I was in high school, my friends and I,

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we had a scam that we used to operate.

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We would tell the study hall teacher

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that we were going to the library.

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So we'd have -- we'd signed the thing there,

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we're going to the library.

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Before the pass would get to the library,

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we'd scratch our names off the pass.

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So a study hall teacher thought we were in the library,

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the librarian didn't know we're supposed

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to be there because it was scratched off.

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Then we would go to an empty room in the building.

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We would take our skull chewing tobacco

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and our backgammon, and we would just hunker down

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and play backgammon the whole period and chew chew.

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It was wonderful.

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God Bless America, it was really great.

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Eventually, after several months, we got found out.

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We got found out,

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we all got called into the principal's office.

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When we got called in, the principal said

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to one of our friends said, "Did you play backgammon

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and lie on the form?"

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And my friend said, "Well, well, well, we all did."

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And I was sitting there going, "No, wrong question.

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Just say yes so you take the fall."

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He said, "Well, no -- Well, we all did."

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In hindsight, he knew we all did.

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My friend was just covering his butt

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and wouldn't have mattered one way or another.

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But it was interesting that that was

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a representation of a biblical truth

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that's known as original sin.

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It's this idea that Adam and Eve sinned

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and they were our representative.

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And so when they sin,

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when they took of the fruit they should have taken,

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we all sinned. They represented us.

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I know that might be a real bummer for some of us,

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but believe me, if you were in the same place

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and Satan was tempting you,

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you wouldn't have done any better.

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They were our representative,

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in that way we all sinned.

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We are all a victim of sin.

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It affects and infects all of our lives.

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It affects our thought patterns,

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it affects our relationships,

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it affects my motives.

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It affects how I spend my money.

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It affects everything.

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But here's the deal, there's a big difference

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between being a victim, that is having

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something done to you that you had no control over.

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This jacket is example, the sin in our lives.

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We had no control

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that sin was going to infect our lives.

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There's a difference between being a victim

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and playing the victim.

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Playing the victim is when you use your sinfulness

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or your issues or whatever is happening America

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as a way to justify all of your behavior.

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We all have a level of control.

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We all have a level of responsibility in our life.

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Now, here's where it gets really, really interesting.

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Jesus is the ultimate victim.

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The ultimate victim is named Jesus.

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When Jesus comes onto the world stage,

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He comes on the world stage in order to be victimized.

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When he first comes out in public,

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his cousin John, the John the Presbyterian,

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or I mean John the Baptist.

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John the Baptist sees Him coming.

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And then John 1:29, John says this:

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Would you like to have a surface-y Christmas

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or would you like to have something of substance>

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It doesn't matter what you say, because

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you're going to be the victim of something of substance.

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You know, I know that we like to think

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Christmas is just a nice feel good holiday,

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but I think you want something more.

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I think you need something more.

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We've got to understand that John was a prophet.

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Actually, he was in the line of Old Testament prophets,

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even though he was record in the New Testament,

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he's in the line of Old Testament prophets

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where he would say and do really weird, strange things.

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He wore camel hair, pretty scratchy, pretty uncomfortable.

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You would eat locust.

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He would go out in the middle of a field

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and he would he would call people to repentance.

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That is a turning away, turning away to being

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a victim of my current sinful circumstances,

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turning away and turning to God.

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And he understands all of the imagery

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in the Old Testament.

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There's so many things in the Old Testament

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that we don't understand, so many things are confusing,

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but we have to understand to interpret

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and understand the parts of the Bible

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that came before Jesus we have to realize

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that all those things were there to set us up for Jesus.

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All those things are there that are confusing,

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like intense acts of violence that are against

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lambs and other livestock are spiritual

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and religious and significant.

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They're setting us up for who Jesus is.

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All the dietary laws were setting us up

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for a new way that Jesus was to have us operate.

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That's why those things are there.

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They're not just difficult things in the Old Testament,

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but they're there to set up Jesus.

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And so when John says, "He is coming.

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I'm not worthy to untie His sandals,"

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is what he's saying here.

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He's recognizing, "I'm not worthy

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to untie this guy's sandals, this Lamb of God,

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because it's God Himself coming."

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Jesus didn't begin existence

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when He was born in Bethlehem.

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Jesus's life existed long before there was ever Christmas,

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long before Mary and Joseph took their travels

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and bore him inside of a stable, Jesus existed.

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He's God.

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He's always been God.

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He's always been around.

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It's just that John was saying

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He's going to come cloaked in humanity.

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He's going to become clothed, if you will,

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in wool this little lamb.

