"Journey to Bethlehem" RESCUE RADIO with Marjorie Cole

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Rescue Radio, because there's a war for your soul. Yes, Father God, we know.

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And the war has been going on a lot longer even than I think we think.

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And so, Father, I praise you and thank you for, in the fullness of time,

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you sent Jesus to be our Savior.

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And we thank you that we celebrate, remember, and commemorate,

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and thank you for that heavenly gesture, that rescue of sending Jesus Christ

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to the earth to ransom us,

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to pay the price that was demanded by Satan and sin and death,

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that we would die, that you, Jesus,

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paid the price in full in your death and substitution for us.

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And so thank you for salvation. Thank you, Lord.

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It is a free gift of grace, nothing that we can earn. And yet at the same time,

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if we don't accept it, it doesn't count.

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So, Father, I pray that today people will accept the gift of salvation as the

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free gift it is, but also as the eternal entrance,

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the golden ticket into heaven, if you will, and so that people will quit shunning

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the truth and walk in the power of your salvation and walk in the destiny to

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which you have created all of us, Lord God.

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It is time that we throw off the death and the heaviness and the wickedness

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of the lies and walk in the fullness of the victory, the truth,

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and the triumph that you died to give us.

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So, Lord, I thank you again for victory today and for divine protection over

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our lives, each one who's listening, that they will not be gathered up in or overwhelmed or.

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Blindsided by the enemy, but that they'll walk in the protection of your truth,

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that you are the way that they'll follow you.

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We follow you, Lord Jesus, as you're leading us back to the safety of our eternal home in heaven.

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Thank you for this time, and thank you for the divine protection over all of us. And so, here we go.

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The journey to Bethlehem. The journey to Bethlehem. This whole.

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This whole story. Yeah. Epic story.

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It's a story, and it's a true story. It's epic. It's epic beyond epic.

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It's actually the story, history, his story.

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This is the story of our redemption, our ransom.

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But it began way, way, way, way before we even knew there was a problem back in the beginning.

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Well, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

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But even before the beginning.

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We were known from the foundation of the world. We were known since before the

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foundation of the world.

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And it's interesting, you know, this is more than just a cute little story of

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a little baby in a manger.

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We tend to tinselize this epic.

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Bury it. That's a new word. Deny it. Tinselize the epic. He's so obscured.

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But the coming to Bethlehem In Galatians 4, 4, but when the fullness of time

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had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman,

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born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive.

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The adoption of sons, and so in the fullness of time, so.

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To redeem those who were born under the law, born under the curse of that sin and death.

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And so Jesus Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,

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before the foundation of the world.

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We were chosen in him, in the book of Ephesians, it talks about we were chosen

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in him before the foundation of the world. Yes.

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And so— So this goes way back. This goes way, way back to even before we,

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you know, we were known by God, but we didn't even know we existed.

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But our story begins, our human story begins in the garden, actually, after the temptation.

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Eve fell for the lie, ate the forbidden fruit.

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Adam and Eve were both kicked out of the garden, so to speak.

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Yeah, we were created in the likeness and image of Almighty God.

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Right, right. But before that.

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Before that, there was a story before that, yes. There was a story before the story.

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And all of it, really, you can see there's a thread of it.

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There's a mighty thread that has had to work. Of war and conflict.

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War and conflict. Mm-hmm.

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Success and failure as we would see it through generation. Plots and deception.

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Through thousands of years. Yeah, it really starts with what we could only imagine

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was in the beginning when God was creating things.

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The first things he created, of course, the angels were already there when we

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were created, so we know that there was a creation that happened before us and

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before the 6,000 years that we're living in.

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And so in that creation, we know the story that Lucifer flunked his test. And what is the test?

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Everybody's tested. And what's

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the simple test is, do you want to be who I made you to be? Yes, exactly.

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And Lucifer didn't want to be that. He didn't want to be the covering chair.

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He had the highest position of all the creative beings. He was the most beautiful.

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It wasn't enough for him, though.

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He wanted to be like God. And so he cast off, disobeyed, rebelled against God.

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And at that point, then, we go all the way to Revelations, the last book of

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the Bible, and find out that there was this war in heaven between Satan.

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Lucifer, and the Lord, and that the angels of God cast out these rebellious

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angels, and they fell to the earth.

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Yeah, Jesus said, I beheld Satan like lightning fall from heaven.

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I mean, he got kicked out just, bam, like a streak of— Like a lightning bolt.

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Like a big, hot lightning bolt came to the earth. And hit the earth.

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Here it says it like— That God had created, messed it up, and then God had to,

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in a sense, recreate the earth.

