Dec. 9, 2025
"God's Direction through Difficulties" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole
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The story of Mary and Joseph—pressed into a journey to Bethlehem, carrying the weight of difficulty and social embarrassment—was far from the end of their troubles.
This humble couple, without guards, privilege, or royal escort, was tasked with delivering Heaven’s most explosive gift to the precise location where the rescue of the human race would begin. Everything unfolded quietly under the cover of night, woven through the very orders of Rome itself.
Yet nothing about the process felt easy or well-timed. The trip came at the very end of Mary’s pregnancy. Their travel was slow, on foot or atop a donkey. And upon their arrival, they found no room—late, last, and pushed aside while every space was already taken. Not even the urgency of contractions stirred special favor or compassion toward them.
Still, the story moved forward according to the flawless plan of God, who had overseen every detail for thousands of years. When everything seems lost, He is crafting something beautiful in the middle of your struggle. He walks the road with us.
Check out God On Trial and start listening today!
Get your copy of "Spiritual Warfare and How Deliverance Can Change Your Life" on Amazon, and explore Marjorie's other books.
"Because There Is A War For Your Soul"
00:28 - Opening Prayer and Introduction
02:02 - God’s Direction Through Difficulties
06:34 - The Journey to Bethlehem
13:04 - No Room in the Inn
22:24 - The Birth of the Lamb
25:52 - The Shepherds’ Revelation
29:41 - God’s Sovereign Plan
31:38 - The True Meaning of Christmas
33:57 - Closing Thoughts and Reflections
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Rescue Radio, because there's a war for your soul.
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Yes, Father God, we thank you, Jesus, that you died to defeat our enemy,
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and you did, and that you are coming again. You've come as the king in Bethlehem,
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as a baby, and now you're coming back as the warrior king.
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So, Father, I thank you for giving us today this revelation,
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meditation, on how to resolve this God's direction in difficult times.
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And I thank you, Father, for giving us eyes to see, ears to hear,
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a heart to receive, and soften our hearts, soften our minds,
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our hearts, our eyes, to receive the love, the revelation of your love for us, Lord God,
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that this isn't just a calculated religious move.
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This is God incarnate coming to live among us.
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I thank you for we bind the spirits of confusion and snatching.
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I would try to snatch this word and the revelation of its sweetness from our hearts and minds today.
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Comfort our hearts, settle us down, Lord God. Cause us to not be distracted
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by so much of the busyness of anxiety and fear and things that don't go right, Lord God.
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Just cause us to recognize that even when things aren't going right,
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they're exactly going perfectly right because you are in control.
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And we bind the powers that would come against us, the witchcraft,
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the words, the incantations, the dedications, anything Satan would try to do
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to hinder, block, hide, hold back, or repress the revelation of your love and
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truth to any of us, to all of us.
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And that we would prevail, God, because we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.
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So, comfort each heart today, and may they be gripped in the power of your love
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and your affection in Jesus' name. Amen.
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Well, honey, I think we're talking today about God's direction through difficulties,
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and the perfect story for that would be Jesus himself, Jesus,
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Mary, and Joseph. Mary and Joseph, of course.
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Traveling all the way through the books of Luke and Matthew,
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where it talks about coming to Bethlehem.
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That whole story was set up in such a God-divine, precise, ordered fashion.
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God had to coordinate Rome. That's the political system.
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He had to coordinate the constellations and the stars to get the Bethlehem start
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up here at the right time.
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He had to coordinate the difficulties to get Jesus moved into the right location at the right time.
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To fulfill the prophetic words. And so we see here a marvelous underworking
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or behind-the-scenes kind of working of God and the authority and the precision
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of God to bring Jesus forth at Bethlehem.
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The precision is there, but in the midst of the precision, there's precision.
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There's nothing easy about it. It seems like no provision.
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It seems like it's kind of crazy, a lot of adversity, a lot of misunderstanding
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that came toward Mary and Joseph.
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But yet God's perfect plan was being fulfilled.
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Absolutely, and nobody really knew that. I mean, think, a lot of times with
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our own lives, we don't realize there's a perfect plan that's going forward,
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and much of the time we think, oh, I missed it, I made the wrong turn,
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a wrong move, I disobeyed God, and now I'm in the wilderness.
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But in this story with Mary and Joseph, the fact is they lived in Nazareth.
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And that decree, we all know from Caesar Augustus in Rome, was a declaration
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that all of the people had to go back to their hometown to be registered so
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that they could be taxed.
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And so, this was a heavy-duty motivation.
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Everybody's going to have to do this, Mary Joseph, even though Mary's almost nine months pregnant.
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So, to get back to Bethlehem, and why Bethlehem? Because the The Scripture has
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said that Joseph and Mary were both of the lineage, the house and lineage of David.
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So they had to go to the city of David, and everybody knew that that city was Bethlehem.
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So Bethlehem was probably that place where David himself grew up as a boy and
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where he watched his flocks as shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem.
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And so this is the beginning of the continuation, actually, of what God said
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to Eve in the garden, that he would send the head crusher.
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Yeah, it's interesting, too, that Nazareth was kind of a rough, tough border town.
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It was right on the border of the Gentile people, the people that Jews considered
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pagans, unclean, and so forth.
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And remember, was it one of the apostles when he was chosen?
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Way back there, he said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
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So Nazareth was Mary and Joseph's hometown. It was a town that did not have a good reputation.
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Right, and Jesus picked that town to live and to grow up in.
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And that place was given his light.
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And I think that's very indicative, too, of God is not a respecter of persons.
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He wants all people to know the truth.
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But anyway, so they're getting ready to go to Nazareth. Yes.
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To Bethlehem. I'm sorry. Yes, you're right. Thank you. You're very good to watch
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over my words. And I think that's helpful because sometimes,
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you know, I speak too fast.
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Well, we help each other, honey. Yes, we do. Love you.
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Love you too. Okay. Okay. So in the journey from Nazareth to Galilee,
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you know, it was about 100 miles, actually, maybe a little under that.
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But when you're not, you know, going coach and you don't have a nice Cadillac
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to drive and you're going to have to walk it, which basically everybody had
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to do three times a year. They got on the road and walked to Jerusalem.
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Joseph and Mary got in the pilgrimage to go to Bethlehem.
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Yeah, so they're coming from Galilee into Judea.
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Bethlehem is about maybe five, six miles outside of Jerusalem.
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So Jerusalem and Bethlehem are cities.
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Judea is their region. It would be like their state or their county. Yeah, exactly.
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But you know what? They couldn't afford a camel. Usually people walked,
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had camels, or had donkeys.
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And of course, camels were hard to ride and hard to get up on,
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and they were expensive.
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And so Mary and Joseph preferred the donkey, and he probably got to carry their
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supplies and they probably got to walk most of the time. Yeah, very likely.
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I don't know if it really says in the Bible, donkey, but we just,
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you know, from the images that we have of her and very likely she would have
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ridden on a donkey because, I mean, someone nine months pregnant isn't going
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to walk that far. Okay, so here you are, nine months pregnant.
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Not very convenient. Yeah, no, and you're trying to get your nursery ready for
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the baby and you're trying to settle into your nesting mode.
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All of a sudden, and you're on the road. And it's a forced march,
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and there's timing involved.
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It's critical. It's urgent. You've got to go now.
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And it was probably in the colder, maybe the fall-ish time of the year. I'm not sure of the time.
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But we can actually tell the time of his birth by the constellations,
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and we'll get to that in a minute.
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So they were walking. It wasn't easy. They were not necessarily complaining,
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but I'm sure they were really, you knowâ.
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Hitting the road and just forced march kind of thing. We got to do this.
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There's no other way around it.
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So they were trusting God, but at the same time, it looked like God wasn't cutting them any favors.
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Well, yeah, if you go back a little bit, I mean, it was a scandal.
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Mary is pregnant. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And basically then when people were
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betrothed, it's like an engagement.
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Only you're considered married. When you were engaged betrothed,
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you were considered married, but you didn't consummate the marriage.
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But if you were found to be with child at that point, then you wereâ Oh, it was a scandal.
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A scandal. Yeah, and of course, we know the story of Joseph was going toâ Put her away.
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You know, divorce her, really. And the Lord said, no, don't do it,
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because what's in her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.
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So Joseph was the right man to listen to the Lord.
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He didn't push his own agenda. He didn't go with what it looked like.
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But they both had to suffer a lot of humiliation. So, in a way,
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it might have been fun for them, good for them, a break for them to get out
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of Nazareth, or the Gossip City, and go to Bethlehem. So, they're on their way.
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Could be a mixed thing. We're happy to go. Little vacation here,
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but not really, because we're getting out of town and away from all the gossipy
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conversations, and now we're on our way.
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But here, so think about it this way.
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Everything that they're going through, the time, the place, the decrees,
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the obstacles, are all part of God's really crazy,
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beautifully haphazard coordination of precision of time and location logistics.
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I mean, God is doing something here
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that's soâand what I think he does is because he throws the devil off.
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I don't think the devil can keep up with God's crazy plans. And so all of you
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stop and think about this story, people, this beautiful, sweet drama of God
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bringing his son forth into the world.
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And just to pause here for a minute, I'm very sad and disgusted that this beautiful
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story of the love of God and the good news has been absolutely erased from,
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scrubbed from the scene.
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Nowadays, you have very, very little, you know, the manger, Jesus,
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the baby, the birth of Christ, is so stuffed in among the, you know, what have we got here?
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The Grinches and the mice and theâ Santa Claus. Yeah, yeah.
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So, it's a deliberate, demonicâ,
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Ah, there you go. To erase the true meaning of this season.
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And so, but back in those days, that was not their problem. Their problem was
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just finding a place. So they were on the road.
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They were, of course, falling behind in the line and everybody got to Bethlehem
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before them. And so all the good places were taken.
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And so there was, you know, they're kind of at the mercy of what would look
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like, oh, bad luck, too late, God's not there, what's going on?
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But in the meantime, God is coordinating not only the ground operations,
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but the celestial beings.
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He was coordinating Regulus and Jupiter and Venus so that they would come together.
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To form the Bethlehem star. Absolutely.
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And so, you know, but that setting, that constellation in motion,
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they move, you know, actually they don't move, the planets move through them.
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That stuff had to be set in place in the beginning when he said,
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let there be the sun, the moon, the stars. Yeah.
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And they had to rotate in a certain way just to precisely cause this star to appear.
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At that particular time. Yeah. And this was actually not one star.
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It was a converging of the lights of three different planets. Yeah.
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And Regulus. In the star. Regal. Yeah. Jupiter, the king planet,
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and then the beauty, the brightness.
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I believe it was Venus. It could have been Mercury, but I think it's Venus.
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You guys can all check it out.
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So the star had to show up at the right time, at the right night,
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in the right year, in the right decade, and the correct century to be seen by
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the Magi, or the three wise men.
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That's three. The wise men. We don't know if they were three.
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Yeah, we don't. So who are starting out from the east.
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They came from the east. They were probably astrologers or stargazers.
