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The Angel and the Shepherds - Glory to God in the Highest · Mount Eaton Church

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  I gotta tell you, I enjoy our service is so unique.
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  You know, to hear God's people give praise and prayer and being able to share that together
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  as a family, it is a very unique opportunity and I'm so grateful and thankful.
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  That being said, I want us to turn to Luke chapter 2.
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  What's interesting is I was thinking through this week on the message, because there's
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  a lot of Christmas messages you can pull out of scripture.
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  This happens to be our songs, again, by the guiding of the Holy Spirit, which is amazing.
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  Here we are talking about the glory of God and not letting distractions remove us from
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  those truths.
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  So let's pray.
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  Ask God to guide the words that are coming out of my mouth for His honor and glory and
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  that our hearts have been prepared to receive what He has for us today as we get through
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  the rest of this service.
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  Father, I want to thank you so much for your faithfulness and goodness.
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  Thank you for your word.
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  You are good.
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  You are the God of all creation.
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  You gave one way to salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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  And this is the beginning of the promise fulfilled, the way, the way by which you bring the good
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  news to the whole world.
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  So Lord, I pray as we go out into the world that we would be confident in the truth of
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  Christ, the gospel, and that everyone that we would come in contact with, very similar,
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  Lord, to the shepherds, that we would proclaim the good news.
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  Lord, help us to sing aloud as the hosts of heaven sung, glory to God in the highest.
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  May we be willing to scream from the rooftops to tell it on the mountain.
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  I pray that you are honored and glorified, and Lord, help us to love you supremely.
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  May the whole full counsel of your word be spoken today, and I pray, Lord, that your
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  people's hearts have prepared themselves to receive the manna that you have given us for
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  this day.
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  Lord, we praise you and thank you in Jesus' name.
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  Amen.
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  Luke chapter 2, verse 8 through 21.
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  And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their
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  flock by night.
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  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
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  That is amazing.
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  Now, Old Testament context would kind of show us some things here.
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  Think about what happens when the glory of the Lord shows up.
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  When in the Old Testament did they show up?
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  So I want you to think about this statement, because this is God's glory, deserving to
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  him and him alone.
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  So let's keep reading.
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  And they were filled with great fear, and the angel said to them, fear not, for behold
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  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
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  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
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  And this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and
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  lying in a manger.
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  And suddenly there was with the angels a multitude of the heavenly host.
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  I want to read that again.
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  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying,
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  Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
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  When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us
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  go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known
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  to us.
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  Monkey wrench number two.
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  I love monkey wrenches.
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  We won't spend a lot of time on that, but I'm just saying.
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  All right.
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  Here we go.
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  And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
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  And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning
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  this child.
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  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them, but Mary treasured up
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  all these things, pondering them in her heart.
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  And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen
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  as it had been told to them.
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  Shining story.
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  Now many probably look at the movies and you guys have rehearsed this moment that there
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  happens to be this one moment, a shining light, and in every movie I've ever watched there's
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  angels speaking.
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  But here in this particular reality of truth when you read, take the time, we see an angel.
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  The question of the day is, is it an angel or the angel?
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  I've done some research quite a bit on word study on this and the word and is not present.
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  Anything enough.
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  So the word ho, this that meaning the, is.
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  So what's that mean?
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  So let's look at the context of this.
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  But I don't want you to miss the whole principle.
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  The main part of this story is not this moment when the shepherds come face to face to the
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  reality of the chief shepherd.
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  It's this moment when they go as a result of the impact of the good news in their life.
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  This is what happens when a heart is changed.
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  That's the moment of the story.
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  They come face to face with the savior of the world wrapped in swaddling clothes and
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  what was told to them was so impactful that they go and they share this news with everyone.
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  Why the shepherds?
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  See, most people when they have important news to tell others, there's typically nothing
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  to stop them from letting everyone they know about it.
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  It's God we got to tell you.
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  This is good news.
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  Everybody's like this.
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  I haven't met any person that's like, I got great news and I'm just going to keep it to
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  myself.
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  It's just in the heart of man I think.
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  But when there is good news like this, like this news at this moment, many celebrate it
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  and tell everyone about it, even strangers.
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  That's what happens when you have good news, this kind of news.
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  This is the greatest news of all time.
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  This moment in world history was critical.
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  This is a pinnacle moment and God has chosen to reveal the truth of this moment in this
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  way.
