Latest / HBCWestminster / The Greatest Gift-Giver • Ephesians 1:3-14

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The Greatest Gift-Giver • Ephesians 1:3-14 · HBCWestminster

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  Well, open your Bibles, if you would, to Ephesians chapter one, Ephesians chapter one.
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  And when you've found that Ephesians chapter one and your copy of God's word, if you would
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  stand in honor of God's word, I'm going to read our text and what will become the focus
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  of our study the next three Sundays, our little mini Christmas series here in the month of
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  December, Ephesians chapter one, verses three to 14.
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  And the word of God says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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  Who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he
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  chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
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  before him and love.
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  He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of
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  his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved
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  and him.
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  We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to
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  the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us.
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  In all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his
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  purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all
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  things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
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  In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose
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  of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the
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  first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
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  In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth.
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  The gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy
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  Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise
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  of his glory.
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  And this morning, I borrow a prayer for the first Sunday of Advent from the book of common
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  prayer and allow me to pray for us.
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  Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armor
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  of light.
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  Now, in the time of this mortal life in which your son, Jesus Christ, is in the midst of
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  the world, I pray that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
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  to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to life immortal through him who
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  lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
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  Amen.
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  Amen.
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  Thank you, church.
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  You can be seated.
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  Who is the best gift giver in your family?
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  You guys have a good answer for that.
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  Is there somebody who's just better at giving gifts than others?
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  This is a loaded question in our home.
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  In fact, it's relatively political.
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  And there are strong opinions about that question in our house.
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  Knowing that I was going to preach on this this coming Sunday, I, a few days ago, sent
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  out a text to our family text group.
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  And I just said very simply, what's the best gift you've ever gotten on a Christmas morning
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  and who in our family is the best gift giver?
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  And it's funny.
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  One of the responses I got back was, here's my favorite gift I've ever gotten.
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  And I think.
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  Everyone is equally good at giving presents.
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  And I thought, what a cop out, man.
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  That was so funny.
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  Everybody is equally good.
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  I think dad and mom are equally good at giving presents.
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  And I'm like, you know what?
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  You're just angling for a better present on Christmas day.
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  That's all you're doing.
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  Have you guys ever gotten really good, like memorable Christmas presents?
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  You know, what's interesting.
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  Sometimes I find that the best Christmas presents are not always the biggest or most expensive ones.
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  Sometimes they're the ones that are.
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  They're really thoughtful and that were unexpected.
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  You know, one year, a couple of years ago, my wife, Hallie bought me for Christmas, a
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  soy sauce bottle, you know, like those ones that are on the tables at Chinese restaurants,
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  because I complained one time to her about those giant Costco bottles that they sell.
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  I like soy sauce on rice and other things.
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  So I use it a lot about those giant Costco bottles.
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  They're this big.
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  And then when you pop the top, the hole, the opening is like this.
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  And so.
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  So when you try to pour a little bit on and a little goes a long way with soy sauce, right?
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  So you try to pour a little bit on, it just gushes out and fills your plate.
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  It ruins everything.
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  And so I just complained about it one time.
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  And so for Christmas, one year, she bought me a soy sauce bottle.
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  I loved it.
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  Oh, one year for her.
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  She runs a school in our basement.
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  She calls it Gus, the Gardner underground school.
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  She homeschools a bunch of other people's kids in our basement.
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  And so one year for school for Christmas,
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  I bought her like this.
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  This old school, 1890s looking school bell, like little house on the Prairie looking thing,
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  this school bell.
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  Cause she'd let the kids go out to recess and they terrorize our backyard and whatever.
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  And then she'd go to call them in and now she can go outside and she brings this big
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  old school bell.
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  I always wonder what our, what our neighbors think and whatever, you know, as this lady's
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  out there, you know, the little house on the Prairie bell.
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  At one year, my son, Zach, his senior year of high school asked for a ghillie suit.
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  Do you guys know what a ghillie suit is?
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  A ghillie suit is like what army snipers or something where to make themselves look like
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  a Bush.
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  That's what he said.
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  He wanted number one.
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  He said on my Christmas wishlist is a ghillie suit.
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  And he started wearing that thing everywhere.
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  Here he is.
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  He was running through our neighborhood.
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  He'd just be running.
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  It was so funny.
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  He'd run through our neighborhood and then just dive into bushes or dive onto people's
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  lawns and see if he could just hide himself from people.
