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ON THE CLOUDS | Pastor Josh (The Crown & The Cradle) · Northwest Students

0:00
Um, this was a this has been a
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disastrous start. Um, all right. How are
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you guys Thanksgiving break?
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>> Okay. All right. Anybody? Okay. Okay. In
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keeping with that, did anybody eat like
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way more food than they should have?
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>> I got one hand, two hand, three hands,
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five hands. Okay. A few hands. Did
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anybody have to eat stuff that you did
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do not like? You know, a couple. Joel
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says, "Yeah, for sure." Yeah. I feel
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like, bro, I feel like I feel like
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Thanksgiving is the day where people
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bust out uh sweet potatoes and then try
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to make you like gaslight you into
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thinking sweet potatoes are good. Um
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>> I see the brainwashing is working. I see
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the brainwashing is working.
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>> Well, that explains some things. I'm
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just kidding, bro. No, sweet potatoes
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are trash. Okay, because No, no, no, no,
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no. Here's the thing. Here's the thing.
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Here's the thing. If you have to put
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marshmallows onto the food item in order
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to make it not garbage, then it's
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garbage. All right? Just saying. Just
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Just saying. I'm garbage.
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Watch yourself. Watch yourself. Okay.
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I've really opened.
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>> No, they're not. It's fine. I forgive
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you. I'll pray for you. All right. All
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right. So, here I'm going to tell you
1:23
guys a story. And this didn't happen
1:25
over Thanksgiving, but it's way cooler.
1:27
All right? And it happened over fall
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break back in September. Um, so Ava and
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I, my wife, we grew up in California and
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we lived near the beach for our whole
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lives, right? Like maybe 15 minutes from
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the beach. Okay? And when you grow up
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near the beach, all right, you kind of
1:41
forget how awesome the ocean is, right?
1:43
Like some of you who came with us to
1:45
move the high school camp, we got to go
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to the beach in North Carolina and it
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was so much fun. But like when you grow
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up near the beach, you're like, the
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beach, who cares, right? So, so I don't
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mean that the beach is awesome when I
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when I say awesome, right? I I mean
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awesome like looking out at the beach
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and being like, "Holy smokes, that is so
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much water. I cannot possibly wrap my
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head around like how big the ocean is,
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right? That's what I mean when I say
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like awesome." Okay, so anyway, during
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fall break, Ava and I, we went down to
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Florida to spend a few days in St.
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Petersburg, if you know where that is.
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Um, and while we were there, we decided
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that we were going to go parasailing.
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Okay. Um, if you don't know what
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parasailing is, it is where you go out
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in a boat and then they attach you to a
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parachute and so then suddenly you just
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get yanked up into the air because
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you're like attached to a kite. So they
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just like kite you around like 300 feet
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in the air, right? So we go parasailing
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and they attach us to the parachute and
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all of a sudden we just get like
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yeetated up into the sky. So we're 300
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ft in the air, right? Like above the
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tops of the hotels on the beach, right?
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And we're looking down and there's like
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colonies of stingrays in the water where
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there's like thousands of stingrays that
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are swimming out into the ocean, right?
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And and 300 feet up, you look out at the
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ocean and you can just see miles and
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miles and miles of empty ocean. All
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right? So, while I was working on this
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message, I looked it up and at 300 ft in
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the air, the horizon, like the point
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where you stop being able to see, is 22
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miles away. Okay? So when I say we're
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300 feet up and you see miles and miles
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of ocean, the the Gulf of Mexico or the
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Gulf of America, whatever you want to
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call it, is a thousand miles across. All
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right? So 300 feet, we saw 22 miles.
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That's like 2% of the Gulf of Mexico,
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right? But it gives us this like little
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tiny sense, just this faint glimmer of
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how impossibly vast and big the Gulf of
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Mexico or America or whatever you want
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to call it is. Okay? And so tonight,
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what I want to do with the time that I
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have here is I want to take us
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parasailing. All right.
