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The-Spirit-s-Most-Significant-Mission · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: If you have a copy of the scriptures with you today,
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Speaker 1: will you open your bible to the Third Gospel named
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Speaker 1: the Gospel by Luke, first chapter, beginning at verse twenty
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Speaker 1: six through verse thirty eight. We have one of the
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Speaker 1: early accounts of that scene where Mary was informed of
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Speaker 1: the plan of God for the bringing of his son,
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Speaker 1: the Messiah Luke one twenty six. May we stand together
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Speaker 1: for the reading of God's word. Now in the six month,
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Speaker 1: the Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city
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Speaker 1: in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a
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Speaker 1: man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David.
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Speaker 1: The virgin's name was Mary, and coming in, he said
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Speaker 1: to her, greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.
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Speaker 1: She was very perplexed at this statement, kept pondering what
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Speaker 1: kind of salutation this was. The Angel said to her,
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Speaker 1: do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor
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Speaker 1: with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb
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Speaker 1: and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
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Speaker 1: He will be great and will be called the Son
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Speaker 1: of the Most High. And the Lord God will give
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Speaker 1: him the throne of his father David, and he will
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Speaker 1: reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom
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Speaker 1: will have no end. Mary said to the Angel, how
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Speaker 1: can this be? Since I am a virgin. The Angel
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Speaker 1: answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come
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Speaker 1: upon you, and the power of the most High will
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Speaker 1: overshadow you. And for that reason the Holy Child shall
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Speaker 1: be called the Son of God. And behold, even your
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Speaker 1: relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age,
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Speaker 1: and she who was called Baron, is now in her
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Speaker 1: sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God. And
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Speaker 1: Mary said, behold the bond slave of the Lord. May
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Speaker 1: it be done to me according to your word. And
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Speaker 1: the Angel departed from her. How grateful we are that
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Speaker 1: God has preserved his word. We pray that He will
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Speaker 1: honor the reading of it and the truths as we
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Speaker 1: live them out. Please be seated. I couldn't help but
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Speaker 1: think as the choir and orchestra and Connor reminded us
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Speaker 1: that all is well, the fact that there are some
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Speaker 1: of you who could not be able to say that
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Speaker 1: you would wish you could, but it isn't well with you.
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Speaker 1: And what may be missing is a deep sense of
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Speaker 1: peace and relief. And all the season does is make
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Speaker 1: you more lonely, feel more empty. It isn't well with you.
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Speaker 1: It isn't well with you on Monday morning, when you're
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Speaker 1: on your way to work, it doesn't feel well at
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Speaker 1: the end of the day, on Wednesday, or when you
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Speaker 1: come to the end of the week. Could it be
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Speaker 1: that you have never met the person who can make
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Speaker 1: you well. Could it be that you have spent your
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Speaker 1: whole life working hard, trying to be good enough to
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Speaker 1: somehow win God's favor, and you realize, now, I can't
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Speaker 1: keep that uphill climb going. And you've come to this
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Speaker 1: place today, and this could be the first place where
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Speaker 1: you have allowed the Lord Jesus Christ to take control
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Speaker 1: of your life. Think of him as the gift, and
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Speaker 1: think of God as offering you the gift of his son.
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Speaker 1: And you have my word, more importantly, the word of
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Speaker 1: the scriptures, that when you take his gift, it will
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Speaker 1: be well with you. It will be well. You'll not
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Speaker 1: only be ready to live, you'll be ready whenever it
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Speaker 1: comes to die. Let me add to that, I want
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Speaker 1: all the rest of you to think of that first
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Speaker 1: time you trusted Christ and let that in our Father,
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Speaker 1: We thank you for the firsts in our lives, that
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Speaker 1: first person who had the courage to look at us
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Speaker 1: and ask us about things eternal and to make us
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Speaker 1: aware that things were not well, and we had to
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Speaker 1: face that, we had to come to terms with that.
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Speaker 1: And we look back on that, realizing at that time
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Speaker 1: it seemed fearful and confusing and maybe even for some
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Speaker 1: a struggle. But we look back and thank you for
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Speaker 1: sending that person to be like Gabriel was for Mary,
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Speaker 1: the messenger of good news. Thank you for reminding us
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Speaker 1: again and for many the very first time, that with you,
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Speaker 1: nothing is impossible. No friend without Christ is impossibly lost.
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Speaker 1: It may very well be you would have a speak
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Speaker 1: to him or her this week. Thank you for the
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Speaker 1: first time, our Father, when we realized the meaning and
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Speaker 1: significance of deep and abiding worship, when we were delivered
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Speaker 1: from the feeling that we needed to be entertained, but
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Speaker 1: we were really to come before the Holy God to
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Speaker 1: hear his truth, to sing his songs, to pause in
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Speaker 1: quietness and let the wonder in. And this season of
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Speaker 1: the year, our Father, we thank you for that first
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Speaker 1: light on that dark night, when all else was wrong
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Speaker 1: in the world. You gave us that son of yours,
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Speaker 1: and we thank you for him. May we worship him
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Speaker 1: today as if for the first time, and may our
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Speaker 1: gifts come to you with afresh as if first time.
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Speaker 1: Joy that we are participating in your work for your glory.
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Speaker 1: In the name of Jesus, our first and only Savior,
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Speaker 1: we pray and we give everyone said amen. The old
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Speaker 1: college professor loved to ask each entering class the same question,
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Speaker 1: what would you recommend? And then he spelled out the situation.
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Speaker 1: A middle aged man was rather ill tempered and sometimes brutal.
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Speaker 1: According to some reports, he drank too much, he had
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Speaker 1: a hard time holding a job, and he was weak willed.
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Speaker 1: His wife she was not well physically, ultimately to the
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Speaker 1: disease that had plagued her for years, tuberculosis. Of the
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Speaker 1: eight children born to her, only three lived to adulthood
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Speaker 1: at this particular time, and in that region of the world,
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Speaker 1: death rate among children was high. Only three out of
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Speaker 1: five made it to adulthood. They died of typhoid fever, diphtheria, smallpox,
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Speaker 1: and the most dread of all diseases at the time, syphilis.