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They saw this unusual anomaly in the sky, and they knew.
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Now, these guys were not oriented in any kind of Judaic, biblical,
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Old Testament understanding of God, but they knew that this star was indicating the birth of a king.
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To the west of them. So they were coming from the east towards Israel.
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And we know they had to go, they had to go west because Israel is basically
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on the Mediterranean Sea, and they couldn't be coming from the west because
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then they'd have to be going through the sea.
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So they're coming from the east going to the west.
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But we'll get to that a little bit more maybe next time because we have a couple
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more things here we have to look at.
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So how far did they come? We don't know. How long did it take them?
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We don't know. But all we know is when they got there. They got there when they
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were supposed to get there.
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And then that started a whole new chapter in the drama of Jesus.
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But going back to the birth of Jesus Christ, the perfect order,
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God was, you know, here they come.
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They're in Bethlehem. They find no place. Okay.
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You know, we crumble when we can't find a parking spot in our favorite,
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you know, in our favorite store or whatever.
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They had, they looked around, looked around, looked around, and the contractions
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are getting closer and closer and Mary's getting a little more anxious and Joseph
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is getting a little more panicky and there's no room for them in the inn.
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No room for them here. Son of God shown up on earth, no place, oh my.
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We have this really mythological idea of, you know, Jesus in the stable and
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the oxen and the sheep are there, but it's very not the truth.
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Well, going back just a second to the other thing, no place for us.
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How many times are we called by God to do something?
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I'm serious people, good people. They end up on the street.
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They end up sleeping under a bridge. They end up trying to make their home in a car.
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Homeless in more ways than one. And Jesus Christ recognizes,
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he felt that, he was there being homeless.
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But again, this was part of the perfect plan of God that didn't seem to be a perfect plan at all.
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It seemed to be chaotic, disrupted, a lot of demonic interference.
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And what were Mary and Joseph thinking when they came to Bethlehem and they were shut out?
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And it was a way, you know, God was pushing them to a place.
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He wanted them to go end up in a certain place. But to do that,
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he had to have all these circumstances push them away from where they weren't
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supposed to be into the place they were supposed to be. And that's the same with us.
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Sometimes the circumstances are pushing us away fromâ Into the perfect place
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for us. Yeah, yeah. And we think we have an idea.
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The perfect place has just gotten closed to us.
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We're not going to get there. Yeah, the door's closed. Following the Lord,
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no matter how tough the circumstances are, He's going to bring us to the right place at the right time.
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So this story, this drama, this intervention of the Most High God into the affairs
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of men that started in the Garden of Eden, started with the promise of the head crusher coming.
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Who was going to crush the head of the snake, the serpent of old.
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God set that in motion way back then. So just amazing.
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The timing, the generations, the many, many ways and types and kinds and times
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Satan tried to intercept and destroy this thread of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
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And that's why Luke talks about the genealogy coming from Mary's side by saying
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Joseph, as was supposed, the son of Heli.
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But Heli was not his father. That was Mary's father.
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Joseph's father, I think his name was Jacob. And his story is in Matthew.
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And so we have the generations cross-referenced.
00:15:41.739 --> 00:15:46.279
We start with, from Mary, I think we start with, we end up with Adam.
00:15:47.131 --> 00:15:51.651
And from Matthew's genealogy, we start with Abram and end up with,
00:15:51.791 --> 00:15:58.271
you know, both of Mary and Joseph came from King David, and Joseph came from
00:15:58.271 --> 00:16:01.211
Solomon's bloodline out of him. Mary from Nathan.
00:16:01.531 --> 00:16:05.711
Yes. And so, because David had more than one son. And we don't hear much about Nathan.
00:16:05.891 --> 00:16:10.571
He wasn't a king, but Solomon was. So, part of the kingly right to the throne
00:16:10.571 --> 00:16:18.271
came through not his biological father, but his adapted father, we could call it. Yeah.
00:16:18.351 --> 00:16:24.451
The one God. Because back in those days, the Jews traced the lineage through the father.
00:16:24.911 --> 00:16:29.691
I thought they traced it through the mother, but both. Well, they actually did both.
00:16:29.871 --> 00:16:36.751
But Joseph was considered the legal father of Jesus. He was not the physical
00:16:36.751 --> 00:16:40.131
father, of course, but he was the legal father. So here we have the drama unfolding
00:16:40.131 --> 00:16:44.611
in the dead of night, in the darkness, where everyone is literally asleep.
00:16:45.191 --> 00:16:49.891
This is the first coming of Jesus. I believe the second coming is going to be very paralleled.
00:16:50.071 --> 00:16:52.971
He's going to come in the dead of night or in the most unexpected time.
00:16:53.051 --> 00:16:55.411
Obviously, half the world will be awake, half will be sleeping,
00:16:55.431 --> 00:16:57.191
because that's the way the night and day work.
00:16:57.291 --> 00:17:01.391
But he will come in the most unexpected time. and these shepherds,
00:17:01.551 --> 00:17:06.691
they were just watching their flocks. It was just another ordinary night.
00:17:08.070 --> 00:17:12.750
There was nothing special about it. They weren't anticipating anything.
00:17:12.750 --> 00:17:14.930
They were just going to get through the night.
00:17:15.050 --> 00:17:18.430
Let's put a little note in here about very likely, you know,
00:17:18.510 --> 00:17:22.850
most shepherds were very ungodly and not to be trusted. Yeah.
00:17:23.130 --> 00:17:27.750
They didn't even allow their testimonies in a court of law or anything like that.
00:17:28.010 --> 00:17:34.970
But very likely, these shepherds were shepherding sheep that were to be used for sacrifices.
00:17:35.970 --> 00:17:40.550
Temple sacrifices. And the temple. And so, basically, Mary and Joseph,
00:17:40.750 --> 00:17:44.830
it says, they wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.
00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:49.790
Very likely. You want me to go there? Well, we'll get there in a minute. Okay.
00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:55.690
I'll wait. Yeah, because this is veryâsee, what's happening here is God is coordinating
00:17:55.690 --> 00:18:00.430
the littlest details to make the most powerful impact. He's drawing together,
00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:04.830
bookending, paralleling all kinds of promises from the prophets.
00:18:07.050 --> 00:18:11.670
But he never left anything to chance. So in our lives as well,
00:18:12.130 --> 00:18:16.850
realize there's nothing left to chance. It's not bad luck. It's not fate.
00:18:17.050 --> 00:18:21.250
It's not God's abandoned me. It's not God doesn't care. God's not there.
00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:25.890
God never stops watching. He never stops knowing. He knows everything even before we go through it.
00:18:26.876 --> 00:18:31.376
But so even the most difficult things God is using in your life,
00:18:31.516 --> 00:18:37.636
in our lives, to move us to the place of his purpose and perfect plan for our life.
00:18:37.716 --> 00:18:44.036
For example, in Matthew's genealogy, he's writing to the Jews to show them that
00:18:44.036 --> 00:18:46.296
he is the promised Messiah.
00:18:46.536 --> 00:18:51.296
And it's interesting, in Matthew's gospel, in the lineage, the genealogy of
00:18:51.296 --> 00:18:57.236
Jesus, There are 46 people listed whose lifetimes span 2,000 years.
00:18:58.476 --> 00:19:03.316
These people varied greatly in spirituality. Some were very godly.
00:19:03.476 --> 00:19:07.496
Some were different personalities, different experiences.
00:19:07.876 --> 00:19:12.476
Some were great heroes of the faith. Some had very shady reputations.
00:19:12.736 --> 00:19:15.936
One or two sacrificed their own sons. That was being Joseph's side.
00:19:16.096 --> 00:19:22.136
Some were very ordinary. Some were very evil. So God uses all kinds of people
00:19:22.136 --> 00:19:24.716
to bring His Son into the world to redeem us.
00:19:24.836 --> 00:19:32.016
So it's the same way, too, is that God still uses all kinds of people to bring
00:19:32.016 --> 00:19:34.716
the message of Jesus, the Son of God, to the world.
00:19:34.876 --> 00:19:41.216
So with that said, there are no such things as accidents or unfortunate happenings
00:19:41.216 --> 00:19:46.016
in our life because God is redeeming and fixing and restoring and buying back
00:19:46.016 --> 00:19:48.556
from the brink of destruction, all of those things,
00:19:49.096 --> 00:19:52.856
even the most painful and horrible things that have happened in our lives,
00:19:52.956 --> 00:19:55.136
the most inconvenient things, the death of loved ones.
00:19:56.521 --> 00:20:00.201
Is using all these things to to bring
00:20:00.201 --> 00:20:03.621
justice to bring truth to bring redemption and
00:20:03.621 --> 00:20:06.641
so you know with joseph and mary making
00:20:06.641 --> 00:20:10.561
that painful journey they could have gotten weary tired they could have grumbled
00:20:10.561 --> 00:20:14.081
but i don't think they did they were struggling and straggling at the end of
00:20:14.081 --> 00:20:17.721
the line when they finally got to bethlem as you started to say a little earlier
00:20:17.721 --> 00:20:22.841
there wasn't a place for them and so then what did god do how did he direct
00:20:22.841 --> 00:20:26.421
them at that crisis moment and very likely now Now,
00:20:26.601 --> 00:20:31.661
this is very likely because Micah talks about the Tower of the Flock.
00:20:32.481 --> 00:20:38.321
That the salvation and redemption would come out of the Tower of the Flock.
00:20:38.521 --> 00:20:41.801
The Tower of the Flock was just outside of Bethlehem.
00:20:42.041 --> 00:20:47.101
It used to be an old watchtower, you know, where people would just sit up there
00:20:47.101 --> 00:20:48.761
and watch and see if the enemies are coming.
00:20:48.941 --> 00:20:54.241
But it had been converted into a place where the sacrificial lambs were brought
00:20:54.241 --> 00:20:56.001
for slaughter in the temple.
00:20:56.401 --> 00:21:04.081
And it was kind of a complex of pens, mangers, where they would examine the
00:21:04.081 --> 00:21:07.721
lambs to make sure that there was no defect.
00:21:08.261 --> 00:21:12.001
So they were fit for sacrifice for the temple.
00:21:12.461 --> 00:21:18.401
And they would take these lambs, these newborn lambs, and they would wrap them
00:21:18.401 --> 00:21:22.481
in strips of cloth, swaddling cloths.
00:21:22.541 --> 00:21:28.861
Right. And so to protect them, to make sure they weren't going to get bumped
00:21:28.861 --> 00:21:33.801
or cut or bruised or anything, so they would be perfect for the sacrifice in the temple.
00:21:34.081 --> 00:21:39.421
Well, it's interesting that Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God who takes away
00:21:39.421 --> 00:21:44.221
the sin of the world, was born in that place, laid in a manger,
00:21:44.241 --> 00:21:46.181
which is kind of like a stone wall.
00:21:47.222 --> 00:21:52.322
Or cement trough or cradle, and wrapped in swaddling cloths.