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So, just to verify that, Revelations 12, 7. And war broke out in heaven.

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Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. Now, the—.

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Lucifer, light bearer, had presented himself as the serpent in the garden,

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and now this serpent has morphed into a dragon,

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which now many people in the world reverence and exalt the dragon in their traditions,

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in their… In religion, in culture.

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So, and it says here, the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought,

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but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven anymore.

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So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and

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Satan, who deceives the whole world.

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He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

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And then we go on to the last middle of verse number 12, and it says,

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for the devil has come down to the earth.

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So he was cast out of heaven, come down to the earth, having a great wrath because

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we know that his, he knows that his time is short.

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So we see that this war began before we were even in existence.

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And then Satan just picked it up when God created Adam and Eve,

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because now there were children, you know, sons and daughters of the most high

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God made his image, which were higher, more elevated, more exalted, more than he.

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And so So, again, however, every created being, including the stars,

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had to agree with their creation. And if they didn't, then they were cast out.

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And so, this is where we begin our story.

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In Genesis chapter 3, verse, I think it's 15, where God is calling.

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You know, recognizing what has happened in the garden. Already he knew it, of course.

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And he's dealing with it. And so he says to the woman, he says,

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verse 15, I will put enmity between you and the woman. He's talking to the serpent and the woman.

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He says, I will put enmity or war between you and the woman,

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between your seed and her seed. Her seed is capitalized.

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He will bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. Some translations say crush.

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He will crush your side and you will crush.

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He will crush your head. Jesus will crush your head. The whole point is that

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God was making a prophetic declaration of what was to come, that there would

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be a head crusher coming from the seed of the woman.

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And because Satan was around when God was creating the earth and all the things

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on the earth, Satan understood the working of DNA.

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And so I believe that he was already fully aware of what that seed was that

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he was going to have to deal with and get rid of because that seed was going to be his problem.

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And that seed, notice it says the seed of the woman, capital S-E-E-D in the

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New King James Version, because that seed is basically Christ, the eternal Son of God.

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Was not…,

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fathered by a human, by Joseph or anything like that.

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But came from a human woman. Came from a human woman.

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The seed of the woman is who we know is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.

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And so, but he had to come through.

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A woman. A woman. A human. Through humans. Because otherwise he wouldn't qualify

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as death, wouldn't qualify as death for humans. Divine and human.

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Sinless and human at the same time, basically. And it's like, how does that work?

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That's a miracle to be human and sinless. Well, here's what the deal was.

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God was bringing a resolution to the war that had already begun in heaven.

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You know, Satan was defeated, kicked out of heaven, but he was still hanging around the earth.

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And he was still really, really messing with God's plan for his children, his family.

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And so what we see now is Satan's plot against God to stop the plan,

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the plan for God to send through the human woman a savior, a rescuer,

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a head crusher to get rid of the devil.

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And the issue is, as far as the enemy is concerned, Satan, is that Satan's.

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When, where, and who is this seed going to be? Right.

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When is he going to come on the scene? Well, and so Satan began to do his due

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diligence and get rid of certain suspects that he thought might be of interest, might be an enemy to him.

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The first, it began when, well, actually, I think the first one was when Cain killed Abel.

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Because Satan is saying to himself, okay, it's the descendant of a woman.

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Well, Abel is a descendant of the woman. So it could be. And he's the righteous one.

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We've got to kill this righteous one. So that was the first attempt to stop

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the plan of God. And God's whole plan was to get that promise,

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that prophecy, from the garden to Bethlehem.

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And so all the 400 years in the fullness of time, all of that,

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it was a long time that all of this was— 4,000 years.

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So, did I say— You said 400, 4,000.

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Okay. Well, they were 400 years in Egypt. But anyway, sorry.

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So, you know, 4,000 years is a long time to wait for a promise.

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And then in the meantime, the promise pretty much gets forgotten.

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How many things could go wrong in the human race with Satan interacting with

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humans in 4,000 years? Yeah, in 4,000 years, a lot.

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And so that was the first attempt to kill. But then we see Genesis 6,

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verse 1 through 6, where Satan's next bright idea, because many of the angels

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had also rebelled against God, didn't want to be human babysitters.

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They wanted to be humans.

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And that's why the sons of God, who are called all angels, They saw the daughters

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of men, that they were beautiful women.

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They wanted to be human, so they figured if I have a family,

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then I will be part of the human race.

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So they engineered their own genetic hybridization of their concoction,

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crossed kinds, messed with the DNA, messed their DNA with the human DNA,

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and came up with what we know of as Nephilim or giants.

