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Christmas: Whatzit For? · Rick Manis Ministries Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_00: All right.
0:01
SPEAKER_00: Merry Christmas.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: I do have a Christmas message to share.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: It's Christmas themed.
0:06
SPEAKER_00: It's no secret to most people that know me that I love Christmas, and that's so that's okay.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm inclusive.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: I learned last week that there are about four of us that hate Christmas, I think.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: But we love the reason nonetheless.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: But and and I I guess I get it.
0:22
SPEAKER_00: I guess there would be reasons, I guess, to not like it.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: I I I guess I just overlooked them.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: But there's so much I like about it.
0:29
SPEAKER_00: And I always mention this.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: One thing that I love about the season is I think that the pure gospel gets preached this time of year.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: In all of the Christmas songs, Christmas cards that you read, whole message that says, you know, there's no there's no damnation, no condemnation in it.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: There's no message that says, unto us a child was born, a son is given, but boy, you better walk straight.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Or you better do this or else.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: It's all about his intention, God's giving.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: It's his love toward us, it's his attention to us.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: And while we we say that he is the reason for the season, he is.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: But to him, you are his reason for this very season.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Or for coming, is what we're celebrating, for him coming, being born in a manger.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: And so I want to talk about that and and and talk about talk about Christmas.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: What is it for?
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Who is it for?
1:20
SPEAKER_00: And specifically, uh I want to direct it to the first Christmas, of course, the when the child is was born.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: And it's I want to base all of this on a verse from Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, uh, that we hear a lot this time of year.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: We see it on our Christmas cards and things.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: And it says, For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given.
1:39
SPEAKER_00: For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Now that's not a it starts with the word for.
1:46
SPEAKER_00: So some of you English people that understand English real well better than some of us might know.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: I heard that this is not a complete sentence, because it's got the word for, or which means because, and so the things that are said before that actually go along with this.
2:01
SPEAKER_00: So there are things that are said, and those are true because unto us a child is born.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Now, so what we have here is a subordinate clause, and I use that to get in this little joke here.
2:12
SPEAKER_00: Even Santa, we could say, for Santa even bows to the Lord.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: It's a subordinate clause.
2:17
SPEAKER_00: See, thank you, both of you that got that.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: He is a subordinate clause.
2:20
SPEAKER_00: There's a song that says, even the song Here Comes Santa Claus, there's a line that says, Santa Claus knows we're all God's children, that makes everything right.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: So let's give thanks to the Lord above, because Santa Claus comes tonight.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: All right, unto us a child is born.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: For unto us, because this child is born and the son is given, these other things are true.
2:39
SPEAKER_00: So we're going to back up in Isaiah 9, and I'm going to read the verses that lead up to that.
2:44
SPEAKER_00: And there actually is a list there of reasons why we needed Christmas.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: And Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2 opens us up to the first one.
2:54
SPEAKER_00: The first point I want to make is that Christmas, the child coming, being born, heals our eyesight.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: It gives us the ability to see.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2 says that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: And those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: So this was the prophetic utterance that says, This is what's going to happen, because this child will be born.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: This son will be given.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: Those who walked in darkness.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: Darkness means blindness.
3:28
SPEAKER_00: It means ignorance.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: It means the inability to see eternal reality.
3:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, if we can, if it were night outside and we and we turn off every light in here, it would be pitch black and you wouldn't be able to see anything, but it doesn't mean that nothing exists, right?
3:43
SPEAKER_00: This would still be here if we turned all the lights out right now.
3:47
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you couldn't see it, but the reality is that it would be here nonetheless.
3:51
SPEAKER_00: Jesus coming as the Savior comes, and he the first thing that's mentioned is he heals our eyesight.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's a uh from what I've read, there's a metaphor that's used in psychological circles.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: And when they say walking in darkness, it often means to hide one's true self out of fear of judgment or rejection.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: To walk in darkness.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: That would be a lost sense of identity.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.
