Peace | Advent: Week 2

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Well, welcome to Crossroads.

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We're so glad to have you joining us from anywhere you are right now.

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My name's Lena Schuler, I'm the Crossroads Anywhere Community Pastor.

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And I'm here with my good friend and teammate Kyle Ranson.

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- Hey, hey

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- It's awesome, Advent season is upon us.

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- Yes, it is.

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- We're in the series and this one's different for us

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because usually when we do a series, we're picking a topic

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and then we're building the whole thing from scratch.

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Advent is actually centuries and centuries and centuries old.

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It's the way that Christians for a long time

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have been anticipating the arrival of Jesus.

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So there's an exact order and we are following it this year.

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- That's right.

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So last week was the week of hope.

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- This week, the week of peace.

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- And then we have joy and love coming down the pike.

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And so this is going to give us a full picture

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of what Jesus brings with Him

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and what we can be anticipating in this Christmas season.

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Yes. So part of Advent also is this wreath

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and these candles that we have in front of us.

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So each week with each piece of Advent,

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we're going to light a candle.

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And so right now, the candle of hope is lit from last week.

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And this week we'll be lighting the candle of peace.

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- It's so easy to go through December

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and you can get sucked into Target's version of Christmas, you know?

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- Right.

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- Or the Hallmark version of Christmas or...

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- The Netflix movie version.

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- I knew that's what you were going to say.

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- It's the best.

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- The Christmas Prince and all.

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- Yes, I love those movies.

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- Which really says a lot about you.

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- They're the best. Oh, my gosh, they're so terribly great.

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- Yeah.

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- On of my favorite parts about Christmas.

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But you can do all that Christmas stuff

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and you can still miss the story of Jesus if you're not careful.

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So Advent for us this season anyway has been a great addition

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to actually put Jesus at the center of our family's Christmas story.

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- And one thing that everybody might not know about,

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but you want to anticipate,

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is next weekend we have something very, very special.

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- Yes.

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- Ugly Christmas sweater weekend at all of our sites:

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the band, community pastors, and you, if you so dare,

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are invited to wear an ugly Christmas sweater.

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- And if this is your thing, man, this could be your time to shine.

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- Yeah, totally.

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- So after ugly Christmas sweaters,

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we go back into normal clothes for Christmas Eve.

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- Yeah. Let's hope.

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- OK. So Christmas Eve is coming

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and we do something for Christmas Eve as a church every year.

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- Yeah. It's just a special time, again it's a moment to not pass by.

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And it's really a Crossroads church family moment.

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- And remembering the Christmas Eve

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that I played Mary on Crossroads' stage.

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- That happened?

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- I read the Mary lines.

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My brother read the Gabriel lines.

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- Where was I?

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But there was a microphone passed back and forth from my dad.

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And it got stuck under a couch like the one that you're sitting on.

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And he had to yank it

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and he whacked me in the face with the microphone.

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- Yeah.

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- Hits me in the teeth. Loud noise.

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I was in sixth grade.

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Always my most embarrassing moment.

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And I can pretty much guarantee that won't happen this year.

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- Ok. So your dad is Brian Tome?

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- Yeah.

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- So this year you're saying --

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- I'm not reading Mary's lines.

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- You are unlikely to play Mary?

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- I'm unlikely to play Mary.

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- It's possible, but it's not very likely.

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- And hopefully nobody will be hit in the face of microphones this year,

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like that one year back in 2001.

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- Pretty big promises.

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It sound like it's going to be amazing.

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We can watch it at what time?

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- 1:00, 3:00 and 5:00 on Christmas Eve.

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Now, this is something special and unique.

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We've not done this before or in a really long time.

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We're going to have live services streamed

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right here from Crossroads Oakley.

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And so you can join us live at any of those times.

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And then it'll go on demand after that.

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And you could enjoy the Christmas Eve experience

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from your home anytime in the Christmas season.

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- Fantastic.

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- It's gonna be great. Cool.

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So, let's prepare for Jesus

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and anticipate His arrival by going right into Advent.

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- `Perfect.

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Anxious, overwhelmed, afraid.

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We are a people in search of peace.

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We long for it in the world and in ourselves.

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Apart from God, it's impossible to achieve a state of peace.

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But God sent His Son, the Prince of Peace Himself.

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And this peace doesn't come in grandiose ways.

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Sometimes it comes in unexpected ways,

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like a baby born in the city of Bethlehem.

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A city that was despised in its time.

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A city considered small, insignificant, out of the way.

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But in this unlikely city, a baby was born whose life was set to change the course of history.

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Jesus won back the peace.

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Jesus set things back the way they should be,

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sometimes in small and quiet ways, but never insignificant.

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A life of peace is a gift we can receive through trust in Him.

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Well, hey, everyone, my name's Justin if we've never met.

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Welcome to the weekend at Crossroads

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where for the month of December we're celebrating

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this thing called Advent, the arrival of Jesus.

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Where in the midst of chaos and busyness

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and all the craziness that surrounds us, Jesus comes in.

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He brings hope and peace and love and joy to us.

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So we're going to start our time by singing some old Christmas songs.

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And not like Frosty the Snowman

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or I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus,

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which is pretty creepy to me, at least to me.

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No, these are worship songs.

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These are about King Jesus.

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And so they allow us to say things like Gloria in excelsis Deo,

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which literally means glory to God in the highest.

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You are the highest.