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Speaker 1: The woman now discovers she is again pregnant. Chances are
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Speaker 1: good she will not live through childbirth? All right, class,
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Speaker 1: what would you recommend? Not Surprisingly, the great majority, year
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Speaker 1: after year, almost in unison and without hesitation, in one word,
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Speaker 1: announced abortion, And as they had a chance to explain it,
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Speaker 1: the woman has no reason to give birth, to struggle
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Speaker 1: through the birth and possibly die. Congratulations, said the prophet,
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Speaker 1: you have just killed Ludwig van Beethoven. On the sixth
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Speaker 1: of December. Each year, music lovers the world over pause
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Speaker 1: and recognized the enduring music of this genius, who, in
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Speaker 1: less than sixty years on this earth left us with
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Speaker 1: music we love to hear to this day. Most of
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Speaker 1: us had little if any awareness of the threatening situation
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Speaker 1: that surrounded his birth, and by the way his mother
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Speaker 1: lived on which is often the case. We celebrate the
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Speaker 1: lives of great men and women, some of them having
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Speaker 1: been borderlined geniuses during their earthly life, having left great
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Speaker 1: contributions to this earth, and seldom do we pause and
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Speaker 1: think about that which surrounded the pregnancy of their mother
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Speaker 1: and the early childhood of their lives. Travel from the
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Speaker 1: seventeen seventies back a number of centuries to another era
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Speaker 1: and another time, a time when most women needed to
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Speaker 1: think twice before they even gave fut to a new birth.
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Speaker 1: Sherwood wort, now gone from us, leaves this in his
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Speaker 1: legacy as he describes the times. The people were being
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Speaker 1: heavily taxed and faced every prospect of sharp increases to
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Speaker 1: cover the expanding military expenses. The threat of world domination
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Speaker 1: by a cruel, ungodly power intoxicated band of terrorists was
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Speaker 1: ever just below the threshold of consciousness. Moral deterioration had
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Speaker 1: corrupted the upper levels of society and was moving rapidly
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Speaker 1: into the broad base of the populace. Intense nationalistic feeling
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Speaker 1: was clashing openly with new and sinister forms of imperialism.
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Speaker 1: Conformity was the spirit of the age. Government handouts were
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Speaker 1: being issued with increasing lavishness to keep the population from
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Speaker 1: rising up and throwing out its leaders. Interest rates were
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Speaker 1: spiraling upward in the midst of an inflated economy. External
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Speaker 1: religious observances were considered a political asset. An abnormal emphasis
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Speaker 1: was being placed on sports and athletic competitions, and the
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Speaker 1: particular king of this nation was approving the death of infants.
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Speaker 1: Why would anyone want to bring a baby onto this
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Speaker 1: earth at a time like that, Well, God did Paul
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Speaker 1: writes in Galatians four in verse four. When the fullness
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Speaker 1: of time came, God sent forth his son. I like
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Speaker 1: the way one of the paraphrases renders it, when the
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Speaker 1: right time came, the time God decided on he sent
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Speaker 1: his son. What makes his arrival all the more amazing,
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Speaker 1: it was that it was not at the quote right time.
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Speaker 1: Is it ever the right time? Some dear friend of
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Speaker 1: our family told Cynthia me, even before before we started
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Speaker 1: having children, if you wait till you can afford them,
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Speaker 1: you'll never have children. Wise words. If God were to
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Speaker 1: wait until time was just right, there would never have
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Speaker 1: been a son sent. But against all the odds, and
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Speaker 1: in spite of the threatening situation that even this young
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Speaker 1: couple faced after the birth, God brought forth his son,
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Speaker 1: and by the way he had all of the arrangements
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Speaker 1: put together before time ever began. I've provided you in
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Speaker 1: my outline today on the reverse side, a chart I
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Speaker 1: want you to look at sometime. It is difficult to
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Speaker 1: track the original events when they are packed together and
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Speaker 1: covered in various books of the Bible. So I've not
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Speaker 1: only given you the event, but I've also given you
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Speaker 1: the scriptures that you can track from one to the other.
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Speaker 1: There are ten of them, and the climax, of course
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Speaker 1: at Luke two, with the birth of the baby in
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Speaker 1: Bethley him The events began with the angel's visit with
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Speaker 1: Zacharias and then following that Elizabeth, his wife, has the
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Speaker 1: wonderful news that she will conceive in her old age.
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Speaker 1: Following that, the Angel visits with Mary to tell her
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Speaker 1: of this miraculous conception that would soon happen. After that
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Speaker 1: Mary actually conceives, and then she has this visit with Joseph,
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Speaker 1: which is implied in Matthew's account, Following that Joseph's initial reaction,
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Speaker 1: which imagination helps us understand, is full of all the
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Speaker 1: struggles any one of us could could identify with. And
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Speaker 1: then there's Mary's trip to visit her relative Elizabeth, followed
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Speaker 1: by Joseph's dream and his decision. Early on, he chose
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Speaker 1: that he will simply divorce her, just put her away.
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Speaker 1: In the dream, he realizes from the presence of the
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Speaker 1: angel who visits with him that this is of God.
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Speaker 1: Joseph and Mary are then married, and then shortly thereafter
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Speaker 1: they're on their way to Bethlehem, where she comes to
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Speaker 1: term and has the child those events will help you
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Speaker 1: put the pieces together. As various times are mentioned during
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Speaker 1: these next few days regarding our saviors rival. What we
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Speaker 1: want to do today is focus on the third of
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Speaker 1: those ten events, and that would be the visit of
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Speaker 1: Gabriel with Mary, the mother to be. The account is
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Speaker 1: in Luke Chapter one, and the main part we're considering
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Speaker 1: is verses twenty six to thirty eight. It really identifies
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Speaker 1: two people and focuses on them. One is an angel
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Speaker 1: named Gabriel and one is a young woman who is
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Speaker 1: a virgin named Mary. Understand men and women, that this
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Speaker 1: is a first. This is a first. I know that
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Speaker 1: every year we return to these scenes, and every time
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Speaker 1: we return, if you're not careful, it's sort of a
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Speaker 1: ho hum. Here we go again with the same story.