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  Here he is.
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  Here's his senior picture.
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  There it is.
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  Yeah.
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  It's him in the ghillie suit.
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  It's so funny.
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  I told him one time, I said, Zach, you know, he's wandering through our neighborhood wearing
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  a ghillie suit and honestly probably freaking people out a little bit, but it was funny.
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  And I just said, you know, Zach, never have you looked more like a homeschooler than you
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  do right now, right now.
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  And he said, yeah, but it's fun.
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  I know we went, uh, we went paddle boarding.
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  We went up to Dillon reservoir one year, years ago now to go paddle boarding.
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  And Zach decided to wear his ghillie suit out on the lake.
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  And I was sitting on the bank of the lake there and, um, on the shore and just watching
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  him.
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  He's out there on his paddle board and a ghillie suit.
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  And you know, Dillon reservoir, you're not allowed to have any motorized watercraft at
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  all.
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  No, no motors at all.
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  So you can do paddle boards and kayaks and sailboats.
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  A lot of people take sailboats on it, the big reservoir up there in the mountains, but
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  no motorized watercraft at all.
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  And so I'm just watching him and I'm just thinking, you know, it's so fun.
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  I'm glad he's having fun and whatever.
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  He's out there in his ghillie suit.
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  I look all the way across the lake.
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  I mean, way across.
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  You guys know, if you've been there, it's a huge reservoir.
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  I could see way across this powerboat just screaming towards us.
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  And I thought, well, that's weird.
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  You're not allowed to have powerboats on this lake.
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  And I thought, wait a minute, there's only one powerboat on this lake and it belongs
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  to the sheriff.
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  The sheriff can take a powerboat on the lake.
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  And I thought, Oh, right.
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  And he comes screaming toward us and sure enough, it's his deputy and a sheriff's boat.
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  I see him.
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  I see him pull up next to Zach.
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  I see the two of them talking.
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  And then I see Zach point at me like, okay, here we go.
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  So the boat comes pulling up and you know, deputy, what's his name?
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  And I said, nice to meet you.
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  My name's Danny and I'm Zach's dad.
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  And he says, listen, man, he was actually really cool.
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  He said, listen, man, I have one job.
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  Let's make sure people don't drown on this lake.
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  And not only is your son not wearing a life jacket, he's wearing a ghillie suit.
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  He said it just like that.
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  If he falls, he is not going to be able to swim wearing a ghillie suit.
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  And I, I, and then he said, have some common sense.
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  And I thought, you know what?
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  You're totally right.
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  I didn't not think that all the way through the Zach's actually a really good swimmer,
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  but not in a ghillie suit.
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  I thought I didn't see, I didn't think it all the way through.
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  And so I said, Hey, I'm so sorry.
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  Zach's taking the stuff off.
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  You know, he's putting his life jacket on him and he's going to go back out.
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  I'm like, ah, man, I'm so sorry.
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  You're totally right.
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  I'm sorry.
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  And he turns around, you know, speeds off or whatever.
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  And so I said, Hey, I'm so sorry.
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  So Zach has taken this stuff off and I'm like, Hey, what'd he say to you out there?
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  And he said, well, he told me at first he thought I was wearing like one of those big
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  ape suits.
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  That's what he thought.
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  But then as he got a car, he said, I could see you from across the lake.
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  What'd you say, Zach?
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  I said, that's impossible, sir.
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  I'm wearing a ghillie suit.
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  You can't see me.
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  I'm camouflaged.
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  You know how he's got me a whole bunch of gifts before, but maybe my favorite was this.
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  She bought me this pulpit when I was installed as the pastor here at the church, some 10
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  years ago or so.
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  She said, you know what?
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  I want you to have your own pulpit that nobody else has ever preached from.
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  And so she called this company that makes these makes pulpits and podiums and other
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  things for different event centers and whatever.
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  She said, I want one wood and steel and whatever.
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  Do you do anything like that?
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  And they said, yeah, actually we just did one for somebody else.
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  They had just made one for somebody else and, and he's been using it.
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  So we'll make you the identical one and the center, a picture of it.
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  I don't know if you know who that is, but that used to be Bob Dylan.
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  Bob Dylan had just ordered when you see what he's standing in front of my pulpit, it's not
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  my pulpit.
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  It's his, you know, and he preaches a different message than I preach from mine.