4:21
SPEAKER_00: He comes to heal our eyesight, he comes to reveal things, he comes to let us know, he comes to give us value.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: We sang a song today that says, Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till he appeared, and the soul felt its worth.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: And I love the next verse also, and that says, A thrill of hope.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: A weary world rejoices.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: Thank God that unto us a child was born and a son was given.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: Now, there was an announcement from an angel that said, you know, that unto you is born this day a savior, which is Christ the Lord.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: A Savior.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: It was announced right there when he was born that he is a savior.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: Now, what I want to do is spend a few minutes here because this is important for us to know is what does what did it what did the angel mean when it said, a savior is born to you?
5:15
SPEAKER_00: And what were they thinking also when they heard that?
5:18
SPEAKER_00: A savior is born.
5:20
SPEAKER_00: Now, we most of us we have either grown up or we've got a tradition somehow of being taught about Jesus and saving and salvation, and he's the savior, and so we're well versed in using that language, but in our minds we might have something else in mind than what the angel was talking about and what Jesus Himself was talking about in his teaching.
5:42
SPEAKER_00: But it's interesting that that you know, when people heard that, do we think that they were thinking the promise is happening, the person that God promised in the Old Testament, the day has come, this child is born, and he will grow and he will be our savior.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Were they thinking, good, we don't have to suffer an eternal fire anymore?
6:05
SPEAKER_00: Is that what they were thinking?
6:06
SPEAKER_00: I mean, do we see any evidence of that?
6:09
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what a lot of us are thinking about when we think of a savior.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: I think that what a lot of them actually thought in those days, they were looking for a national savior or a savior of the people corporately, that they were looking, and they knew what that word meant.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the word there is the word soteria in Greek.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: And if you've ever looked it up, you see that what to save or salvation means is well-being, wholeness, uh, healing is in it, preservation, deliverance, a wellness.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: So to them, it seemed that it meant that it would be a preservation of their nation.
6:41
SPEAKER_00: It would be a deliverance of their nation.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: And they were thinking specifically at that time of from the Romans and their oppression, the well-being of the nation, that they would be strong and mighty again, maybe like they were in the days of Solomon.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: They look back to that.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, they say they were looking for a savior that was a mega savior, that he came with the M-I-G-A, make Israel great again.
7:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, they were that's that was the the kind of maybe that was their kind of savior.
7:05
SPEAKER_00: But they, but you know, I've I've I thought, you know, way back in the 90s, I started thinking about this, and I thought, how is it that we've got all these, the thickest part of the Bible, if you divide it into old and new, the we got the Old Testament, and for all these pages and all of these years, nobody is suffering eternal damnation.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus comes, and now people do.
7:30
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't anywhere in the old, we didn't, it wasn't an issue.
7:33
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a something for anybody who talked about or feared or anything.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, that's that's a whole other thing, but it's it starts another thing.
7:40
SPEAKER_00: But but there was a Savior.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: He did come to save.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: That's the point I want to make.
7:44
SPEAKER_00: That's the point I want to make, that he did come to save, but what did he what did he come to save?
7:48
SPEAKER_00: He really came to do what 1 Peter 1.9 says that the that the goal of our faith or the end of our faith is to is the salvation or the soteria of our souls, the well-being of our soul, the wholeness, the wellness, the healing, the preservation of our souls.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: And in our soul, there's a lostness, an identity.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: I know, because I lived it.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: I look back at that and I think, man, I was as blind as a goose in a snowstorm.
8:15
SPEAKER_00: I did not know, nor could I see, nor did I understand, just as the scripture says.
8:20
SPEAKER_00: Didn't know who I was, didn't know who God was, didn't know who you were, didn't know, but I'm just going along in life and I'm groping in darkness.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: And because of Christmas, because unto us a child is born, and a son is given, I once was blind, but now I see.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: Christmas did that.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: The son being born, the child being, the child being born, the son being given, did that for me.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: And it and it began to bring soteria to me.
8:47
SPEAKER_00: Now, soteria to me is not what I think in the church world.
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Here's where people have a problem.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: And this is this is not my message, but I want to touch on this because I want to talk about soteria.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about real salvation.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: I think that that where people have a problem, people get spooked with a lot of things because somehow they thought that soteria was all about just the afterlife.
9:09
SPEAKER_00: But my soteria for all these years has been the restoration of my soul.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: And I love my soteria, my salvation.
9:17
SPEAKER_00: I love who he is.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: I love what he came for, what he's done, what he means to me, what that's going to mean for all of my eternity.