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The Book of John 1:1, it says this:

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That passage is talking about Jesus.

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He is known as The Word.

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When God speaks all things into creation

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in the book of Genesis,

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Jesus is the actual word that's being spoken there

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because He has existed,

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preexisted before Bethlehem ever came around.

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He just gets born and takes on human flesh.

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But He has always been.

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In the book of John 8:58:

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He's saying before Abraham,

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the father of the Jewish nation existed, I existed.

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It's not only is He saying

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I existed before Abraham existed,

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but He's using the very name of God, which is I Am.

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I told you, we're going deep here today.

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I think you can handle it because

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you can't appreciate Christmas unless you understand

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the spiritual depth of Christmas.

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The name of God is the actual name

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that He gave Himself is I Am.

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He gives it to Moses, who asks Him,

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"Who will I say has sent me? Who?"

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And God says, "Tell him I Am has sent you.

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I Am, that's my name."

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Meaning God says, "I am sovereignly independent

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of all creation, I've never had a beginning.

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I just am."

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I is who I is, if you used today's bad grammar.

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I have some friends that bad grammar really bothers,

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so I like to say it.

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Tom, I know you hate it, but there it is.

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It's just for you.

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Actually seven times the book of John

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there are I Am statements where Jesus says,

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"I Am the Light of the World.

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I Am living water."

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In all of these things, He's trying to speak

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in the Jewish theology, in the Jewish vernacular,

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"I'm God. I've been around forever and ever."

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Jesus needs to be the point of our life

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because He is life itself,

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because He is God Himself

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and He comes as a human being,

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because he's fully God, fully man at the same time.

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And He comes fulfilling the role of the Lamb.

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Lambs play a central role in the Bible.

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It was a lamb in the Book of Exodus

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that led to the nation of Israel

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having their exodus out of bondage and slavery.

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And there was multiple miracles

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that enabled this to happen.

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The final one was they took the blood of a lamb

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and they put it over top of their doorposts.

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And when the angel of death comes to the land,

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every place that's marked with the blood of the lamb,

00:29:43

the angel passes over that household.

00:29:47

And wherever he doesn't see the lamb,

00:29:49

he takes the first born in that household.

00:29:50

All of the Egyptian slaveholders

00:29:53

lost their firstborn sons because

00:29:55

they didn't have the blood of the lamb

00:29:57

over top of their their house.

00:29:59

In Exodus 12:5, when God tells His people to do this,

00:30:02

He says:

00:30:11

John is saying that the Lamb of God,

00:30:13

the one who is celebrator on Passover

00:30:16

when God's judgment passed over the people of God,

00:30:22

that that Lamb is coming here,

00:30:24

so you don't have to be a victim.

00:30:27

Because His power and His presence

00:30:30

and His identity and His work is going to cover you.

00:30:35

The Lamb is going to be slain for you.

00:30:38

And all the Old Testament stories

00:30:40

of sacrifices in the temple, all those sacrifices

00:30:43

that were happening in the temple

00:30:44

where a priest would have these immaculate garments on

00:30:49

and they would take the lamb

00:30:51

or whatever the livestock was,

00:30:52

and they would take the knife

00:30:54

and they would cut its throat.

00:30:56

And they would put it on top of the burning fire.

00:30:59

And then they would take the blood

00:31:00

and they would put it on the four horns of the altar.

00:31:03

This was all an elaborate display

00:31:06

of the grace of God that said

00:31:08

this animal is dying right now

00:31:11

so you don't have to die.

00:31:13

This animal right now is paying the price.

00:31:15

And you can remember that your God

00:31:17

is incredibly merciful and gracious

00:31:20

and He's not requiring you to lose your life right now.

00:31:24

All of those sacrifices, all of those lambs

00:31:27

that were slain were slain to prepare

00:31:30

the people of God for the ultimate Lamb of God,

00:31:34

the very Son of God was going to come

00:31:37

and lay down His life.

00:31:39

You can't control the government.

00:31:41

You can't control COVID.

00:31:43

You can't control the stock market.

00:31:44

You can't control your skin tone.

00:31:46

But neither can you be a victim to those things.

00:31:49

You can control your perspective.

00:31:52

You can control your attitude.

00:31:54

You can control your response.

00:31:56

And the starting point for understanding

00:31:59

all of those stimuli and more is understanding

00:32:01

that Jesus, as the Lamb of God,

00:32:04

has come to take away the sin of the world

00:32:07

and to take away your sin so you don't have to be

00:32:10

a victim to your sin or your family baggage

00:32:13

or your family of origin or your bankruptcy

00:32:15

or anything else.