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  But nevertheless, there it is.
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  She bought me this pulpit.
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  I don't know who the best gift giver is in your home, but this, this coming Christmas
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  is my 50th, my 50th Christmas on this planet.
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  And in those five decades of Christmases, I've noticed a couple of things.
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  First.
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  The greatest gifts are not always the biggest or the most expensive or the flashiest.
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  The best gifts are often those which are simple, but thoughtful.
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  Those which took genuine effort, but which honestly could sometimes be overlooked in
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  the 35 years I've known the Lord, do you know what I've noticed?
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  Our God is a giving God.
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  Have you noticed that he's not a taking God?
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  I don't know how many times you've read this book, but it says a lot more times that God
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  gives way more times that God gives than that God takes away.
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  He is a giving God.
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  He is a charitable God.
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  He is a genuinely generous God.
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  In fact, it is in his nature to give.
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  And you know, what's so strange about that fact, it is a fact that God is a giving God.
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  But what's weird about that is that the people outside of these walls, I think the exact
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  opposite about the Lord that we worship, they don't think he's a giving God and many of
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  our unsaved neighbors.
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  Friends think God to be petty and selfish.
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  He's a taking God and that we, his people are just a pandering group of beggars and
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  their minds casting worthless prayers into the abyss of the universe with no real hope
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  of having those prayers heard or answered in their minds.
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  Our prayers are kind of the naive equivalent to writing letters to Santa Claus, dear Jesus,
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  dear Santa.
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  There's no difference in their minds.
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  Is God a giving God?
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  Let's look at the scriptures just for a minute.
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  I'm going to develop what scholars would call a theology of giving.
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  Now this by no means is a comprehensive list, but I'm just going to give us a smattering
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  of scriptures, which I hope will solidify the truth that we already know.
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  And that is that our God, the God of heaven is often much more willing to give than his
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  people are willing to receive.
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  Have you ever thought about that?
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  God wants the best for you.
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  Amen.
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  And sometimes you don't even want the best for you.
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  Isn't that true?
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  Sometimes we choose what is lesser, even though God has promised what is greater.
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  And so God is oftentimes more willing to give than we are willing even to receive his gifts.
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  Notice John 3 16 for God.
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  So love the world that he gave his one and only son.
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  Look at Romans eight verse 32, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for
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  us all.
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  How will he not also with him graciously give us all things that you know what Romans eight
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  says?
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  It says, if God gave you his son, what is he not willing to give you?
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  If he gave you the greatest thing, certainly he's willing to give you everything else.
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  Galatians chapter two, the apostle Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ.
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  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life.
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  I now live in the flesh.
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  I live by faith in the son of God who loved me.
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  And what does it say?
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  Gave himself for me.
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  The reality is that God gave us his son, but the deeper reality is that's not the only
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  thing he gave us.
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  He actually gave us a lot more than just Jesus.
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  Look at James chapter one, every good and every perfect gift is from above coming down
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  from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
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  Every good thing in our lives comes from who God, every single one Romans three 23 for
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  all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Romans six 23 and the wages of that
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  sin is death.
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  But the gift of God is eternal life.
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  God has given us a gift in eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
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  And so we are all sinners.
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  We are all debauched.
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  We are all wretches.
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  We are all depressed.
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  We are all craved.
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  None of us is righteous.
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  Not even one of us is seeking after God.
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  And the penalty for all of that sin and all of that rebellion is eternal death.
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  But God gave us a gift that if we want it through Jesus Christ, we can have eternal
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  life instead.
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  That's a pretty good gift.
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  Amen.
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  You guys can say amen.
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  It's all right, man.
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  That's a good gift.
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  Look at Psalm one Oh three.
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  And you want to talk about, okay, well, is it really that great to believe in Jesus?
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  Some one Oh three.
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  Okay.
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  Bless the Lord.
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  Oh my soul.
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  And all that is within me.
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  Bless his holy name.
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  Bless the Lord.
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  Oh my soul.
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  And forget not all his benefits.
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  And then the author of someone Oh three just starts listing benefits.
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  Here you go.
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  You want to know the benefits package, you know, like when you get hired, you go to
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  human resources, whatever.
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  What's the benefits package.
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  Here's the benefits package to knowing the Lord.
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  And you guys tell me if it's a pretty good benefits package.
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  All right.
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  Number one on the list who forgives all your iniquity.