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Speaker 1: Though it's the same story, the events surrounding it and
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Speaker 1: the thoughts related to it are all fresh if you
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Speaker 1: will allow your mind to ponder them. The angel we
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Speaker 1: read in verse twenty six is sent from God to
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Speaker 1: a city in Galilee called Nazareth, but before that is mentioned,
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Speaker 1: we're told it was in the sixth month. If a
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Speaker 1: person is reading the Gospel by Luke for the first time,
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Speaker 1: there is only one question that individual would ask, the
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Speaker 1: sixth month of what the sixth month of the year,
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Speaker 1: the sixth month, since he had already told Mary there
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Speaker 1: would be a visit. Now neither of the two. This
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Speaker 1: is the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Her relative up
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Speaker 1: in years, has already been told and has had the
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Speaker 1: thrill of her life to know that she would conceive.
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Speaker 1: She conceives a child, and now the baby's been growing
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Speaker 1: six months in her womb. It's in that sixth month
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Speaker 1: the angel Gabriel comes to Mary. I'm sure Mary, the
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Speaker 1: relative of Elizabeth, has had a great delight in thinking
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Speaker 1: what fun it will be to hold that little baby
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Speaker 1: in her arms. Little does Mary realize she'll have her
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Speaker 1: own baby to hold in her arms in nine months.
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Speaker 1: She would never have anticipated it. But before we get there, look,
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Speaker 1: this appears to be a sudden event. The angel Gabriel
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Speaker 1: is sent from God to a city in Galilee. But
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Speaker 1: it isn't sudden. In the Council of Divine Decrees, before
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Speaker 1: there was ever time on earth, before there was ever matter,
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Speaker 1: before there was a sun, moon or stars, the God
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Speaker 1: had together planned salvation. And in the plan of salvation
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Speaker 1: it was ordained that this angel be sent on this
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Speaker 1: particular day to this particular woman living in this particular place.
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Speaker 1: The reason I overwork this is because we have no
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Speaker 1: business thinking that because something happened suddenly on earth that
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Speaker 1: it's sort of a surprise to God. It's as though
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Speaker 1: the heavens are going well, we didn't know that was
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Speaker 1: going to happen. Look at this as a matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: nothing is a surprise to our God. Planning our salvation,
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Speaker 1: knowing our need for the Savior, our God already has
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Speaker 1: put together the plan that on this very day, at
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Speaker 1: this particular time, this angel, the Messenger Angel, would leave
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Speaker 1: the throne room of the Father and come to this earth.
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Speaker 1: And we read he would come to the city in
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Speaker 1: Galilee called Nazareth. The reason Luke reads it writes it
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Speaker 1: like that is because there were people reading it in
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Speaker 1: for the first time who would not know where Nazareth was.
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Speaker 1: His gospel would spread across the whole unknown world. But
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Speaker 1: whoever heard of Nazareth. It's a tiny place. And if
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Speaker 1: you think Nazareth is small, Bethlehem is even smaller. Mark
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Speaker 1: Driscoll describes Bethlehem as a dumpy, rural hick town, not
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Speaker 1: unlike those today where guys change their own oil on
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Speaker 1: their el camino, who think pro wrestling is real and
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Speaker 1: drink wine from a box as an essent part of
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Speaker 1: a fancy meal. Not take Bark's got his finger on it.
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Speaker 1: I mean to us Bethley Heaven. Whoa Bethley hand? And
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Speaker 1: then you go there and you say, as you look
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Speaker 1: at that's it feel like Peggy Lee? Is that all
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Speaker 1: there is to Bethlehem and Nazareth? Just to tell him
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Speaker 1: it's in Galilee. And if that's obscure, think of trying
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Speaker 1: to find the woman there that he was. Oh, there
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Speaker 1: was no trouble finding her. Remember he sent from God.
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Speaker 1: And never forget when something occurs in your life it's
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Speaker 1: been sent by God. Don't look upon it as a coincidence.
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Speaker 1: Don't think of it as just being in the right
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Speaker 1: place at the right time. I spoke last week on
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Speaker 1: unidentified inter Promptings. I called him UIPS. Oh you should
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Speaker 1: read my emails this week. People have gotten ups all
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Speaker 1: over the place. Some of them I'm not sure they're up,
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Speaker 1: but that's okay. Others they have genuinely been. One lady
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Speaker 1: stood in tears this morning to tell me about an
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Speaker 1: event that. She said, you would not believe how this occurred.
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Speaker 1: I said, I believe it. As a matter of fact,
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Speaker 1: God planned it. Mary knows nothing of it. She's never
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Speaker 1: read Luke one. She just living her life doing whatever
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Speaker 1: a young Jewish teenager would be doing. But never doubt it.
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Speaker 1: The destination is determined, the person is selected, the situation
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Speaker 1: is complicated, and the mission is humanly impossible. All four
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Speaker 1: or true. Let me unpack them first. The destination the
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Speaker 1: angel was to go to the city called Really, we
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Speaker 1: would call it a village called Nazareth. Nazareth is where
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Speaker 1: Mary lived, It's where Joseph lived, It's where they have
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Speaker 1: been betrothed. Unlike today, in those days, in a Jewish marriage,
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Speaker 1: there was the commitment to one another, followed by the
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Speaker 1: signing of a betrothal covenant, which lasted usually about a year.
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Speaker 1: During that year, they were known as husband and wife.