9:26
SPEAKER_00: In him, I find my identity.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: In him, I find that I'm worthy of love.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: In him, I find that there's nothing wrong with me, even though I've got these human characteristics that you could call flaws or maybe imperfections.
9:39
SPEAKER_00: I don't like, I'm changing my language about those things now.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: Because you're fearfully and wonderfully made.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: You're wonderfully made, and you're you're God's child, and you're loved, and you're valuable and you're precious.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: And even if you were lost, even if you were a lost coin, you still never lost your value.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: And if you were a lost sheep, you stayed a sheep, you didn't become a snake.
9:57
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: Long lay the world in sin, missing the mark and error, pining until he appeared, and the soul, the soul felt its worth.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: Soteria, he came to bring us back to our identity, came to show us who we were, to show us who he was, to show us such great love, to show us this connection and union that we have with him, and to and to obliterate the lies that we find that we that we that we feel in darkness.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: The lies that say, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
10:33
SPEAKER_00: The lies that say that you're not worthy and you never can be unless you could complete all these laws and rules and rites and rituals or whatever it is that has been prescribed.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: You know, Jesus said, In my father's house there are many mansions.
10:46
SPEAKER_00: If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And there again, we read that and we we we somehow we project that into an afterlife thing.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: I remember being in church and and I'd hear the preachers and they would they that would that would preach about those mansions, and they'd they'd they'd say, These rich people these days, they think they've got it going on.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh, just wait till they see my mansion.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: Ah, Jesus has been working on my house for so long that I can't wait to see it.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have the greatest mansion, it's gonna put any of their homes to shame.
11:14
SPEAKER_00: And everybody would get excited.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: But me in my brain, I'm I would so often think, so that's it.
11:22
SPEAKER_00: We so we, you know, we suffer persecution, we deny the flesh, we say no to so many things, we make it to church three nights a week, we do all these things, we redo all this stuff, we we we we we dress weird, we sing different songs, we our hair's different, every we do all this stuff and live this life, and when it's all over, you get a house.
11:41
SPEAKER_00: But the word mansions, I found out, was not what we think.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: That word has morphed over time, and and when King James in 1611 used that word, they all understood it differently.
11:51
SPEAKER_00: They didn't think it was a mansion was this giant ornate house.
11:55
SPEAKER_00: They, to them, a mansion was a dwelling place or a room.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: That's what mansion meant.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: But it has changed over time.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: It's good to know those kinds of things, because what he's saying is in my father's house there's many rooms.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: There's many places that now here's another thing.
12:10
SPEAKER_00: When he said my father's house, what do you think he's talking about?
12:13
SPEAKER_00: The mind goes to the heaven, right?
12:18
SPEAKER_00: Up in heaven, out there.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: That's where the mind goes to.
12:21
SPEAKER_00: But see, we're 2,000 years and 2,000 miles removed from the people that he was talking to.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: And when they hear the father's house, they they have a different idea of what he's talking about.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he's already called this place the father's house a couple of different times.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: The temple.
12:36
SPEAKER_00: He goes out and clears the temple out, and he says, My father's house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, for all people, even when he was twelve years old and his parents who forgot him or something.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what they did, but they came back days later and they they they come back and they're mad at him, and they're the ones that forgot him.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: That was another one.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, he says the way it usually reads is that shouldn't I be about my father's business?
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Well, that word could be meaning also the house.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: And in some translations it is, it does say, isn't it right for me to be in my father's house?
13:05
SPEAKER_00: So he's calling the temple the house.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: Now, the thing about the house, there were all these many different partitions in these places, and you had, of course, the most holy place, the holy of holies, and then you had the the the sanctuary, which was another holy place, and then you had that in that day it was a portico which served as an outer court there, and then they had more that went around that.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: Then they had the court, then they had the court of the priests, where the priests could go, but not any other kind of man.
13:30
SPEAKER_00: But then they had outside of that, then they had where the men could go, but not the women.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: But then they had a place where the women could go, but not the non-Jewish ones.
13:40
SPEAKER_00: And so they had the place where the Gentiles could go, and every one of these was less holy than the other, the most holy place being the in the deepest part of it.
