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536 | Five Lessons Learned From the Birth of Jesus · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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God is in control.
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She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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or on our website at watwm.org, We invite you to sit down with us as we look
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to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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As we enter Advent season, let's commit in our hearts to truly discover the
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meaning of Christmas and to live it in our lives.
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Let's purpose in our heart to shine our light to those around us and to proclaim
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boldly the love, mercy, and saving grace of Jesus.
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Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim Miller takes
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us on a journey through the Scriptures, revealing five lessons learned from
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the birth of Jesus Christ.
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Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast. Let's pray.
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Our kind and most gracious to Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for this another day.
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We thank you for your love, your mercy, and your grace and the way that you
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choose to use us in your story.
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Lord, thank you for allowing us to be part of building your kingdom and being
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the light that we can show you in this dark world.
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Lord, teach us to see you in all things, to realize that we are the picture
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the world sees of who you are, and help us, Lord,
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to paint a picture that matches scripture, that elevates who you are,
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and Lord, that we can say, truly, we are born again Christians.
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Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your son.
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Thank you for loving us.
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Remove me from this message, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
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As we begin to come into the season where it's politically correct to say Christmas.
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Many still will try to not say it, and they may say X-mas or some things like that.
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But Christmas is a word that you hear on people's lips all along,
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everywhere you go during this time of year.
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And so when they say Christmas, they are saying Christ.
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And even though they may have a secular view of what Christmas is,
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they are still speaking His name.
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And the birth of Jesus changes everything.
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It is the greatest event in all of history, because without the birth of Jesus
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Christ, we can't have the crucifixion.
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And so as we come off of this wonderful holiday we call Thanksgiving.
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Let's purpose in our hearts to really look at the account Scripture gives of
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the birth of Jesus Christ.
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Today, in your hearing, I would like to read this account out of Luke chapter 2.
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Join me in this reading. And it came to pass in those days that there went out
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a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
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And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.
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And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
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And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth,
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unto Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem,
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because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary,
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his espoused wife, being great with child.
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And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
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And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
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and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
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And there were, in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field,
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keeping watch over their flock by night.
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And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and glory of the Lord shone round
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about them, and they were sore afraid.
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And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings
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of great joy, which shall be to all people.
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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
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which is Christ the Lord.
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And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
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clothes, lying in a manger.
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And suddenly there were with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts,
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praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.
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And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven,
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The shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem,
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and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
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And they came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger.
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And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told
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them concerning this child.
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And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
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But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in their heart,
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and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that
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they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
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This was no ordinary birth. This wasn't an ordinary child.
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But I want you to know this was fully man and fully God.
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And Mary and Joseph had never come together. He was conceived of the Holy Ghost in Mary.
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And as we begin to look at this account of the story of the birth of Jesus,
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There are five things I want us to ponder in our heart about the birth of Jesus.
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First, I want you to know who this baby was.
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And in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse
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9, he says this, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
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And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called.
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Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace.
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When you begin to look at this baby we call Jesus, who was given to us by God,
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and we know this because of John 3.16,
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which says that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
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that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
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but have everlasting life.
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He is the gift of all gifts.
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In Ephesians chapter 2 and verses 8 and 9, he says, For by grace are you saved
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through faith, and that not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
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This gift came to earth wrapped in swaddling clothes and he makes himself fully
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accessible to everyone he didn't come just for the rich he didn't come just
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for the elite he didn't come for the socialites of the world he came for everyone and in the presence.
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Of all these people, when Mary and Joseph approach the inn, the innkeeper makes
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no room for him in a place that would be proper for a newborn.
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And we're so quick to want to judge him, but the truth of the matter is,
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is we don't make room for him in our own lives, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
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And so as we begin to look at this account, I want you to understand exactly
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what was happening that night.
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I want us to walk away from our time together with a true purpose in our heart
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to show others who Christ is.
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Let's not walk through this Christmas season with a habitual thought of who
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Christ is, with an autopilot mindset that it's Christmas.
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But let's purpose in our hearts to walk through this journey of this season.
