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Merry Christmas everyone. It is that

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time of the year again. This

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is our annual message from the

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late Dr. Walter Martin where he

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talks about the secret of Christmas

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just in time for Christmas So

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we're gonna share this message with you. This

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is gonna be a fun little intrum and

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if you want to support cultists going into

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2024 you can go to donor box org/cultish

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We'll have links in the

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description where you can make

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a one-time donation or you

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subscribe to be a monthly

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donation partner going into

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2024 and as a reminder all donations

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are tax deductible. So take that into consideration

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We are thankful so much for you, and we

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will talk to you all next

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year We have so much in store for you

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So enjoy this message and we pray that you

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have a Merry Christmas with you and your family.

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We will talk to you all soon I

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Want to open your Bibles we're not in Colossians this morning

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instead we're on Christmas and since

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Christmas has been done to death by now on radio

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television and in numerous

1:15

church services I'm

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going to have a Christmas meditation

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Not so great in length as I hope

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in depth and I'd like you

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to Turn if you

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would to the gospel of John chapter 1 Now

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you're going to say to me. What are

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you doing in a gospel of John at Christmas

1:35

time? Because it's obvious

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that the gospel of Matthew and the

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gospel of Luke Tell

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us the Christmas story That's

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correct They do But

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the gospel of John tells you what it means And

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that's why as Christians

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We ought to be meditating upon the

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meaning Not just

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the chronology, historicity,

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sequence of events of

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that marvelous Christmas

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revelation. The

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story of the star

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and the wise men is

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valid history. It happened.

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God did it for a purpose. The

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story of Herod frothing

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and raging and then

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trying to con the wise men

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into telling him where Jesus was

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so that he could kill him is

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part of history. He

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didn't succeed. The

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story of the flight into Egypt

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to escape the wrath of the madman, part

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of history. The

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angelic chorus, glory to

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God in the highest and

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on earth, peace to men in

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whom he is well pleased is

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part of history. God

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did part the heavens and

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from the dimension of heaven, break

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through into earth with power

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and proclaim what pleased him most,

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the birth of his son. The

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unique event in

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the history of the world. The

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angelic messenger to Joseph and

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to Mary, the birth

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of John the Baptist, the forerunner in

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the spirit and power of Elijah, all

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part of history and

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the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. He

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was indeed to be the

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glory of thy

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people Israel and

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the light to lighten the

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Gentiles. But

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behind And all of the Christmas

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events, beyond

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all of the magnificent telling of

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the story and of history, which

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reduces to meaningless drivel

4:13

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer in

4:18

Santa Claus, emerges

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the core of

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Christmas. In

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the beginning was the word, or

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reason, or

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wisdom. And

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the word was face to face

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with God. And

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the word was God. In

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Him was life, and

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the life was the light of men. And

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the light shone on in the darkness, and the

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darkness could not comprehend, could not

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deal with it. And

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in verse 14, and

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the word became

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flesh. It does not say,

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took on the appearance of flesh. Masqueraded

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as flesh. Looked

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like flesh. Pretended

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to be flesh. Was

5:22

an illusion of flesh. That's

5:25

the cult. That's

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Gnosticism. That's Mary Baker Eddy, religious

5:30

science. The

5:32

New Ages. The

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word, the

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wisdom, the reason,

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the essence of God Himself became

5:45

flesh and

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dwelled among us. And

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we beheld His glory. The

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glory as of

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the unique one from the Father. Unique.

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one of a kind, full

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of grace and truth. He

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was not an angel. For

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to which of the angels did

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the eternal ever say? Sit

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at my right hand until

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I make your enemies the

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stool for your foot. None

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of them. But

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to the Son, he said, Thy

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throne of God is forever

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and ever. A scepter

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of righteousness is the scepter of Thy

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kingdom. When he

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brought him into the world, the

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fathers spoke to the Son. Recorded

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in Hebrews chapter 1. He

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said that all the angels of God worshiped

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my Son. And

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they did. They

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worshiped Him because it

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was unique. They

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worshiped Him because He was one of a kind. They

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worshiped Him because at

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a given moment in time and space God

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broke through and

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entered the world as man, which

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had never been before. He

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came to the womb of the Virgin and

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the magnificence of human birth and

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identified Himself with us. The

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wisdom and power of God incarnate. The

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core of Christmas is incarnation. An

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old Greek word, Latin

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word really, incarnos, in

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flesh. Something

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happened. Something

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happened. God, who

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is pure spirit, revealed

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Himself. literally

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in flesh. How

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he did it, nobody can understand. That

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he did it is

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as much a record as the angels that sang

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or the wise men that brought gold and frankincense

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and murk. The

8:19

significance of John 1 can never

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be misunderstood, never

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underestimated. What's

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being told us here is

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that God's wisdom took

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on human form. That

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everything that God could mean to man in

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this world resided

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in human flesh. That's

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why Jesus could say uniquely above all

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the sons of men, he

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that had seen me had

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seen the Father. He

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that receives me receives

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him that sent me. He

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that rejects me rejects

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him that sent me. I

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have not spoken by my own

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authority. My

9:18

Father gave me a

9:20

commandment, what I should

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say and what I should speak.