13:51
SPEAKER_00: And they all had these delineations here, and it was this is more holy than that, and this these people can be here because they're more holy than them, and they're more holy than that.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: The priests are more holy than the men, the men are more holy than the women, but even a woman's more holy than a gentile.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: And you know, and they had all of that.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at Jesus, you see him, you see him ignoring those partitions.
14:16
SPEAKER_00: In fact, between the Gentiles and the women, there's a a sign on that four and a half foot wall there that says, Nobody, no, no, no, no, no Gentile is allowed to pass past this point.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Judy knows that I'm a stickler for those no trespassing signs.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: Man, I obey, right?
14:34
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's another, that's an inside joke.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: Cost me$1,500 one time.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: And she told me the sign says, and I said, Yeah, but that's for other people.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: That's not us.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus, the Bible said, broke down the wall of partition.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: With Jesus, he elevated the woman.
14:51
SPEAKER_00: He elevated the Gentile, he elevated the sinner, he elevated the Samaritan, elevated the Gadderene when he went to the man, the demoniac, who's out there, out there running around tearing his clothes and cutting himself and all that, obviously, trauma victim, severe trauma victim.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus goes to this man that's that's demonic and like, oh, what did he do to get a demon?
15:13
SPEAKER_00: He must have been horrible, must have been a horrible man, must have done some horrible thing, but he needed to be saved.
15:19
SPEAKER_00: He needed his soul restored, and Jesus restored the man's soul.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: Paul said in the Psalms 23, you restore, David said in Psalm 23, You restoreth my soul.
15:29
SPEAKER_00: Soteria, Soteria, when he takes down the partitions, even splitting the veil of the holy of holies, so that there's nothing, no kind of separation, no kind of division.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: For there is not male or female, Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, number for all are one in Christ Jesus.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he takes down that whole thing, and so that place that had many rooms, he made one place, a place for you.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: One place for us all.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: There is not the holy, the less holy, the less holy, the less holy in the Father's house.
16:05
SPEAKER_00: Christmas does that.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: Christmas reveals it.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: Next point is that Christmas brings joy for everyone.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: According to the Scripture, Christmas brings joy for everyone.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 9, verse 3 says, You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as as when as when men rejoice when they divide the the the spoil.
16:27
SPEAKER_00: This is true, because unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given because of Christmas.
16:34
SPEAKER_00: The nation of Israel that this was written to, spoken to, was multiplied.
16:38
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just a group of people there in the Middle East.
16:41
SPEAKER_00: It was greatly multiplied.
16:42
SPEAKER_00: It's you, it's me.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: It's all we see the multiplication.
16:45
SPEAKER_00: This was going to happen because of the because Christmas came, because a child was born and a son was given, and there would be rejoicing.
16:52
SPEAKER_00: They would, the joy would increase, and he said, they would rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, or like when they won a battle and they're dividing the spoil.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: There's a relief, there's a joy, there's a celebration.
17:03
SPEAKER_00: It's like, woo, harvest time.
17:05
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting that we have celebration all this season to this day all over the world.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Some are more aware of the reason for the season than others.
17:16
SPEAKER_00: But the celebration goes on.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: There's something about the joy of the season.
17:21
SPEAKER_00: You've increased its joy.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Well, the soteria does that because Jesus came to be the Savior, the one who would bring the Soteria.
17:30
SPEAKER_00: Also, when we think of saving, salvation, save, the word safe is there.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what it is for the soul to finally feel safe?
17:40
SPEAKER_00: I use that word a lot when I counsel or pray for people.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: I just find myself more than anything.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: I want you to know that you're safe.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: You're loved, you're cared for.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: I don't always know how to fix the problem you might be dealing with.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: I can't always promise you, you know, you guys line up, I'll tap you on the head and it'll stop.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it might.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: I've been around enough to see it.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: But what your soul soul prosperity, soul health, soul well-being comes to a realization because it sees something, it knows something.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has has done away with the darkness and opened up our eyes so we could behold a loving, good, caring, wonderful Father, something they didn't weren't seeing before Jesus came, before that first Christmas.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: And seeing that you're safe.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: Because in the situations that you deal with in life, maybe things have happened to you where you it's hard for you to ever feel safe.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: You get stressed, you get worried, you get you get afraid, you get angry, you have all these things going on, and you probably came by those feelings honestly.