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So they crossed a line they shouldn't have crossed.

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God wanted to, you said at the beginning, are people and the angels going to

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be, wanting to be who God has intended them to be, or they have a free will

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where they can transgress and do something else?

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Yeah, and that's what they did. And so we saw this whole mess arise with not

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only the angels crossing the kinds between themselves and human women,

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but also crossing animal kinds.

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So they were crossing the kinds and making monsters and crossing the kinds,

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man with animals and making chimera and centaurs, and then crossing angels with

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humans and getting nephilim and giants and whatnot.

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So God's response to that was the flood, which basically wiped out all the bad DNA.

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He waited until we got down to one strand of good DNA left, and that was Noah

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and his boys. and then he put them in this little safety of the ark and he washed

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away the human flawed, corrupted DNA that was on the earth.

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Yeah, and it's interesting what was going on in the hearts of men.

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It says in Genesis 6, 5, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was created

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in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil

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continually. In other words, people's brains and

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Were so overtaken with evil. Well, I think the DNA had so messed up that they

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weren't thinking in terms of what God had created and intended for them to be

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his offspring, sons and daughters of the Most High.

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And so they were just being deceived. There was darkness.

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And we see that even after the flood, the Tower of Babel and the dividing of

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the nations, all the rebellion that was going on. So, but then finally at that

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point, Tower of Babel, God chose Abraham.

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One guy that he was going to, you know, use that man to bring forth is his own,

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restart the human race under the counsel of righteousness and the law.

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And so Abraham, so what did Satan do to Abraham?

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He tried to keep Abraham childless to the point of ridiculous where,

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you know, and Sarah's womb was shut up. So the idea of them bringing forth an

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offspring, because I'm sure Satan knew that God had picked Abraham.

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But we know nothing is impossible with God, so that they did not waver the promises

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of God and God's faithfulness.

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So ultimately, beyond hope, beyond possibility, Abraham and Sarah conceived

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that son of promise named Isaac.

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Now, it's interesting that after the Tower of Babel and God confused the languages,

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and basically it's when the nations were established, so God had scattered the

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people, made many nations.

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So then with Abraham, he says, I'm going to make of you a mighty nation. Right.

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So Satan was on to that. He knew that God had picked Abraham.

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I mean, he tried to kill Abraham, too. don't, there's a lot of backstory in

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all of this that you can check out in the books of Joshua and whatnot. But anyway, so.

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Finally, they have this baby. Okay, so now then we go down the line.

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The next, Isaac's wife, she had a hard time conceiving. That would be Rebecca.

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And finally, she had twins. And then we have the war beginning.

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And so ultimately, they progressed to being about 75 people.

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And then they were taken off into Egypt because of the famine.

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And so they were in Egypt for 400 years.

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And now we're still going towards Bethlehem, got it? But we've got this one

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little strand of humanity that God has kind of put his hand on to use them to

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bring forth one who will sit on the throne of David, but we haven't even got to David's throne yet.

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But anyway, so in Egypt, now what's happening is the pharaohs are getting jealous and insecure.

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So they're starting to kill all the babies, the boy babies.

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So now we have the mass, So Satan is trying again to annihilate the generational,

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the offspring of Jesus, his bloodline, trying to destroy his bloodline.

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He's wanting to make sure he gets this seed of the woman.

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Shut down. Completely wiped out. That thing is basically in Satan's craw from

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the time of the garden on, that who is this seed that's going to crush my head? That was his plan A.

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And when his plan A failed at the cross, then he had to step into plan B. We'll get to that later.

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So now they're in Egypt. They finally get out of Egypt, and then God is leading them.

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And of course, they take Jericho, and they go back into Canaan,

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get those giants taken care of. And then after a while, they become seduced

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by the paganism of the natives, and they begin to sacrifice their own children to Moloch.

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So again, the bloodline is being jeopardized by the killing of the children.

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So it's interesting that the ones that were called to be the righteous ones,

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that was to be Israel, the seed of Abraham.

00:18:04.983 --> 00:18:13.343
Where at one point, God said to them, you're worse than the pagans that you were sent to destroy.

00:18:13.863 --> 00:18:19.283
Well, see, this is the battle. This is the terrifying reality of this.

00:18:19.503 --> 00:18:23.703
We're not living in a fairy tale here. We're not living under the enchantments

00:18:23.703 --> 00:18:27.863
that Satan has put so many of us under to keep us woke and unaware.

00:18:28.263 --> 00:18:34.523
We are living here in the real death throes of war and conflict to steal God's

00:18:34.523 --> 00:18:36.543
inheritance, God's children.