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That's what we get to do now together.

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So if you're here in the room, stand up with us.

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If you're online, we're glad you're with us.

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Turn it up. We're going to sing together.

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- I love that song, Angels We Have Heard on High.

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And I love the way that we got to sing it together today.

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If you liked that version of that song, that's a Crossroads original.

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And so you can head to wherever you normally stream music

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and listen to that, sing that song during the week.

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You know, one of the things that I've been reflecting on this year

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as the year comes to a close is

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what my faith journey with God has looked like over the years.

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And I grew up right here at Crossroads

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going to Kids' Club and then student ministry.

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And I loved being part of this church.

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One of the things that we learned in Kids' Club growing up

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and then that we practiced in my house growing up

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was giving to God our first 10 percent.

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It was the 10/10/80 plan.

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10 percent to God, 10 percent to savings,

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80 percent we got to keep for ourselves.

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And so I practiced that as a kid

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with money I made babysitting or allowance.

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And then when I moved out of my parent's house

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and kind of had to make the choice for myself

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if I wanted to follow Jesus

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or I wanted to go another direction,

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I chose not to give any longer.

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That was a choice.

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And in coming back to faith,

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in choosing to follow Jesus as an adult

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and orienting my life towards Him,

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I recognized that it also meant that

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my finances had to be oriented towards Him

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and I had to follow Him with my money.

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In Malachi 3, He says to -- God, says to test Him,

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put Him to the test when it comes to the tithe,

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10% back to God first.

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And so I chose to test God in that way.

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And I was attending Crossroads again as an adult.

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And so when I went to give for the first time as an adult,

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I was blown away when I saw my giving history

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all the way back to 1996 when I gave a $1.36

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that year.

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And one of the things I realized in that moment

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was that my faith was actually stronger

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as a little kid than it was as an adult.

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Because I was being obedient to God with my finances,

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with the little that I had as a child.

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And I got more selfish and it became harder to do that as I got older.

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Well, maybe today, maybe 2019, as we come to a close,

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is the time for you to put God to the test

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and to put your faith on display by orienting your life

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and your finances towards Jesus.

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And if you want to do that and give to the church,

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you can head to Crossroads.net/give.

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And I believe that your faith will be built up

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the way that mine has been over the years

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through this simple act of giving.

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And today we're going to get started with the Advent of peace.

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And we're so glad that you're joining us.

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- Advent. We've heard about it, seen it,

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posted about it, maybe even tasted it year after year.

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So what is Advent?

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A countdown to presents?

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A celebration of pets, beauty products, cheese?

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Well, no.

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Advent is the season of anticipation and celebration.

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But the gift we're waiting for is Jesus, not cats.

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Because with Jesus comes all sorts of life changing goodness.

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Advent gives us the chance to share in the ancient longing for the coming King, a Savior.

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And every year, for thousands of years,

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Christ followers have been lighting candles

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the four Sunday's leading up to Christmas.

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These candles represent four themes in the Bible:

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Hope, peace, joy, love

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that came forth with the long awaited arrival of Jesus.

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This week we celebrate the Advent of peace.

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- So there are some classic, classic Christmas passages

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that relate to Advent,

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that relate to God actually entering our world.

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You've probably heard this before.

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If you've been in America and in any sort of religious.

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Or spiritual institution at all around this time of year,

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you've probably heard this verse and it's worth hearing again.

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Let's just read it.

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It comes from the book of Luke 2: 8-14, and it says this:

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And on earth peace.

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Boy, you just hear that word: Peace.

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You can't really say it loudly.

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No one ever says peace!

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No, the go peace.

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The word peace.

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What does peace mean?

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Peace means wholeness.

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You know, when things are fragmented

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and when they are broken apart, there can't be peace.

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There can't be harmony.

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Pease is wholeness.

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It's based on the ancient Hebrew word shalom.

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And when we think about peace in our culture,

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we generally think about our feelings.

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I don't feel peaceful.

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Peace is not about feelings.

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We think about a spiritual aura.

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Well, there's just sort of a peace around us.

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Peace is not a spiritual aura.

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Peace can impact our feelings.

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Peace can impact and be a very spiritual thing.

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But peace is about intentions.

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Peace is about deliberately intending to do specific things

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which will result in wholeness.

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Millennia ago, God deliberately intended

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to step into our world and bring peace, bring wholeness.

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The first Christmas, what's so ironic about this,

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the first Christmas there's really not a lot of peace at all.

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It is one cacophony after another.

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It is one stressful thing after another.

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It is one fearful thing after another.

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Let's just start with this one.

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Mary gets pregnant having never had sex.

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And it's God's.

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Yes, it's God's.

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Imagine how that discussion went with her soon to be husband

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who was betrothed to her, engaged, Joseph.

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Of course he's going to believe that initially.

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Of course he doesn't believe it initially.

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There's no peace in his mind about this.

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And then we have this visitation of an angel to Joseph,

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who has a spiritual experience.

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And the angel says, actually, yes, this is true.

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This is true, Joseph. It's true.

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It's true. It's true.

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And Joseph understands that God is doing

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something supernatural and miraculous in this moment of time.

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If there was a God and He were to come to our world,

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we should expect that from time to time,

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normal things would be suspended

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or else there isn't a God or else He doesn't have any power.

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And this is one of those times.

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The stress and the fear continues for these guys

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because they enter into a place called Bethlehem

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Bethlehem is the armpit of the world at that point.