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Shining our light more brightly than we've ever shown it before.
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In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 27, it says this, But God hath chosen the foolish
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things of the world to confound the wise,
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and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
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Now when we look at that in regards to what we learned from the birth of Jesus,
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I want you to know that Mary was a young woman.
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History tells us, and theologians have determined that she was around the age
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of 15 when Gabriel came and gave her the news of the pregnancy she was going
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to have through the Holy Ghost.
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Can you imagine how intimidating, how scary that must have been?
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And though her reaction in the very beginning is one of surprise,
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because and she kind of questions how can this be, she does what I don't think
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many of us would have done.
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She willingly submits to God's call in her life, and she says, I'm the Lord's servant.
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Let everything that you've said come true.
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She accepted that during a time when women who were pregnant and not married
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could have been stoned to death for having a child and not being married.
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She didn't just know this, but she clearly was a woman of no big money,
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no big elite social life.
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She was no doubt a person that was cast out.
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But this angel Gabriel who comes to her touches something in her heart and soul,
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her trust, her amount of courage, the bravery.
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She had hope.
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She had fully trusted God, and she responded with complete submission.
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I want us to take a moment before we move further into this to really take a
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look at lesson one we learned from the birth of Jesus.
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God chooses the meek, the mild, the mild.
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And the lowly at heart. Those that are not proud and haughty,
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because if we're proud and we're haughty, he can't use us. He can't mold us.
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He can't make us into who we need to be.
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He's not going to be able to speak through us because we're going to be so full
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of ourselves that we're the ones doing the talking.
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We're not going to lean on him. We're going to lean on our own understanding.
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We're going to totally dismiss Proverbs 3, 5, 6, and 7, which says,
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Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
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In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
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Be not wise in thine own eyes.
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Depart from evil and fear the Lord.
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Mary is showing us the example of a life that is fully surrendered and who's
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walking Proverbs 3, 5, 6, and 7.
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She also shows us that when Jesus was looking, when God was looking for a mother for Jesus,
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he chose one whose faith was fully determined and purposed in him.
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He chose a woman who would trust him.
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When we look at that verse in 1 Corinthians 1.27, what we see is that God chooses
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the foolish things of this world to confuse the wise.
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No one in a lineup would have picked Mary to be the mother of a king,
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let alone the savior of the world.
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But Jesus doesn't look at us the same way man looks at us.
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Jesus looks at us through our eyes of potential, through the truth of the intensity of our faith.
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To the degree of our surrender. And that's who he chooses to use.
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If you go to the first chapter of Matthew, you're going to see the lineage of Jesus.
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And this line from Abraham all the way to Messiah shows that God uses flawed,
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lost, and hurting people to carry out his master plan.
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In verse 17 of Matthew 1, he says,
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So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,
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and from David unto the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations,
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and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
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And in these fourteen generations, I want you to see that David.
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Who a king was known for being a man after God's own heart, yet he often did the wrong things.
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He often chose the ways of his flesh and desires over the ways of God.
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He would repent, but he gave in often to his sinful desires.
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He even committed murder for the sake of getting his friend's wife.
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David committed adultery. There were so many things that David did that was
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contrary to the Lord's word.
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Yet he was a man after God's own heart. He did want to do right. He did repent.
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But let me tell you, having that in your lineage, that a man in your grandfather,
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your father, your cousin, your uncle, was a murderer because he wanted somebody
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else's wife, that doesn't sit well among society.
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And don't forget the woman in
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his lineage. We know that Ruth and Rahab are women who are talked about.
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They have familiar stories, and most of us know those.
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And we credit them for their loyalty and bravery. We credit Ruth, who is an outcast.
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We see her as someone who is taking care of Naomi. me.
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We see Rahab as one who helped the spies, but it's important that you know that
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each of them had a sordid past.
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Rahab was pretty much a woman of ill repute.
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It's important that we know that these individuals, they were flawed,
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yet they show up in the genealogy of Jesus.
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Jesus was God's gift to the world.
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And God chose things that were weak and flawed to bring the most powerful,
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perfect babe to be given as a sacrifice to pull out his love to die for the sins of the world.