18:44
SPEAKER_00: But for the soul to be restored, a savior has come to give you rest for your soul, to bring peace on earth, and to save your soul, or to make your soul feel safe.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: Soteria, well-being.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: The soul gets healed.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: The soul knows that it's forever in the house of the Lord.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: The soul knows that it's cared for.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: The soul maybe you don't know how to how you're gonna get through this thing that you're dealing with, but you know that ultimately, ultimately, you're safe.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Even if you're at physical death's door, you can you can have the assurance that you're safe.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: I need to push some of this along, going on a couple of uh trails here.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: But everyone that I have ever known that has told of an instance where they actually had a near-death experience every single time a sense of peace and safety came upon them.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: Well they they just they they were when they resigned themselves to it, they knew that all was well.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: They were safe every single time.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: And ultimately that's the truth.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: As we grow, as the Savior continues to show and reveal things to us, we we come into more awareness of that.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I'm excited about the growth for me and for you, for all of us, that there's such room for, and it can get so much better because unto us a day has dawned.
20:16
SPEAKER_00: His name is Jesus.
20:17
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 2 talks about this increase of joy.
20:21
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10 says, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, Christmas is not what's Christmas for?
20:30
SPEAKER_00: Let me say who's Christmas for?
20:32
SPEAKER_00: It's not for the Christian, it's for all the people, for the world.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: Let everyone know they're loved, they're cared for.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: God so loved the world, he didn't just love the Jews in that day, and then he switched it over to where he just loves the Christians in these days, or just two groups or three groups, that this would be the salvation for all the people.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
20:51
SPEAKER_00: Does that mean that everybody has received that into their life, their heart?
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Are they aware of it?
20:56
SPEAKER_00: No.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: And is is believing important?
20:59
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely it is.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: Read your Bible.
21:00
SPEAKER_00: It's got the New Testament, especially, got believing on every every page, just about believing or faith.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, isn't that important?
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Isn't don't you have to believe?
21:09
SPEAKER_00: But well, if you if you're going to experience these things we're talking about, Jesus said, if you believe that believing it, see, I didn't I didn't used to believe any of this.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: And you know what?
21:20
SPEAKER_00: I didn't experience any of it.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: But I started to believe something.
21:24
SPEAKER_00: I started to believe someone.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: I talk about a grace awakening when I finally believed, after 40 years of existence and 20 of it being a Christian, where I finally believed that God loved me unconditionally.
21:42
SPEAKER_00: Before that, I was not experiencing feeling the love that was unconditional until I believed it.
21:50
SPEAKER_00: Was God always loving me?
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Was I always safe?
21:53
SPEAKER_00: Was I safe?
21:54
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I was there, I was with him, he cared about me, he loved me, was God didn't change when I believed, but when I believed, I started to experience what happens when you know that kind of love that was there before the lights even turned on.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus came to turn the lights on.
22:12
SPEAKER_00: For God had already been so loving the world, and he so loved that he gave.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: It's good news for everybody.
22:18
SPEAKER_00: Well, what about the Muslim, the Hindu, that this if they don't know, let them know.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: Let them know about this love.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: How shall they hear with how shall they call on him that they haven't heard?
22:27
SPEAKER_00: And how can they hear without a preacher and how one preach except he go?
22:30
SPEAKER_00: It's good news.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: What a wonderful, beautiful message of God's love, unconditional love for all of mankind.
22:37
SPEAKER_00: What else does Christmas for?
22:38
SPEAKER_00: It removes the removes the requirements.
22:42
SPEAKER_00: We know this basic tenet of believing in an amazing grace.
22:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, when I see these words yoke and burden, my mind goes to some New Testament scripture.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: When you see the word yoke, anybody got a New Testament verse in mind that you think of that refers to yoke?
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, maybe maybe it was Jesus said that my yoke is easy, my burden is light.
23:14
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some of you thought, uh, well, don't be unequally yoked.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, they kind of go together there, kind of, because to be unequally yoked, he said, Don't do that, because you're going to be carrying all the weight here.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says, Take my yoke upon you, because I'll carry all the weight.
23:26
SPEAKER_00: My yoke is easy, my burden is light.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: That's grace.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: It's all on him and not on us, right?