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Yeah. Right. If you got 300 bucks, I got
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you, bro. But anyway, I want to take us
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parasailing. Okay. And just to give us
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like a 300 foot view of the Christmas
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story. Okay. So, tonight we're going to
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be jumping into a new series uh that
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we're going to be in for the next three
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weeks. Do we have it up there or no? Oh,
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great. Awesome. Uh so, tonight we're
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going to be jumping into a new series
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that we're going to be in for the next
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three weeks in the leadup to Christmas.
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and we're calling it the crown and the
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cradle. So, if you join us at church on
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Sunday mornings, if you've come uh
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really this this week, um Pastor Jay has
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started this whole new series in church
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uh for December called uh at least the
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the title before was the small things of
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Christmas. Now it's called Unexpected
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Wonders. Is that what it is?
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>> I look at Meredith like Meredith would
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know. Yeah, unexpected wonders. Right.
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But but basically the the message on
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Sunday mornings is about how Jesus was
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born as this ordinary little baby to a
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no-name little family in an irrelevant
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little town in a tiny little territory
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on the edge of the Roman Empire. And in
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the Christmas story, God reveals
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himself. We learned about this this
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morning. God reveals himself to ordinary
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people like Zechariah and Elizabeth,
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like Mary, like the shepherds in the
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fields, right? and he tells them about
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the extraordinary thing that God has
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begun to do by sending his son. So, I
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love that. I think that that is that is
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awesome both in like a cool and in like
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a big sense. Um, but so what I want to
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do on Sunday nights over the next three
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weeks is to fill out that picture by
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showing us a picture of the great big
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God who reveals himself through those
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small things of Christmas, through those
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unexpected wonders. Okay. So, each week
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for the next three, we're going to be uh
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covering a different passage of
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scripture. All right. We're going to be
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tonight a little bit of the Old
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Testament. Then we'll be in a little bit
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of the New Testament next week. And
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that's going to give us a little bit of
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a glimpse into how vast and majestic and
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glorious and all the like big awesome
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words you want to use for the son of God
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is. It'll be like we're going up in the
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parasail, right? and we're looking out
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over the horizon and we're getting just
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a glimpse of the ocean of God's glory,
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how it just keeps going and going and
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going. And then each week we'll come
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back and we'll take a look at the
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Christmas story, right? And we'll read
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it remembering that this great and
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glorious God is the one who comes to
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defeat sin and death and restore us to
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the father by being born in the manger
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to the little family in the little town
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in the little corner of the Roman
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Empire. that God comes as a defenseless
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baby. Okay, so if you've got a Bible,
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crack it open. If you need one, we got
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ESVs and NLTs that are there in the
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back. Um, but open up your Bibles to
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Daniel chapter 7. All right, Daniel is
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in the Old Testament. It's about
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twothirds of the way through the Bible.
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Um, and it's part of a a collection of
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books called the Major Prophets. They're
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called major because they tend to be
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kind of long and they're called prophets
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because in each of these books, we see
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God using a human messenger to speak
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directly to God's people. And so, just
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to give you the setup for Daniel 7, um
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Daniel's ministry takes place late in
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the history of the people of Israel.
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Okay? God had chosen Israel to be his
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special chosen people. And the people of
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Israel then go chasing after false gods
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and of the neighboring nations. And God
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warns them that he's going to punish
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them if they don't turn back. And then
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finally, he allows them to be conquered
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by this enemy nation called Babylon. And
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Daniel the prophet, he gets taken to
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work in the government of the Babylonian
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Empire. So in Daniel chapter 7, while
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Daniel is working in the Babylonian
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government, he gets a vision from God.
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And in the vision, Daniel sees these
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four terrible, monstrous beasts coming
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up out of the ocean. And each of these
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beasts, we won't read this part, but
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each of these beasts represents a
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different empire that will rule over the
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Jewish people for a period of time.
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Okay? So, the first beast, uh, that's
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early in Daniel 7. The first beast
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represents Babylon. And then the next
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three beasts represent these later
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empires that are still in the future at
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the time that Daniel's having this
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vision. And we won't go into the details
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of of all of those empires tonight, but
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what matters for us to know is that each
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of those empires is a world superpower.