00:32:16

You have a fresh and new start because He has made a way.

00:32:20

Christmas is about the people of God

00:32:22

who are saved from the judgment of God

00:32:26

by the Lamb of God, Jesus.

00:32:30

Jesus is not just a good preacher guy.

00:32:32

He was a great preacher.

00:32:33

That's all Jesus was.

00:32:34

He's not just a good moral example.

00:32:36

In fact, if He's only a moral example,

00:32:38

Jesus can be oppressive because

00:32:40

we can never live up to His example

00:32:43

because he was utterly perfect.

00:32:44

If He's just an example we're supposed to be like,

00:32:46

if that's all what He is, it's a form of bondage

00:32:49

because we'll never, ever, ever make it.

00:32:51

He is a preacher.

00:32:53

He is an example.

00:32:55

He's also a sacrificial lamb who goes in our place

00:33:00

so that we don't have to go to

00:33:01

the very place of the judgment of God.

00:33:05

Christmas is that, it's a celebration

00:33:07

of God's divine nature, His amazing love

00:33:12

pouring out His judgment on His Son,

00:33:15

who didn't need to bear the judgment

00:33:17

because he had never, ever sinned.

00:33:20

Pouring it out on Him so that you and I

00:33:22

could experience His grace, His mercy, His fullness.

00:33:28

So when Jesus goes and He dies on the Cross

00:33:32

as the Sacrificial Lamb, Le does it because we all did it.

00:33:38

Right?

00:33:39

So on one hand, we're a victim of being sinful.

00:33:43

But then on the other hand,

00:33:44

we're also a victim of having the holiness

00:33:47

and love of God transferred to our account.

00:33:51

He was the ultimate victim and we now get

00:33:54

to enjoy the experience

00:33:56

of all of His goodness brought to us.

00:33:59

He was the ultimate victim.

00:34:01

That's why when He goes to the Cross,

00:34:03

He keeps his mouth shut.

00:34:05

That's why when He goes and He is tried at His trial,

00:34:10

He keeps His mouth shut, He doesn't defend himself.

00:34:14

The Book of Isaiah 53:7,

00:34:17

again, an Old Testament passage that was

00:34:18

all setting up this amazing Christmas story.

00:34:22

It prophesies about this ultimate lamb and says:

00:34:40

Jesus was born to die.

00:34:44

That's the point of the Sacrificial Lamb,

00:34:47

He was born to die.

00:34:48

He was given gifts at his birth:

00:34:50

gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

00:34:52

Myrrh is embalming fluid.

00:34:56

It's kind of a sick gift for a little kid.

00:34:59

It's embalming fluid.

00:35:00

Gold, He's the king.

00:35:02

Frankincense, this aroma used in worship.

00:35:06

Myrrh is a -- It is -- It is an embalming fluid.

00:35:11

It was like the magi when they came

00:35:13

and they brought these gifts to Him,

00:35:15

they knew your whole point is to die.

00:35:19

These trees, their whole point

00:35:22

of their existence is to die.

00:35:26

Just as there was somebody however many years ago

00:35:30

that took and planted seeds in this ground.

00:35:34

So God planted His seed in Mary.

00:35:37

And just as the seed was planted in this ground

00:35:41

so that this could be cut down and die for you and I

00:35:46

to have a great Christmas, you know, visual experience.

00:35:49

So also the seed of God that was put inside Mary

00:35:52

was put there so that He could die for you and for I.

00:35:59

Now, as you start to understand the depth of Christmas,

00:36:03

that this wasn't just an AD I kind of thing.

00:36:06

This is a BC, way, way, way back when.

00:36:09

The whole scripture start to come to life.

00:36:12

In the book of Isaiah, it says this:

00:36:32

Handel's Messiah had that, you know,

00:36:35

(singing) For unto once a child is given

00:36:39

and He shall reign forever and ever.

00:36:42

You know that whole Handel's Messiah, beautiful music.

00:36:44

But if you don't understand

00:36:45

the spiritual meaning behind Handel's Messiah,

00:36:48

it falls short.

00:36:50

That Isaiah passage and John saying that

00:36:53

He is the very Lamb of God is the reason for the season,

00:36:58

not to borrow a cheesy Christmas bumper sticker,

00:37:01

but He is the reason for the season.

00:37:04

I am a victim of my sinfulness,

00:37:07

of the sinfulness that I have inherited.