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No one's interested in Bethlehem.

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They're escaping to Bethlehem.

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There's people who are coming after them to find them and kill them.

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We have Herod the King at the time

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who's wiping out little boys of the same age

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because he understands there's a boy king that's come on the scene.

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And he wants to eliminate him,

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but doesn't know exactly who he is.

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That's again, part of the cacophony that's happening,

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the lack of peace that's happening.

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When Jesus is born, they can't actually find a room at the inn.

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It's sold out.

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They stick them back in the stable.

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No birth, by the way, is ever peaceful.

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I don't know how many births you've been to.

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They're never peaceful.

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They're never peaceful right beforehand

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and never peaceful during it.

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And definitely not peaceful after it.

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They're just not peaceful.

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And then Jesus comes out and they take Him

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and they placed Him in a manger.

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A manger is a feeding dish for cattle.

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Jesus's first bed is not a Pack 'n Play.

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It's a cow cereal bowl.

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And he's placed in there.

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Slobber and who knows what else is all in there.

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And then he's wrapped with swaddling clothes.

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And you and I think, "Oh, swaddling, that's peaceful, swaddle."

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Just turn the person next to just say swaddle,

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just tell them swaddle

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Oh, it just sounds so -- swaddle.

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Except here's the problem with swaddling clothes.

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Swaddling clothes are a makeshift solve

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because they didn't have a full sized blanket.

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Swaddling clothes would have been the strips

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and the rags that would have been wrapped around

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the local lambs in that area that were getting ready

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to be shipped off to the temple.

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They wrap Him in swaddling clothes because

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they don't have enough money for a full size blanket.

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There's not a lot of peace in this situation.

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And while this is happening, up on the hill what we just read,

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shepherds have a miraculous visitation from the angels.

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The first thing the angel says is, "Fear not."

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First thing they say is fear not.

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Why would an angel have to say the very first thing,

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"Fear not, not fear"?

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Why? Why would that be?

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I mean, who's ever afraid of, you know,

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Roma Downey and Touched by an Angel?

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No, no one's ever afraid of that, right?

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The reason they're afraid of that is

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because that's not what an angel --

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If you ever saw an angel, you would get jacked up.

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An angel is a warrior.

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It's God's heavenly warriors that remind us

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that there is a battle that's happened

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between God and the arch enemy, Satan.

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And you and I are the booty.

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They're looking to see who we will worship:

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the evil one and his ways, or God and His ways.

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And when this spiritual Navy Seal shows up,

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the first thing they have to do is say,

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"Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid."

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Why? Because if you saw an angel,

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the first thing you would be is you would be afraid

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because you wouldn't want to get jacked up.

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They'll jack, you up, seriously.

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Very few of us have ever encountered an angel, and known it.

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If you did, you would know it.

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There is fear.

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Now, this little diatribe I just went on in describing

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this part of The Christmas Story is something I did over 11 years.

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Eleven years and 225 shows and 500,000 people at Awaited.

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And when I share this with you and I recap it,

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you've got to know that I come into this series

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going like, (panting).

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Man, I've done a lot of Christmases.

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Man, I've done a lot of Christmases.

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And I come into it thinking I need to figure out

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some creative way, some creative spin.

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What's the new thing that I can talk about

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that no one's ever heard before of Christmas?

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And of course, that's not what we want.

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That's not what we need.

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Advent and these traditions are here because

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what's represented in these candles, the key words,

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the things we're trying to invite into our life

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that is entering our world are things that

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we need to be continually reminded of

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or hearing for the very first time.

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We can't talk about peace too much, especially in our country.

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Because America is not the land of the free.

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We are the land of the fear.

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We have more fears and paranoias and stresses and anxieties.

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And there's more ulcers in our country,

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than any other country in the history of the world.

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That's medical fact.

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The way we're doing life doesn't work.

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And it's like there is a conspiracy of fear that comes our way.

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Even when you start talking about Christmas,

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which should be a time of happiness and peacefulness

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and credit card debts and you know, all that.

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So even during that time --

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That's supposed to be funny right there, credit card debt.

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Even during that time, we should be going and buying gifts

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and it should make us feel happy.

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Because we're buying them for kids.

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Well, I don't know if you know it or not.

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I don't know if you know or not,

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but there's an organization that's trying to help you

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and I understand that gifts are not as safe as they seem.

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Yes, it's very true.

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There is an organization called World Against Toys Causing Harm.

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Yes. W.A.T.C.H.

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World Against Toys Causing Harm has come out.

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There's a whole Website.

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I saw news article on this.

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It's all about helping you understand the things

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that you think you shouldn't fear, you should actually fear.

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Fear them very, very, very, very much.

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Like, for instance, how many of us have actually ever used a Nerf gun?

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Ever use a Nerf gun in here?

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Any Nerf gun fans? Yes.

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Well, you think it's all fun and games,

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but what you might not realize is (sound effect)

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potential for eye injuries.

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That's right.

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There's ever been anybody I've ever heard of

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or known of who's gotten an eye knocked out.

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But be careful. Be very.

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Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

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Or slime. Yes.

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Slime.

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Slime is awesome.

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This is a knockoff version of slime.

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They're just some of the funnest things that they just like (sound effect).

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Come on. That's just good living right there.

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That that's just God bless America.

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You can't help but not laugh.

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(sound effect) You can't help it.

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It's wonderful.