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  We have to pay attention to it.
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  We can't miss the point of this moment.
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  What we do?
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  Why?
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  Because we get wrapped up in the Christmas moment instead of wrapped up in the gospel
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  moment.
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  The announcement to all creation that the king was born and God himself had come to
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  save his people.
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  That's the announcement that they got from the angel and from the multitude of angels
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  present.
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  Glory to God in the highest.
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  This promise that was made at the fall, I will put an enmity between you and the woman
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  between her seed and your seed and he will crush your head but you will bruise his heel
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  or he will bruise your head and you will bruise his heel depending on your translation.
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  The reality of this moment has now been fulfilled.
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  This is the savior himself, the God of all creation born and that the promise that this
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  child would be born of a virgin has been completed.
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  He's born and he's born wrapped in claws that you wrap your sheep in.
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  Happened to be born in the city where sheep of sacrifice were brought.
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  Happened to be born and laid in a trough, a manger which is actually a stone, youned
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  out for water.
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  That the God of everlasting water is laying in a manger who is also the rock of your salvation.
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  It's not by coincidence it happens to be this particular manger.
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  In a house, not a hotel, not a motel, an inn which is the bottom of a home where shepherds
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  would live because they would bring their sheep in, protect them.
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  Just happened to be that time of year it was safe for them to wander and go out into the
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  fields at night.
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  Interesting.
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  Freedom, this is what I think, I want you to think about this proclamation.
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  It's like freedom is at hand.
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  The promised Messiah who has come to set you free is here.
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  The promise has been fulfilled and the angels say go and find the child wrapped in swaddling
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  clothes.
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  Come and see the same response that Jesus has with his disciples when he meets them
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  for the first time.
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  Come and see.
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  Where are you staying?
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  Come and see.
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  Have you ever noticed that every gospel moment throughout scripture is a come and see moment?
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  Why the shepherds?
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  Because the chief shepherd had come to the shepherds.
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  We read that last week, did we not?
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  And Jesus prayed for his disciples that the father would keep shepherd, guard, keep watch
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  over his people.
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  Do you see the heart of Jesus here?
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  It's the constant shepherding moment.
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  How can we miss this moment in the scripture?
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  Because we're wrapped up in the story of Christmas.
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  We're wrapped up in the excitement of the moment and the Hollywood of this time of year
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  that we miss some very important things.
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  So I want you to kind of think through this.
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  This is going to be a little bit challenging.
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  Principle number one.
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  When God gives good news, it is worthy of the highest exaltation.
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  When God gives good news, it is worthy of the highest exaltation.
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  Now I want you to get this.
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  The greatest gift given to mankind is worthy of all creation and all the heavenly host
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  to sing praises.
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  The question is, who delivered this good news?
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  Verse eight, we're going to go through each verse again.
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  And in the same region, there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their
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  flock by night.
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  Same word in John 17, just letting you know.
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  And here it says, an angel of the Lord appeared to them.
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  Is it an angel or is it the angel?
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  Because every time an angel shows up, they declare who they are to man.
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  But any time in the scripture you see the angel of the Lord appeared to them, it's
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  expected that they know.
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  And the response that these shepherds have is the same response to everyone who comes
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  face to face with a theophany response.
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  I want you to think about this.
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  Who better than to proclaim the good news than maybe, just maybe, the God of all creation?
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  I'm going to give you more as we think through this process.
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  And this is quite different.
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  I trust me, I know.
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  It says, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
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  The glory of what?
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  Ah, how could we miss that?
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  Everybody thinks this, oh, the glory of the Lord is just a shining light.
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  No, this is the glory of God there.
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  This is not the glory of the angelic beings.
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  This is the glory of the Lord.
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  This is an important moment, so important that when he enters into world history, the
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  proclamation of himself is done with a purposeful intent.
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  God is purposefully attentive in what he's about to do here.
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  Wow.
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  What a beautiful day.
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  And the scripture says, and they were filled with great fear.
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  Now, if you remember, the reason why I think people get this mixed up a little bit is because
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  there's this moment that Mary asks when Gabriel shows up.
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  And we know it's Gabriel because God actually says, hey.
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  I mean, Gabriel says, hey.
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  I'm like, I'm Gabriel.
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  And it's so shocking that she's like afraid.
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  And he says, Mary, don't be afraid.
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  It's okay.