00:21:52.722 --> 00:21:57.642
Probably they had to borrow the swaddling cloths from the shepherds,
00:21:57.742 --> 00:22:03.942
from the priests and so forth that were caring for, or from the shepherds that
00:22:03.942 --> 00:22:05.342
were caring for these flocks.
00:22:05.462 --> 00:22:10.362
So the very Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
00:22:10.402 --> 00:22:11.762
as John the Baptist said,
00:22:12.446 --> 00:22:20.826
He was born and laid in the place where the sacrificial lambs were prepared for sacrifice.
00:22:21.026 --> 00:22:24.446
Right there. Talk about God's perfect timing.
00:22:24.686 --> 00:22:27.926
No room in the inn, no room in the town. But God had a plan.
00:22:27.946 --> 00:22:29.606
So they go to theâ God has a plan.
00:22:30.866 --> 00:22:34.446
There's a word, migdal, I can't remember the rest part of it,
00:22:34.626 --> 00:22:36.886
which means the tower of the flock.
00:22:37.046 --> 00:22:41.126
Very likely, this is where Jesus Christ was born into this world.
00:22:41.126 --> 00:22:44.666
Yeah, and it's interesting to see that in Luke chapter 8.
00:22:44.786 --> 00:22:50.226
My favorite part of the Christmas story is actually the angels showing up with the shepherds.
00:22:50.406 --> 00:22:53.586
Now there was in the same country shepherds living, verse 8,
00:22:53.686 --> 00:22:56.806
out in the fleas, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
00:22:57.406 --> 00:23:00.866
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord
00:23:00.866 --> 00:23:04.666
shone around them. And they were greatly afraid. I mean, wouldn't you be?
00:23:04.966 --> 00:23:09.226
This is like, you know. Freak out mode. Yeah, they didn't know about UFOs and
00:23:09.226 --> 00:23:12.746
anything like that. but this was just an anomaly. They'd never seen anything like this.
00:23:13.326 --> 00:23:17.946
Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good
00:23:17.946 --> 00:23:21.086
tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
00:23:21.446 --> 00:23:26.106
So good tidings of great joy. Okay, so this is breaking into their mundane,
00:23:26.366 --> 00:23:28.966
boring, depressing, poverty-stricken life.
00:23:29.426 --> 00:23:32.926
What? Good tidings? Good news?
00:23:33.186 --> 00:23:36.586
That's what the gospel actually is, is good news. That's where we get the idea
00:23:36.586 --> 00:23:41.086
of the gospel of good news because of this good news that God brought forth through the angels.
00:23:41.966 --> 00:23:45.526
Continuing, For there is born to you this day in the city of David,
00:23:45.546 --> 00:23:49.506
we know what that is, who that is, where that is, a Savior who is Christ the
00:23:49.506 --> 00:23:51.546
Lord, and this will be a sign to you.
00:23:51.906 --> 00:23:55.066
Now, this is an encrypted message to the shepherds.
00:23:55.612 --> 00:24:01.052
Okay, I've always wondered, okay, there's many mangers, you know, there's many stables.
00:24:01.172 --> 00:24:05.152
We assume this was out of a stable because a manger, we associate that with a stable.
00:24:05.972 --> 00:24:11.032
But the encryption was that what they knew, he says, and this is the sign.
00:24:11.092 --> 00:24:14.612
The angel said, you guys are going to get this. You're going to understand. This is the sign.
00:24:14.832 --> 00:24:19.432
You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths. Well, where are the swaddling
00:24:19.432 --> 00:24:22.272
cloths? Well, they're in the tower of the flock.
00:24:22.832 --> 00:24:25.752
Lying in a manger. Well, where's the manger? at the Tower of the Flock.
00:24:25.752 --> 00:24:28.412
The Tower of the Flock. So they knew exactly where to go. They didn't have to
00:24:28.412 --> 00:24:30.592
check out many stables and many mangers.
00:24:30.792 --> 00:24:34.712
They don't have to go door to door in Bethlehem. Yeah, or try to go to the outskirts
00:24:34.712 --> 00:24:36.912
and, you know. They knew right away. Where he was.
00:24:37.092 --> 00:24:40.292
So that's a solved mystery for me because I always wondered,
00:24:40.932 --> 00:24:42.212
how did they, what does that mean?
00:24:42.612 --> 00:24:46.032
Aren't all babies wrapped in cloth and swaddling clothes? We always think of
00:24:46.032 --> 00:24:48.672
swaddling clothes, but it doesn't say that. It's a swaddling cloth.
00:24:49.012 --> 00:24:54.092
And so that's a strip, like you said, of linen or material that wraps the baby.
00:24:54.092 --> 00:24:57.552
Because they would do that with babies, actually.
00:24:57.672 --> 00:25:00.092
Right, to keep them safe. To keep them warm, to keep them.
00:25:00.272 --> 00:25:03.852
But anyway, so the angels gave the message, sent the directions,
00:25:04.112 --> 00:25:09.492
and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising
00:25:09.492 --> 00:25:15.012
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peaceâ.
00:25:15.948 --> 00:25:24.308
Peace, after all these years of bloodshed and wars and in captivities and being exiled and whatnot.
00:25:25.028 --> 00:25:31.808
Goodwill towards men. And some versions say peace towards men of goodwill.
00:25:32.128 --> 00:25:37.848
But this isn't what that says. It says God is offering his peace and goodwill towards men.
00:25:38.068 --> 00:25:40.848
Not just good men, but anyone, whosoever will.
00:25:41.088 --> 00:25:45.088
So it was that when the angels had gone away from them into heaven,
00:25:45.088 --> 00:25:49.528
that the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing
00:25:49.528 --> 00:25:52.268
that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.
00:25:52.408 --> 00:25:55.428
So they knew that this tower of the flock was near Bethlehem.
00:25:55.508 --> 00:25:59.428
And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the
00:25:59.428 --> 00:26:01.008
manger, just like they were told.
00:26:01.248 --> 00:26:04.288
Now, when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying,
00:26:04.508 --> 00:26:06.148
which was told to them concerning this child.
00:26:06.308 --> 00:26:11.108
And all those who heard it marveled at those things, which were told them by the shepherds.
00:26:11.708 --> 00:26:17.268
So this, you know, it was a reveal of a secret that had been kept secret since
00:26:17.268 --> 00:26:19.448
God first said, I'm sending the head crusher.
00:26:19.908 --> 00:26:23.368
Satan had no way. He assumed it would be a human.
00:26:23.508 --> 00:26:27.088
He assumed it would be a baby. He assumed it would be a male because that would
00:26:27.088 --> 00:26:32.788
make more sense in the context of redemption and whatnot and head crushing and warring.
00:26:33.148 --> 00:26:36.268
And so, but he didn't know when. He didn't know which woman,
00:26:36.488 --> 00:26:39.608
what set of DNA. So all through the history, as we talked about last time,
00:26:39.948 --> 00:26:47.148
he tried to snuff out, cut off that bloodline that was carrying the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
00:26:47.348 --> 00:26:54.388
And so we see the remarkable work of God to bring a marvelous,
00:26:54.808 --> 00:26:59.348
marvelous conclusion to a thing that looks so hopeless and dark and dirty and
00:26:59.348 --> 00:27:04.048
despairing and meek and meager and yetâ.
00:27:04.903 --> 00:27:11.743
With that, we have the invasion, the intervention of the divine intervention
00:27:11.743 --> 00:27:15.063
into the affairs of men, the kingdoms of this world.
00:27:15.203 --> 00:27:20.523
And yet, look at how the kingdoms of this world rejected him completely,
00:27:20.663 --> 00:27:22.143
and still do, to this very day.
00:27:22.483 --> 00:27:26.023
Now, it's interesting. If you study carefully the characters,
00:27:26.023 --> 00:27:30.503
the people that are listed in Matthew and Luke in the lineage of Jesus,
00:27:30.723 --> 00:27:32.503
there are some real characters there.
00:27:32.643 --> 00:27:38.283
There are some where you haveâ Yeah, we always said that. You have Rahab the harlot. You have Jacob.
00:27:38.503 --> 00:27:43.003
He was a pretty sneaky character. He was pretty shady.
00:27:43.263 --> 00:27:45.043
The Lord turned his life around.
00:27:45.703 --> 00:27:49.703
Tamar was involved with a sex scandal with her father-in-law, Judah.
00:27:50.483 --> 00:27:55.863
We mentioned Rahab. And then Ruth, she was a Moabite. She was not an Israeli.
00:27:56.263 --> 00:28:03.403
And then Bathsheba, who was involved with David in a horrible adulterous affair.
00:28:03.403 --> 00:28:06.783
There are some lessons that we can learn about all this.
00:28:06.963 --> 00:28:13.183
Jesus didn't have, you know, his genealogy was human, a cross-section of humanity,
00:28:13.483 --> 00:28:17.863
not just all the goody-goody two-shoes people, but everybody there.
00:28:18.023 --> 00:28:21.083
And it's interesting, there's three lessons, I want to share this quickly.
00:28:21.836 --> 00:28:26.416
Three lessons that we can learn from this. Number one, God's work in history
00:28:26.416 --> 00:28:29.376
is not thwarted by human failures and sins.
00:28:29.836 --> 00:28:34.076
His plan is going forward through the midst of all this. It will go forward no matter what.
00:28:34.296 --> 00:28:38.416
Secondly, God reaches beyond the nation of Israel to the world,
00:28:38.696 --> 00:28:47.916
like Moab, like the Moabite, like Rahab, and then Jesus actually being born
00:28:47.916 --> 00:28:53.036
right on the edge, on the border town, the edge of the Gentile world.
00:28:53.376 --> 00:29:00.236
And then the third thing is that God can place even the lowest of people into his royal lineage.
00:29:00.416 --> 00:29:06.236
And so we, even as a lot of us, we're considering ourselves the lowest of people,
00:29:06.336 --> 00:29:12.296
but yes, we are now in the spiritual lineage of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
00:29:12.296 --> 00:29:19.136
We are a kingdom of priests with Christ, under Christ, through Christ in these
00:29:19.136 --> 00:29:21.356
days. So God brings, he's brought us.
00:29:22.205 --> 00:29:27.325
From every nation, tribe, and tongue, all levels of society,
00:29:28.025 --> 00:29:33.305
all abilities and inabilities, male and female, all of us have been brought
00:29:33.305 --> 00:29:35.585
together now through Christ.
00:29:35.765 --> 00:29:38.045
And God is still writing the story.
00:29:38.345 --> 00:29:41.825
You know, it didn't end at Bethlehem. It didn't end at the cross.
00:29:41.825 --> 00:29:47.005
And that's good news for us because there is a future. There's a hope. There's a promise.
00:29:47.165 --> 00:29:51.305
There's an eternal destination for us. Jesus said, you know,
00:29:51.365 --> 00:29:53.825
let not your heart be troubled in my Father's house are many mansions.
00:29:53.925 --> 00:29:56.505
If it were not so, I would have told you I'd go to prepare a place for you.
00:29:56.585 --> 00:29:59.325
So he has gone to prepare a home for us in heaven.