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You see, he didn't use a perfect person to bring in the perfect Lamb of God.
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He didn't use a perfect person to be part of the most monumental event in history.
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And the other names in this lineage, they're frail and flawed as well.
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He uses ordinary, often very simple, unassuming, and oftentimes of low estate
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to carry out a greater purpose.
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He uses those who are willing to trust and obey.
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So you know what that means, my friend? That means he can use you and he can use me.
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The only thing that excludes us from being used of God is our decision to not
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follow, trust, obey, and fully commit and believe.
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Mary is an example of the second lesson we learn from the birth of Jesus.
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God delights in those that trust him.
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Mary, though she questioned at first Mary, though she didn't understand Mary,
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though she was surprised by the visit of Gabriel.
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She willingly submits to the call of the Lord. In Luke 1, verse 38,
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it says this, And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
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be it unto me according to thy word.
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And the angel departed from her.
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She accepted, she fully submitted.
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Which brings us to another characteristic that shows how God delights in those that trust him.
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Mary fully trusted in the Lord.
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In Luke 1, verses 46-56, we read this.
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And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
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For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.
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For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
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For he who is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name.
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And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
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He has showed strength with his arm.
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He hath scattered the proud and the imagination of their hearts.
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He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree.
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He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away.
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He hath hope in his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.
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And he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.
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And Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house.
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Mary trusted the Lord.
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She wasn't just meek and mild and humble-hearted, but she was bold and she was brave.
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We see in this passage of Luke 1, 46-56, how she proudly proclaims, who God is.
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My soul doth magnify the Lord.
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She's been asked to do a really big task.
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She's in harm's way because if she's not married, which she isn't,
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people are going to want to stone her.
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She's going to be considered even more of an outcast.
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Yet she is proclaiming proudly and Boldly.
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Goodness and the greatness of God. I wonder if in our own lives,
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God has asked us to do some things that perhaps we just simply didn't want to
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do, and we didn't do them.
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Most of them that he's asked would have been inconvenient maybe,
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but it would have not ended up in being stoned.
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Sometimes we might be asked to do something that people wouldn't understand,
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so you might get a little ridicule, but we wouldn't be asked to do something
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that might get us stoned.
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Oftentimes, people won't fully understand what we're asked to do,
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but rarely are we asked to do something that our significant other in our life
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is not going to understand, can't get over, can't understand,
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can't go along with.
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And Mary risks that because how is Joseph going to take the news that she's
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pregnant and she's saying to him, I have never been with a man.
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Old Joseph himself teaches us so much.
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He believed in the Lord and he heard the angel and he believed the angel.
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But let me tell you something Joseph shows us.
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His trust in God made him believe something that seemed impossible was true.
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Mark 9.23 says, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believes.
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Joseph shows us that love does conquer all.
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His love for Jesus, his love for the God, his love for the Lord,
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allowed Jesus to be the son he would raise.
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I think Joseph also shows us that you can love a child that you didn't create.
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Joseph and Mary fully trusted in the Lord.
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And lesson number two is God delights in those that trust him.
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The third lesson we see is God's timing is always perfect.
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Now, there's a lot of debates and controversy on the exact day and time of Jesus' actual birthday.
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They have trouble figuring out what year it was, and most of us can get caught
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up if it was or wasn't in December the 25th.
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I highly doubt it was, but those aren't the questions we should be asking.
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The question we need to ask right
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now and each other in our circle of influence is, where is your focus?
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Is it on the commercial? Is it on the superficial?
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Is it on things that are unimportant?
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Or is it on the truth that Jesus came, that we might have life and have it more abundantly,
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that he came to seek and to save those which were lost, that he has put his
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light inside of us that we would be able to shine to a lost and dark world the
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light of Jesus to draw others to him.
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The truth of the matter is that God's timing is always perfect.
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Galatians 4, 4 says, But when the fullness of time was come,
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God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
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When the time had come, when God said, Now is when the world needs my Son.
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God sent his Son. And when the time is right, When in God's perfect time,
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it's time for him to come back, he's sending him again.