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Speaker 1: Though they didn't live together, they were not intimate with
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Speaker 1: one another. They were seen as husband and wife, which
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Speaker 1: explains why he has called her husband on occasion, though
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Speaker 1: they've not actually been married. But the betrothal was a
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Speaker 1: permanent engagement could be broken only by divorce or, in
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Speaker 1: the case of unfaithfulness, stoning. They are committed to one
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Speaker 1: another in this betrothal, and the angel is to find
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Speaker 1: her in the city of Nazareth, and he does so,
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Speaker 1: so the person is selected. She is a virgin. Parthenos
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Speaker 1: is the Greek term one who has never been intimate
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Speaker 1: with a man, parthenos. It's used also by Matthew in
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Speaker 1: his account, and here it's used in Luke. She is
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Speaker 1: the virgin never knew a man. Now the situation is complicated.
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Speaker 1: Complicated why because the plan of God required depositing on
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Speaker 1: this earth a sinless but very human individual. How do
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Speaker 1: you get a child born without sin who comes from
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Speaker 1: the womb of his mother or her mother? How do
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Speaker 1: you do that? The possibilities get a little bit complicated.
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Speaker 1: I took my time this week to think through what
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Speaker 1: those possibilities were. Listen to them. God could have chosen
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Speaker 1: a human mother and a human father and then put
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Speaker 1: the baby there and have them have the child. The
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Speaker 1: problem is you've got a sinful product. I know everyone
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Speaker 1: but your grandchild falls into category. But trust me, trust me,
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Speaker 1: every person born on this earth is a sinner except Jesus.
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Speaker 1: How do you do that? Can't come from just an
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Speaker 1: average man and woman. That's the result of intercourse, and
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Speaker 1: then the baby nine months later is born, you'd have
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Speaker 1: a sinful child. Well, the second possibility is neither one,
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Speaker 1: just leave a divinely given gift on a doorstep. Mary
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Speaker 1: finds the baby and claims. The problem there is not
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Speaker 1: truly human, hasn't had a birth, so that won't work.
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Speaker 1: The third possibility is to send a soul and spirit
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Speaker 1: to live in a person already on earth. The problem
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Speaker 1: is it would not be his own body, nor could
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Speaker 1: it be said that he is truly human that has
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Speaker 1: in fact been brought into a life, leaving only one possibility,
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Speaker 1: only one option, and that is the supernatural conception. In
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Speaker 1: the womb of Mary. You have true humanity, you have
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Speaker 1: undiminished deity preserved, and it can only be done through
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Speaker 1: a virgin birth. Only one problem, She's a virgin. Never before,
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Speaker 1: never since, will this ever occur. Has this ever occurred?
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Speaker 1: So now we come to this impossible situation, and I
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Speaker 1: love it that it is impossible. I love it when
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Speaker 1: God does the impossible. Jeef Campbell Morgan writes this, he
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Speaker 1: was the god man, not God in dwelling a man
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Speaker 1: of such There have been many not a man deified
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Speaker 1: of such. There have been none, save in the myths
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Speaker 1: of the pagan systems of thought. But God and Man
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Speaker 1: combining in one personality, the two natures a perpetual enigma
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Speaker 1: and mystery, baffling the possibility of explanation. Having read that,
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Speaker 1: I'm now going to explain what baffles The possibility of
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Speaker 1: explanation always makes me smile when I think about that,
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Speaker 1: Like the statement thanks me to God for his gift
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Speaker 1: too wonderful for words, and then I speak on it
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Speaker 1: for thirty minutes to give you the words that are
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Speaker 1: too wonderful for us to grasp. How do we really
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Speaker 1: put it all together? How do we make sense out
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Speaker 1: of what is absolutely impossible? You just keep reading the text,
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Speaker 1: You keep reading the Holy Word of God. He comes
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Speaker 1: to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph,
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Speaker 1: of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
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Speaker 1: Remember she wasn't expecting it. It was an absolute sudden
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Speaker 1: surprise to her. She looks up and she sees the
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Speaker 1: visible manifestation of an angelic being coming in. He said
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Speaker 1: to her, Hail, favored one, the Lord is with you.
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Speaker 1: Look at the words she's the favored one. For centuries,
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Speaker 1: the church taught that she bestows favor, that she bestows grace,
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Speaker 1: which has led to Maryolatry, the worship of Mary, the
27:23
Speaker 1: Mother of God. By the way, she's never in the
27:26
Speaker 1: scripture's called the mother of God. She's the one who
27:29
Speaker 1: has been given grace. She's the one who is favored
27:34
Speaker 1: ed favored by God. She's the recipient of God's favoring grace.
27:41
Speaker 1: And he says, the Lord is with you, and she's
27:44
Speaker 1: standing there hearing it, wondering who is this visitor? Why
27:49
Speaker 1: is he calling me a favored one? And how is
27:54
Speaker 1: it that the Lord is going to be with me?
27:58
Speaker 1: I believe in my Lord. Why the need for his
28:02
Speaker 1: presence with me? Delivered it to me? Even the messenger
28:06
Speaker 1: from the messenger himself, Gabriel, you're not surprised to read
28:15
Speaker 1: that she was very perplexed Verse twenty nine. The tense
28:20
Speaker 1: of this particular Greek term is the imperfect tense, which
28:24
Speaker 1: suggests ongoing. She continues to mull it over. She's not
28:30
Speaker 1: questioning it. In fact, she's not disagreeing with it. She
28:35
Speaker 1: just puzzled by it. She just puzzled by it. It's
28:43
Speaker 1: like I would feel if Cynthia said to me tomorrow morning, Hey, honey,
28:47
Speaker 1: I forgot to tell you we're going to have a
28:50
Speaker 1: fifth child. I would be perplexed to hear that we
29:00
Speaker 1: would name the baby a miracle. But that's as far
29:03
Speaker 1: as I'm going with that. It's just not gonna happen.