23:31
SPEAKER_00: The old yoke that put a heavy burden upon us.
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Remember, Jesus said, He was talking to the Pharisees, of course, and he says, He says, You hypocrites, he says, He says, You devour widows' houses, and you lay heavy burdens on them that are hard to bear.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: You lay heavy burdens on them that are hard to bear, and you don't lift a finger to help them bear it.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: Conversely, that he tells us later on, say, he goes, Come to me.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: If you're tired, if you're heavy laden, if you've got a lot of burdens on you that's hard to bear, come to me.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: My yoke is easy, my burdens light.
24:03
SPEAKER_00: You'll find rest for your souls.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: Man, you taste the grace of God.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: You taste the truth, and you start to see how gracious He He really is and how much He really loves you.
24:10
SPEAKER_00: You you you get enthralled with that love.
24:12
SPEAKER_00: You get, you just, you just I can't get enough of it.
24:16
SPEAKER_00: Been in this for decades, and and I just and and I and I love hearing somebody talk about God's grace and love.
24:22
SPEAKER_00: I never get a feeling like, oh, they're talking about grace.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: I already got that one down.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: I knew that one 30 years ago.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: I don't I don't get that.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: This thing feeds my soul, this thing restores my soul, this thing, this thing continue, has a has a growth in it that the increase of it, there will be no end.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: But he says, he says, you devour widows' houses and you put heavy burdens on people that are grievous to bear, and you don't lift a finger to help.
24:47
SPEAKER_00: You ever notice what happened right after that?
24:49
SPEAKER_00: Read it if you never have noticed it.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: Right after that, he sees a widow woman putting her money into the treasury, and she gives two mites, and he stops and he gets their attention.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: He says, Guys, look at this.
25:03
SPEAKER_00: She's given more than anybody.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: She's given all that she had.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Well, he just told no, now one message we can get out of that is like, wasn't that a noble gesture for her to do that?
25:11
SPEAKER_00: And that she gave all that she had so unselfishly.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's I like that.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: But maybe he was also doing a reprimand.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: He said, Look, look what I just told you.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: This is it right here.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: She had she's given all that she's had.
25:25
SPEAKER_00: You devour widows' houses, you put heavy burdens on people.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: This poor woman, under obligation she feels to put all that she has in in in in here, and she goes away with nothing.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I'll remove the yoke and the burden.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: He takes away all the requirements.
25:40
SPEAKER_00: For as Romans 8 says, what the law could not do because of our weak flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: Grace, grace, grace.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, come on, Rick.
25:56
SPEAKER_00: Don't you can't don't you know that we don't we still have to live right?
25:59
SPEAKER_00: Isn't that still?
26:00
SPEAKER_00: Don't we still have to fulfill that law?
26:02
SPEAKER_00: Done.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: The righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in me.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Done.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely done.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Now we're free to live.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: The soul gets saved, the soul can rest.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: The soul can enjoy the union with daddy.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: The soul can enjoy and celebrate the goodness of each other, for we don't see the lines of separation anymore.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: It starts to the more you get into this, those lines start to get erased.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: You can't help it.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: Trust me, it just starts happening.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: These things that I see like that, I had my heels dug in.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: I get stuck in tradition and whatever we might call religion, just like everybody else.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: I have resisted everything God's tried to teach me.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Out of a soul fear of being wrong, out of a soul fear of leaving what was comfortable, I resisted.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: I resisted changing my thoughts about certain people in this world.
26:50
SPEAKER_00: Though I resisted, the Savior kept saving my soul, flooding my heart with the knowledge of his light and love and certain groups of people that I thought were just too ungodly.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: They're just not unless they change.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: I see it differently.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: From growing up where there was racism in my home and having that mindset and having it changed by Christmas, by soteria, homophobic, having it changed by soteria when I knew that I had a biblical place to stand on this.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not moving, but I kept seeing something that was beautiful, and God was showing me, and I was like, I don't want to go.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, the lines break down, and see, we're all being drawn into that love.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: For you have not received a spirit of fear, received the spirit of the children of God, whereby we cry, Abba Father.
27:37
SPEAKER_00: Religion is a spirit of fear and gets triggered by certain words and phrases.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: No, you're one of those.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: You're that, you're an ism, you're an isst.