00:37:09

He is the ultimate victim, that He went in my place,

00:37:13

the ultimate victim who didn't deserve

00:37:15

or bring any of it on Himself,

00:37:17

as God himself who took on flesh.

00:37:20

And all of my sinfulness is transferred to His back,

00:37:23

all of His holiness,

00:37:25

all of His perfection is transferred to my back.

00:37:28

So when God sees me,

00:37:30

and when God sees anybody who received Jesus,

00:37:33

He doesn't see a victim.

00:37:34

He doesn't see somebody who has problems.

00:37:36

He doesn't see someone who has issues.

00:37:38

He sees Jesus himself.

00:37:41

Friends, that is good news.

00:37:43

Actually, that's called the gospel.

00:37:45

That's the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

00:37:48

That's the good news of Christmas.

00:37:52

Now, this victimization,

00:37:55

we can get off the victim thing because,

00:37:57

again, no one can stay a victim.

00:37:59

And you can't own your victimhood.

00:38:01

You can't act as a victim.

00:38:03

We have things that we inherit, yes.

00:38:05

But we can't be playing the victim.

00:38:07

And God doesn't want us to play the victim either,

00:38:12

because the Book of Romans tells us

00:38:14

that we're not victims any longer.

00:38:16

In fact, it says this in Romans 8:37:

00:38:27

We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

00:38:32

I go from being a victim to being a conqueror.

00:38:36

The victimization of Jesus leads to our victory.

00:38:40

Our victory doesn't come from

00:38:42

my self-help improvement plan.

00:38:44

My victory doesn't come from my New Year's resolutions.

00:38:48

My victory doesn't come

00:38:50

by whatever the government funds for me.

00:38:53

My victory comes from the riches of Jesus,

00:38:56

the death that He's given to me,

00:38:59

the riches that He has purchased for me.

00:39:03

Let me give you one more verse today,

00:39:04

just so you see that this thread of Christmas,

00:39:07

this thread of Jesus being the Lamb,

00:39:09

this thread of victimhood to conquering

00:39:11

goes throughout the entire Bible.

00:39:13

In the book of 1 Peter 1:18 it says:

00:39:34

So it says we were ransomed, so we were bought.

00:39:39

We had things that we inherited from our forefathers,

00:39:41

that was all sorts of sins, all that stuff,

00:39:45

and Jesus doesn't buy our freedom with silver or gold.

00:39:51

(singing) Silver and gold. Silver and gold.

00:39:54

That's another Christmas song.

00:39:55

I don't even know --

00:39:56

I don't even know if Earl Ives,

00:39:58

or whatever his name was, in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

00:40:00

Herbie wants to be a dentist.

00:40:02

I haven't seen Rudolph in a long time.

00:40:05

I've got to find that one.

00:40:06

I hope they stream that some place.

00:40:07

Anyway, silver and gold

00:40:08

probably was prompted by this verse.

00:40:11

And Jesus didn't use silver or gold.

00:40:14

He used His own blood.

00:40:17

The blood of a lamb that had no blemish.

00:40:20

Remember, the blemishes of the ancient Israelites,

00:40:23

they were supposed to get an unblemished lamb.

00:40:25

That is not one that was about ready to die,

00:40:27

a really good lamb, and smear its blood over?

00:40:30

Jesus is an unblemished lamb.

00:40:33

He's never committed a sin,

00:40:35

as only God can never commit a sin.

00:40:38

So while we were all born victims,

00:40:40

we don't need to stay a victim,

00:40:42

because the ultimate victim, Jesus Himself,

00:40:46

God Himself lay down His life for us.

00:40:49

What a great, great act of love,

00:40:51

a great act of mercy, a great act of power,

00:40:54

of lavish generosity, of giving us a new identity

00:40:59

and freedom and forgiveness.

00:41:01

So now, not only are we not victims,

00:41:05

but we're actually conquerors.

00:41:08

We have the ability and power, spiritual power

00:41:11

to get over our past, to get over our problems,

00:41:14

to create a new future while we walk with Him

00:41:17

side by side, going towards the things

00:41:21

that He wants us to go toward.

00:41:24

These trees, when you sit around a tree this Christmas,

00:41:29

you sit around a tree knowing that

00:41:31

there's all kinds of different theories about

00:41:32

why the Christmas tree popped up in our culture.

00:41:37

But when I look at a Christmas tree,

00:41:39

I remember the verse in the Bible that says

00:41:41

that Jesus was hung on a tree.

00:41:43

When I look at a Christmas tree, I remember

00:41:45

the ultimate victim, the ultimate king hung on a tree.