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at one point in history. Okay, it would
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be kind of like today if there was a
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modern-day prophet named Daniel who
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stepped up and he had a vision with
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these four beasts coming out of the
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ocean and those four beasts represented
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like the British Empire, the Soviet
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Union, the United States, and then like
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China or something, right? It would be
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we're talking big powerful countries at
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different points in time. And so in
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verse 9, the scene shifts in Daniel's
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vision and it's going to give us a sneak
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peek of what's going on in heaven while
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these beasts, while these world
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superpower empires are doing their thing
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on earth. Okay, so we'll read Daniel 7
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vers starting in verse 9. It says, "I
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watched I being Daniel says, I watched
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as thrones were put in place and the
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ancient one sat down to judge. His
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clothing was as white as snow, his hair
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like purest wool. He sat on a fiery
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throne with wheels of blazing fire and a
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river of fire was pouring out flowing
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from his presence. Millions of angels
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ministered to him. Many millions stood
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to attend him. Then the court began its
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session and the books were opened. So
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the scene changes from the ocean and the
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beasts, right? The scene changes and
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Daniel catches a glimpse of a courtroom
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scene that's happening in heaven. And he
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says that he sees the ancient one
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sitting in heaven, which is who?
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>> God, right? It's God sitting in heaven.
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Okay? So, he sees God who's sitting on
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this huge fiery throne in heaven. And
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and it's important for us not to take
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every little detail of Daniel's vision
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completely literally, right? Like this
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is a vision, right? So, there's there's
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symbolism in this in this vision. Plus,
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this is a dude who lived like 25 2600
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years ago and he's describing something
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that if you saw would literally like
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melt your face, right? So, so symbols.
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But the important thing for us to see,
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okay, is that even though there are
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these evil empires that are ruling on
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the earth at the time that Daniel is
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alive, and even though it looks like the
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people of God have been defeated and
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oppressed by these enemy nations, when
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Daniel looks up to heaven, who does he
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see sitting on the throne?
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God.
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It's God. It's his God, right? It's the
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God of the Israelites. It's not the God
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of Babylon sitting on the throne. It's
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not the God of the Greeks who will come
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later. It's not the God of the Romans
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who will come later. It's God, our God.
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And there's a little more that we can
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kind of squeeze out of the symbolism of
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the vision here, right? God's God's
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white clothing represents his purity and
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his holiness. His white hair represents
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how he is eternal, how he's infinitely
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wise. And all that fire symbolism in the
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throne and the river of fire coming out
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from his throne, right? that represents
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his glory and his power. The river of
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fire is the the power of God's judgment
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against these evil world empires. And
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the thing for us to see in this passage
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is that no matter who is ruling on the
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earth, God is on the throne. Now listen,
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I don't know what is going to happen in
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the future. If I did, I would be a lot
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richer. Um I don't know what's going to
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happen in the future. I don't know if
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like in 50 years America is going to
11:30
have like fewer and fewer Christians or
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whatever. I I don't know any of those
11:34
things. But even if any of those things
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happens, God is on the throne. Okay? If
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if tomorrow an atheist country like
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China or whatever comes along and
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becomes the next world empire, even if
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the United States gets invaded and
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Christianity gets outlawed, God is on
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the throne. So let's keep reading. This
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is the part I want to get to in in verse
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13. It says, 'As my vision continued
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that night, I saw someone like a son of
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man coming with the clouds of heaven. He
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approached the ancient one and was led
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into his presence. He was given
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authority, honor, and sovereignty over
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all the nations of the world so that
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people of every race and nation and
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language would obey him. His rule is
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eternal. It will never end. His kingdom
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will never be destroyed.
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I love these verses so much. This is
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like one of the key passages of the Old
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Testament that helps us to understand
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the New Testament. Okay, so so Daniel's
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having this vision, right? The Daniel's
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vision of the courtroom scene in heaven
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continues and a new character appears in
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the vision. Okay, it's the son of man.