00:18:36.903 --> 00:18:40.583
So then we go to the specifics, and we have Judah, who was called to be the

00:18:40.583 --> 00:18:43.063
carrier of the Lion of Judah.

00:18:43.363 --> 00:18:50.763
And so he was without an heir. His sons, you know, were unable to produce that heir.

00:18:51.083 --> 00:18:55.483
They died. And so then he had no heir, but the sons had a wife.

00:18:55.883 --> 00:18:58.703
One of them had a wife, and so her name was Tamar. And so So,

00:18:58.943 --> 00:19:04.563
Tamar was used by God to act as a prostitute to seduce Judah into sleeping with

00:19:04.563 --> 00:19:06.083
her so the heirs could continue.

00:19:06.263 --> 00:19:11.943
And they did continue through that interesting divine intervention.

00:19:12.123 --> 00:19:15.943
You think God would never do anything like that. Well, God did something like

00:19:15.943 --> 00:19:18.443
that. And so, you're going to have to expand your concept of God.

00:19:18.583 --> 00:19:23.463
Not that he's evil, but that he is creative and that he uses everything he needs

00:19:23.463 --> 00:19:26.283
to use to get to where he needs to be to save us.

00:19:26.283 --> 00:19:33.903
But you think there were so many really unrighteous people in the lineage of Jesus Christ.

00:19:34.023 --> 00:19:36.303
That were included in, yeah, woven into it. Like, for example, Tamar.

00:19:36.803 --> 00:19:40.683
And then you go to, going down the line a little further, you go to Rahab,

00:19:40.803 --> 00:19:42.663
who was also in the bloodline of Jesus.

00:19:42.803 --> 00:19:48.303
She was the prostitute who threw the red cord out the window on the wall of Jericho.

00:19:48.363 --> 00:19:53.243
But she came into great faith. And she got to be one of the— She's in the lineage.

00:19:53.243 --> 00:19:56.463
In the bloodline of Jesus. She's in the lineage of Jesus. Yeah.

00:19:56.743 --> 00:20:01.403
And so, again, we'll talk about generations genealogies maybe next time. But

00:20:01.832 --> 00:20:06.132
So then we go to Boaz, who's coming down the line from Rahab,

00:20:06.252 --> 00:20:09.852
and he's not got a wife, and he doesn't really think he needs a wife.

00:20:10.032 --> 00:20:14.092
And then Ruth, who is a foreigner, you know, she's a Moabitess.

00:20:14.652 --> 00:20:19.192
She was of the lineage of Lot, who was Abraham's nephew.

00:20:19.392 --> 00:20:21.692
Anyway, she married Boaz, and

00:20:21.692 --> 00:20:27.132
they brought forth Jesse, and Jesse is the father of David, King David.

00:20:27.332 --> 00:20:30.652
So the throne of David is now established. Got that part done.

00:20:30.792 --> 00:20:35.712
Yay. and now we're going to work our way down towards Bethlehem.

00:20:35.872 --> 00:20:41.172
And so this is after many, many generations, captivities thrown into exile by

00:20:41.172 --> 00:20:42.372
the Assyrians, the Babylonians.

00:20:42.652 --> 00:20:49.112
You know, there's just hardly nothing left of the remnant, of what God is to work with.

00:20:49.252 --> 00:20:53.892
And then we finally get to Mary, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary,

00:20:54.392 --> 00:20:59.752
Joseph, and we're into the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

00:20:59.752 --> 00:21:07.052
And so we see how the angel first visited Zechariah in Luke chapter 1.

00:21:07.312 --> 00:21:10.692
Now this is a continuation of a very, very ancient story.

00:21:11.172 --> 00:21:14.732
Now when these guys are Zechariah and Elizabeth, they're old.

00:21:14.892 --> 00:21:21.252
He's a priest. He's serving his time in the temple. They've all got rotations and he's in there.

00:21:21.412 --> 00:21:24.692
And so when he's in there, this angel meets him.

00:21:24.992 --> 00:21:28.332
I think it was Gabriel, wasn't it? Or he says, Angel of the Lord.

00:21:28.911 --> 00:21:35.211
And so he tells him that his wife is going to conceive a baby.

00:21:35.511 --> 00:21:38.391
The angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar.

00:21:38.651 --> 00:21:43.211
And when Zachariah saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him.

00:21:43.411 --> 00:21:46.551
The angel says, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, for your prayer has been heard,

00:21:46.611 --> 00:21:50.511
and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John.

00:21:51.091 --> 00:21:54.771
Okay, and he will bring joy and gladness. See, these were old people.