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  What if that was the only one?
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  Still worth it.
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  Raise your hand real quick.
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  If you've had all of your iniquity forgiven, Oh, you guys, all of it.
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  All of it.
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  You just rose your hand.
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  Do you need to feel guilt or shame?
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  Do you need to walk around moping around like no, all of it.
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  The sin which you committed yesterday, the sin which you committed this morning on the
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  way to church.
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  Nobody could read your mind.
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  But man, there was pride.
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  And there was complaining and there was annoyed and I, and I don't like this and I'm complaining
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  and I hold myself in here and I sit there and I sing the songs and I do the thing like,
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  yep.
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  That also forgiven the sin that you'll commit tomorrow.
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  Yep.
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  Also forgiven.
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  Who forgives all of your iniquity, who heals all of your diseases, who redeems your life
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  from the pit.
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  Do you ever let your imagination, your spiritual imagination just run for a minute and wonder
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  what my life would have been like if I didn't know the Lord, if I hadn't come to Jesus,
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  you ever done that?
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  You guys who were saved later in life don't have to imagine, you know what it was like.
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  But man, you ever just wonder what would I have done my sophomore year of college?
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  It was a dark year for me.
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  I wasn't 21 yet.
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  Whatever that does for you.
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  But man, I didn't care.
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  I, man, I had some dark years and if I had chosen, if I had made slightly different choices,
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  you know, but by the grace of God, you guys, my life would have ended.
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  very very very differently than it has now anybody else would have ended up in a pit
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  that's what the author says he redeems your life from the pit he crowns you with steadfast love
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  and mercy not only did i not end up in the gutter i ended up with wearing a crown what
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  he satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles
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  with the eagles woke up this morning hallie said the temperature is 29 but it feels like 22
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  you guys ever look at that thing you're like what i don't know what that even means
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  it is 29 but it feels like 22 like well if it feels like 22 then it's 22 i i don't i don't
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  understand how they do that 29 but it feels like 22 and i said oh that's funny because i woke up
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  49 but i feel like 62 so it feels like age you know what this says you walk with the lord the
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  older you are in the lord the greater the age you will be
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  younger you feel. Isn't that cool? He restores your youth. He says, like the eagles. Listen to
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  Jesus. Jesus was the one that said it. I didn't make this up. Ask and I'll give it to you.
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  What a promise. Ask and it's yours. Can you imagine how many blessings you've missed out
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  on simply because you didn't ask? He's just waiting. Give me a reason to bless you. I want
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  to bless you. I mean, our heavenly father loves us. He loves us. And like our earthly fathers,
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  despite being depraved themselves and wicked who want to bless their kids, they enjoy giving their
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  kids presence. You guys, I love giving my son's presence. I love it. And all the more our heavenly
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  father is just saying, give me a reason. Just give me a reason to lavish blessing upon you.
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  Ask and it's yours. C.S. Lewis said it this way in the weight of glory. He said, it would seem
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  that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. It's not that we want things too
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  much. It's that we want the right things too little. We're chasing after things which are
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  useless when over here, he's got these eternal things just stored up for us.
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  He can
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  continues. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and ambition. And I misquoted it
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  here. I adapted it a little bit to make it PG. You can imagine the things that he's describing
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  that he was chasing after drink and ambition and other petty things when infinite joy is offered to
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  us. And like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he can't even
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  imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. Imagine you come across a little kid
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  living in the gutter.
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  Playing in the sewer. And you come to the kid and you say, you know what? My family is taking a
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  vacation. We've rented a beach house. Would you, would you rather play at the beach? We'll take
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  you. You're invited. You can come with us. Join my family and I, we're going to go to the beach
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  and you can dig in the sand. And the kid says, nah, I'll take the sewer because he can't even
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  imagine what the beach is like. And he says, that's what it's like. God has so much more for us.
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  And yet we continue just playing in the sewer. And he says, we are far too easily pleased. And my
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  goal this Christmas season is to take another look at the bridegroom of our hearts, to devote
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  ourselves fully to him, to fall in love with him again, to have our hearts kindled toward him again,
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  to bask in the glories of his goodness and kindness and generosity toward us as the truly
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  great gift giver. He really is the best gift giver. And before we get to verse three, however,
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  let me back up. Let me set some context.