00:41:49

And I celebrate that this Christmas,

00:41:52

that this King, this Lamb of God Himself

00:41:57

was planted here to die.

00:42:02

And believe it or not, we celebrate that death,

00:42:05

because He did it on His own.

00:42:07

And He did it to give us life.

00:42:12

I think this is the one right here.

00:42:14

I think this -- I think this is the one.

00:42:19

Yeah, this is the one.

00:42:31

It's going to be a good Christmas,

00:42:33

not because I hope this thing looks really great.

00:42:36

It's going to be a good Christmas

00:42:37

for everything that this represents.

00:42:41

Don't fall for a normal life.

00:42:45

Don't fall for being a victim.

00:42:46

God has not created you to be a victim

00:42:48

or to stay a victim.

00:42:50

You can be more than to conquer

00:42:51

and you can be that way because the very Lamb of God

00:42:56

is going to take away your sin

00:42:58

and give you a new future.

00:42:59

He's the one that we celebrate this Christmas.

00:43:08

You know, some of that might have

00:43:10

made sense to you for the first time.

00:43:12

Maybe you've never heard it before.

00:43:13

Maybe you've heard some of the words,

00:43:15

but your heart heard it for the first time.

00:43:18

You can receive that Lamb of God right now.

00:43:23

You can have all of His goodness

00:43:24

transferred to your account

00:43:25

and all of your sin transferred to His account

00:43:28

simply by turning to Him and saying a prayer

00:43:31

that's one that so many of us have prayed

00:43:34

a long time ago.

00:43:35

Let me just lead you in that prayer,

00:43:37

if you want to pray this prayer.

00:43:38

Just just say it after I say it.

00:43:40

It goes something like this:

00:43:41

Jesus, I want You in my life.

00:43:46

I ask You forgive me for my sin.

00:43:50

Please transfer to me all of Your holiness.

00:43:54

Fill me with your spirit.

00:43:58

I give my life to you.

00:44:00

And as best I can,

00:44:02

I'll follow You the rest of my life. Amen.

00:44:09

That's good stuff right there, friends.

00:44:11

That is life changing, eternity changing things.

00:44:17

We ought to sing a song right now

00:44:18

that was done earlier before about beholding the Lamb.

00:44:21

Now we can behold the Lamb in a new way

00:44:25

given that we've experienced what we just experienced.

00:44:28

So let's sing that together right now.

00:46:18

- Hey, thanks for coming today.

00:46:19

I hope you got a great, great time.

00:46:21

I tell you what, we've got an even greater time coming.

00:46:23

We have our Christmas special that's about ready to roll.

00:46:25

I think you're going to be incredibly encouraged

00:46:28

and inspired and get something

00:46:30

that is exactly what the doctor ordered

00:46:31

for your life and for my life.

00:46:33

So we'll see you then.

00:46:35

- We're tapping into the original setting of Christmas,

00:46:38

which is grungy, it's dirty, it's unideal,

00:46:42

kind of like 2020 is.

00:46:45

This might be the year where you have

00:46:47

the most true to form Christmas that you've ever had.

00:46:52

And it may be the time

00:46:54

when you encounter Jesus for the first time

00:46:58

in a very significant, profound way.

00:47:04

Shepherds were in wonder over this first Christmas.

00:47:07

They were in wonder over angels visiting them

00:47:10

and talking to them.

00:47:11

They were in wonder over

00:47:12

what they see with Mary and Joseph.

00:47:15

They are utterly astounded.

00:47:16

I think that we've lost the wonder in our culture

00:47:18

in our time.

00:47:19

We need to have a healthy dose of wonder

00:47:21

and mystery in our spiritual walk.

00:47:23

And that happens at Christmas.

00:47:25

We can't fully understand

00:47:27

and know everything about the Christmas story.

00:47:29

I like it that way.

00:47:31

I think God likes it that way because

00:47:32

He wants us blown away by the possibilities,

00:47:36

by the mystery, and by the wonder

00:47:38

of this whole thing that's playing out.

00:47:40

God himself comes to the earth and takes on flesh

00:47:45

to bring something to our lives

00:47:46

that we could manufacture on our own.

00:47:49

That's Christmas and that's wonder.

	Welcome To Crossroads Christmas 🎄	2:23
	Angels We Have Heard On High 👼	3:18
	Oh Come All Ye Faithful	7:16
	Letters To Santa ✉️	13:13
	Jesus Is The Lamb 🐑	16:11
	Now Behold The Lamb	44:32

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