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Except you can really have too much fun with this.

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You can't. (sound effect)

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Chemical ingestion and irritation.

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That's right, be very careful about this.

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Some of us grew up and we did pogo sticks.

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Man, pogo sticks were amazing.

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They were these tall things.

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They're really hard metal, old school American made in the USA metal.

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And you have to step up on these things.

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They were this high.

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And it was really hard to get on.

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You bounce around.

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Well, you know, we can't have anything dangerous like that today.

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So we've come up with a pogo ball, right?

00:32:34

Pogo ball seems like it's a really good thing.

00:32:36

It's short on the ground, but pogo ball (sound effect).

00:32:41

Yes, head and impact injuries are going to happen with the pogo ball.

00:32:45

No, they're not.

00:32:46

You're not going to fall eight inches and have head and impact injuries.

00:32:52

You're just not.

00:32:53

One of my favorite words is four letters: Y-E-T-I, Yeti.

00:32:57

Yes. God bless America.

00:32:58

Yeti.

00:32:59

Yeti was founded though on the ancient being known as the giant yeti.

00:33:05

And there is actually a yeti doll that you can get.

00:33:07

Who wouldn't want a cute Yeti doll?

00:33:10

(sound effect)

00:33:13

You shouldn't want it because ingestion and aspiration injuries

00:33:18

could come as you inhale that fur from that yeti doll.

00:33:22

Dudes, I'm not making this up.

00:33:25

This is our country.

00:33:26

We invent things to be afraid of.

00:33:30

That's like if we're not afraid, then we're lonely.

00:33:33

Fear is our friend.

00:33:34

Just think about all the things in our life right now

00:33:38

that the peace needs to come to.

00:33:41

How about the state of our government, the state of the election.

00:33:45

Is there a market correction?

00:33:46

Is going to be a market depression?

00:33:48

Rising racial tensions are happening in our country?

00:33:53

Who's the next active shooter going to be?

00:33:55

How often is it going to happen?

00:33:57

Are we on borrowed time for the next rampant virus?

00:34:01

Yes, we are way overdue for next influenza or the next polio

00:34:07

or the next black plague or whatever is way overdue.

00:34:09

Like you come to church and you're learning new things now.

00:34:13

You're learning new things to be afraid of.

00:34:15

These are national abstract things.

00:34:19

But there's other things that you and I think of regularly

00:34:23

that means that we don't have peace.

00:34:26

And when we think about these things that cause us to not have peace.

00:34:30

Am I going to get into the right school?

00:34:32

Am I going to get the right grades in this school?

00:34:35

Coming out of that school, can I get a job at the right company?

00:34:39

Am I going to be the first generation

00:34:41

that doesn't under earn their parents?

00:34:44

When I get into that job,

00:34:46

am I going to be downsized or rightsized?

00:34:49

Am I going to meet the right person to marry?

00:34:51

I'm afraid or I'm concerned about that.

00:34:53

When I find that person and I marry them,

00:34:56

are we going to be able to conceive?

00:34:58

Because infertility is rampant.

00:35:00

If we do have a child, is it going to be healthy?

00:35:03

And and then if it's healthy,

00:35:06

are they going to do well in school

00:35:07

or are they going to get into the right school?

00:35:09

Are they going to be out earning me?

00:35:11

What is the economy going to be?

00:35:12

And we go on and on and on and on and on and on these things go.

00:35:15

And that's just on one mindful topic.

00:35:19

The topic's abound, friends.

00:35:21

I'm just telling you, we are not well emotionally.

00:35:25

We are not well physically.

00:35:27

We are not well spiritually.

00:35:29

Will the Bengles break their playoff drought?

00:35:33

Will Ohio State choke in the playoffs?

00:35:37

Will UK be able to get to the final four finally?

00:35:42

Yeah, like it's been a whole three years for UK.

00:35:44

It's like, Oh, my gosh, we haven't been there.

00:35:46

The number of things that we stress out with is just not rational.

00:35:52

And it's because there's an actual enemy

00:35:55

and there's an actual war that is looking to take our peace.

00:35:58

In the Book of Philippians 4: 6-7 it says this:

00:36:22

That started off by saying: Do not be anxious about what?

00:36:24

Do not be anxious about anything.

00:36:27

That means don't be anxious about the economy.

00:36:29

It means don't be anxious about your kids.

00:36:30

That means don't be anxious about the toys you might buy your kids.

00:36:33

It means don't be anxious about the job you might get.

00:36:35

It means don't be anxious about Ebola virus.

00:36:37

It means don't be anxious about your football team.

00:36:40

Don't be anxious.

00:36:41

Don't be anxious about your doctor's appointments coming up tomorrow.

00:36:44

Don't be anxious about anything.

00:36:48

Because there is a Prince, a Prince of Peace

00:36:53

who has come into this world and has come to bring wholeness

00:36:58

and to alleviate the things that are not right.

00:37:03

This is a literal command in the Bible:

00:37:06

Do not be anxious about anything.

00:37:09

I tend to be very happy person, at least people tell me that.

00:37:13

They tell me I'm happy

00:37:14

and they tell me that they never see me carrying stress.

00:37:17

And you know why that is?

00:37:19

Because I take this verse literally

00:37:21

and I take this verse as seriously as thou shalt not commit adultery.

00:37:26

I refuse to be anxious about anything.

00:37:30

And you can't do this.

00:37:31

The Bible says take every thought captive.