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  And the verse is one and two. Okay. So you go back to verse one, Ephesians chapter one, notice
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  verse one says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. Now for sake of time, and because he is not going
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  to be the focus of our study the next three Sundays, I'm going to assume that you know who
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  the apostle Paul is. Former persecutor of God's people, miraculously saved, set apart as the
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  missionary to the Gentiles, evangelist, pastor, preacher, disciple maker, church planter, often
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  frequently sufferer for the gospel. That's Paul. Notice it says, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
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  by the will of God. I would say the single greatest motivating factor for Paul's ministry,
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  the fuel that kept him moving forward, despite so much opposition. If you read his biography in the
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  book of Acts, you'll realize that no matter where he went, it just seemed like he was always pushing
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  into a heaven. He was pushing into a heaven. He was pushing into a heaven. He was pushing into a heaven.
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  And the fuel, the motivator that kept Paul's ministry on the rails, despite seemingly all of
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  this opposition, constant opposition was this simple statement by the will of God. Paul had
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  no doubt in his mind what the Lord had called him to do. And so nothing and no one was going to stop
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  him. This is why he says in Acts chapter 20,
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  but I do.
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  I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. If only I may finish my
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  course in the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace
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  of God. That is my ministry. That is what he's called me to do. My job is to testify to the
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  gospel of the grace of God. And so if I succeed at all else, but fail at that one thing, I will
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  count my life a failure. That's what he says. Can I ask you before we even take another step
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  forward in the book of Ephesians, what has the Lord called you to do?
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  What is his calling on your life? Where has he called you to go? Are you willing to go where he
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  leads? Are you willing to do what he commands regardless of the difficulty of that calling?
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  Ephesians, this book is one of what is known as the prison epistles. Epistles is just a fancy
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  word for letters. Paul wrote the book of Ephesians while he was imprisoned. And all of chapter one is
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  about how blessed he is. Can you imagine that kind of perspective? He is in prison and he's
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  saying, I am so blessed. Look at all the ways the Lord has blessed me. I don't know if my attitude
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  would be blessed while I'm sitting in prison. Like, Lord, get me out of here. What am I doing
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  here? I'm wasting time. You've called me to preach the gospel of the grace of God. And yet I'm wasting
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  time here in a hole in the ground. What am I doing here? I'm wasting time. I'm wasting time. I'm
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  wasting time. What am I doing here? Get me out of here. This is not what you promised. And yet a
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  prison epistle, he's saying we are blessed. We are blessed. We are blessed. We are blessed. If you
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  guys aren't coming yet on Wednesday nights, I would encourage you to. Pastor Sam, just this last
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  Wednesday, finished an 18 month study all the way through the Old Testament. We finished the Old
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  Testament this last Wednesday. This coming Wednesday, there will be a review. He's going to
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  review the whole Old Testament. So if you've never come, this coming Wednesday is the
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  perfect time because you're going to get the whole Old Testament in 50 minutes. All right. The
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  whole thing. But this last Wednesday, he said something really interesting. And I, I wrote it
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  down because I liked it so much. Here's a quote from pastor Sam. This last Wednesday, he said
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  this, I'd rather be uncomfortable where God wants me than comfortable where he doesn't want me.
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  I'd rather be uncomfortable, but knowing confidently that I am in the center,
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  of God's will, than perfectly comfortable, but where God does not want me. Does that make sense?
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  That's what the apostle Paul says in Ephesians. He is sitting in prison and he says, you know what?
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  I'm okay. I'm where God wants me to be called by the will of God. Notice to whom Paul writes. He
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  continues in verse one. I'm going to say two groups of people. He says first to the saints
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  who are in Ephesus. He is writing to them. He's writing to them. He's writing to them. He's writing to
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  to a local church. Now the, the initial reading of this letter took place in local churches in
• 24:45
  and around Ephesus. The city of Ephesus itself was more morally, spiritually bankrupt, debauched,
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  wicked. In contrast, he says to those fellow citizens, in contrast to all of the other
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  Ephesians, you who are part of the Ephesian church are called to be saints. You see that word?
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  Now we would disagree with some other Christian traditions, which say that in order to be a saint,
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  you have to do miracles. You have to do all of these other things, right? That is not what this
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  says. Everybody, the new Testament says who is in Christ is a saint. Saint literally means called
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  out ones. You've been called out. So in the middle of all of that debauchery in Ephesus,
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  this group, this church has been called out to live a different kind of life.