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In John chapter 14, we read a beautiful promise.
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In John chapter 14, beginning in verse 1, we read these words.
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Let not your heart be troubled.
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You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions If it were not so,
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I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare
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a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself That where I am,
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there you may be also He came once, wrapped in swaddling clothes A babe lying
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in a manger But the second time he comes He is going to receive us, his children,
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as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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God's timing is perfect, and His birth as His return will prove that.
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In Ecclesiastes 3, verse 1, we read, To everything there is a season and a time
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to every purpose under heaven.
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In Psalms 27, verse 14, we read this, Wait on the Lord, be of good courage,
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and He shall strengthen thine heart.
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Wait, I say, on the Lord.
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That's a lesson we learn in the birth of Jesus that each one of us has got to embrace.
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We must fill our hearts with the truth that we have to wait on God.
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We have to let God lead. We have to discern God's presence.
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We have to listen to what he says.
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When he decides to exalt us, no man can hold us back.
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When he opens the door, no man can shut it. And when he shuts the door, no man can shut it.
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In Proverbs, we are told a beautiful thing. There's a spider in the house of the king.
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There's a spider in the palace's house. And you got to know that nobody wants a spider in their house.
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But no one can keep it out. Not even the king can keep it out.
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Because what God puts in a place...
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Man can take away. When God opens a door in his timing, he has equipped you,
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he has enabled you, and he's opened up the door for you to bloom and to blossom.
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No man can tell you you don't belong there, and no man can stop you.
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You can stop yourself.
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You can lose hope and become discouraged when things aren't happening on your timescale,
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when you don't get that promotion, when you don't make that achievement you
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wanted to in the time frame you wanted it, you can give up and you could be
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right on the precipice of a miracle.
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You can have a front row seat and you just turn and walk away because it didn't fit your timing.
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I want you to know we have to wait.
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We have to be of good courage, and He strengthens us if we're looking to Him.
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In Acts chapter 1 and verse 7, it talks about the time and the seasons of our
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lives are given by the authority of God.
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Autumn doesn't get to choose when it comes. Winter doesn't get to choose how it's going to look.
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Summer, no matter how hot it is, doesn't get to be what it wants.
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It is all controlled by God. Now, man can predict some seasons.
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We know the general day we talk about based on scientific evidence of when the season starts.
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But you or me or the best weather man in the can't tell you when it's gonna
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be 98 degrees, and they can't tell you it's gonna be 12.
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It's God, and God alone. When we look at Luke 18, 27.
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Told something amazing. We are given a glimpse into the fact that what is impossible
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for us to do is not for him.
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It says, and he said, the things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
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His timing is perfect. You can't make something happen.
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God in his infinite wisdom will empower you, will equip you,
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and will make a way where there is no way.
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And you, my friend, must wait and be of good courage and allow him to strengthen your heart.
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And when he ushers you into that moment of achievement, to that moment of his
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greatness being done through your willingness and participation,
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your trust and obedience,
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when you are just escorted onto the stage of this world.
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Then he shines. Because Romans 8, 28 says, all things work together for the
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good to them that love the Lord, to them that are called according to his purpose.
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Don't be discouraged about a delay.
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He's still working on you. Don't be discouraged when your plans fall apart.
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That most likely was what was best for you. His ways are higher than our ways.
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His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
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He knows tomorrow and the day thereafter. He knows today and he knows what was in the past.
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But more importantly, he has a plan for you and he knows how to make that plan
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happen and it's to prosper you and to give you a hope.
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Got to cling to the truth that His timing is always perfect during the seasons of uncertainty.
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As we wait for the Lord's return, we got to take heart and know that God's timing is perfect.
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Psalms 46 says, Be still and know that I am God.
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When we begin to plan our lives, when we begin to set our course and we leave
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Jesus out of it, we're not knowing that he is God.
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We have removed him from the situation, we've picked up the reins,
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and we are on a course for destruction.
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Because until we're like Mary and trust fully and completely,
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until we understand that it's the meek at heart, the submitted,
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surrendered, humbled soul.