00:37:34

When there is a stressful moment I have

00:37:36

where anxiety comes, I feel, huh-uh.

00:37:38

Stop it. I grab that.

00:37:39

I grab that thought in my mind.

00:37:42

I grab it and I look at it and say, wait a minute.

00:37:43

Is this happening right now?

00:37:46

No, it's not happening right now.

00:37:47

So I'm not going to pre-pay interest on a debt I may never have to pay.

00:37:52

I recently really had a legal situation with me resolved

00:37:59

and it was all fine.

00:38:01

No need to ever stress, but it was going on for quite some time.

00:38:04

And there was all kinds of reasons

00:38:06

that I was telling other people about this situation.

00:38:08

They're like, "Oh, man.

00:38:09

There's all kind of reasons to be freaking out."

00:38:10

I was like, "No, this is right now a legal matter

00:38:14

and there's an attorney, a friend of mine who's handling it.

00:38:16

And I'm not going to."

00:38:18

Jesus says don't worry about tomorrow,

00:38:21

because tomorrow has enough worry on its own.

00:38:22

Worry about today.

00:38:24

If there's something that I have to do today,

00:38:27

it's right from my face, OK,

00:38:29

I'll take a little stress then because it's right here.

00:38:31

But I'm not going to worry about something tomorrow.

00:38:34

Nothing. Nothing.

00:38:36

Things that we are anxious about and stressed about

00:38:39

and we've been stressed about them for a long, long time.

00:38:41

You're stressed about them for a long time.

00:38:43

How can you be stressed about something for a long time?

00:38:45

Because it's never happened.

00:38:48

It's never happened and you're wondering if it's going to happen or not.

00:38:53

And Christmas is about the birth of a prince,

00:38:59

of a king who is to bring peace.

00:39:03

The Book of Isaiah 9:6 --

00:39:07

Actually, excuse me, before I go there, John 14:27, here's what Jesus says.

00:39:11

He says:

00:39:18

That's another way of saying

00:39:20

not as the evil forces in the world give do I give.

00:39:23

Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

00:39:27

Don't let your heart be troubled.

00:39:29

Don't let it be afraid.

00:39:32

You let -- you and I can let ourselves be troubled.

00:39:35

We can let ourselves be stressed.

00:39:37

We can let ourselves be anxious.

00:39:39

We let ourselves become that way.

00:39:41

Jesus says don't let that happen.

00:39:44

And when He tells us this,

00:39:46

He tells us this as the Prince of Peace.

00:39:48

He is born in all of this cacophony of stress

00:39:52

that's happening around Bethlehem

00:39:54

and are happening in that point and cosmic history.

00:39:57

But that point was actually prophesied about

00:40:01

hundreds of years earlier in the Book of Isaiah 9:6.

00:40:05

It says this:

00:40:23

Here's the money phrase: Prince of Peace.

00:40:37

He is the Prince of Peace.

00:40:39

He has brought peace to our world.

00:40:42

And if you remember what He said to the angels,

00:40:48

that first verse I read, peace to those upon whom His favor rests.

00:40:54

Jesus doesn't bring this blanket of feel-good feelings

00:40:57

that comes over our world and just makes us feel content.

00:41:02

He brings a specific plan to bring you and I wholeness,

00:41:07

to bring you and I unity, to bring you and I

00:41:10

a sense of oneness and a sense of serenity.

00:41:15

And what He does is He brings Himself.

00:41:18

Author Tim Keller says:.

00:41:24

The coming of a Prince of Peace.

00:41:27

The coming of one who will alleviate tension in your life,

00:41:31

who will alleviate spiritual stress in our life.

00:41:36

And his government, as it said, will increase.

00:41:40

The more you allow Jesus's government to increase in your life,

00:41:44

the less stress you will have in your life.

00:41:47

The less, or another way to put this,

00:41:49

the less control you give God of your life,

00:41:53

the more stress will increase in your life.

00:41:56

You can either have the government of God

00:41:59

which will govern stress and govern fear

00:42:01

because you will allow yourself to slot under Him and His ways.

00:42:06

And you'll get all the benefits of that.

00:42:07

Or you'll put yourself under the government

00:42:11

of the normal ways of this world,

00:42:12

and that is fixating, stressing, fearing,

00:42:15

imagining things that could go wrong.

00:42:17

And you'll experience God less and less.

00:42:20

And peace will be a distant fairytale notion for you.

00:42:24

The only way we get a peace that passes understanding.

00:42:28

The only way we get to experience the wholeness

00:42:32

that comes from the Prince of Peace's regime

00:42:37

is when we allow His government to increase in our life.

00:42:42

And one of his articles of confederation

00:42:45

or articles of institution we read earlier

00:42:47

is don't be anxious about anything.

00:42:52

Anything.

00:42:54

And to believe that we were a victim of anxiety

00:42:58

is to prove that we were outside of His government

00:43:01

because his government doesn't work that way.

00:43:03

We're not victims.

00:43:05

We are people who can make decisions

00:43:07

and choose to receive the Prince of Peace

00:43:11

and to walk in the Prince of Peace's way.

00:43:13

Now when we do that, there's three tangible realms

00:43:16

I want to hit really real quickly here.

00:43:18

When this happens, we have peace in three areas.

00:43:20

One, we have peace with one another.

00:43:22

Peace with one another.

00:43:25

People on the right and people on the left.