00:21:54.871 --> 00:21:57.891
And when you're old like that in those days, and you didn't have a child,

00:21:57.891 --> 00:21:59.171
It was kind of a reproach.

00:21:59.471 --> 00:22:03.831
So they were going to be filled with joy. And the angel said that he will be

00:22:03.831 --> 00:22:06.071
filled with the Holy Spirit even in his mother's womb.

00:22:06.171 --> 00:22:08.491
So this is quite a very specific prophecy.

00:22:08.811 --> 00:22:12.891
And it says, the angel says, he will turn many of the children of Israel to

00:22:12.891 --> 00:22:14.831
the Lord their God, turning them back to God.

00:22:14.991 --> 00:22:19.431
He will go before him, him, God, Jesus, in the spirit.

00:22:19.571 --> 00:22:22.971
And he didn't say who it was, go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah

00:22:22.971 --> 00:22:27.191
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the

00:22:27.191 --> 00:22:30.491
wisdom of the just and to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

00:22:30.631 --> 00:22:36.251
So that is where John enters into this whole mess to prepare a people for the Lord.

00:22:36.671 --> 00:22:40.851
But what's happening is Zechariah has really no clue about what's going on.

00:22:40.951 --> 00:22:44.411
And he doesn't know anything about Jesus coming at this point.

00:22:44.571 --> 00:22:47.111
He just, he's part of the story, but you're so part of the story,

00:22:47.211 --> 00:22:48.471
you don't even know that you're in the story.

00:22:48.751 --> 00:22:53.011
So ultimately he goes home. He doesn't believe the angel. So he goes mute,

00:22:53.271 --> 00:22:58.691
but he and Elizabeth conceive that baby, and eventually John is born.

00:22:58.951 --> 00:23:04.171
And at that point, he gets a writing tablet, and they wanted to name the baby

00:23:04.171 --> 00:23:08.491
Zachariah, and Zachariah said, no, his name is John.

00:23:08.691 --> 00:23:14.591
And at that point, his mouth was opened again, and then he prophesied over his son.

00:23:15.371 --> 00:23:18.791
Yeah. Yeah, this is so, so powerful.

00:23:20.008 --> 00:23:25.068
If you haven't read it, read it, Luke 1, starting with verse 67.

00:23:25.788 --> 00:23:30.788
This is what he prophesied in verse 68. He says, Blessed is the Lord God of

00:23:30.788 --> 00:23:34.468
Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.

00:23:34.568 --> 00:23:39.688
In other words, he's saying it's already done. This is powerful.

00:23:41.768 --> 00:23:47.648
This man, Zacharias, could only speak this way by the Spirit of God.

00:23:48.548 --> 00:23:54.088
And this is so, so rich. He has visited and redeemed his people.

00:23:54.128 --> 00:23:55.388
In other words, it's done.

00:23:55.908 --> 00:24:01.708
And actually, Jesus Christ was slain from before the foundation of the world.

00:24:01.968 --> 00:24:05.028
So he's saying it's done.

00:24:05.208 --> 00:24:13.028
And he has raised up, verse 69, a horn or a strength, a power of salvation for

00:24:13.028 --> 00:24:17.188
us in the house of his servant David.

00:24:17.648 --> 00:24:21.208
Now, the house of David had just basically been really reduced.

00:24:21.448 --> 00:24:27.068
Joseph and Mary were both of the house of David, but they were certainly not kings.

00:24:27.248 --> 00:24:34.708
Joseph was a carpenter. He was, in a sense, the legal father, not the legal father.

00:24:35.368 --> 00:24:38.548
Not the biological father. Not the biological father, the legal father.

00:24:38.648 --> 00:24:42.668
And, of course, Mary as well, of the house of David.

00:24:43.348 --> 00:24:46.868
And that's exactly what the prophets had prophesied. Mm-hmm.

00:24:47.438 --> 00:24:52.018
As he spoke, verse 7, by the mouth of his holy prophets who have been since

00:24:52.018 --> 00:24:56.598
the world began. In other words, there's been people prophesying all the way

00:24:56.598 --> 00:24:58.978
through. About the promises to come.

00:24:59.558 --> 00:25:03.598
As the prophets were like the links that kept the chain moving,

00:25:04.138 --> 00:25:08.138
kept the promises alive in the hearts of the people, and kept encouraging them

00:25:08.138 --> 00:25:12.238
that God was still on task and he was still doing what he was going to do.

00:25:12.358 --> 00:25:16.858
When you look at what we've just kind of gone through very briefly here,

00:25:16.938 --> 00:25:26.158
Marjorie, about the link, the connections over thousands of years, what are the chances?