29:06
Speaker 1: Mary's thinking it can't happen in her case. She's got
29:12
Speaker 1: the right age going for her, but she doesn't have
29:14
Speaker 1: the right intimate experience, so she's perplexed. The word means
29:21
Speaker 1: to be caught up in intense curiosity. How could this
29:25
Speaker 1: be because a man I do not know? Literally, this
29:30
Speaker 1: statement reads, Remember it has to be a man, and
29:33
Speaker 1: I'm in love with Joseph, but I've never been intimate
29:37
Speaker 1: with Joseph. I do not know a man. David McKenna
29:44
Speaker 1: adds a curious statement here. Jesus divine human nature is
29:49
Speaker 1: a physical as well as a theological fact. Luke the
29:53
Speaker 1: Physicians set up the paradox when he announced that Jesus
29:56
Speaker 1: was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of
29:59
Speaker 1: Ma without human agency. The genetic puzzle has never been unraveled.
30:08
Speaker 1: Did God select certain qualities in genetic structure? Chromosome mix
30:15
Speaker 1: and the DNA code. If so, what are the personality
30:20
Speaker 1: features of the word made flesh. Some might contend that
30:24
Speaker 1: the case for the humanity of Jesus is already refuted.
30:29
Speaker 1: Others have chosen to deny the virgin birth in order
30:31
Speaker 1: to make Jesus fully human. Logically, the genetic mystery is
30:37
Speaker 1: no greater than the incarnation itself. Like geneticists who have
30:43
Speaker 1: not unlocked the secret of conception, we must rely upon
30:47
Speaker 1: information about Jesus' birth and development to find out if
30:52
Speaker 1: he was fully human. And he goes on to describe
30:55
Speaker 1: those characteristics of humanity. You can't unwrap it. If you're
31:02
Speaker 1: waiting for scientific proof of this, you'll wait in vain.
31:07
Speaker 1: It's a miracle. Miracles lack proof of this nature. She's
31:14
Speaker 1: told you will have the baby. She's asking how can
31:18
Speaker 1: it be? And now he explains. It doesn't help her
31:22
Speaker 1: with all the answers, but it at least describes the
31:25
Speaker 1: supernatural nature of the conception. The angel said to her,
31:32
Speaker 1: do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor
31:35
Speaker 1: with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb Verse
31:40
Speaker 1: thirty one, in Barra's son. You shall name him Jesus.
31:45
Speaker 1: He will be great. He will be called the Son
31:49
Speaker 1: of the Most High, and the Lord God will give
31:52
Speaker 1: him the throne of his father David. He will reign
31:54
Speaker 1: over the house of Jacob, and his kingdom will have
31:59
Speaker 1: no end. How can this be? Verse thirty five. This
32:05
Speaker 1: now announces the most significant mission of the Holy Spirit.
32:10
Speaker 1: The Angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit
32:14
Speaker 1: will come upon you, and the power of the Most
32:20
Speaker 1: High will overshadow you. For that reason, the Holy Child
32:27
Speaker 1: shall be called the Son of God. That is all
32:32
Speaker 1: we have to go on. That's it. We have no
32:38
Speaker 1: treatise in some other book of scripture. We have no
32:41
Speaker 1: further explanation than this. Somehow, Mary, between this moment and
32:49
Speaker 1: when you visit your relative Elizabeth, you will conceive an
32:54
Speaker 1: embryo in your womb. The Holy Spirit will make this occur.
33:00
Speaker 1: The one who generates life will generate in your womb life,
33:07
Speaker 1: and that child will be your baby. Now, the thing
33:14
Speaker 1: I love about Mary's response is what follows in this
33:24
Speaker 1: passage of scripture. Before I get there, I just want
33:27
Speaker 1: you to look at verse thirty seven and let it
33:29
Speaker 1: sink in. He says, for nothing will be impossible with
33:35
Speaker 1: God if I want you to remember anything as a
33:40
Speaker 1: result of this time together. It's that statement because there
33:44
Speaker 1: isn't a person sitting here today who doesn't have something impossible.
33:48
Speaker 1: That you're facing something something you cannot fix, you cannot change,
33:55
Speaker 1: you cannot alter, you cannot start or stop. It's impossible
34:01
Speaker 1: for you. Four times in the scriptures, twice in Jeremiah,
34:05
Speaker 1: and twice in the Gospel by Luke, we are told
34:08
Speaker 1: this in so many words. With God, nothing will be impossible.
34:12
Speaker 1: I spoke to our staff of Insight for Living, as
34:15
Speaker 1: well as our church staff, pastors and facilities people, all
34:20
Speaker 1: the folks that are of our team here. And last
34:25
Speaker 1: Wednesday we had a Christmas gathering chapel and they asked
34:28
Speaker 1: me to speak, and I did, and we went over
34:31
Speaker 1: some of these things in a different section of scripture,
34:34
Speaker 1: and then I concluded with an application, remember all of you.
34:40
Speaker 1: God can do anything. God can change any one. And
34:47
Speaker 1: I drove that home. It's only in my overbearing way
34:52
Speaker 1: I can do. I said it five different ways. Remember that.
34:56
Speaker 1: The next day I faced a very difficult situation and
35:02
Speaker 1: I said to a friend who happened to have been
35:04
Speaker 1: in that gathering, you know what, this guy is absolutely impossible,
35:10
Speaker 1: She says, Chuck. Just yesterday, in fact, about twenty four
35:17
Speaker 1: hours ago, I heard someone teaching who said God can
35:23
Speaker 1: do anything, He can change anyone with him. In twenty
35:28
Speaker 1: four hours, I'd already forgotten my own stuff. Isn't that amazing?
35:33
Speaker 1: That's why I say to you today, let it sink in,
35:38
Speaker 1: because you see the enemy hears what you're hearing and
35:40
Speaker 1: wants you to forget it. Because a whole week is
35:43
Speaker 1: going to unfold before we gather together again for a
35:47
Speaker 1: gathering like this for teaching. And if you're not careful,
35:51
Speaker 1: you're going to be lost in doubt and dismay if
35:56
Speaker 1: you let the statement of verse thirty seven slide by Mary, Mary,
36:02
Speaker 1: nothing will be impossible with God, you know what. That's
36:05
Speaker 1: the turning point and the whole narrative. She hears that statement,
36:11
Speaker 1: nothing will be impossible with God, and that's settled it.