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And and son of man is a special phrase
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in the Bible. Okay, in the Old
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Testament, it usually just refers to
12:50
people generally, right? in in Ezekiel,
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which is another one of the major
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prophets, that's the main way that God
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talks to this guy Ezekiel. He just calls
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him son of man, blah blah blah blah
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blah. Okay, in the New Testament, that
13:03
phrase is going to take on new meaning.
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And the reason why it does is because of
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this scene in Daniel 7. Okay, so let me
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talk about why. So this new character
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shows up in Daniel's vision. And Daniel
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says that it looks like a son of man.
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And what he's saying is it looks like
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he's just a regular dude. But there is
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something weird about this guy because
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he looks like a regular dude, but he
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doesn't act like a regular dude. And he
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doesn't get treated like a regular dude.
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How many times can I say regular dude
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tonight?
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The passage says that he rolls up to the
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courtroom scene. It says he rolls up to
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the courtroom scene with the clouds of
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heaven. And in the Old Testament, that
13:43
is an idea or there's an idea of someone
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coming with the clouds that that
13:47
represents God's power and judgment. In
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Psalm 104, the psalmist writes that God
13:53
makes the clouds his chariot. In Isaiah
13:56
19, Isaiah says that God is coming to
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judge the evil nation Egypt, and he's
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coming riding on a swift cloud. In both
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of those verses, who it who is it who
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rolls up with the clouds, right? In
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Psalm 104, it's God who rolls up with
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the clouds. Right? In Isaiah 19, it's
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God who rolls up with the clouds. In the
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Old Testament, only God comes with the
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clouds of heaven. Only God has the the
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power and the authority to to judge,
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right? But in the passage, somehow this
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son of man, this regular dude, he does
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that same thing. But it gets weirder.
14:35
Okay? So the son of man, he comes into
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the presence of God and the vision says
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that he's given authority and honor and
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sovereignty over all the nations of the
14:44
world. So wait, wait, wait. Okay, Daniel
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sees like the beasts and the the global
14:49
superpowers, right? But really, it's God
14:51
who's on the throne and then God gives
14:53
this son of man guy the authority and
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power over all the nations of the world.
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That's more power than Babylon ever had.
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That's more power than Rome ever had.
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That's more power than the United States
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has ever had or will ever have. Daniel
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says that people of every race and
15:11
nation and language will obey this son
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of man person. Right? And that word that
15:17
that the the NLT translates as obey that
15:19
we have on the screen in the Old
15:21
Testament, that word is overwhelmingly
15:23
used to talk about worship and service
15:26
of God.
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It says that people of every race and
15:30
nation and language will bow down and
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serve this son of man. And that's
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something that never happened in the
15:39
entire history of Israel. Right? Who who
15:42
were the question for you guys. Who were
15:44
the kings of Israel the kings over?
15:48
Who were the kings of Israel the kings
15:50
over?
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>> Israel. Yeah. Exactly. Who bowed down to
15:54
the kings of Israel?
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>> Israel.
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>> Israel. Exactly right. There is only one
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Israel. So, I'm hitting with you hitting
16:01
you guys with trick questions tonight.
16:02
All right. There is only one Israelite
16:05
in history to whom people of every race
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and nation and language bowed down and
16:13
served who bowed down to this guy in the
16:16
way they bowed down to God. There is
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only one Israelite in history who
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claimed to have a kingdom that will
16:24
never end. a kingdom that will never be
16:28
destroyed.
16:30
Okay, I I said a couple minutes ago that
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in the Old Testament that phrase son of
16:33
man is just like a general term for
16:35
human being, right? But after Daniel's
16:37
vision, there is this extra weight that
16:40
gets attached to the idea of the son of
16:42
man, right? That the son of man, who
16:44
Daniel predicts looks like a regular
16:46
dude, but he's doing things only God
16:48
does. He's given authority and power
16:50
that only God has. that he receives
16:53
worship of the nations that only God
16:55
deserves, right? And the question that
16:58
Daniel 7 is kind of raising is who is
17:01
this guy? Who is this king?
17:06
But then along comes Jesus. Okay, 600
17:09
years after this vision from Daniel gets
17:12
recorded, along comes Jesus. And right
17:15
from the beginning of his ministry,
17:17
Jesus is calling himself the son of man.