00:25:27.798 --> 00:25:33.858
I think mathematically there's really no chance that this is ever going to happen.

00:25:34.078 --> 00:25:36.798
Yeah, the probabilities of it are impossible.

00:25:37.578 --> 00:25:42.858
But when Zachariah, like you're saying, he went on and on to be very specific.

00:25:43.158 --> 00:25:47.718
He said that verse 71, that we should be saved from our enemies.

00:25:47.898 --> 00:25:51.938
Yes, and perform the mercies promised to our fathers to remember his holy covenant.

00:25:52.078 --> 00:25:54.738
So, God hadn't forgotten his covenant, although the people had forgotten it.

00:25:55.138 --> 00:25:59.238
The oath that he swore to Abraham to grant us to see and deliver us from the

00:25:59.238 --> 00:26:01.298
hand of our enemies that we might serve him without fear.

00:26:01.358 --> 00:26:05.758
So, he's looking towards the future for hope and the completion of God's promises.

00:26:06.838 --> 00:26:10.238
He said that in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives,

00:26:10.398 --> 00:26:13.618
and you, child, will be called the prophet of the highest, of course,

00:26:13.738 --> 00:26:15.658
and you will go before the face of the Lord.

00:26:15.698 --> 00:26:19.558
He did not know this except through this prophetic word coming out of his mouth.

00:26:20.138 --> 00:26:24.898
You will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way, to give knowledge

00:26:24.898 --> 00:26:28.178
of salvation to the people by remission of their sins. What did John do?

00:26:28.418 --> 00:26:32.258
He had people repent, baptize them in the Jordan, through the tender mercies

00:26:32.258 --> 00:26:36.258
of our God with the day spring on high will visit us, to give light to those

00:26:36.258 --> 00:26:39.778
who sit in darkness. That would be Jesus and the shadow of death to guide our

00:26:39.778 --> 00:26:40.758
feet into the way of peace.

00:26:40.858 --> 00:26:47.538
So he's saying, my son, this little infant, is going to be the forerunner of the Savior.

00:26:48.958 --> 00:26:52.978
Yeah, this very unconventional, who became very unconventional.

00:26:53.678 --> 00:26:58.198
I mean, in a sense, he was... Very unconventional. He was... He was God's PR man.

00:26:58.538 --> 00:27:04.198
Yeah. Not dressed in a suit, not having an Instagram or a Facebook account.

00:27:04.198 --> 00:27:05.838
He's not banqueting every day.

00:27:06.038 --> 00:27:11.298
He's out in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey. And his sermon was

00:27:11.298 --> 00:27:13.498
not, you know, making people comfortable.

00:27:13.878 --> 00:27:19.318
Nothing cushy. No, you know, you brood of vipers. Yeah, he's a bunch of snakes.

00:27:19.658 --> 00:27:23.958
You know. You know, it's like, oh, this is. Quit stealing, you know, repent.

00:27:24.658 --> 00:27:27.818
So, you know, the thing is, but it was preparing a people whose hearts were

00:27:27.818 --> 00:27:32.678
being turned back to the truth of who God was. and there had to be that little

00:27:32.678 --> 00:27:37.478
pocket of faith and believers so that Jesus could be born and brought forth into that.

00:27:37.558 --> 00:27:40.738
To prepare the way of the Lord, it's kind of breaking up the fallow ground.

00:27:40.998 --> 00:27:45.238
It's just breaking up like you have to break up soil in order for it to receive

00:27:45.238 --> 00:27:48.158
the seed. Well, back to the story in Luke.

00:27:48.518 --> 00:27:53.918
So right about the time that Elizabeth conceived, and she was six months along,

00:27:53.918 --> 00:28:00.138
that the angel Gabriel showed up at Mary's house in chapter 1, verse 39.

00:28:01.842 --> 00:28:05.562
I'm sorry, no, let's see, go back a little bit. I'm ahead of myself.

00:28:06.122 --> 00:28:11.022
Verse 26, now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to the city

00:28:11.022 --> 00:28:13.962
of Galilee, a city of Galilee called named Nazareth.

00:28:14.062 --> 00:28:20.182
So the area, the section, the county was Galilee and the city was Nazareth.

00:28:20.362 --> 00:28:22.742
Same angel that appeared to Zacharias.

00:28:23.582 --> 00:28:30.762
And so the virgin, that would be Mary, was betrothed. She was engaged to Joseph

00:28:30.762 --> 00:28:33.742
of the house of David, and her name was Mary.

00:28:34.142 --> 00:28:37.462
And the angel said, Rejoice, highly favored one, for the Lord is with you.