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  Don't be afraid, Mary.
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  But here, I want you to notice what verse 10 says.
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  And the angel said to them, fear not.
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  Doesn't that sound like the Lord?
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  Isn't that what he says to his disciples?
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  Fear not, I'm with you.
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  It's okay.
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  They're so afraid, greatly afraid, that the angel said to them, now understand this word
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  angel, and this is where I think a lot of people get it messed up, is the word angelos,
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  or ang-el-os, depending on how good your Greek is.
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  And that word literally just means messenger.
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  That's all it means.
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  Okay?
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  And this is what the messenger says, fear not, behold, I bring you good news of great
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  joy that will be for all the people.
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  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord.
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  And you're probably going to ask, well, how can it be Jesus if Jesus is born?
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  Well, I never said it was Jesus, because if you read the story in Genesis 19, Abraham
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  is confronted with a theophany, where the persons of God stand before him, and he has
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  a wonderful conversation.
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  Abraham, go do what you said.
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  The scripture says, and they said, do as you said.
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  Go get my food.
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  We'll sit down, we'll have a nice little conversation.
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  There are moments throughout world history, biblical history, when a theophany appears.
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  Moses in the burning bush.
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  Is that not an important news?
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  Why would God send an angel there?
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  How come every time there's an important message that has to be spoken to a people, God shows
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  up?
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  Very interesting.
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  Just some thoughts to think about as you guys are thinking through the scripture, and as
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  you're thinking about Christmas, how important this moment in world history is.
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  Out of all of the things we know, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, what the most
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  important thing is.
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  What is it?
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  The gospel.
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  First Corinthians 15 verses 1 through 4, we know.
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  Why would God not do this with the shepherds too?
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  Why would he change?
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  Verse 11, he says, for unto you was born this day in the city David, a savior who is Christ
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  the Lord.
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  Would this angelic, this messenger be a theophany?
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  And this is what it says, and this will be a sign for you, you will find a baby wrapped
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  in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
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  What an amazing moment.
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  Now granted, I think there are many that would say, well, that doesn't kind of fit the whole
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  story.
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  But remember, you're taking a story that is found in Matthew and in Luke only.
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  And you're combining all that information to come to one conclusion.
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  When if you read chapter 2 of Luke, and the clarity by which it is spoken, you clearly
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  start to see there's a much bigger important message here.
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  Principle number 2.
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  So the praise and song that changed everything, this one declaration in verse 14, when God
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  keeps his promises, the whole world knows about it.
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  And suddenly there with the angel, with the messenger, a multitude of heavenly hosts praising
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  God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those whom he is
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  pleased.
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  You ever notice this when you've read this, or have we have always assumed that he's just
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  one angel among many?
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  Or could this be Gabriel?
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  I don't know if the language implies that.
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  But interesting enough, if it is a theophany, or if it's not a theophany, it doesn't change
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  the impact of the reality of what happens here.
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  I'm just very careful not to give God's glory away, which belongs to him and him alone.
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  Teaching the full counsel of God is very important.
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  Why is this word, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among those whom he is
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  pleased?
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  Very important statement here first.
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  To God and God alone be glory.
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  That's what he's saying here.
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  That's what the multitude of heavenly hosts are praising God, singing here.
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  Glory to God in the highest.
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  Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.
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  This is what he's saying here.
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  The God of all creation deserves glory.
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  Only he alone who is the El Shaddai, the Adonai, he alone deserves the glory.
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  But what have we done during Christmas?
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  We have removed the glory of God from this moment because we get wrapped up and too busy
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  with the stuff that's around us that we forget who this is really all about.
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  And the glory of God, he brings upon the earth by declaring peace among those with whom he
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  is pleased.
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  Now some translations would say peace on earth and goodwill to men.
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  No, it's actually peace on earth and among those whom he is pleased.
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  Who is he pleased?
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  Who is he pleased with?
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  His people.
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  Why did he come to the shepherds?
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  They're his people.
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  There is people.
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  Principle number three, there is only one response to be made at this moment.
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  That is go tell it on a mountain and shout it from the rooftops.
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  Look at what the shepherds do.
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  When verse 15 through 20, when the angels went away.
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  This is one of the reasons why many would teach or declare that this particular angel,
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  this messenger who came and shared this news has to be an angel.
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  Because this word here, when the angelos went away from them into heaven.
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  Could it be multiple?