17:20
It's one of Jesus's favorite ways to
17:22
refer to himself during his ministry.
17:24
It's in all four of the gospels and it
17:26
confuses his followers, right? And it
17:28
especially confuses his enemies because
17:30
sometimes when Jesus says son of man, it
17:33
sounds like he's talking about himself
17:35
just as a regular dude. Okay? Right? In
17:37
in Matthew 8, Jesus says foxes have dens
17:40
to live in and birds have nests, but the
17:42
son of man has no place even to lay his
17:45
head. Right? He's just a regular dude, a
17:48
homeless regular dude. Okay. But
17:51
sometimes Jesus calls himself the son of
17:54
man. And we can tell that he means
17:57
something bigger than that. In John 1,
18:00
he says to his disciples, "You will all
18:03
see heaven open and the angels of God
18:06
going up and down on the son of man." In
18:10
John 3, he says that the son of man has
18:13
come down from heaven. In John 5, he
18:16
says that he has been given the
18:17
authority to judge the world. In John 6,
18:20
he says that he has the power to give
18:23
eternal life. Right? I could keep going.
18:25
Okay. In Mark 2, Jesus says that the son
18:27
of man has the authority to forgive
18:29
sins. Also in Mark 2, Jesus says that
18:31
the son of man is the lord over the
18:34
Jewish Sabbath. In Mark 8, he says that
18:36
the son of man commands armies of
18:39
angels. Right? These are things that all
18:43
the Jews understood that only God can
18:46
do. But Jesus
18:50
calling himself the son of man says, "I
18:53
have the authority and the power to do
18:56
all of those things." Okay, here's a
18:58
cool one. All right, in Mark 13, Jesus
19:02
is speaking to his disciples about the
19:04
end of the world. It's a cool passage. I
19:05
I recommend reading it. And he tells
19:07
them about wars and earthquakes and
19:10
famines and persecutions that God's
19:12
people will experience. And after all of
19:14
those things, he says in verse 26 of
19:16
Mark 13, he says, "Then everyone will
19:19
see the Son of Man coming on the clouds
19:24
with great power and glory. And he will
19:27
send out his nations to gather his
19:30
chosen ones from all over the world,
19:32
from the farthest ends of the earth and
19:35
heaven." Keep that on the screen,
19:37
Samuel. Read that again. That they'll
19:40
see the son of man coming on the clouds.
19:44
Y'all, that is Jesus making a direct
19:46
reference to Daniel 7. Okay, that is him
19:49
like directly quoting this vision in
19:51
Daniel 7. Okay, when Jesus says this,
19:53
there is no doubt in his disciples minds
19:56
what he is saying that he is this this
19:59
God man, right? This guy who comes to
20:02
rule with the authority of God, with the
20:04
judgment of God, who rules the eternal
20:06
kingdom of God that covers the whole
20:08
world, that is Jesus Christ.
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Now, one more Son of Man reference and
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then we'll go to the Christmas story,
20:16
okay? Because I know you're like, "Isn't
20:17
this a Christmas series? Like, what
20:18
what's going on?" Okay, one more Son of
20:20
Man reference. So, in the next chapter
20:22
of Mark, Mark chapter 14, Jesus is
20:25
arrested and he's put on trial before
20:28
the Jewish high council. And Mark
20:30
records that there's all these false
20:33
witnesses who come to testify against
20:35
Jesus, but they're just like lying about
20:37
what Jesus has said. And so they can't
20:38
get their testimony against him to
20:40
stick. And and the way I read it, okay,
20:42
reading between the lines here, but the
20:44
way I read it, I feel like the high
20:45
priest is getting frustrated in the
20:46
scene, right? That that they can't get
20:48
any good evidence against Jesus, right?
20:50
So he gets frustrated. The high priest
20:51
just asks Jesus straight up. He says,
20:53
"Are you the Messiah, the Son of God?"
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And in verse 62, Jesus says,"I
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am, and you will see the Son of Man
21:04
seated in the place of power at God's
21:06
right hand and coming on the clouds of
21:10
heaven."