36:17
Speaker 1: The next two verses are wonderful verses. Mary said, behold
36:25
Speaker 1: the bond slave of the Lord. May it be done
36:31
Speaker 1: to me according to your word and the Angel to party.
36:38
Speaker 1: First of what she calls herself, I think is significant.
36:44
Speaker 1: I'm a bond servant. In other words, I'm not running
36:48
Speaker 1: my own life. I'm not in charge of the events
36:50
Speaker 1: of my life. And even though I have no idea
36:53
Speaker 1: how God is going to pull this off, I want
36:56
Speaker 1: it known right now that I see myself as a
36:58
Speaker 1: humble servant of the living God. I am available to
37:02
Speaker 1: him to do with me whatever he may wish. There's
37:08
Speaker 1: something wonderful about that kind of spirit of humility. That
37:12
Speaker 1: kind of submission makes life move so much smoother. Michelle,
37:17
Speaker 1: you hold your place here. Look at verse Peter five.
37:20
Speaker 1: Turn back to First Peter, chapter five. Three verses related
37:25
Speaker 1: to humility that we all need to see the end
37:32
Speaker 1: of verse five, and then verses six and seven. She says,
37:37
Speaker 1: I'm the bond servant of the Lord. Daryl Bach says,
37:40
Speaker 1: the word describes one of humble station who addresses a
37:45
Speaker 1: superior in recognition of their position as God's handmaid. Mary
37:51
Speaker 1: accepts openly what God asks of her. Now look at
37:54
Speaker 1: First Peter five into verse five. God is opposed to
37:58
Speaker 1: the proud, but give grace to the humble. When you
38:02
Speaker 1: are humble. When you are humble, you have a spirit
38:06
Speaker 1: of acceptance. I call it the grace to accept. You
38:12
Speaker 1: have the grace to accept what is we're given grace
38:16
Speaker 1: to accept. He gives grace to the humble second, humbled
38:21
Speaker 1: yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may
38:24
Speaker 1: exalt you at the proper time. We rest in his promise.
38:28
Speaker 1: When we humble ourselves, God will reward this kind of attitude. Lord.
38:35
Speaker 1: I don't understand it. I'm not necessarily in agreement with it.
38:39
Speaker 1: I don't have enough of the facts to feel at
38:41
Speaker 1: peace about it. But I trust you, and as a result,
38:44
Speaker 1: we were told we will be exalted at another time,
38:50
Speaker 1: so later on the exaltation comes. That's the promise. We
38:54
Speaker 1: rest in God's promise Verse seven, casting all your anxiety
38:58
Speaker 1: on him because he cares for you. We are relieved
39:01
Speaker 1: of anxiety. When I have a humble spirit about life
39:06
Speaker 1: and my circumstances, I am not nearly as anxious, nor
39:10
Speaker 1: will you be. Our worry list is reduced to very
39:14
Speaker 1: little as we trust God for all the things we
39:17
Speaker 1: once were worrying about. Now back to Luke chapter one.
39:21
Speaker 1: She says, I'm a handmaid of the Lord. So she
39:24
Speaker 1: humbles herself before and then she says, may it be,
39:29
Speaker 1: Let it be. You know what's wonderful. What's wonderful is
39:36
Speaker 1: what is absent think about it. There's no request for
39:43
Speaker 1: further information, though she surely had questions, but she doesn't
39:48
Speaker 1: ask for any more information. Second, there is no uneasiness
39:53
Speaker 1: about telling Joseph. Lord, you realize Joseph is never gonna
40:00
Speaker 1: believe it. You never read that. May it be? She says,
40:03
Speaker 1: according to your word. She doesn't struggle over the fact
40:06
Speaker 1: she'll have to talk with Joseph about it. She's gonna
40:10
Speaker 1: talk with Joseph, even though she must have wondered what
40:13
Speaker 1: that would be like, wasn't anxious for her? And the third,
40:16
Speaker 1: and there's no argument of resistance. She certainly knew that
40:19
Speaker 1: the gossips all over Nazareth would be talking in a
40:22
Speaker 1: few months. Hey, she's already wearing maternity clothes. When did
40:28
Speaker 1: they get married? What is it? Somebody said? It's from God? Yeah, right, right?
40:38
Speaker 1: And how about trying to convince her fiance. Oh, by
40:41
Speaker 1: the way, Joseph, before I leave to go see Elizabeth,
40:44
Speaker 1: I'm carrying a baby. But it's from God. Right. There's
40:51
Speaker 1: not a guy here that doesn't understand what Joseph must
40:53
Speaker 1: have felt. See, Joseph has never read luke Wan either.
41:00
Speaker 1: I mean, all he knows is what she just told
41:01
Speaker 1: him by the way, if God wants to change the
41:07
Speaker 1: laws of nature, he has the right to do that.
41:11
Speaker 1: I love the way one theologian puts it. The laws
41:13
Speaker 1: of nature are not chains which the divine legislator has
41:17
Speaker 1: laid himself, has laid upon himself. They are threads which
41:23
Speaker 1: he holds in his hand, and which he shortens or
41:25
Speaker 1: linthdens at will. He could stop the sun. He made
41:31
Speaker 1: the sun. He can change the heart of that most
41:35
Speaker 1: stubborn individual that you're trying to do. He made that
41:38
Speaker 1: individual never met his match. May it be according to
41:42
Speaker 1: your word, you know, that's when the Angel departed. Look
41:45
Speaker 1: at the end of verse thirty eight. The angel departed.
41:50
Speaker 1: That was enough done. I think the angel thought at
41:56
Speaker 1: that moment, time to go back to the throne room.