00:43:29

The rich and the poor can have peacefulness with one another.

00:43:32

People who are white and black.

00:43:34

People who are black and Korean can have peace with one another.

00:43:39

Peace comes because we have the ability

00:43:43

to make a decision to think and act differently.

00:43:49

I'm part of a HOA where Lib and I live.

00:43:51

There's rules that kind of govern this tract of land

00:43:54

where we are in and the neighbors that are around.

00:43:57

And you're not allowed to hunt on our land.

00:43:59

And so I thought that I was --

00:44:01

I was hunting just off the land, but off the land.

00:44:05

And I talked to the police.

00:44:07

They said, yeah, that's fine to hunt deer and all that kind of stuff.

00:44:10

Well, the neighbors didn't like me hunting there at all.

00:44:12

And so, boy, I tell you what,

00:44:15

when you start interacting with the board of the H.O.A.

00:44:18

Homeowners Association and there's e-mails going around,

00:44:21

it's generally not a good thing.

00:44:23

It's generally not a peaceful thing.

00:44:25

It's generally not a harmonious thing.

00:44:28

And somewhere in the midst of this, I'd just like,

00:44:33

God just said, "Just give them what they want.

00:44:34

Just roll over."

00:44:36

OK. Ok.

00:44:39

Is it really that big of a deal to like have this little?

00:44:42

There's plenty of deer other places I can kill,

00:44:45

plenty of them all over the place.

00:44:47

God bless America, plenty of them.

00:44:49

OK.

00:44:50

I don't --

00:44:51

It's not worth unharmonious unpeaceful friendships, relationships.

00:45:00

Romans 12:18 says this:

00:45:10

There are some people it's not going to be possible

00:45:13

to live peaceably with.

00:45:15

They're not going to have any part of it.

00:45:16

But if it is at all possible, if at all posible.

00:45:20

And if you can do anything with it at all,

00:45:25

then make whatever sacrifice you can.

00:45:26

Why? Because Jesus made an ultimate sacrifice.

00:45:30

Jesus tried to restore our hostility with God

00:45:34

by coming and living a perfect life.

00:45:36

God took on flesh.

00:45:37

God was born in Bethlehem.

00:45:39

And only God could go His whole life,

00:45:41

not just as the greatest teacher,

00:45:43

not just the greatest moral example,

00:45:44

but as the only person who ever walked planet Earth

00:45:46

who never did anything wrong,

00:45:48

who never ticked God off,

00:45:51

who never had a mistake, who never sinned.

00:45:53

And He does this and He goes to the Cross

00:45:57

so that any ramification for your rebellion

00:45:59

and my rebellion, any ramification that might have to come

00:46:02

in the cosmic realm in the future, Jesus takes this.

00:46:05

He takes this so that we could have

00:46:08

a good relationship with God.

00:46:10

He rolls over so we can have a good relationship with others.

00:46:13

And this is what we need to do.

00:46:16

It's why Jesus says in Matthew 5:9:

00:46:25

or daughters of God.

00:46:26

Those who are about peace will be so unusual.

00:46:29

Those who aren't bound by fear of somebody who looks different

00:46:33

and earns different money, votes differently.

00:46:35

Those who, someone who is different

00:46:37

and doesn't demonize somebody else will be known

00:46:39

as being so unusual, like you must be a son of God.

00:46:42

You must be a daughter of God.

00:46:43

You're operating at a different level.

00:46:44

I don't know if I'm operating at a different level,

00:46:46

but I've got a different government inside of me.

00:46:49

There's a different rule with an increasing of government

00:46:51

that's happening to increase in degrees in the heart

00:46:54

of anybody who receives the Prince of Peace.

00:47:00

This is one realm, the realm of peace with others,

00:47:03

Another realm that His government starts

00:47:06

interacting with is peace with our past.

00:47:11

The holiday season can be a painful time for many of us

00:47:14

because we're reminded of mistakes we made in the past.

00:47:19

Some of us are single and we don't want to be single

00:47:22

and we're reminded of the one that got away somehow.

00:47:26

We're reminded of painful choices I or others made

00:47:32

in our childhood that actually makes

00:47:34

this holiday a bit more painful for us.

00:47:38

If it's not this holiday, it's a variety of things

00:47:41

that we have in our mind that we remember.

00:47:43

"Oh, no, if I go meet God right now,

00:47:46

I'm freaked out about meeting God right now."

00:47:49

You can get to the place where

00:47:50

you have zero fear at all about meeting God.

00:47:54

Zero. You can.

00:47:56

It's wonderful.

00:47:57

And the way that happens is you receive Jesus

00:48:00

and you're like the Prince of Peace comes in your life.

00:48:03

And you allow Him to reconcile you to God because

00:48:06

He's taken all the pain that needs to be taken

00:48:07

when He's on the Cross.

00:48:10

And this is a real spiritual sensation that you can have.

00:48:15

I have zero concerns over my past.

00:48:18

I don't have any fears of going before God

00:48:20

and having to talk about when I blew up

00:48:22

Mr. Burl Ball's mailbox, my chemistry teacher

00:48:24

in sixth and eighth grade, whatever grade that was, or ninth grade.

00:48:27

I have no concerns about what's gonna happen

00:48:30

when I told lies about Diane,

00:48:33

who I'd said I did things with sexually,

00:48:35

that I actually didn't do things with her.

00:48:37

I made those things right by her decades ago, by the way.