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If a man does not accept me, Jesus said, he

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rejects my word. I do not judge him. That's

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an awesome statement. I

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do not judge him. The

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word that I have spoken,

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it will

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judge him on that day.

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What I'm saying will be the judge. Not

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what you think, not what I think,

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not what the theologians think, old crop

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or new crop, not what the philosophers

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think, not what the... world

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thinks, not what the consensus thinks, not

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what history thinks, what I

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said. That

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will judge you. The

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incarnation was

10:15

the appearance of God in human flesh,

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but not just God

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in the sense of redeemer, God

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in the sense of judge. Today

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at Christmas we think

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of the baby and the angels

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and the wise men and

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the little town of Bethlehem and

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we forget the words

10:43

of Jesus Christ for judgment have

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I come into this world. Now

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is the ruler of this

10:50

world judge Satan and

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he Hebrews chapter 2 says

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became a partaker of flesh. You want

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to know the real reason that

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he might ruin

11:05

completely him.

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Satan who has

11:10

the power of death, that

11:13

is the devil. Christmas

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was God's emancipation

11:20

proclamation. It

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was signed in a manger

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and ratified in blood

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on a cross and

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sealed by an empty

11:36

tomb and a broken

11:39

Roman seal. Incarnation,

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God with us. No

11:47

accident that it says his name shall be

11:49

called wonderful counselor Al

11:52

Gabor, the mighty

11:54

God, father of

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the everlasting sovereign

11:59

of death. peace of his kingdom,

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there will be no end. And

12:04

upon the throne of his father David,

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he will rule the nations with a

12:08

rod of iron. The zeal of Yahweh

12:10

Elchim will bring this to pass. That

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it might be fulfilled by the

12:16

prophet, his name shall be called

12:18

Immanuel, God with us.

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Look at John chapter 1 once more. Verse

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18, no

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one has ever seen God at any time,

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but the only begotten Son, or

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the Greek says God, the

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only begotten one, who

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is in the Father's bosom, the Lord

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Jesus. He has

12:43

explained him, ah, what

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is the purpose of the Son? To

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explain the Father. And

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that's who the Logos was. He

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was the explainer of the invisible God, the

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word of God incarnate.

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I give him this illustration before, it's worth repeating.

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The term word, Logos, in the

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Greek, used in John 1, is

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very significant. It meant a great

13:14

deal to the Orientals, means nothing to us. In

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an Oriental throne room like this, the

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king sat there on

13:23

a throne with his queen

13:25

or consort, and

13:28

the people came before him to read

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their petitions and for judgment. When

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the king had heard enough cases and he was tired, they

13:38

would draw a curtain across the throne, and

13:42

the king would leave. But

13:44

you couldn't see that. Just

13:47

before he left, he

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would take the medallion from his neck,

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which was struck for his reign, identified

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him as king. And

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the signet ring from

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his hand with

14:06

which he stamped his documents. And

14:09

he put the ring on the

14:12

hand of a man and the

14:14

medallion around his neck. And

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then the curtains parted and

14:20

this man stepped out and

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everybody knelt. And

14:27

they did obeisance to him. Why?

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When they saw the medallion and

14:34

the seal, he

14:37

was in local

14:40

wrecks in

14:42

place of the king.

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His word was the king's word

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to disobey him was to die.

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You know what his name was in the Oriental courts? Logos.

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Logos. And

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that's what John's trying to tell us on

15:03

this day before Christmas. Do

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you know who the baby in the manger

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really was? Let

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me tell you. He

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is the visible image

15:15

of the invisible God

15:17

who parts the curtains

15:19

of eternity and steps

15:21

into the world of

15:23

time and space. And

15:25

around his neck is the

15:27

medallion, lion of the tribe

15:30

of Judah, king of kings,

15:32

lord of lords.

15:36

Kiss the son lest he

15:38

be angry and destroy you.

15:42

Jesus Christ is

15:45

the fulfillment of prophecy. He

15:47

is the incarnation of deity. But

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it remains for

15:52

the book of Hebrews to put the final

15:54

touch on

15:56

his identity. And I close

15:58

with this. Hebrews. Chapter 1. You're

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saying some Christmas sermon and

16:05

going near the Christmas story yet. Hey

16:08

kiddies, this is the Christmas story.