27:44
SPEAKER_00: So Terya brings wholeness and freedom and joy to the soul.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: And you know what I like best about it?
27:51
SPEAKER_00: My capacity to love.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: For all of mankind has changed and increased for the better.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Last point is that Christmas ends all wars.
27:59
SPEAKER_00: For verse 5 says, Every warrior sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire means it won't be needed anymore.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: God said, As truly as I live, all the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: He says the lion will lay down with the lamb, the swords will be beaten and the plow blades.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: As he lives, you will not in that day.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: The day will come you won't have to tell your neighbor, No the Lord, no, the Lord, they will all know me from the greatest to the least, because I'll be merciful to them, and I will not remember sin.
28:30
SPEAKER_00: So would find its worth, and mankind would rise, and people would come to the brightness of his rising, and they would be drawn into his love, and that's where this goes.
28:39
SPEAKER_00: That's why Luke chapter 2, verse 13 said, And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will to men.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: Where's the peace?
28:52
SPEAKER_00: It's in the spirit, it's in the kingdom, it's in your heart.
28:54
SPEAKER_00: It's accessible, accessible, it's there.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: When does it change the world?
28:58
SPEAKER_00: I don't know, but maybe it's one heart at a time.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: When I found that God had made peace with me, and saw that he had made peace with mankind, for he has reconciled the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.
29:13
SPEAKER_00: That's what Christmas says to me.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: That's why there's no Christmas card.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: That's why none of none of the angels' Christmas messages said there's born to you a savior, and there's good news to all men except for those who do this and don't do that.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: So this is it.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: And can you imagine that when that angel announced to those shepherds that there was born a savior, and then suddenly, watch this, suddenly this multitude in heaven appeared, and they were praising God, saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill.
29:44
SPEAKER_00: It's like the whole heavenly host was saying, Finally, it's come.
29:48
SPEAKER_00: The child has been born, it's come into the earth.
29:51
SPEAKER_00: What we've been longing and looking for, what's been promised and prophesied, peace has come to the earth, for unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and that means that Christmas, if you can receive it, Christmas ensures the happy ending.
30:05
SPEAKER_00: Verse 7 says, Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: The throne of David and over his kingdom to order and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever.
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Christmas has shown me a different kind of justice and judgment than I ever thought, because of Christmas, I see a restorative justice and not a retributive justice that mankind has been cycling through over and over and over and over and an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and God says, Reconcile, restoration of all things.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: There's a song that I love this time of year.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: It means something to this changed heart, to this soul that has been and is being saved for so terrious happening.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Cry every time I hear it.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: Stevie Wonder wrote it, but it's someday at Christmas.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: And there's a verse that says, Someday at Christmas, there'll be no wars.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: When we have learned what Christmas is for.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: When we have learned what life's really worth, there will be peace on earth.
31:03
SPEAKER_00: You can experience and feel that very peace in your heart right now.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Whosoever will.
31:08
SPEAKER_00: Would you all stand?
31:09
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your time this morning.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: I love, if not the season, I certainly love the reason.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: It's Him.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: A Savior was born.
31:15
SPEAKER_00: Soteria comes to our souls.
31:18
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that restoration in the soteria that's happening?
31:21
SPEAKER_00: Of course it has to happen, because of the increase of it, there will be no end.
31:24
SPEAKER_00: It's not going away.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Many have tried over the centuries.
31:27
SPEAKER_00: It's not going away.
31:29
SPEAKER_00: It will continue until what God says will happen.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: Love shall win.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: Peace came that day.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Father, I love you.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for your gift.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: Merry Christmas to everyone here.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: Let everyone here have a sense of safety, salvation, wellness, wholeness, preservation, deliverance.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: Ultimately safe and loved and cared for in you.
31:49
SPEAKER_00: That's what my heart's got desire is.
31:51
SPEAKER_00: I want everybody in this season and going forward to experience that in all the hustle and bustle and maybe the stress of what's coming down in the next few days, whatever that may be.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the season to acknowledge you and to remember that unto us a child was born and a son was given, and it was born to us a Savior.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father, for the Savior.
32:14
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' wonderful name we pray.
32:16
SPEAKER_00: Amen.