00:29:59.605 --> 00:30:01.825
People get it together.
00:30:02.145 --> 00:30:06.625
Realize that this thing you're going through is a trial, a test,
00:30:06.805 --> 00:30:11.065
an ordeal, an assault, the enemy's accusing you.
00:30:11.425 --> 00:30:14.905
It's all got one thing in mind, and from God's point of view,
00:30:14.905 --> 00:30:19.785
is to refine you, bring you forth, make you create us into the image of Jesus
00:30:19.785 --> 00:30:24.445
Christ, and to bring forth justice and truth through even all these injustices.
00:30:24.605 --> 00:30:27.905
So, as we must, I really believe,
00:30:28.489 --> 00:30:33.269
Repent. I just want to repent right now for what we have done to the story of Jesus Christ.
00:30:33.589 --> 00:30:39.089
I know if you've watched any of the Christmas movies, for the most part,
00:30:39.329 --> 00:30:44.129
especially the major channels, everything about Jesus, God, the joy to the world,
00:30:44.189 --> 00:30:49.349
pretty much has been replaced and scrubbed by Santa Claus and reindeer.
00:30:49.709 --> 00:30:54.269
And Christmas. And Christmas itself. Christmas itself rather than what goes
00:30:54.269 --> 00:30:57.449
on at Christmas itself rather than Christ himself.
00:30:57.449 --> 00:31:04.709
We are really degenerating as a society from being pulled away from the truth
00:31:04.709 --> 00:31:06.109
and the principles of truth.
00:31:06.229 --> 00:31:10.729
And because of that, the moorings and the things that held us firm and foundational
00:31:10.729 --> 00:31:18.629
and in place are being rotted away so that there's no other recourse except to get back to the truth.
00:31:18.789 --> 00:31:24.749
And you can do that, whether it's society, whether the TV, whether the merchandising
00:31:24.749 --> 00:31:32.029
displays Jesus or not. you know who he is and be bold to proclaim this coming.
00:31:32.369 --> 00:31:37.889
We celebrate Jesus' coming right now at this time of year, but he didn't come on December 25th.
00:31:38.189 --> 00:31:41.789
That's not his birthday. His birthday, according to the constellations and the
00:31:41.789 --> 00:31:44.869
stars, is probably more around September 11th.
00:31:45.089 --> 00:31:51.749
You can back up those programs to go to the place where this star really appeared,
00:31:51.769 --> 00:31:53.289
and you can get the exact day.
00:31:53.509 --> 00:31:57.489
You can actually get the exact day He died on the cross now because the constellations
00:31:57.489 --> 00:32:00.669
and stars are for signs and they keep the record.
00:32:00.869 --> 00:32:03.969
And so, you know, whether you want to believe your computer and the stars,
00:32:04.129 --> 00:32:07.769
that God has used them as a testimony to bear witness to the truth.
00:32:07.869 --> 00:32:12.509
And also, many of the things God has said are being uncovered in the rocks and the archaeology.
00:32:12.769 --> 00:32:16.009
Things are being dug up and found. The books in the book of Enoch,
00:32:16.129 --> 00:32:19.789
the things that were hidden in the caves, all of these things were in the last days.
00:32:19.949 --> 00:32:25.649
God is showing the truth again, the evidence of the truth, whether you receive it or not. He is...
00:32:26.644 --> 00:32:32.364
All these things that you just mentioned all work together to confirm God,
00:32:32.784 --> 00:32:35.404
his truth, his plan, his word. And what he said.
00:32:35.544 --> 00:32:38.824
And if you look at the book of Revelations, how he's coming the second time,
00:32:38.924 --> 00:32:41.224
he's coming in 1911 through 16.
00:32:41.484 --> 00:32:47.224
He's coming in might and power with his armies with him on white horses.
00:32:47.224 --> 00:32:53.324
They're coming victoriously. He's not coming hidden in secret and concealed as this lamb of God.
00:32:53.344 --> 00:32:56.884
He's coming as the lion of Judah. and you have a choice.
00:32:57.144 --> 00:33:03.064
You don't have to bite into the frivolity, the emptiness of all the trinkets
00:33:03.064 --> 00:33:07.344
surrounding Christmas and the hustle and bustle and hassle and things that we
00:33:07.344 --> 00:33:12.324
eat and things we do and people feeling sad because they can't be part of all this beautiful,
00:33:12.844 --> 00:33:14.664
whatever, decorations and trivia.
00:33:15.504 --> 00:33:20.184
Make Jesus, you know, in your heart, know who you are, know who he is,
00:33:20.304 --> 00:33:24.624
and glorify him as the Lamb of God and as the Lion of Judah.
00:33:24.624 --> 00:33:28.784
So, Father God, forgive us for trashing Christmas.
00:33:29.184 --> 00:33:35.184
We didn't do it, but let us resurrect the true, wonderful story of Jesus Christ
00:33:35.184 --> 00:33:40.404
and what that means, not only in our lives, but the lives of our descendants
00:33:40.404 --> 00:33:43.264
and in the generations that have come and gone.
00:33:43.544 --> 00:33:48.684
The redemption of the world has begun in Jesus Christ stepping foot on the planet.
00:33:48.804 --> 00:33:50.984
So, Father, thank you for this wonderful story.
00:33:51.164 --> 00:33:54.444
Change our hearts. Give us the Christmas spirit this year, the Spirit of Christ
00:33:54.444 --> 00:33:57.184
in our spirits, Father, in Jesus' name.
00:33:57.964 --> 00:33:59.924
Amen and amen. God on trial.
00:34:01.015 --> 00:34:05.375
There's the, what is it, God on Trial.
00:34:05.815 --> 00:34:12.415
There's so many, this series that you've produced, and it's just so excellent in so many ways.
00:34:13.955 --> 00:34:20.035
It's hidden. Each episode has many different layers of things going on at the same time.
00:34:20.175 --> 00:34:22.635
But the theme of it is Christ.
00:34:22.855 --> 00:34:28.335
The head crusher is coming on the scene, and Satan is very nervous about it. Yeah.
00:34:28.695 --> 00:34:33.635
So, yeah, the story is a dramatization of the war between God and Satan for
00:34:33.635 --> 00:34:35.375
the souls of men told from the devil's point of view.
00:34:35.535 --> 00:34:39.955
So, I think we're going to play a little excerpt of that next week,
00:34:40.015 --> 00:34:43.275
kind of just because we're getting into the part about Herod,
00:34:43.315 --> 00:34:46.595
and that's an interesting segment to the story that we didn't cover today because
00:34:46.595 --> 00:34:47.955
we're kind of going in an order.
00:34:48.395 --> 00:34:54.275
So, for those of you who canâ How can they get it? Oh, just go to liferecovery.com.
00:34:54.435 --> 00:34:57.355
Every episode, which is about 30 minutes long, is $2.99.
00:34:57.595 --> 00:35:00.335
You can MP3 it, download it to your phone, and listen to it.
00:35:00.595 --> 00:35:06.315
It's not that hard. I believe it's all working again, because that's what we
00:35:06.315 --> 00:35:10.115
want to see, is that you be blessed this Christmas with that gift.
00:35:10.715 --> 00:35:12.875
In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
00:00:24.579 --> 00:00:28.439
Rescue Radio, because there's a war for your soul.
00:00:28.659 --> 00:00:32.899
Yes, Father God, we thank you, Jesus, that you died to defeat our enemy,
00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:38.239
and you did, and that you are coming again. You've come as the king in Bethlehem,
00:00:38.359 --> 00:00:41.019
as a baby, and now you're coming back as the warrior king.
00:00:41.339 --> 00:00:44.259
So, Father, I thank you for giving us today this revelation,
00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:49.959
meditation, on how to resolve this God's direction in difficult times.
00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:53.719
And I thank you, Father, for giving us eyes to see, ears to hear,
00:00:53.859 --> 00:00:57.439
a heart to receive, and soften our hearts, soften our minds,
00:00:57.559 --> 00:01:02.579
our hearts, our eyes, to receive the love, the revelation of your love for us, Lord God,
00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:05.739
that this isn't just a calculated religious move.
00:01:05.859 --> 00:01:09.179
This is God incarnate coming to live among us.
00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:12.919
I thank you for we bind the spirits of confusion and snatching.
00:01:13.199 --> 00:01:17.379
I would try to snatch this word and the revelation of its sweetness from our hearts and minds today.
00:01:17.899 --> 00:01:21.779
Comfort our hearts, settle us down, Lord God. Cause us to not be distracted
00:01:21.779 --> 00:01:27.719
by so much of the busyness of anxiety and fear and things that don't go right, Lord God.
00:01:27.839 --> 00:01:31.179
Just cause us to recognize that even when things aren't going right,
00:01:31.359 --> 00:01:34.179
they're exactly going perfectly right because you are in control.
00:01:34.419 --> 00:01:37.159
And we bind the powers that would come against us, the witchcraft,
00:01:37.279 --> 00:01:41.119
the words, the incantations, the dedications, anything Satan would try to do
00:01:41.119 --> 00:01:45.579
to hinder, block, hide, hold back, or repress the revelation of your love and
00:01:45.579 --> 00:01:47.099
truth to any of us, to all of us.
00:01:47.379 --> 00:01:51.359
And that we would prevail, God, because we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ.
00:01:51.559 --> 00:01:58.079
So, comfort each heart today, and may they be gripped in the power of your love
00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:01.279
and your affection in Jesus' name. Amen.
00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:06.239
Well, honey, I think we're talking today about God's direction through difficulties,
00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:10.359
and the perfect story for that would be Jesus himself, Jesus,
00:02:10.579 --> 00:02:13.199
Mary, and Joseph. Mary and Joseph, of course.
00:02:13.722 --> 00:02:17.382
Traveling all the way through the books of Luke and Matthew,
00:02:17.402 --> 00:02:19.502
where it talks about coming to Bethlehem.
00:02:19.722 --> 00:02:27.242
That whole story was set up in such a God-divine, precise, ordered fashion.
00:02:27.762 --> 00:02:30.982
God had to coordinate Rome. That's the political system.
00:02:31.122 --> 00:02:35.162
He had to coordinate the constellations and the stars to get the Bethlehem start
00:02:35.162 --> 00:02:36.222
up here at the right time.
00:02:36.402 --> 00:02:43.282
He had to coordinate the difficulties to get Jesus moved into the right location at the right time.
00:02:43.722 --> 00:02:48.902
To fulfill the prophetic words. And so we see here a marvelous underworking
00:02:48.902 --> 00:02:53.182
or behind-the-scenes kind of working of God and the authority and the precision
00:02:53.182 --> 00:02:56.602
of God to bring Jesus forth at Bethlehem.
00:02:57.322 --> 00:03:03.122
The precision is there, but in the midst of the precision, there's precision.
00:03:03.342 --> 00:03:06.182
There's nothing easy about it. It seems like no provision.