00:48:40

I have no concern about what God's going to do.

00:48:42

Because the Bible says in Romans 8:1:

00:48:45

There is therefore now no condemnation for those around Christ.

00:48:48

No condemnation.

00:48:49

Therefore, I'm at peace with all the things

00:48:51

I've done in the past because Jesus has taken place.

00:48:53

So I'm not concerned about this.

00:48:55

I'm not concerned about going before God

00:49:00

and having to justify why I used my communication skills

00:49:05

or haven's used my communication skills

00:49:07

to win an argument and hurt my wife.

00:49:10

I'm not afraid about that.

00:49:11

I'm not afraid of going before God, at peace with it.

00:49:13

Even though I've done pornography more recently than I care to admit.

00:49:19

You have anything in your past

00:49:22

that you really don't want to admit

00:49:24

that you know in that moment God wasn't a fan of?

00:49:27

How do you feel about that?

00:49:28

How's that? How's that working in your heart mind?

00:49:31

When you are giving yourself to the government of God

00:49:35

and saying the past is the past.

00:49:36

I intend not to do that anymore and I am moving on.

00:49:39

And you allow the Prince of Peace to come in,

00:49:47

Your heart actually becomes whole.

00:49:50

Shalom starts coming inside.

00:49:52

In the book of Colossians 3:15 says:

00:50:07

Let the peace of Christ rule.

00:50:08

Friends, we've got to let it rule.

00:50:10

We can't just hear a sermon on this go, "Oh, interesting."

00:50:13

We've got to let it rule.

00:50:14

We have to let His government rule in our lives.

00:50:17

We have to -- When He says He's over it,

00:50:20

we've got to be over it.

00:50:21

Why? Why do we hold our standards to

00:50:23

a higher standard than God holds us to?

00:50:25

If God God's over it, who are we not to get over it?

00:50:28

Whatever it is, it doesn't matter what it is, go before Him.

00:50:30

Just lay it at His feet, confess it to Him.

00:50:33

Be done with it.

00:50:35

Allow the peace of Christ to rule, allow it to rule in our hearts.

00:50:43

And the third realm is our peace with God.

00:50:48

Our peace with God, not just our peace with past,

00:50:50

but our peace with God.

00:50:54

Relationally to sense right here

00:50:57

and right now that God's good with me.

00:51:00

And what that means too is I don't need somebody else

00:51:05

to approve of me because God approves of me.

00:51:08

I have peace knowing that God approves of me.

00:51:11

If you're on the right

00:51:13

and you've got Uncle Bernie Sanders at your Christmas thing.

00:51:17

And he doesn't approve of you, that's OK.

00:51:20

God approves of you.

00:51:21

If you're on the left

00:51:23

and you have Uncle Donald Trump at the table with you.

00:51:26

And he's making -- you're feeling like you're less than --

00:51:30

It's okay, Uncle Donny and Uncle Bernie,

00:51:35

they may not approve of whatever you believe

00:51:37

or what you're doing.

00:51:38

But if you feel and sense the approval of God

00:51:42

because you're in His government

00:51:44

and the Prince of Peace has come to you, you are a good, man.

00:51:48

You are good.

00:51:50

Man, I have more people who dislike what I say

00:51:53

than the average person.

00:51:54

I do, just because I have more opportunities

00:51:56

to say it, to speak than the average person.

00:51:58

I more opportunities for more people to hear things

00:52:01

I say than the average person.

00:52:03

So I've a higher hit rate of stupid things

00:52:05

or things that people don't like that I said.

00:52:08

But I've got to tell you,

00:52:10

I'm okay if someone isn't okay with me

00:52:12

because I know God is okay with me.

00:52:14

And you can be that way, too.

00:52:15

That's the peace.

00:52:17

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.

00:52:22

The peace of God.

00:52:26

Awaited is coming to Cincinnati.

00:52:30

It's coming to the Aronoff Theater.

00:52:31

If you're in another part of the country,

00:52:34

your first time in Cincinnati, basically Aronoff

00:52:35

is like the Carnegie Hall of Cincinnati.

00:52:39

And I hope you can go.

00:52:41

It's be awesome if you can go.

00:52:43

And some of us will not be able to go because it's expensive.

00:52:46

It's outside of our budget.

00:52:47

You know, that budget for that show.

00:52:50

That's actually what it's always cost.

00:52:53

Like, oh, my gosh.

00:52:54

Yeah, I know.

00:52:55

It's one of the reasons we stopped it a couple of years ago.

00:52:57

We couldn't afford to do it any longer.

00:52:59

We're like redeploying hundreds of staff members

00:53:02

who are doing other things in Kids' Club and stuff.

00:53:03

Take them out of their normal job to try to pull that thing off.

00:53:06

A massive, massive amount of money there.

00:53:09

And when we were pass a bag, we never got enough in a bag

00:53:14

to just -- in a bag from one service to cover a camel costume.

00:53:19

I know it's a lot of money.

00:53:20

It is, it's a lot of money.

00:53:22

And there's a lot of other reasons.

00:53:23

And that's why we were excited about

00:53:25

it's still possibly being able to live on

00:53:28

in an environment that it was designed for in the arts.

00:53:31

And I, man, I hope it goes big.

00:53:34

I hope it goes big. I hope it goes --

00:53:36

I hope it makes Crossroads a lot of money.

00:53:38

I hope -- Why would that be?