41:58
Speaker 1: The mission accomplished. Mary's received the message. She will never
42:04
Speaker 1: be the same. Leave the rest up to the one
42:06
Speaker 1: who sent me with the message. And he's gone. Who
42:09
Speaker 1: the Angel's gone. The good thing is that the Holy
42:16
Speaker 1: Spirit has never left, and he's hovering over Mary. And
42:20
Speaker 1: shortly after the visit, Mary experiences conception miraculous. Within a
42:31
Speaker 1: matter of weeks months, certainly, she's feeling the flutter in
42:36
Speaker 1: her womb life. How many times she must have stood
42:42
Speaker 1: in front of a mirror and smiled. The Holy Spirit
42:49
Speaker 1: accomplished his mission. To do it, he needed a messager,
42:57
Speaker 1: and he needed one to receive the message. Let me
43:00
Speaker 1: go there as I talk about the practical value. First,
43:03
Speaker 1: I want some of you today to identify with Gabriel
43:11
Speaker 1: not as an angel, but as a human agency of information.
43:19
Speaker 1: Could it be that the Lord's plan for you this
43:23
Speaker 1: very week is for you to be the messenger of
43:28
Speaker 1: good news to someone who has not heard it and
43:31
Speaker 1: is not expected, is not expecting to receive it. I
43:37
Speaker 1: will say to you again, which I've said often, you
43:40
Speaker 1: will encounter people in your sphere of influence no one
43:43
Speaker 1: else will encounter. No one is with you twenty four
43:46
Speaker 1: to seven. You will talk with a friend at work,
43:51
Speaker 1: you will be with a neighbor. You will be at
43:54
Speaker 1: a party, and there'll be someone that will be there
43:56
Speaker 1: that you are just not getting acquainted with or you
43:59
Speaker 1: haven't seen for a long time. You may be planning
44:02
Speaker 1: to make a flight and you're going to be flying
44:04
Speaker 1: to some destination. You're going to be on a plane
44:07
Speaker 1: or whatever the vehicle you're going to be with someone
44:09
Speaker 1: you probably don't know. Could it be tolerate the question?
44:16
Speaker 1: Could it be that you're to be the Gabriel in
44:18
Speaker 1: their lives? Could it be that God would have me
44:22
Speaker 1: open my mouth and speak to the person at the
44:25
Speaker 1: dry cleaners where I drop off the clothes, or someone
44:30
Speaker 1: across from me as I'm pumping gas into my car,
44:34
Speaker 1: or somebody at the grocery store I may run into
44:37
Speaker 1: and we speak and normally walk like ships in the night,
44:42
Speaker 1: passing by one another. Could it be that a smile
44:45
Speaker 1: would say I'd like to meet you, or say to me,
44:50
Speaker 1: you could say something to this person that could make
44:53
Speaker 1: the difference in their eternity. This isn't just a an
45:00
Speaker 1: angel visiting a woman. This is about an application for us.
45:03
Speaker 1: I'm speaking today to messengers. Some of you can't remember
45:09
Speaker 1: the last time you spoke to anyone about their soul.
45:15
Speaker 1: It really isn't that difficult, and if handled tactfully, it
45:20
Speaker 1: can be a remarkable exchange of conversation. Well, they may
45:23
Speaker 1: not immediately respond, but they will never forget. I remember
45:29
Speaker 1: a young man the Marine Corps that I tricked into
45:31
Speaker 1: helping me with my Bible verses. I was memorizing verses
45:34
Speaker 1: of Scripture, and I was sharing. I was working with
45:40
Speaker 1: the navigators, and we had a little verse pack and
45:43
Speaker 1: I said, this young man who had told me I
45:46
Speaker 1: don't want any of your religious stuff, I've already heard
45:48
Speaker 1: your fanatic. So that was our opening conversation. So I realized,
45:52
Speaker 1: if I'm ever going to talk to this bunk buddy
45:54
Speaker 1: of mine, I'm gonna have to trick him into it.
45:56
Speaker 1: And so I said, in one day, Hey, I'm going
45:59
Speaker 1: over these verses. I'm trying to memorize. I don't want
46:01
Speaker 1: to relate. I said, no, no, no, no, just help
46:04
Speaker 1: me know where I'm making mistakes. Okay, okay. So I
46:07
Speaker 1: tossed him John three sixteen for God. He'd say, so loved, Yeah, oh,
46:16
Speaker 1: so loved. I forgot for God, so loved the world
46:20
Speaker 1: that he gave, that he gave, that he gave. And
46:25
Speaker 1: I'd go over John three sixteen, over and John John
46:28
Speaker 1: three thirty six, first John five eleven and twelve Hsions
46:32
Speaker 1: two eight and nine. For by grace you are saved,
46:35
Speaker 1: Ye save saved through faith that not of yourself. More
46:43
Speaker 1: than twenty years passed, never saw Eddie till my phone rang.
46:47
Speaker 1: The phone rang, and on the other end of the
46:49
Speaker 1: line was a familiar voice. Hey, Chuck, Yeah, Eddie, Eddie,
46:57
Speaker 1: where are you. I'm in Orleans. I'll running a car
47:01
Speaker 1: dealership down here. Hey, you know that trick you did
47:03
Speaker 1: on me? I said, yeah, he said, Hey, at work.
47:09
Speaker 1: I'm loving Jesus. I want you to know that. So
47:13
Speaker 1: if you've got to deceive him into the Kingdom, deceive
47:15
Speaker 1: him into the Kingdom whatever, whatever it takes five to
47:22
Speaker 1: deceive you to be careful with something that could be
47:25
Speaker 1: tragic in your life, you'll thank me for it. Hopefully
47:29
Speaker 1: I don't have to be deceptive, but for some people
47:32
Speaker 1: you got to work very cleverly. And Eddie thanks me
47:36
Speaker 1: and will thank me to the end of his life
47:39
Speaker 1: for being a Gabriel telling him what he didn't want
47:42
Speaker 1: to hear at a time he really needed to hear it.