00:03:06.422 --> 00:03:11.202
It seems like it's kind of crazy, a lot of adversity, a lot of misunderstanding
00:03:11.202 --> 00:03:13.142
that came toward Mary and Joseph.
00:03:13.802 --> 00:03:18.482
But yet God's perfect plan was being fulfilled.
00:03:18.682 --> 00:03:22.602
Absolutely, and nobody really knew that. I mean, think, a lot of times with
00:03:22.602 --> 00:03:25.442
our own lives, we don't realize there's a perfect plan that's going forward,
00:03:25.462 --> 00:03:29.302
and much of the time we think, oh, I missed it, I made the wrong turn,
00:03:29.422 --> 00:03:32.222
a wrong move, I disobeyed God, and now I'm in the wilderness.
00:03:32.402 --> 00:03:37.442
But in this story with Mary and Joseph, the fact is they lived in Nazareth.
00:03:38.335 --> 00:03:44.155
And that decree, we all know from Caesar Augustus in Rome, was a declaration
00:03:44.155 --> 00:03:49.035
that all of the people had to go back to their hometown to be registered so
00:03:49.035 --> 00:03:50.475
that they could be taxed.
00:03:50.655 --> 00:03:54.535
And so, this was a heavy-duty motivation.
00:03:54.695 --> 00:03:59.075
Everybody's going to have to do this, Mary Joseph, even though Mary's almost nine months pregnant.
00:03:59.595 --> 00:04:03.855
So, to get back to Bethlehem, and why Bethlehem? Because the The Scripture has
00:04:03.855 --> 00:04:10.115
said that Joseph and Mary were both of the lineage, the house and lineage of David.
00:04:10.415 --> 00:04:15.895
So they had to go to the city of David, and everybody knew that that city was Bethlehem.
00:04:16.095 --> 00:04:21.515
So Bethlehem was probably that place where David himself grew up as a boy and
00:04:21.515 --> 00:04:24.895
where he watched his flocks as shepherds on the hills of Bethlehem.
00:04:25.115 --> 00:04:30.735
And so this is the beginning of the continuation, actually, of what God said
00:04:30.735 --> 00:04:33.395
to Eve in the garden, that he would send the head crusher.
00:04:33.635 --> 00:04:37.455
Yeah, it's interesting, too, that Nazareth was kind of a rough, tough border town.
00:04:37.695 --> 00:04:43.675
It was right on the border of the Gentile people, the people that Jews considered
00:04:43.675 --> 00:04:46.435
pagans, unclean, and so forth.
00:04:46.635 --> 00:04:49.675
And remember, was it one of the apostles when he was chosen?
00:04:50.380 --> 00:04:53.380
Way back there, he said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
00:04:53.840 --> 00:05:01.280
So Nazareth was Mary and Joseph's hometown. It was a town that did not have a good reputation.
00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:05.240
Right, and Jesus picked that town to live and to grow up in.
00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:09.660
And that place was given his light.
00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:13.700
And I think that's very indicative, too, of God is not a respecter of persons.
00:05:13.820 --> 00:05:15.720
He wants all people to know the truth.
00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:19.500
But anyway, so they're getting ready to go to Nazareth. Yes.
00:05:19.900 --> 00:05:24.300
To Bethlehem. I'm sorry. Yes, you're right. Thank you. You're very good to watch
00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:26.380
over my words. And I think that's helpful because sometimes,
00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:27.480
you know, I speak too fast.
00:05:27.620 --> 00:05:30.560
Well, we help each other, honey. Yes, we do. Love you.
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Love you too. Okay. Okay. So in the journey from Nazareth to Galilee,
00:05:36.620 --> 00:05:40.260
you know, it was about 100 miles, actually, maybe a little under that.
00:05:40.400 --> 00:05:45.220
But when you're not, you know, going coach and you don't have a nice Cadillac
00:05:45.220 --> 00:05:48.860
to drive and you're going to have to walk it, which basically everybody had
00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:51.800
to do three times a year. They got on the road and walked to Jerusalem.
00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:57.520
Joseph and Mary got in the pilgrimage to go to Bethlehem.
00:05:57.780 --> 00:06:00.780
Yeah, so they're coming from Galilee into Judea.
00:06:02.443 --> 00:06:06.223
Bethlehem is about maybe five, six miles outside of Jerusalem.
00:06:06.483 --> 00:06:08.963
So Jerusalem and Bethlehem are cities.
00:06:09.423 --> 00:06:14.803
Judea is their region. It would be like their state or their county. Yeah, exactly.
00:06:16.883 --> 00:06:20.623
But you know what? They couldn't afford a camel. Usually people walked,
00:06:20.723 --> 00:06:21.923
had camels, or had donkeys.
00:06:22.383 --> 00:06:25.483
And of course, camels were hard to ride and hard to get up on,
00:06:25.603 --> 00:06:26.423
and they were expensive.
00:06:26.643 --> 00:06:31.743
And so Mary and Joseph preferred the donkey, and he probably got to carry their
00:06:31.743 --> 00:06:34.683
supplies and they probably got to walk most of the time. Yeah, very likely.
00:06:34.923 --> 00:06:38.423
I don't know if it really says in the Bible, donkey, but we just,
00:06:38.663 --> 00:06:42.443
you know, from the images that we have of her and very likely she would have
00:06:42.443 --> 00:06:45.423
ridden on a donkey because, I mean, someone nine months pregnant isn't going
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to walk that far. Okay, so here you are, nine months pregnant.
00:06:50.023 --> 00:06:54.163
Not very convenient. Yeah, no, and you're trying to get your nursery ready for
00:06:54.163 --> 00:06:57.023
the baby and you're trying to settle into your nesting mode.
00:06:57.023 --> 00:07:00.943
All of a sudden, and you're on the road. And it's a forced march,
00:07:01.083 --> 00:07:03.323
and there's timing involved.
00:07:03.463 --> 00:07:05.223
It's critical. It's urgent. You've got to go now.
00:07:05.563 --> 00:07:11.063
And it was probably in the colder, maybe the fall-ish time of the year. I'm not sure of the time.
00:07:11.443 --> 00:07:14.943
But we can actually tell the time of his birth by the constellations,
00:07:14.983 --> 00:07:15.963
and we'll get to that in a minute.
00:07:16.343 --> 00:07:21.263
So they were walking. It wasn't easy. They were not necessarily complaining,
00:07:21.443 --> 00:07:23.843
but I'm sure they were really, you knowâ.
00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:27.700
Hitting the road and just forced march kind of thing. We got to do this.
00:07:27.780 --> 00:07:29.260
There's no other way around it.
00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:34.600
So they were trusting God, but at the same time, it looked like God wasn't cutting them any favors.
00:07:34.940 --> 00:07:38.480
Well, yeah, if you go back a little bit, I mean, it was a scandal.
00:07:38.700 --> 00:07:42.880
Mary is pregnant. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And basically then when people were
00:07:42.880 --> 00:07:45.700
betrothed, it's like an engagement.
00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:49.440
Only you're considered married. When you were engaged betrothed,
00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:53.380
you were considered married, but you didn't consummate the marriage.
00:07:53.380 --> 00:07:56.720
But if you were found to be with child at that point, then you wereâ Oh, it was a scandal.
00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:01.940
A scandal. Yeah, and of course, we know the story of Joseph was going toâ Put her away.
00:08:02.260 --> 00:08:06.360
You know, divorce her, really. And the Lord said, no, don't do it,
00:08:06.380 --> 00:08:10.120
because what's in her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.
00:08:10.180 --> 00:08:12.980
So Joseph was the right man to listen to the Lord.
00:08:13.080 --> 00:08:15.900
He didn't push his own agenda. He didn't go with what it looked like.
00:08:16.260 --> 00:08:19.540
But they both had to suffer a lot of humiliation. So, in a way,
00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:23.160
it might have been fun for them, good for them, a break for them to get out
00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:27.880
of Nazareth, or the Gossip City, and go to Bethlehem. So, they're on their way.
00:08:28.040 --> 00:08:30.700
Could be a mixed thing. We're happy to go. Little vacation here,
00:08:30.760 --> 00:08:35.220
but not really, because we're getting out of town and away from all the gossipy
00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:38.280
conversations, and now we're on our way.
00:08:38.460 --> 00:08:41.240
But here, so think about it this way.
00:08:42.026 --> 00:08:47.026
Everything that they're going through, the time, the place, the decrees,
00:08:47.386 --> 00:08:52.546
the obstacles, are all part of God's really crazy,
00:08:53.006 --> 00:08:58.306
beautifully haphazard coordination of precision of time and location logistics.
00:08:58.526 --> 00:09:00.426
I mean, God is doing something here
00:09:00.426 --> 00:09:04.166
that's soâand what I think he does is because he throws the devil off.
00:09:04.346 --> 00:09:09.206
I don't think the devil can keep up with God's crazy plans. And so all of you
00:09:09.206 --> 00:09:15.606
stop and think about this story, people, this beautiful, sweet drama of God
00:09:15.606 --> 00:09:18.386
bringing his son forth into the world.
00:09:19.166 --> 00:09:25.046
And just to pause here for a minute, I'm very sad and disgusted that this beautiful
00:09:25.046 --> 00:09:32.166
story of the love of God and the good news has been absolutely erased from,
00:09:32.346 --> 00:09:35.226
scrubbed from the scene.
00:09:35.226 --> 00:09:40.366
Nowadays, you have very, very little, you know, the manger, Jesus,
00:09:40.806 --> 00:09:47.706
the baby, the birth of Christ, is so stuffed in among the, you know, what have we got here?
00:09:47.706 --> 00:09:51.386
The Grinches and the mice and theâ Santa Claus. Yeah, yeah.
00:09:51.606 --> 00:09:55.266
So, it's a deliberate, demonicâ,
00:09:55.944 --> 00:10:02.624
Ah, there you go. To erase the true meaning of this season.
00:10:03.364 --> 00:10:07.584
And so, but back in those days, that was not their problem. Their problem was
00:10:07.584 --> 00:10:09.604
just finding a place. So they were on the road.
00:10:09.824 --> 00:10:13.464
They were, of course, falling behind in the line and everybody got to Bethlehem
00:10:13.464 --> 00:10:16.564
before them. And so all the good places were taken.
00:10:17.144 --> 00:10:22.364
And so there was, you know, they're kind of at the mercy of what would look
00:10:22.364 --> 00:10:25.964
like, oh, bad luck, too late, God's not there, what's going on?
00:10:26.404 --> 00:10:32.944
But in the meantime, God is coordinating not only the ground operations,
00:10:33.244 --> 00:10:35.344
but the celestial beings.
00:10:35.704 --> 00:10:42.184
He was coordinating Regulus and Jupiter and Venus so that they would come together.
00:10:42.424 --> 00:10:44.644
To form the Bethlehem star. Absolutely.
00:10:45.124 --> 00:10:50.404
And so, you know, but that setting, that constellation in motion,
00:10:50.524 --> 00:10:53.984
they move, you know, actually they don't move, the planets move through them.