00:53:41

Because that means more peace

00:53:44

can get to more people in other cities.

00:53:46

That's why.

00:53:48

Because that kind of model means peace can spread.

00:53:52

When we have resource here, we're all about spreading peace.

00:53:56

Because I'll tell you what,

00:53:57

Christmas Carol might bring a very brief shot of emotion to you.

00:54:00

But it's not going to bring you peace.

00:54:02

The government of God is not going to increase in your life.

00:54:05

Nutcracker will definitely not do it.

00:54:09

But when God gives us something to spread peace,

00:54:11

we need to be spreading and making peace happen.

00:54:16

It's a beautiful, beautiful thing.

00:54:19

One more verse I'll give us, Ephesians 2:14-16:

00:54:31

He is peace.

00:54:32

The dividing wall of hostility exist between us and God and us and others.

00:54:37

This is why knowing God is so critical.

00:54:40

Having the meaning of Christmas rule in our hearts is a game changer.

00:54:45

You might have seen it on bumper stickers.

00:54:48

And if you haven't heard it like a whole half hour on this,

00:54:52

I'm kind of giving you a deep theology

00:54:54

of what Christmas is about.

00:54:55

If you haven't heard this,

00:54:58

it's such a cheese ball, bumper sticker, it really is.

00:55:02

But it actually, in the context of I said, it actually makes sense.

00:55:05

It goes like this: if you know God, you can know peace.

00:55:11

If there's no God, then there is no peace.

00:55:15

Otherwise, peace is just you convincing your mind of something.

00:55:19

It's you trying to change your emotions.

00:55:21

I'm not talking about changing your emotions, friends.

00:55:24

I'm talking about a real entity that can enter your life.

00:55:29

I'm talking about a Prince of Peace that is a game changer

00:55:34

that equips us and makes us whole, that brings us to Him.

00:55:41

Some of us right now, we may want to receive Him

00:55:43

as our Prince of Peace right now.

00:55:45

You may want to allow His government

00:55:47

to come into your life right now.

00:55:50

Just go ahead, I just encourage you, go ahead and bow your heads,

00:55:52

Let's close in prayer, bow our heads.

00:55:53

Man, if there's anybody here with our heads bowed,

00:55:57

you're saying, "This makes sense to me.

00:55:58

I need peace. I need the Prince of Peace in my life.

00:56:01

I need forgiveness.

00:56:03

I need something new.

00:56:04

I need a new government in and over my life."

00:56:07

Just wherever you are right now, just raise your hand.

00:56:10

Just raise your hand. Come on.

00:56:11

I know we've got hands there.

00:56:12

There we go. There we are.

00:56:14

Yes, that's right.

00:56:16

Yes, Amen. Yes.

00:56:17

Mm-hmm. Yep.

00:56:19

All right.

00:56:20

Just pray this right now, just mumble it so God can hear it.

00:56:23

Say, "Jesus, I need you.

00:56:28

Prince of Peace, I need you coming into my life.

00:56:33

I ask forgiveness for my sin.

00:56:37

I ask You fill me with Your Holy Spirit.

00:56:42

And I'm going to submit to Your government.

00:56:46

Thank you.".

00:56:53

Man, that is the beginning of some good peace.

00:56:57

So, as we come over here to our --

00:57:02

Hey, let's welcome all those people into the family who just came in.

00:57:05

[applause] Yes. Good stuff, huh?

00:57:10

So here we have the next candle of peace.

00:57:15

You have a card if you came to a Crossroads site today

00:57:18

or if you're not at a site, if you're at a coffee shop,

00:57:20

just go ahead and grab a piece of paper.

00:57:22

And let's just take a moment and write on her

00:57:26

what was said that you feel was the fingerprints of God

00:57:30

on your mind you need to capture about peace.

00:57:35

Just write that down.

00:57:36

Something you want out of peace

00:57:38

or something you cannot let be forgotten about peace.

00:57:41

Just take a moment and just write that down

00:57:43

and you can take that with you.

00:58:05

And we light our candle of peace.

00:58:21

The nation of Israel, the ancient nation of Israel,

00:58:24

even before the prophecy of the Prince of Peace

00:58:26

and His government coming,

00:58:28

was looking for their version of peace that was the Promised Land.

00:58:32

And there was a way that the leadership

00:58:35

would put a blessing on them again and again

00:58:37

to have them know that this wholeness,

00:58:41

this shalom was on its way.

00:58:45

This is not something that can just live in our life right now.

00:58:48

It's something that also is coming on its way

00:58:50

in physical ways in our world as God's government increases.

00:58:55

I want to send you away with that ancient benediction:

00:59:01

The Lord bless you and keep you.

00:59:05

The Lord make his face to shine upon you.

00:59:08

May the Lord uplift your countenance

00:59:10

and be gracious to you both now and forevermore.

00:59:16

Amen.

00:59:18

Have a great week and we'll see next weekend.

00:59:21

- Well, I hope that this week you have more peace in your life

00:59:23

than when you started this video.

00:59:26

And next week we're talking about the Advent of joy.

00:59:30

You're not going to want to miss that.

00:59:31

And don't forget to wear your ugly Christmas sweater

00:59:33

if you head to a site next weekend

00:59:35

or tag Crossroads church on social media in your ugly sweater.

00:59:39

Thanks for joining us. We'll see you next week.

	Worship	4:15
	Community Life	17:38
	Message	21:18

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