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  Called out ones that John Phillips words it this way to be a saint at Ephesus. It was to be like a
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  lovely lily in a stagnant pond. Can I ask us beloved church? Are you a lovely lily in the
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  stagnant pond where God has placed you? Are you living differently than your non-Christian
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  coworkers? Is there a genuine difference in your life? You've been called out.
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  You've been called out. You've been called out. You've been called out. You've been called out.
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  You are a saint. You are called out one. I'm wondering if we've gone out. We are called out.
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  I'm wondering if we've gone out this last Thursday. I told you guys crossroads, the college Bible
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  study met at our house after we were done with singing and all of that. Hallie, my wife, and
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  another one of our young ladies, we're just sitting on the floor and talking and sharing testimonies.
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  And they talked a long time. It was like midnight or something. They talked a long time sharing
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  testimonies and just talking, encouraging one another. They have similar backgrounds. Neither
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  of them was raised in a Christian family. They have similar backgrounds. Neither of them was raised in
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  a Christian home. Hallie was the first believer in her family. This young lady, also the first
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  believer in her family, saved as a senior in high school, radically changed her life. And I could
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  overhear the two of them talking as I was walking by one of the times. And she said this, and it was
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  very simple. She just said this to Hallie. She said, when I believed the gospel, it changed
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  everything about how I live and how I think. It changed everything. When I believed the gospel,
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  that she was being raised and Hallie, the same thing. Hallie was being raised to be,
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  a liberal, progressive, and I'm not talking politically. I'm talking about morally
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  progressive and just having no standards and no values and whatever, or having very different
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  values than the scriptures described. And so when Hallie became a believer in the eighth grade,
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  it radically changed. And this young lady said the same thing. Everything I lived, everything I
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  thought when I believed the gospel changed. Has it changed for you? You are a saint.
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  You're a saint in Westminster, Colorado. You've been called out to live differently. Are you living
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  like a saint? That's the first to the local church, but notice the second audience to whom
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  Paul writes is a larger church. He says in verse one to the saints who are in Ephesus and are
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  faithful in Christ Jesus. Now, some of the earliest manuscripts of Ephesians actually don't include
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  the words in Epheso, in Ephesus. There's just a blank.
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  Early church fathers believe the reason for this was to inspire whatever church picked it up and
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  read to insert their own name there. So it would be like saying it could be, it could be read to
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  the saints who are in Westminster, Colorado to the saints of Highland Baptist church and are
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  faithful in Christ Jesus. The Ephesian saints were to remain unstained in the midst of a crooked
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  and perverse generation. And honestly, friends, so are we.
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  So are we. Notice that Paul continues this introduction by issuing a strategic greeting,
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  which accomplished two more notable things. First, he enjoins Jew and Gentile. In other words,
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  he breaks down the dividing wall of ethnicity between these two. There are no ethnic divisions
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  within the church. He continues verse two, grace to you and peace. Grace was a standard Greek
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  greeting. Peace was a standard Hebrew greeting. And so from the outset,
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  Paul's intention was just to remind his readers that there is no room for ethnic
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  division within the church. And then to drive that point home, he says, grace to you and peace from
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  God, our father. Do you see what he does? Greetings, Greeks. Greetings, Hebrews. Don't forget
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  you share a dad. So what he's saying is this, you in Christ,
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  have more in common with somebody who does not look anything like you, but is also in Christ.
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  And on the other hand, you don't have much in common actually with somebody who looks exactly
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  like you, but who is not in Christ. Your spiritual heritage, your spiritual ethnicity is much more
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  valuable than your physical ethnicity.
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  Even then, this is why I consistently call us the family of God. I greet you guys that way. Beloved
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  family, beloved church that you can even take a look around the room and just say, these are my
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  brothers and sister. I don't know the guy's name yet, but he's my brother. If he's in Christ,
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  that's my brother. That's my sister. We really are. We share a dad. And so we are brothers and
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  sisters in Christ. I raised three sons, two of whom are bigger than me. One of whom soon will be.
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  I raised three sons, two of whom are bigger than me. One of whom soon will be.
• 30:37
  I don't know what it's like to raise daughters, but here's how I did it with boys.