00:10:55.134 --> 00:11:00.174
That stuff had to be set in place in the beginning when he said,
00:11:00.334 --> 00:11:02.754
let there be the sun, the moon, the stars. Yeah.
00:11:03.094 --> 00:11:10.354
And they had to rotate in a certain way just to precisely cause this star to appear.
00:11:10.514 --> 00:11:15.074
At that particular time. Yeah. And this was actually not one star.
00:11:15.214 --> 00:11:18.594
It was a converging of the lights of three different planets. Yeah.
00:11:19.154 --> 00:11:23.194
And Regulus. In the star. Regal. Yeah. Jupiter, the king planet,
00:11:23.374 --> 00:11:24.894
and then the beauty, the brightness.
00:11:25.074 --> 00:11:27.714
I believe it was Venus. It could have been Mercury, but I think it's Venus.
00:11:27.714 --> 00:11:28.754
You guys can all check it out.
00:11:29.034 --> 00:11:32.634
So the star had to show up at the right time, at the right night,
00:11:32.754 --> 00:11:38.234
in the right year, in the right decade, and the correct century to be seen by
00:11:38.234 --> 00:11:40.214
the Magi, or the three wise men.
00:11:40.394 --> 00:11:42.934
That's three. The wise men. We don't know if they were three.
00:11:43.294 --> 00:11:46.514
Yeah, we don't. So who are starting out from the east.
00:11:46.594 --> 00:11:52.054
They came from the east. They were probably astrologers or stargazers.
00:11:52.474 --> 00:11:57.214
They saw this unusual anomaly in the sky, and they knew.
00:11:57.594 --> 00:12:02.614
Now, these guys were not oriented in any kind of Judaic, biblical,
00:12:03.014 --> 00:12:09.814
Old Testament understanding of God, but they knew that this star was indicating the birth of a king.
00:12:10.708 --> 00:12:14.408
To the west of them. So they were coming from the east towards Israel.
00:12:14.568 --> 00:12:18.028
And we know they had to go, they had to go west because Israel is basically
00:12:18.028 --> 00:12:21.128
on the Mediterranean Sea, and they couldn't be coming from the west because
00:12:21.128 --> 00:12:22.328
then they'd have to be going through the sea.
00:12:22.448 --> 00:12:25.128
So they're coming from the east going to the west.
00:12:25.528 --> 00:12:30.888
But we'll get to that a little bit more maybe next time because we have a couple
00:12:30.888 --> 00:12:33.088
more things here we have to look at.
00:12:33.528 --> 00:12:37.128
So how far did they come? We don't know. How long did it take them?
00:12:37.248 --> 00:12:40.728
We don't know. But all we know is when they got there. They got there when they
00:12:40.728 --> 00:12:41.468
were supposed to get there.
00:12:41.908 --> 00:12:45.388
And then that started a whole new chapter in the drama of Jesus.
00:12:45.568 --> 00:12:52.028
But going back to the birth of Jesus Christ, the perfect order,
00:12:52.668 --> 00:12:54.448
God was, you know, here they come.
00:12:54.648 --> 00:12:57.248
They're in Bethlehem. They find no place. Okay.
00:12:57.688 --> 00:13:01.568
You know, we crumble when we can't find a parking spot in our favorite,
00:13:01.628 --> 00:13:03.748
you know, in our favorite store or whatever.
00:13:04.228 --> 00:13:08.188
They had, they looked around, looked around, looked around, and the contractions
00:13:08.188 --> 00:13:11.888
are getting closer and closer and Mary's getting a little more anxious and Joseph
00:13:11.888 --> 00:13:15.608
is getting a little more panicky and there's no room for them in the inn.
00:13:16.428 --> 00:13:20.308
No room for them here. Son of God shown up on earth, no place, oh my.
00:13:20.388 --> 00:13:27.228
We have this really mythological idea of, you know, Jesus in the stable and
00:13:27.228 --> 00:13:33.088
the oxen and the sheep are there, but it's very not the truth.
00:13:33.308 --> 00:13:36.728
Well, going back just a second to the other thing, no place for us.
00:13:36.888 --> 00:13:39.168
How many times are we called by God to do something?
00:13:39.528 --> 00:13:43.928
I'm serious people, good people. They end up on the street.
00:13:44.188 --> 00:13:48.268
They end up sleeping under a bridge. They end up trying to make their home in a car.
00:13:49.328 --> 00:13:53.208
Homeless in more ways than one. And Jesus Christ recognizes,
00:13:53.368 --> 00:13:56.548
he felt that, he was there being homeless.
00:13:57.188 --> 00:14:03.088
But again, this was part of the perfect plan of God that didn't seem to be a perfect plan at all.
00:14:03.188 --> 00:14:07.168
It seemed to be chaotic, disrupted, a lot of demonic interference.
00:14:07.948 --> 00:14:12.568
And what were Mary and Joseph thinking when they came to Bethlehem and they were shut out?
00:14:13.219 --> 00:14:18.979
And it was a way, you know, God was pushing them to a place.
00:14:19.199 --> 00:14:21.719
He wanted them to go end up in a certain place. But to do that,
00:14:21.779 --> 00:14:25.619
he had to have all these circumstances push them away from where they weren't
00:14:25.619 --> 00:14:28.039
supposed to be into the place they were supposed to be. And that's the same with us.
00:14:28.139 --> 00:14:32.719
Sometimes the circumstances are pushing us away fromâ Into the perfect place
00:14:32.719 --> 00:14:35.639
for us. Yeah, yeah. And we think we have an idea.
00:14:36.319 --> 00:14:39.259
The perfect place has just gotten closed to us.
00:14:39.499 --> 00:14:42.359
We're not going to get there. Yeah, the door's closed. Following the Lord,
00:14:42.419 --> 00:14:48.719
no matter how tough the circumstances are, He's going to bring us to the right place at the right time.
00:14:48.939 --> 00:14:54.299
So this story, this drama, this intervention of the Most High God into the affairs
00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:59.939
of men that started in the Garden of Eden, started with the promise of the head crusher coming.
00:15:00.699 --> 00:15:04.579
Who was going to crush the head of the snake, the serpent of old.
00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.399
God set that in motion way back then. So just amazing.
00:15:09.999 --> 00:15:16.299
The timing, the generations, the many, many ways and types and kinds and times
00:15:16.299 --> 00:15:22.399
Satan tried to intercept and destroy this thread of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
00:15:22.699 --> 00:15:28.039
And that's why Luke talks about the genealogy coming from Mary's side by saying
00:15:28.039 --> 00:15:30.979
Joseph, as was supposed, the son of Heli.
00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:33.939
But Heli was not his father. That was Mary's father.
00:15:34.259 --> 00:15:37.319
Joseph's father, I think his name was Jacob. And his story is in Matthew.
00:15:37.839 --> 00:15:41.619
And so we have the generations cross-referenced.
00:15:41.739 --> 00:15:46.279
We start with, from Mary, I think we start with, we end up with Adam.
00:15:47.131 --> 00:15:51.651
And from Matthew's genealogy, we start with Abram and end up with,
00:15:51.791 --> 00:15:58.271
you know, both of Mary and Joseph came from King David, and Joseph came from
00:15:58.271 --> 00:16:01.211
Solomon's bloodline out of him. Mary from Nathan.
00:16:01.531 --> 00:16:05.711
Yes. And so, because David had more than one son. And we don't hear much about Nathan.
00:16:05.891 --> 00:16:10.571
He wasn't a king, but Solomon was. So, part of the kingly right to the throne
00:16:10.571 --> 00:16:18.271
came through not his biological father, but his adapted father, we could call it. Yeah.
00:16:18.351 --> 00:16:24.451
The one God. Because back in those days, the Jews traced the lineage through the father.
00:16:24.911 --> 00:16:29.691
I thought they traced it through the mother, but both. Well, they actually did both.
00:16:29.871 --> 00:16:36.751
But Joseph was considered the legal father of Jesus. He was not the physical
00:16:36.751 --> 00:16:40.131
father, of course, but he was the legal father. So here we have the drama unfolding
00:16:40.131 --> 00:16:44.611
in the dead of night, in the darkness, where everyone is literally asleep.
00:16:45.191 --> 00:16:49.891
This is the first coming of Jesus. I believe the second coming is going to be very paralleled.
00:16:50.071 --> 00:16:52.971
He's going to come in the dead of night or in the most unexpected time.
00:16:53.051 --> 00:16:55.411
Obviously, half the world will be awake, half will be sleeping,
00:16:55.431 --> 00:16:57.191
because that's the way the night and day work.
00:16:57.291 --> 00:17:01.391
But he will come in the most unexpected time. and these shepherds,
00:17:01.551 --> 00:17:06.691
they were just watching their flocks. It was just another ordinary night.
00:17:08.070 --> 00:17:12.750
There was nothing special about it. They weren't anticipating anything.
00:17:12.750 --> 00:17:14.930
They were just going to get through the night.
00:17:15.050 --> 00:17:18.430
Let's put a little note in here about very likely, you know,
00:17:18.510 --> 00:17:22.850
most shepherds were very ungodly and not to be trusted. Yeah.
00:17:23.130 --> 00:17:27.750
They didn't even allow their testimonies in a court of law or anything like that.
00:17:28.010 --> 00:17:34.970
But very likely, these shepherds were shepherding sheep that were to be used for sacrifices.
00:17:35.970 --> 00:17:40.550
Temple sacrifices. And the temple. And so, basically, Mary and Joseph,
00:17:40.750 --> 00:17:44.830
it says, they wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger.
00:17:45.490 --> 00:17:49.790
Very likely. You want me to go there? Well, we'll get there in a minute. Okay.
00:17:50.130 --> 00:17:55.690
I'll wait. Yeah, because this is veryâsee, what's happening here is God is coordinating
00:17:55.690 --> 00:18:00.430
the littlest details to make the most powerful impact. He's drawing together,
00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:04.830
bookending, paralleling all kinds of promises from the prophets.
00:18:07.050 --> 00:18:11.670
But he never left anything to chance. So in our lives as well,
00:18:12.130 --> 00:18:16.850
realize there's nothing left to chance. It's not bad luck. It's not fate.
00:18:17.050 --> 00:18:21.250
It's not God's abandoned me. It's not God doesn't care. God's not there.
00:18:21.430 --> 00:18:25.890
God never stops watching. He never stops knowing. He knows everything even before we go through it.
00:18:26.876 --> 00:18:31.376
But so even the most difficult things God is using in your life,
00:18:31.516 --> 00:18:37.636
in our lives, to move us to the place of his purpose and perfect plan for our life.
00:18:37.716 --> 00:18:44.036
For example, in Matthew's genealogy, he's writing to the Jews to show them that
00:18:44.036 --> 00:18:46.296
he is the promised Messiah.
00:18:46.536 --> 00:18:51.296
And it's interesting, in Matthew's gospel, in the lineage, the genealogy of
00:18:51.296 --> 00:18:57.236
Jesus, There are 46 people listed whose lifetimes span 2,000 years.
00:18:58.476 --> 00:19:03.316
These people varied greatly in spirituality. Some were very godly.