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  It is multiple when you read the previous verses.
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  So they imply that maybe this is them.
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  Or could it be the theophany?
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  Or could it be just Gabriel among many other angels?
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  I'm going to let you dig this out a little bit.
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  I know where I stand on it.
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  Why?
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  Because God and God alone deserves all the glory at this moment.
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  And I'm not willing to share his glory with anyone else.
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  The shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see the thing that
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  has happened which the Lord has made known to us.
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  This is very clear in the language here.
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  This is not which the angels have made known to us.
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  This is which the Lord has made known to us.
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  Man, we got this news from God.
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  We need to go.
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  Let's prove this out.
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  Let's go see.
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  Verse 16, and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger,
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  just as he had said.
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  And when they saw it, they made known the same that had been told to them concerning
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  this child.
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  And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
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  Now I want you to get this moment because now it makes this one statement in verse 19
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  so much more impactful.
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  Because if this was some type of maybe angelic moment, she's already had one of those.
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  But if this is Jesus or this is the Holy Spirit or if this is God the Father, if this is a
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  theophany, wouldn't it make Mary think a little bit deeper?
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  And that's what verse 19 says.
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  These little verses are purposeful.
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  God is amazing in His intent in this moment, but Mary treasured up all these things, pondering
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  them in her heart.
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  Wow.
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  She was in awe.
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  That the God of all creation, she birthed and is laying right there.
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  And yet could the God of all creation just told these shepherds to go and see?
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  What a treasure of truth.
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  What a treasure.
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  Could it just be?
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  Verse 20, and the shepherds returned as a result of all that they experienced.
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  Look what it says, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as
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  it had been told to them.
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  What do you think a shepherd's going to go and do?
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  He's going to go tell everybody this is the impact of the gospel, the reality of the living
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  coming in contact with the living God.
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  Could this be?
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  Could this be that amazing moment?
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  And trust me, I was praying.
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  I'm like, Lord, are we really going to talk about this?
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  And I was really thinking about a different part of the, it didn't go that way.
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  And I'm okay with that.
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  Because what a powerful, amazing, omnipresent God we have.
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  Do we miss the omnipresence of the holy God of all creation in this moment?
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  Do we really think that the triune God who was present at creation, who had chased away
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  the darkness, the or, when the or, which is known as the foes in the New Testament, when
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  the foes comes into his creation, that the father and the Holy Spirit wouldn't be present?
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  If he was present creating the world, I have to assume he might just be present here too.
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  And the light of all creation enters into man's human world to chase away the darkness
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  of your sin.
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  Is it not God's right and responsibility to his promise to proclaim that for himself?
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  I believe so.
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  I believe so.
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  I know this is quite different.
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  But God's glory is too important.
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  And I was like, Lord, this is a heavy truth.
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  My glory, it's his glory, belongs to no one but him.
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  I'm okay with that.
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  So as you think about this Christmas day, this Christmas Eve, as you go into tomorrow
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  celebrating the first coming of our Lord God, our King, and how he has chosen in all creation
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  to proclaim to the creation of the world, I am here, glory to God in the highest.
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  I am the peace giver.
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  The Prince of Peace has entered the world.
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  I want you to think about that.
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  Could this be?
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  Could this just be the angel of the Lord and not an angel of the Lord?
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  I would contend in my opinion that Old Testament context and New Testament context of the presence
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  of the word of God is clear.
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  The hard part is, are we willing to submit to it?
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  I struggled with that.
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  This changes a lot in how I look at God.
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  The only thing I can do in my heart is prostrate before him in awe and wonder and say to him,
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  glory to God in the highest and peace among those whom he has pleased.
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  Father, I want to thank you for this amazing story, the reality of the impact of the gospel
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  and the life of these shepherds.
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  This moment in all creation, this one moment in world history, Lord, you have come in and
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  declared your presence among your people that you have chosen through your purpose and plan
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  and promise to tabernacle among your people.
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  There is no one else in all of creation who deserves that proclamation and truth but you.
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  Lord, I pray that we reflect on the deepness of the truth of this intentional moment in
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  world history.
• 33:23
  When light came into the world and darkness has not understood it, but to those who call
• 33:33
  on you, to those whom you have saved, you have given us the right to be called children
• 33:47
  of God.
• 33:48
  We thank you and praise you.
• 33:49
  In Jesus' name, amen.