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  I used to say this, your brother is your built-in best friend. You're just not allowed not to be
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  friends with your brother. You're just not allowed. And if you're not friends, then you're not allowed
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  to be friends with anybody else. I had the authority in my home to do that, right? I can
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  keep my boys from making friends. In fact, there were times when they'd be bickering and this was
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  my favorite thing. Listen, I didn't read any of the parenting books. Hallie did all of that.
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  All right. So I'll just confess this might not have been the greatest idea,
• 31:07
  but this is what I did. My boys are bickering. They're little. And I just said, you know what?
• 31:13
  If you guys can't get along, I'm going to force you to get along. And so I used to, there were
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  times I would make them sit face to face, straddling each other with their legs, hugging
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  each other, chest to chest and face to face. And you're going to sit there until you can get along.
• 31:30
  Doesn't matter to me how long it is, you know? And honestly, Hallie comes to me one time. She
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  goes, I don't know if that's the best idea. I'm like, I don't know either, but let's see if it
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  works.
• 31:37
  After the service was done at first service, a lady came to me and she said,
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  my husband duct taped our daughters together.
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  Okay. She said, arm to arm, leg to leg. And they were like three leg race in the rest of the day
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  because they could not get along until you guys can get along. You're now one, you're a unit.
• 31:59
  Another dad sent me a picture and I couldn't figure out how to get it up there fast enough.
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  After the service sent me a picture and said, here's what we used to do. He's got a picture
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  of two of his sons.
• 32:09
  With these mopey looks on their face, wearing one giant t-shirt. And it was the, we can't get
• 32:15
  along t-shirt. They had written on it. Two boys in one shirt. And until you guys can get along,
• 32:20
  you're wearing one shirt. Listen, funny illustration, but the point is this. We're one.
• 32:29
  You've got built in best friends. That's what it's like. You're all one family. You share
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  a father.
• 32:38
  He continues. Notice the source of this grace and peace. It says from God, our father and the Lord
• 32:46
  Jesus, Jesus Christ. He actually equates Jesus and the father grace and peace come from the father
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  and from Jesus Christ. Now it turns out that Mary, although highly favored indeed was not full of
• 33:00
  grace. She was a sinner. She had inherited a reverence. She had inherited a reverence. She had
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  original sin, just like you and I have. She had sin in her heart that she had to repent of and be
• 33:11
  forgiven of just like you and I have. This is why in her famous Magnificat, she actually calls Jesus
• 33:15
  God and savior, my savior. She was bearing her own savior. She was not full of grace.
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  Be careful this time of year with that. It's a beautiful song, man. It's beautiful
• 33:29
  haunting almost, but be careful with Ave Maria translated. That's what it means. Hail Mary
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  full of grace.
• 33:38
  That's what it means. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women. Blessed is the
• 33:42
  fruit of thy womb. Jesus. Holy mother, Mary, Mary, a mother, holy Mary, mother of God. Pray for us
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  sinners now. And at the hour of our death, that's what Ave Maria translated means. Be careful.
• 33:53
  The source of true grace and peace is God. And in this text, we see it as also Jesus Christ
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  co-equal co-eternal coexistent with the father. So the stage has been set. We're going to
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  shift our focus starting next Sunday to the next 12 verses beginning in verse three. And the gifts
• 34:16
  described within there are six, just, I mean, bombshell kind of blessings. The Lord is going
• 34:21
  to describe for us the next two Sundays gifts. The Lord has given us by his own hand. And I don't
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  say many of which we probably take for granted. We're going to study those gifts. We're also
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  going to make some observations about the God who so richly grants us.
• 34:38
  Church, are we a blessed church and brothers and sisters? Are we a blessed people? Yes, we are. And
• 34:47
  Lord, I pray that you would this Christmas season, remind us of how blessed we truly are.
• 34:54
  Not just that Jesus came as a baby Lord. We are blessed by that certainly, but that he
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  was raised, that he grew Lord in his own maturity and understanding of even who he was
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  a Lord that he would.
• 35:09
  That he was respected among men, that he walked in perfect obedience to his heavenly father.
• 35:16
  And that he went to the cross for us, bearing the penalty for our sin,
• 35:21
  raising to new life so that we know Lord that it worked. He really did absorb the wrath. It really
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  is finished. And now Lord, you are there in heaven, just waiting to bless us,
• 35:33
  begging for us to give you, to give you reason, just to lavish your grace upon us.
• 35:39
  So Lord, we thank you.
• 35:42
  We thank you for the benefits that we have in Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.