00:19:03.476 --> 00:19:07.496
Some were different personalities, different experiences.
00:19:07.876 --> 00:19:12.476
Some were great heroes of the faith. Some had very shady reputations.
00:19:12.736 --> 00:19:15.936
One or two sacrificed their own sons. That was being Joseph's side.
00:19:16.096 --> 00:19:22.136
Some were very ordinary. Some were very evil. So God uses all kinds of people
00:19:22.136 --> 00:19:24.716
to bring His Son into the world to redeem us.
00:19:24.836 --> 00:19:32.016
So it's the same way, too, is that God still uses all kinds of people to bring
00:19:32.016 --> 00:19:34.716
the message of Jesus, the Son of God, to the world.
00:19:34.876 --> 00:19:41.216
So with that said, there are no such things as accidents or unfortunate happenings
00:19:41.216 --> 00:19:46.016
in our life because God is redeeming and fixing and restoring and buying back
00:19:46.016 --> 00:19:48.556
from the brink of destruction, all of those things,
00:19:49.096 --> 00:19:52.856
even the most painful and horrible things that have happened in our lives,
00:19:52.956 --> 00:19:55.136
the most inconvenient things, the death of loved ones.
00:19:56.521 --> 00:20:00.201
Is using all these things to to bring
00:20:00.201 --> 00:20:03.621
justice to bring truth to bring redemption and
00:20:03.621 --> 00:20:06.641
so you know with joseph and mary making
00:20:06.641 --> 00:20:10.561
that painful journey they could have gotten weary tired they could have grumbled
00:20:10.561 --> 00:20:14.081
but i don't think they did they were struggling and straggling at the end of
00:20:14.081 --> 00:20:17.721
the line when they finally got to bethlem as you started to say a little earlier
00:20:17.721 --> 00:20:22.841
there wasn't a place for them and so then what did god do how did he direct
00:20:22.841 --> 00:20:26.421
them at that crisis moment and very likely now Now,
00:20:26.601 --> 00:20:31.661
this is very likely because Micah talks about the Tower of the Flock.
00:20:32.481 --> 00:20:38.321
That the salvation and redemption would come out of the Tower of the Flock.
00:20:38.521 --> 00:20:41.801
The Tower of the Flock was just outside of Bethlehem.
00:20:42.041 --> 00:20:47.101
It used to be an old watchtower, you know, where people would just sit up there
00:20:47.101 --> 00:20:48.761
and watch and see if the enemies are coming.
00:20:48.941 --> 00:20:54.241
But it had been converted into a place where the sacrificial lambs were brought
00:20:54.241 --> 00:20:56.001
for slaughter in the temple.
00:20:56.401 --> 00:21:04.081
And it was kind of a complex of pens, mangers, where they would examine the
00:21:04.081 --> 00:21:07.721
lambs to make sure that there was no defect.
00:21:08.261 --> 00:21:12.001
So they were fit for sacrifice for the temple.
00:21:12.461 --> 00:21:18.401
And they would take these lambs, these newborn lambs, and they would wrap them
00:21:18.401 --> 00:21:22.481
in strips of cloth, swaddling cloths.
00:21:22.541 --> 00:21:28.861
Right. And so to protect them, to make sure they weren't going to get bumped
00:21:28.861 --> 00:21:33.801
or cut or bruised or anything, so they would be perfect for the sacrifice in the temple.
00:21:34.081 --> 00:21:39.421
Well, it's interesting that Jesus Christ, who is the Lamb of God who takes away
00:21:39.421 --> 00:21:44.221
the sin of the world, was born in that place, laid in a manger,
00:21:44.241 --> 00:21:46.181
which is kind of like a stone wall.
00:21:47.222 --> 00:21:52.322
Or cement trough or cradle, and wrapped in swaddling cloths.
00:21:52.722 --> 00:21:57.642
Probably they had to borrow the swaddling cloths from the shepherds,
00:21:57.742 --> 00:22:03.942
from the priests and so forth that were caring for, or from the shepherds that
00:22:03.942 --> 00:22:05.342
were caring for these flocks.
00:22:05.462 --> 00:22:10.362
So the very Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,
00:22:10.402 --> 00:22:11.762
as John the Baptist said,
00:22:12.446 --> 00:22:20.826
He was born and laid in the place where the sacrificial lambs were prepared for sacrifice.
00:22:21.026 --> 00:22:24.446
Right there. Talk about God's perfect timing.
00:22:24.686 --> 00:22:27.926
No room in the inn, no room in the town. But God had a plan.
00:22:27.946 --> 00:22:29.606
So they go to theâ God has a plan.
00:22:30.866 --> 00:22:34.446
There's a word, migdal, I can't remember the rest part of it,
00:22:34.626 --> 00:22:36.886
which means the tower of the flock.
00:22:37.046 --> 00:22:41.126
Very likely, this is where Jesus Christ was born into this world.
00:22:41.126 --> 00:22:44.666
Yeah, and it's interesting to see that in Luke chapter 8.
00:22:44.786 --> 00:22:50.226
My favorite part of the Christmas story is actually the angels showing up with the shepherds.
00:22:50.406 --> 00:22:53.586
Now there was in the same country shepherds living, verse 8,
00:22:53.686 --> 00:22:56.806
out in the fleas, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
00:22:57.406 --> 00:23:00.866
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord
00:23:00.866 --> 00:23:04.666
shone around them. And they were greatly afraid. I mean, wouldn't you be?
00:23:04.966 --> 00:23:09.226
This is like, you know. Freak out mode. Yeah, they didn't know about UFOs and
00:23:09.226 --> 00:23:12.746
anything like that. but this was just an anomaly. They'd never seen anything like this.
00:23:13.326 --> 00:23:17.946
Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good
00:23:17.946 --> 00:23:21.086
tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.
00:23:21.446 --> 00:23:26.106
So good tidings of great joy. Okay, so this is breaking into their mundane,
00:23:26.366 --> 00:23:28.966
boring, depressing, poverty-stricken life.
00:23:29.426 --> 00:23:32.926
What? Good tidings? Good news?
00:23:33.186 --> 00:23:36.586
That's what the gospel actually is, is good news. That's where we get the idea
00:23:36.586 --> 00:23:41.086
of the gospel of good news because of this good news that God brought forth through the angels.
00:23:41.966 --> 00:23:45.526
Continuing, For there is born to you this day in the city of David,
00:23:45.546 --> 00:23:49.506
we know what that is, who that is, where that is, a Savior who is Christ the
00:23:49.506 --> 00:23:51.546
Lord, and this will be a sign to you.
00:23:51.906 --> 00:23:55.066
Now, this is an encrypted message to the shepherds.
00:23:55.612 --> 00:24:01.052
Okay, I've always wondered, okay, there's many mangers, you know, there's many stables.
00:24:01.172 --> 00:24:05.152
We assume this was out of a stable because a manger, we associate that with a stable.
00:24:05.972 --> 00:24:11.032
But the encryption was that what they knew, he says, and this is the sign.
00:24:11.092 --> 00:24:14.612
The angel said, you guys are going to get this. You're going to understand. This is the sign.
00:24:14.832 --> 00:24:19.432
You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths. Well, where are the swaddling
00:24:19.432 --> 00:24:22.272
cloths? Well, they're in the tower of the flock.
00:24:22.832 --> 00:24:25.752
Lying in a manger. Well, where's the manger? at the Tower of the Flock.
00:24:25.752 --> 00:24:28.412
The Tower of the Flock. So they knew exactly where to go. They didn't have to
00:24:28.412 --> 00:24:30.592
check out many stables and many mangers.
00:24:30.792 --> 00:24:34.712
They don't have to go door to door in Bethlehem. Yeah, or try to go to the outskirts
00:24:34.712 --> 00:24:36.912
and, you know. They knew right away. Where he was.
00:24:37.092 --> 00:24:40.292
So that's a solved mystery for me because I always wondered,
00:24:40.932 --> 00:24:42.212
how did they, what does that mean?
00:24:42.612 --> 00:24:46.032
Aren't all babies wrapped in cloth and swaddling clothes? We always think of
00:24:46.032 --> 00:24:48.672
swaddling clothes, but it doesn't say that. It's a swaddling cloth.
00:24:49.012 --> 00:24:54.092
And so that's a strip, like you said, of linen or material that wraps the baby.
00:24:54.092 --> 00:24:57.552
Because they would do that with babies, actually.
00:24:57.672 --> 00:25:00.092
Right, to keep them safe. To keep them warm, to keep them.
00:25:00.272 --> 00:25:03.852
But anyway, so the angels gave the message, sent the directions,
00:25:04.112 --> 00:25:09.492
and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising
00:25:09.492 --> 00:25:15.012
God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peaceâ.
00:25:15.948 --> 00:25:24.308
Peace, after all these years of bloodshed and wars and in captivities and being exiled and whatnot.
00:25:25.028 --> 00:25:31.808
Goodwill towards men. And some versions say peace towards men of goodwill.
00:25:32.128 --> 00:25:37.848
But this isn't what that says. It says God is offering his peace and goodwill towards men.
00:25:38.068 --> 00:25:40.848
Not just good men, but anyone, whosoever will.
00:25:41.088 --> 00:25:45.088
So it was that when the angels had gone away from them into heaven,
00:25:45.088 --> 00:25:49.528
that the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing
00:25:49.528 --> 00:25:52.268
that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.
00:25:52.408 --> 00:25:55.428
So they knew that this tower of the flock was near Bethlehem.
00:25:55.508 --> 00:25:59.428
And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the
00:25:59.428 --> 00:26:01.008
manger, just like they were told.
00:26:01.248 --> 00:26:04.288
Now, when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying,
00:26:04.508 --> 00:26:06.148
which was told to them concerning this child.
00:26:06.308 --> 00:26:11.108
And all those who heard it marveled at those things, which were told them by the shepherds.
00:26:11.708 --> 00:26:17.268
So this, you know, it was a reveal of a secret that had been kept secret since
00:26:17.268 --> 00:26:19.448
God first said, I'm sending the head crusher.
00:26:19.908 --> 00:26:23.368
Satan had no way. He assumed it would be a human.
00:26:23.508 --> 00:26:27.088
He assumed it would be a baby. He assumed it would be a male because that would
00:26:27.088 --> 00:26:32.788
make more sense in the context of redemption and whatnot and head crushing and warring.
00:26:33.148 --> 00:26:36.268
And so, but he didn't know when. He didn't know which woman,
00:26:36.488 --> 00:26:39.608
what set of DNA. So all through the history, as we talked about last time,
00:26:39.948 --> 00:26:47.148
he tried to snuff out, cut off that bloodline that was carrying the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God.
00:26:47.348 --> 00:26:54.388
And so we see the remarkable work of God to bring a marvelous,
00:26:54.808 --> 00:26:59.348
marvelous conclusion to a thing that looks so hopeless and dark and dirty and
00:26:59.348 --> 00:27:04.048
despairing and meek and meager and yetâ.