00:28:37.522 --> 00:28:38.422
Blessed are you among women.

00:28:38.722 --> 00:28:42.702
But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner

00:28:42.702 --> 00:28:44.742
of greeting this was. Well, wouldn't you be?

00:28:44.902 --> 00:28:48.482
What is this? Who is this? Who is this standing before me? How does he know

00:28:48.482 --> 00:28:49.782
who I am? How did he get in my house?

00:28:50.364 --> 00:28:54.824
And the angel said there, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

00:28:55.144 --> 00:28:58.864
Okay, so God had picked her out. God knew about her from the foundation of the world.

00:28:59.044 --> 00:29:02.364
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son,

00:29:02.524 --> 00:29:03.904
and she'll call his name Jesus.

00:29:04.444 --> 00:29:09.784
Okay, so far, that's kind of normal. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest.

00:29:10.144 --> 00:29:13.584
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. He will reign over

00:29:13.584 --> 00:29:16.244
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

00:29:16.244 --> 00:29:19.824
So, the people of Israel were all looking for the returner, the restoration

00:29:19.824 --> 00:29:22.584
of the throne of David, so that they could get back into the place where they

00:29:22.584 --> 00:29:26.404
were when David and Solomon were the kings, when they were on top of the world

00:29:26.404 --> 00:29:29.144
and they were— Not subject to the Romans any longer.

00:29:29.484 --> 00:29:32.524
So, they were all longing for that in their hearts. So, the angel says that

00:29:32.524 --> 00:29:36.104
this man is going to bring that, but if she would have jumped to the wrong conclusion

00:29:36.104 --> 00:29:39.324
and thought, well, in his lifetime, you know, we're going to get the restoration

00:29:39.324 --> 00:29:43.544
of the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of David.

00:29:43.544 --> 00:29:47.624
But that would have been a disappointment because that wasn't the ultimate plan

00:29:47.624 --> 00:29:52.124
because the plan was bigger than just restoring Israel to the throne.

00:29:52.464 --> 00:29:55.044
So, but Mary did say, okay, you can do it.

00:29:55.444 --> 00:29:59.284
And she had a little question about how is this going to happen?

00:29:59.644 --> 00:30:05.104
And then he said, with God, nothing is impossible. And then the angel slipped a word.

00:30:05.164 --> 00:30:08.444
He says, and now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, verse 36,

00:30:08.764 --> 00:30:13.824
has also conceived a son in her old age. and this is now the sixth month with

00:30:13.824 --> 00:30:15.804
her who is called barren.

00:30:16.104 --> 00:30:19.764
So what does Mary do as soon as she can? Verse 39.

00:30:19.984 --> 00:30:24.304
Now Mary rose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to the

00:30:24.304 --> 00:30:28.264
city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

00:30:28.364 --> 00:30:31.604
So Elizabeth is basically six months along, maybe seven at this point.

00:30:32.044 --> 00:30:35.884
And it happened that when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the baby in her womb leapt.

00:30:36.164 --> 00:30:39.524
And so Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. So both, That was a prophetic

00:30:39.524 --> 00:30:44.824
word from the angel that the child would be filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb, and he was.

00:30:45.719 --> 00:30:49.999
And then she spoke out and recognized Mary. She said, blessed are you among

00:30:49.999 --> 00:30:51.939
women and the fruit of your womb.

00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:58.119
So Mary, she's at the most, at the most, you know, a couple months along, not even showing it.

00:30:58.239 --> 00:31:02.079
But Elizabeth already knows it, you know, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

00:31:02.859 --> 00:31:07.719
And then Elizabeth says, but why was it granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:13.119
For indeed, as soon as your voice greeting sounded in my ears,

00:31:13.219 --> 00:31:14.799
the babe leapt in my womb for joy.

00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:19.519
Blessed is he who believes, for there will be a fulfillment of those things

00:31:19.519 --> 00:31:24.339
which were told here by the Lord." So we have the most unusual, unlikely.

00:31:26.132 --> 00:31:31.132
Exciting, but really not exciting, very private events that are happening behind

00:31:31.132 --> 00:31:35.452
the scenes that are in preparation for the Lord Jesus Christ,

00:31:35.512 --> 00:31:39.072
not only to be born, but to go all the way from Bethlehem to Calvary.

00:31:39.252 --> 00:31:46.352
That's the next part of the journey. So you have a barren lady that's past childbirth age.

00:31:46.672 --> 00:31:50.832
An old man. And then you have a virgin who is actually betrothed.

00:31:51.492 --> 00:31:54.632
Engaged. Back then, when you were betrothed, you were really married.