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He uses in His timing until we do that.
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Everything we do in our own mind, in our own way, and in our own heart,
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without the guidance and direction of Jesus Christ, everything we do is then our own idea.
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One not blessed by God, and probably often not in His will.
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So as we look at our fourth lesson that we learn from the birth of Jesus,
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we learn that God is moving in the smallest of details.
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God didn't just decide he'd put him in a manger, in an inn where there was no room for him.
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Gabriel didn't just haphazardly show up to speak to Mary, and the angel didn't,
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on his timing, talk to Joseph.
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Mary wasn't born 15 years before this event by coincidence.
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And the relationship that Mary and Joseph had and worked to establish between
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themselves wasn't a coincidence.
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The shepherds on the hill weren't their first people he just came to, to let them know.
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No, the angels chose him. The shepherds had the worst job. The shepherds were
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the most disrespected people in the country.
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Nobody said, I wanted to be a shepherd. Yet Jesus chose them to know about the
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birth of the Most High God, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
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It's the shepherd that cares for the sheep. It's the shepherd that cares for the sheep.
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Get distracted. It's the shepherd who cares about each one of them individually,
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who knows who they are, who notices when they're out of step or lost.
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It's the shepherd that Jesus said,
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I am the shepherd, and you're the sheep, and I'm going to watch over you,
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and I love you, and I've come to seek you and I see you.
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You matter to me and I see you in the byways and the highways and I see you sitting in the church.
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I see you being passed over.
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I see you being mistreated, but I'm the shepherd and I've got you and these
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are small momentary setbacks. These are small things. Trust me.
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Understand who I am. Allow me to lead your life.
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I got my eyes on you. I've got my nail-scarred hands around you.
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And I'm not sleeping and I'm not slumbering. I'm a shepherd.
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And the whole world may not recognize me and the whole world may ignore who
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I am. but don't you worry.
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They may think I'm nothing, but one day, every knee shall bow and every tongue
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shall confess, and the rocks will cry out, because I am God,
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and I love you, and I died for you,
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and I didn't bring you this far to drop you now. I'm your shepherd.
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The small points. He's in the small details.
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In fact, he tells us he even knows the number of hairs on your head.
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And I would submit to you, he even knows the color of it.
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And that's more than many people walking around today know about their own hair.
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So this Christmas, I want you to take a moment to consider how God has shown
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up in the details of your life.
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I want you to dig into some of those minute details of this Christmas account,
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along with the little details in your life that God has lined up.
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And I want you to let God fill you with the wide-eyed wonder of his infinite love.
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The fact that you're listening to this message is a blessing for both of us.
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The fact that he put me in the home that he did, that I would be taught what I was taught.
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The fact that he has moved me to different places in my life.
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He's opened doors of opportunity to get me to this moment right now.
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That he is allowed to cross my paths were intentional because he has a plan
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for me to prosper me and to give me a hope. His plan is good.
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Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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The last lesson that I would like to bring to your attention that we learn from
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the birth of Jesus Christ,
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is that God despises pride, but he loves humility.
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In a world where everyone is desperate to fit in and to find their own place,
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yearning for a sense of belonging, you can find yourself in a dreary, desolate place.
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As you're striving to fit in, you can often feel overlooked.
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You can feel mocked. You can feel ridiculed.
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You can feel little, lost, lonely, and rejected.
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Our soul craves to belong. And we often search for ways to do it.
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We often give up and compromise things that we shouldn't.
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We often will go down roads seeking man's applause, seeking worldly fame,
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we'll often do whatever it takes to get an attaboy, a pat on the back.
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A so-called high position.
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And we begin to do it our own way, and we overlook the greatest gift of all.
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Jesus came so that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
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Jesus came to pay a sin One debt you couldn't pay that he didn't owe.
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You have and everything that you are is because of who He is and what He's done
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in your life and what He continues to do.
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In Proverbs 16, 5, He says, Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.
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Though hand joint in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
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God has a perfect plan for you, and when you become prideful, He takes it away. today.