00:27:04.903 --> 00:27:11.743
With that, we have the invasion, the intervention of the divine intervention
00:27:11.743 --> 00:27:15.063
into the affairs of men, the kingdoms of this world.
00:27:15.203 --> 00:27:20.523
And yet, look at how the kingdoms of this world rejected him completely,
00:27:20.663 --> 00:27:22.143
and still do, to this very day.
00:27:22.483 --> 00:27:26.023
Now, it's interesting. If you study carefully the characters,
00:27:26.023 --> 00:27:30.503
the people that are listed in Matthew and Luke in the lineage of Jesus,
00:27:30.723 --> 00:27:32.503
there are some real characters there.
00:27:32.643 --> 00:27:38.283
There are some where you haveâ Yeah, we always said that. You have Rahab the harlot. You have Jacob.
00:27:38.503 --> 00:27:43.003
He was a pretty sneaky character. He was pretty shady.
00:27:43.263 --> 00:27:45.043
The Lord turned his life around.
00:27:45.703 --> 00:27:49.703
Tamar was involved with a sex scandal with her father-in-law, Judah.
00:27:50.483 --> 00:27:55.863
We mentioned Rahab. And then Ruth, she was a Moabite. She was not an Israeli.
00:27:56.263 --> 00:28:03.403
And then Bathsheba, who was involved with David in a horrible adulterous affair.
00:28:03.403 --> 00:28:06.783
There are some lessons that we can learn about all this.
00:28:06.963 --> 00:28:13.183
Jesus didn't have, you know, his genealogy was human, a cross-section of humanity,
00:28:13.483 --> 00:28:17.863
not just all the goody-goody two-shoes people, but everybody there.
00:28:18.023 --> 00:28:21.083
And it's interesting, there's three lessons, I want to share this quickly.
00:28:21.836 --> 00:28:26.416
Three lessons that we can learn from this. Number one, God's work in history
00:28:26.416 --> 00:28:29.376
is not thwarted by human failures and sins.
00:28:29.836 --> 00:28:34.076
His plan is going forward through the midst of all this. It will go forward no matter what.
00:28:34.296 --> 00:28:38.416
Secondly, God reaches beyond the nation of Israel to the world,
00:28:38.696 --> 00:28:47.916
like Moab, like the Moabite, like Rahab, and then Jesus actually being born
00:28:47.916 --> 00:28:53.036
right on the edge, on the border town, the edge of the Gentile world.
00:28:53.376 --> 00:29:00.236
And then the third thing is that God can place even the lowest of people into his royal lineage.
00:29:00.416 --> 00:29:06.236
And so we, even as a lot of us, we're considering ourselves the lowest of people,
00:29:06.336 --> 00:29:12.296
but yes, we are now in the spiritual lineage of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
00:29:12.296 --> 00:29:19.136
We are a kingdom of priests with Christ, under Christ, through Christ in these
00:29:19.136 --> 00:29:21.356
days. So God brings, he's brought us.
00:29:22.205 --> 00:29:27.325
From every nation, tribe, and tongue, all levels of society,
00:29:28.025 --> 00:29:33.305
all abilities and inabilities, male and female, all of us have been brought
00:29:33.305 --> 00:29:35.585
together now through Christ.
00:29:35.765 --> 00:29:38.045
And God is still writing the story.
00:29:38.345 --> 00:29:41.825
You know, it didn't end at Bethlehem. It didn't end at the cross.
00:29:41.825 --> 00:29:47.005
And that's good news for us because there is a future. There's a hope. There's a promise.
00:29:47.165 --> 00:29:51.305
There's an eternal destination for us. Jesus said, you know,
00:29:51.365 --> 00:29:53.825
let not your heart be troubled in my Father's house are many mansions.
00:29:53.925 --> 00:29:56.505
If it were not so, I would have told you I'd go to prepare a place for you.
00:29:56.585 --> 00:29:59.325
So he has gone to prepare a home for us in heaven.
00:29:59.605 --> 00:30:01.825
People get it together.
00:30:02.145 --> 00:30:06.625
Realize that this thing you're going through is a trial, a test,
00:30:06.805 --> 00:30:11.065
an ordeal, an assault, the enemy's accusing you.
00:30:11.425 --> 00:30:14.905
It's all got one thing in mind, and from God's point of view,
00:30:14.905 --> 00:30:19.785
is to refine you, bring you forth, make you create us into the image of Jesus
00:30:19.785 --> 00:30:24.445
Christ, and to bring forth justice and truth through even all these injustices.
00:30:24.605 --> 00:30:27.905
So, as we must, I really believe,
00:30:28.489 --> 00:30:33.269
Repent. I just want to repent right now for what we have done to the story of Jesus Christ.
00:30:33.589 --> 00:30:39.089
I know if you've watched any of the Christmas movies, for the most part,
00:30:39.329 --> 00:30:44.129
especially the major channels, everything about Jesus, God, the joy to the world,
00:30:44.189 --> 00:30:49.349
pretty much has been replaced and scrubbed by Santa Claus and reindeer.
00:30:49.709 --> 00:30:54.269
And Christmas. And Christmas itself. Christmas itself rather than what goes
00:30:54.269 --> 00:30:57.449
on at Christmas itself rather than Christ himself.
00:30:57.449 --> 00:31:04.709
We are really degenerating as a society from being pulled away from the truth
00:31:04.709 --> 00:31:06.109
and the principles of truth.
00:31:06.229 --> 00:31:10.729
And because of that, the moorings and the things that held us firm and foundational
00:31:10.729 --> 00:31:18.629
and in place are being rotted away so that there's no other recourse except to get back to the truth.
00:31:18.789 --> 00:31:24.749
And you can do that, whether it's society, whether the TV, whether the merchandising
00:31:24.749 --> 00:31:32.029
displays Jesus or not. you know who he is and be bold to proclaim this coming.
00:31:32.369 --> 00:31:37.889
We celebrate Jesus' coming right now at this time of year, but he didn't come on December 25th.
00:31:38.189 --> 00:31:41.789
That's not his birthday. His birthday, according to the constellations and the
00:31:41.789 --> 00:31:44.869
stars, is probably more around September 11th.
00:31:45.089 --> 00:31:51.749
You can back up those programs to go to the place where this star really appeared,
00:31:51.769 --> 00:31:53.289
and you can get the exact day.
00:31:53.509 --> 00:31:57.489
You can actually get the exact day He died on the cross now because the constellations
00:31:57.489 --> 00:32:00.669
and stars are for signs and they keep the record.
00:32:00.869 --> 00:32:03.969
And so, you know, whether you want to believe your computer and the stars,
00:32:04.129 --> 00:32:07.769
that God has used them as a testimony to bear witness to the truth.
00:32:07.869 --> 00:32:12.509
And also, many of the things God has said are being uncovered in the rocks and the archaeology.
00:32:12.769 --> 00:32:16.009
Things are being dug up and found. The books in the book of Enoch,
00:32:16.129 --> 00:32:19.789
the things that were hidden in the caves, all of these things were in the last days.
00:32:19.949 --> 00:32:25.649
God is showing the truth again, the evidence of the truth, whether you receive it or not. He is...
00:32:26.644 --> 00:32:32.364
All these things that you just mentioned all work together to confirm God,
00:32:32.784 --> 00:32:35.404
his truth, his plan, his word. And what he said.
00:32:35.544 --> 00:32:38.824
And if you look at the book of Revelations, how he's coming the second time,
00:32:38.924 --> 00:32:41.224
he's coming in 1911 through 16.
00:32:41.484 --> 00:32:47.224
He's coming in might and power with his armies with him on white horses.
00:32:47.224 --> 00:32:53.324
They're coming victoriously. He's not coming hidden in secret and concealed as this lamb of God.
00:32:53.344 --> 00:32:56.884
He's coming as the lion of Judah. and you have a choice.
00:32:57.144 --> 00:33:03.064
You don't have to bite into the frivolity, the emptiness of all the trinkets
00:33:03.064 --> 00:33:07.344
surrounding Christmas and the hustle and bustle and hassle and things that we
00:33:07.344 --> 00:33:12.324
eat and things we do and people feeling sad because they can't be part of all this beautiful,
00:33:12.844 --> 00:33:14.664
whatever, decorations and trivia.
00:33:15.504 --> 00:33:20.184
Make Jesus, you know, in your heart, know who you are, know who he is,
00:33:20.304 --> 00:33:24.624
and glorify him as the Lamb of God and as the Lion of Judah.
00:33:24.624 --> 00:33:28.784
So, Father God, forgive us for trashing Christmas.
00:33:29.184 --> 00:33:35.184
We didn't do it, but let us resurrect the true, wonderful story of Jesus Christ
00:33:35.184 --> 00:33:40.404
and what that means, not only in our lives, but the lives of our descendants
00:33:40.404 --> 00:33:43.264
and in the generations that have come and gone.
00:33:43.544 --> 00:33:48.684
The redemption of the world has begun in Jesus Christ stepping foot on the planet.
00:33:48.804 --> 00:33:50.984
So, Father, thank you for this wonderful story.
00:33:51.164 --> 00:33:54.444
Change our hearts. Give us the Christmas spirit this year, the Spirit of Christ
00:33:54.444 --> 00:33:57.184
in our spirits, Father, in Jesus' name.
00:33:57.964 --> 00:33:59.924
Amen and amen. God on trial.
00:34:01.015 --> 00:34:05.375
There's the, what is it, God on Trial.
00:34:05.815 --> 00:34:12.415
There's so many, this series that you've produced, and it's just so excellent in so many ways.
00:34:13.955 --> 00:34:20.035
It's hidden. Each episode has many different layers of things going on at the same time.
00:34:20.175 --> 00:34:22.635
But the theme of it is Christ.
00:34:22.855 --> 00:34:28.335
The head crusher is coming on the scene, and Satan is very nervous about it. Yeah.
00:34:28.695 --> 00:34:33.635
So, yeah, the story is a dramatization of the war between God and Satan for
00:34:33.635 --> 00:34:35.375
the souls of men told from the devil's point of view.
00:34:35.535 --> 00:34:39.955
So, I think we're going to play a little excerpt of that next week,
00:34:40.015 --> 00:34:43.275
kind of just because we're getting into the part about Herod,
00:34:43.315 --> 00:34:46.595
and that's an interesting segment to the story that we didn't cover today because
00:34:46.595 --> 00:34:47.955
we're kind of going in an order.
00:34:48.395 --> 00:34:54.275
So, for those of you who canâ How can they get it? Oh, just go to liferecovery.com.
00:34:54.435 --> 00:34:57.355
Every episode, which is about 30 minutes long, is $2.99.
00:34:57.595 --> 00:35:00.335
You can MP3 it, download it to your phone, and listen to it.
00:35:00.595 --> 00:35:06.315
It's not that hard. I believe it's all working again, because that's what we
00:35:06.315 --> 00:35:10.115
want to see, is that you be blessed this Christmas with that gift.
00:35:10.715 --> 00:35:12.875
In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