47:45
Speaker 1: If that's for you, remember the challenge is laid out there.
47:51
Speaker 1: You won't be just another Christmas season for you. It'll
47:53
Speaker 1: be your chance to be an angel in someone's life.
47:56
Speaker 1: The word angel, by the way, means messenger. You be
47:59
Speaker 1: the loss the message. Now you know where I'm going.
48:03
Speaker 1: On the other side of this is Mary. You may
48:06
Speaker 1: be the Mary in This story has nothing to do
48:10
Speaker 1: with babies. For you. It has to do with receiving
48:12
Speaker 1: a message you aren't expecting. Several of you have heard
48:16
Speaker 1: the story of Jesus and his death on the cross
48:19
Speaker 1: so many times you could repeat it back to someone else.
48:21
Speaker 1: But truth be told, you've never received the message. You've
48:26
Speaker 1: never taken it personally. You've never said, may it be
48:29
Speaker 1: done to me according to your word. I bow myself
48:33
Speaker 1: before the God of Heaven. I acknowledge that I could
48:36
Speaker 1: never get myself into heaven, not on the way I've
48:39
Speaker 1: lived my life. And God, if you want to do
48:42
Speaker 1: the miracle of changing my life, I accept the message. Today.
48:48
Speaker 1: I'll give you a little encouragement in case you are
48:50
Speaker 1: one of those individuals you have no idea what God's
48:53
Speaker 1: plan is for you until all is well with you.
49:00
Speaker 1: There kids in the classroom that said abortion. Had they
49:04
Speaker 1: thought about it, they would have never said so, because
49:06
Speaker 1: they would have realized that in his fifty seven brief
49:09
Speaker 1: years on this earth, Beethoven left nine complete symphonies that
49:13
Speaker 1: are still being played all around the world, numerous sonatas,
49:20
Speaker 1: concertos for violin and for piano, instrumental trios and quartets,
49:24
Speaker 1: and quintets, overtures, minuets, and opera and oratorio, masses, cantatas, canons,
49:31
Speaker 1: lovely tunes. The world sings and enjoys. Some have even
49:35
Speaker 1: put love lyrics to them, and for romantic evenings Betho
49:39
Speaker 1: Him brings encouragement and hope to this day. You have
49:44
Speaker 1: no idea the future God has for you, but if
49:46
Speaker 1: you're outside of His family, you'll never know. Today. Take
49:51
Speaker 1: the message, believe it, receive it now with me, will you,
49:58
Speaker 1: for just a few moments, just sit quietly right there?
50:07
Speaker 1: For some of you you've never once in your life
50:10
Speaker 1: said Lord Jesus Christ. I'm a sinner. I'm lost. I'm
50:16
Speaker 1: away from you God, and I cannot find my way
50:19
Speaker 1: to you. But I realized today you've offered me a gift.
50:26
Speaker 1: So today I invite you to take the gift. Receive
50:32
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, and you will have eternal life. You won't
50:38
Speaker 1: have to work for it. You won't have to promise
50:41
Speaker 1: to be a holy you won't have to give up
50:44
Speaker 1: your sins. You won't have to be at church every Sunday.
50:48
Speaker 1: You don't earn your way. It's a gift. Take it.
50:55
Speaker 1: When Mary left the presence, of that angel within a
50:58
Speaker 1: matter of moments. She was right. When you leave these words,
51:04
Speaker 1: in a matter of seconds, you can be born again,
51:08
Speaker 1: new life, within a whole purpose without If this will
51:17
Speaker 1: help follow me in this prayer, Heavenly Father, I acknowledge
51:22
Speaker 1: that I'm a sinner. I've never trusted in you before,
51:28
Speaker 1: but I now take Jesus Christ and him only to
51:33
Speaker 1: be my lord and savior. Thank you for coming into
51:38
Speaker 1: my life. I turn away from my unbelief and I
51:42
Speaker 1: turn to you, dear Father, and I accept the gift
51:47
Speaker 1: you've given me. Thank you for Jesus. Have prayer rooms
51:55
Speaker 1: all around this place, and you'll find one as you leave.
51:57
Speaker 1: If you want someone to talk with, they're here for
52:00
Speaker 1: that purpose. If you want to mull it over and
52:02
Speaker 1: be alone with your thoughts, there's room for that. But
52:06
Speaker 1: for sure you'll need to share this with someone so
52:09
Speaker 1: that you can begin to find your way in this
52:12
Speaker 1: whole new life God has for you. Contact us, get
52:17
Speaker 1: a hold of us, Let us help you do that. Father.
52:22
Speaker 1: Thank you for this time of the year when they're
52:24
Speaker 1: singing our songs out there, they're going through the motions,
52:28
Speaker 1: and they're even using words that they don't understand. Enable us, Lord,
52:34
Speaker 1: to fill in the blanks, to bring answers to where
52:38
Speaker 1: there are questions, and to offer hope for the wellness
52:43
Speaker 1: of people's souls. Thank you, Lord, that this week will
52:47
Speaker 1: be the first time some we'll trust in the Savior,
52:51
Speaker 1: and you'll use us in the process. Free us up
52:54
Speaker 1: to do that. Lord, make us passionate about the sharing
52:58
Speaker 1: of the message, so that there can be others who've
53:02
Speaker 1: not ever come to your Son come to him this week. Now, Lord,
53:08
Speaker 1: dismiss us with the encouraging thought that you go with
53:10
Speaker 1: us everywhere we go, every moment of our lives, waking
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Speaker 1: or sleeping, and we will walk with you enjoy and gratitude.
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Speaker 1: In the name of your Son, We pray. Everyone said Amen.
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Speaker 1: The preceding message, the Spirit's most Significant Mission, was copyrighted
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Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, and the sound recording was
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Speaker 1: copyrighted in two thousand and nine by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
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Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.