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And it says right after that, it says
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that the high priest tears his clothing
21:17
and the whole council condemns Jesus to
21:20
death because of what he's just said.
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And if we don't know Daniel 7, you you
21:25
just read that and you're like, "That
21:27
was a really weird reaction to to what
21:30
Jesus has just said, right?" But they
21:32
know Daniel 7, right? They know what
21:34
Jesus is saying. They know the Daniel 7
21:37
vision. Jesus is saying to these people,
21:40
"I am the God man of Daniel 7." And you
21:44
all may think that you're judging me,
21:46
but just like Daniel saw me judge the
21:49
Babylonians and the Persians and the
21:51
Greeks, I'm going to come and I'm going
21:53
to judge you.
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So, what does any of that have to do
21:58
with the Christmas story? Okay. Now, I I
22:01
think that for most of us, whether you
22:03
grew up in church or not, and I know
22:04
most of you did, um the Christmas story
22:06
can get so familiar that we lose sight
22:09
of how shocking, how radical the heart
22:12
of the Christmas story is. Okay? The
22:14
reason why there are so many Jews and
22:17
Muslims who won't accept the Christian
22:19
gospel is because they find it offensive
22:22
that we claim that God would lower
22:24
himself to the level of a human. Okay?
22:28
But you guys, that is exactly what our
22:31
God did. The king of the universe, the
22:34
God who created heaven and earth. He saw
22:38
you, Sophia. He saw you, Luke. He saw
22:42
you, Joel. He saw you in your sin and
22:46
shame and brokenness. He loved you and
22:50
wanted to restore you to himself. And
22:52
the way that he did it was for God to
22:55
empty himself and take on a truly human
22:58
mind and body to be born in the normal
23:01
way that babies are born, right? With
23:03
all the blood and pain and screaming and
23:06
bodily fluids that go on with being
23:08
born, right?
23:10
So for these three weeks as we roll into
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Christmas, I'm going to end the night
23:14
each time by reading the Christmas
23:16
story. Okay? But as I read the story, I
23:19
don't want us to lose sight of
23:21
everything that I've just talked about
23:22
for the last 20 minutes. Okay? Remember
23:25
who our God is. Remember why he lowered
23:29
himself by becoming a human being. Okay?
23:32
So, I'm going to close out with Luke
23:33
chapter 2 and then I'm going to pray for
23:35
us. So, the worship team, you guys can
23:36
come up.
23:38
Starting in verse two of chapter 2 of
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Luke.
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At that time, the Roman Emperor Augustus
23:45
decreed that a census should be taken
23:47
throughout the Roman Empire. This was
23:50
the first census taken when Quirinius
23:52
was governor of Syria. All returned to
23:54
their own ancestral towns to register
23:57
for the census. And because Joseph was a
23:59
descendant of King David, he had to go
24:01
to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient
24:04
home. He traveled there from the village
24:06
of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him
24:09
Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was
24:11
now expecting a child. And while they
24:14
were there, the time came for her baby
24:16
to be born. She gave birth to her
24:18
firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in
24:20
strips of cloth and laid him in a manger
24:23
because there was no lodging available
24:25
for them. That night, there were
24:27
shepherds staying in the fields nearby,
24:29
guarding their flocks of sheep.
24:31
Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared
24:34
among them, and the radiance of the
24:36
Lord's glory surrounded them. They were
24:39
terrified, but the angel reassured them.
24:42
"Don't be afraid," he said. "I bring you
24:45
good news that will bring great joy to
24:48
all the people. The Savior, yes, the
24:51
Messiah, the Lord, has been born today
24:54
in Bethlehem, the city of David. And you
24:57
will recognize him by this sign. you
24:59
will find a baby wrapped snugly in
25:01
strips of cloth lying in a manger.
25:05
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast
25:08
host of others, the armies of heaven,
25:11
praising God and saying, "Glory to God
25:14
in highest heaven and peace on earth to
25:17
those with whom God is pleased." Let's
25:20
pray.