00:31:55.212 --> 00:31:58.652
The marriage had not been physically consummated or anything like that.

00:31:58.812 --> 00:32:05.652
So you work from an old lady to have a baby and probably a teenage girl.

00:32:05.652 --> 00:32:07.452
Why can't God just do it normal?

00:32:07.852 --> 00:32:10.492
It's like this is wild. He doesn't do anything. But you know what?

00:32:10.612 --> 00:32:13.092
This is so wild and exciting.

00:32:13.352 --> 00:32:18.772
And so when you are, this season now, when we're contemplating the events,

00:32:18.912 --> 00:32:23.612
it would be very good if you would settle it down and stop watching all those

00:32:23.612 --> 00:32:26.872
silly little Christmas movies every night.

00:32:27.052 --> 00:32:33.272
And take time to read in the Gospel of Luke, chapters 1, 2, and in Matthew,

00:32:33.372 --> 00:32:38.692
sorry, chapter 1, and in Luke even, I think, chapter 3, where it gives the genealogy of Mary.

00:32:39.012 --> 00:32:45.412
So you can have a real stock in what is going on here.

00:32:45.532 --> 00:32:49.052
It's not just a story you've heard a hundred times. And, you know,

00:32:49.172 --> 00:32:54.432
it's been quickly and every year there's more and more of a flooding of wrapping

00:32:54.432 --> 00:32:57.432
paper and tinsel, like you said, and distractions.

00:32:57.772 --> 00:33:01.492
Tinselized. To remove from us the glory of God.

00:33:01.897 --> 00:33:06.837
The revelation not only of Jesus Christ, but the peace on earth,

00:33:06.937 --> 00:33:11.237
goodwill towards men, invitation from the Lord God, the Father,

00:33:11.557 --> 00:33:16.877
to bring us back into that place of salvation and protection and his family.

00:33:17.177 --> 00:33:22.717
This is the first event after thousands of years of many little events where

00:33:22.717 --> 00:33:23.997
Satan is trying to stop it.

00:33:24.057 --> 00:33:28.757
Now we get to the point, we understand too, where Satan, at the moment when

00:33:28.757 --> 00:33:32.517
Jesus was born, Satan was looking to kill him.

00:33:32.657 --> 00:33:38.617
And isn't it interesting, one more thing, that God put Moses in the middle of Pharaoh's house.

00:33:39.328 --> 00:33:45.868
So Pharaoh could pay for his education. God puts Jesus in the middle of insane

00:33:45.868 --> 00:33:49.968
Herod's kingdom, where Herod is so jealous and scared that he's killing everybody,

00:33:50.088 --> 00:33:53.528
including his own sons, if he thinks they're a threat to his kingdom.

00:33:53.868 --> 00:33:57.748
And now you have baby Jesus born right under his nose. So there you have it.

00:33:57.828 --> 00:33:59.248
That's your cliffhanger for this week.

00:34:00.328 --> 00:34:04.668
And so we just want to pray that God will really, really expand your heart,

00:34:04.808 --> 00:34:09.448
your joy, your peace, your peace to remove the anxiety of this world because

00:34:09.448 --> 00:34:12.968
you can live in anxiety or you can live in peace, whatever you choose,

00:34:13.048 --> 00:34:14.148
because they're both there for you.

00:34:14.728 --> 00:34:18.428
And so, Father, we pray for peace, the peace of God, which passes under saying

00:34:18.428 --> 00:34:21.548
the goodwill to flood the hearts and minds of everyone who listens,

00:34:21.568 --> 00:34:26.008
that they would be immediately now a spirit of the living God of hope and salvation

00:34:26.008 --> 00:34:32.268
and peace and gratitude will come upon us and stay and remain with us through

00:34:32.268 --> 00:34:34.208
the duration of our journey here,

00:34:34.208 --> 00:34:38.088
that this will be a transformation in the lives of everyone who hears this,

00:34:38.208 --> 00:34:43.068
and they will be encouraged and walk in a new place of strength and physical

00:34:43.068 --> 00:34:47.448
and mental and emotional and spiritual energy and anointing in Jesus' name.

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And at this time of the year, Lord, let us not be all wrapped up with Christmas.

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But we'll be wrapped up in Christ. Amen.

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And we'll see through, you have to look hard through the tinsel, through the lights.

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But he's there. Through the parties and find him.

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It's good to celebrate him, but we're not just—don't lose Jesus in the celebration.

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And celebrate with all your heart.

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Celebrate him and his work in our lives. So that's the way we celebrate.

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God bless you, and we'll talk to you soon.