16:12

This is what it's all about right

16:15

here. Hebrews

16:17

1. God

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who spoke long ago to our fathers and

16:22

the prophets in many ways has in these

16:25

last days spoken unto us in his Son,

16:28

whom he has appointed heir of all

16:31

things, through whom also he created the

16:33

worlds, who being the

16:36

radiance of his glory. You know what

16:38

that means in Hebrew? The

16:42

outshining of the Shekinah

16:44

of Yahweh Elohim, the

16:47

glory of God Himself, the personal

16:50

glory of God. That's

16:52

who the Son is. He

16:54

is the radiant outshining of

16:56

the personal glory of Yahweh.

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He is the

17:03

individualized, personalized representative

17:06

of His character and His

17:09

nature stamped

17:11

in human flesh. Not

17:15

just a stamp

17:17

as one makes an imprint

17:20

in wax, but

17:23

He is the very nature of

17:26

God Himself internally

17:29

as well. Apogasmates

17:32

doxes, the radiant outshining

17:35

of His glory, who

17:37

pastasias tes character, the

17:40

substance of God's

17:44

nature, His character

17:47

in flesh. Upholder

17:50

of the universe by the

17:52

command of His power. And

17:55

now we get to what

17:57

Christmas was all about. Listen,

18:03

when he had by himself purged

18:07

us of our sins, he

18:10

sat down at the right hand of the

18:12

Majesty on high. He

18:16

left the Majesty on high to

18:19

enter the world in a manger, to

18:22

the womb of a peasant girl, denied

18:27

entrance to an inn. His

18:32

bed was straw with

18:35

the beasts of the earth. And

18:39

there lay

18:42

incarnate deity of

18:45

whom the angel sang, glory

18:49

to God in the highest and on earth, peace

18:53

to men in whom he is well pleased. Who

18:56

is he? He

18:58

is the image of God's nature, the

19:01

imprint of God's character, for

19:04

in him dwells

19:06

all the fullness of God himself

19:10

in flesh. He

19:12

is nothing less than

19:15

the nature of God in flesh.

19:19

Not a prophet, not a sage, not

19:22

a philosopher, not a leader, not

19:25

just a man. The

19:27

God-man, unique,

19:31

only begotten. And

19:34

the writer of Hebrews ends with this. God

19:40

spoke in

19:43

his son of whom

19:45

he said, verse 5, you

19:48

are my son. Today

19:51

I have begotten you.

19:54

I will be to you a father. You

19:58

will be to me a son. And

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then, when

20:04

the first-born one, the preeminent one,

20:06

Christ entered the world, the

20:09

Incarnation, the

20:12

Father turned to the

20:14

angels, to

20:16

all the hosts of heaven, and said,

20:20

verse 6, let all the angels of

20:22

God worship Him. And

20:27

to His Son, He said, verse 8, thy

20:30

throne, O God, is for ever and ever. The

20:35

righteous scepter is the scepter of

20:38

thy kingdom, for thou hast

20:40

loved righteousness and

20:43

hated lawlessness. In

20:49

the beginning was the Word, and

20:52

the Word was with God, and

20:54

the Word was God, and

20:57

the Word became flesh and

20:59

dwelt among us. In

21:02

Him was life, and

21:04

the life was the

21:06

light of men. No

21:08

one has ever seen God at

21:10

any time. And

21:13

God, the only begotten one who

21:15

is in the bosom of the Father, He

21:18

has explained Him. Who is He?

21:22

Logos, wisdom,

21:25

reason of God, who

21:28

steps out from the curtain of eternity into

21:31

the world of men and

21:35

loved us, even

21:38

to the cross of Calvary. Life

21:42

reason enough to

21:45

fill the earth in

21:48

every language with

21:51

Merry Christmas. Our

21:54

Father, Everlasting God, sanctify

21:59

Thy Word. word this morning in our hearts

22:02

and help us to draw near to thee for

22:05

thou art worthy of worship. Thank

22:08

you for sending him, God

22:11

over all blessed forever, who

22:14

for us men in our salvation was incarnate

22:16

of the Virgin Mary, and

22:20

rose immortal from the grave that death itself

22:22

might die. How

22:26

we praise you that he was wounded for our

22:28

transgressions bruised for our iniquities, that the payment of

22:30

our sins rested upon him, and with his suffering

22:32

we have been healed. How

22:35

we thank thee that we may come to thee, and we have peace

22:37

with thee through the blood of the cross. How

22:40

we thank thee that Christmas is

22:42

the glory of the manger, the

22:45

magnificence of the angels, but

22:49

the significance of

22:52

the word of God incarnate. God

22:55

blesses us with thy presence and thy power in our

22:57

homes, in our lives, and in our testimonies,

23:00

and in our church where we would worship and serve

23:02

thee through Christ our Lord.