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Despises pride, but he loves humility. And in 1 Peter 5, 5, he says,
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Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder, yea,
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all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility,
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for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the emble.
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God loves all of us.
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And he has a heart full of grace and mercy and love.
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And this is why when we look at the birth of Jesus, it speaks to all of us in
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a very unique and meaningful way.
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It's a personal one that reminds us that he humbled himself for us.
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Every part of Jesus coming to the earth speaks and screams and proclaims of humility.
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It's wrapped in the love of God as he says he'll meet us right where we are.
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He'll save you from the guttermost to the uttermost.
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Every feeling that you have, he's felt.
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He was tempted like as we are yet without sin.
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Sometimes we abandon our faith as quickly as we drop a hot potato.
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It doesn't feel good when someone laughs at us. It doesn't feel good when we don't get what we want.
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I promise you it didn't feel good on the cross.
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Sometimes we're just so reluctant to take a moment of uncomfortableness because
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we haven't looked back at what God gave to come to this earth,
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and his prize was crucifixion.
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And his proud as us, flawed, sinful, and sometimes wicked people who reject
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and ignore His love and His mercy and His grace.
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Knows what it's like. Crucifixion was painful, and it was humiliating.
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He knows what it's like to be alone.
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God made it dark at noonday because he couldn't look upon the sin of the world
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that Jesus willingly took on us.
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Don't ever forget that he knew what he was getting into because in the Garden
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of Gethsemane, he asked God, if there'd be any other way, could you take this from me.
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It wasn't that he was unwilling.
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It was that it needed to be necessary, because he knew exactly what it was going to cost him.
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Sweat was on his forehead like drops of blood.
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God sent his son who came to seek and to save the lost.
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He is searching out the lost, the hurting, and the abandoned because he knows
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what it feels like to be like that, to be mocked, ashamed, and ridiculed.
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Do you know how important it is to have a God that understands humility,
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to have a God that's willing to reach down to lift you up?
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So many people in high places. They have many of opportunity to help others
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in need, and they won't because they can't recognize it. They don't care about that.
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That doesn't enter their world. They don't even know about it.
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It's important that he came as a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes in an inn
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where there was no room for him.
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It's important that he came to the shepherds and they announced his birth,
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it's important that he can relate.
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He's not a God that's untouched, unreachable, and out of touch.
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He's a God that is in time, all the time, every time.
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He's a God that is present in the deepest of your sorrows and in the heights
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of your greatest joys and everywhere in between.
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He's a God that isn't surprised by what's in your past, but is ever willing to walk you through it.
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Through the fire, through the flood, you're not going to be burnt.
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He's the fourth man in your fire. He's the man who shuts the mouths of lions.
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But you've got to be like Mary, and you've got to trust, and you've got to obey.
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His pride, but he loves humility. And he says in Matthew 11,
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28 through 30, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
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Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart,
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and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
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For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. But Jesus came so that you and I might have life.
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God gave us the Christmas story to remind us he's our source of life.
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He's our place of belonging.
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He's our family. He's our joy and our delight.
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He's all we need. In Matthew 16, 24, he says this.
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Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me,
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let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his
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life for my sake shall find it.
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For what has a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own
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soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
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Pick up your cross today and humbly follow him.
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May your Christmas be filled with precious moments that remind you of God's humble beginnings.
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And as you purposely and humbly submit to him this year and believe and know
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deep in your soul that God gave this story to you.
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True account of the greatest event in history to offer you hope, redemption, and love.
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The five lessons we learn from the birth of Jesus, God chooses the meek,
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mild, and lowly at heart.
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God delights in those that trust him. God's timing is always perfect.
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God is moving in the smallest details. God despises pride but loves humility
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may God grant his richest blessings to you remember you are loved Jesus loves you.
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Today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for quotes from today's podcast
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and scripture references.
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We pray today has been a blessing, and we encourage you to reach out to us through
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our app, our website, or our Facebook page.
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You can find our app by searching for Woman at the Well Ministries in your app
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store or through our website at watwm.org.
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If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
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a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
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Woman at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
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And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
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To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
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Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
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Remember that God loves you. You are loved.