Welcome to Anchors Of Truth
from the 3ABN Worship Center.
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The Truth As It Is In
Jesus, with Ron Halvorsen.
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Well, we're just so
happy to welcome you to
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West Frankfort, Illinois and
to the worship center of 3ABN.
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And we're really
looking forward to this Anchors.
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But it's the
final one of this year.
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We're planning a whole new
Anchors series for next year,
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which will start,
of course, in January.
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And the final speaker is
one that we have wanted to get
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to 3ABN ever since I came here.
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And that is
Pastor Ron Halvorsen.
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And we're looking forward to
the messages that we know that
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God is going to speak
through him to bring to us.
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I've known him
for many, many years.
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He was born in New York
City, but he was reborn in
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New York City and he's now a
citizen of the kingdom of God,
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rather than being a citizen
of the kingdom of New York City.
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But you know something?
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This is a man that loves God.
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I've known him for a long time.
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I remember that when
he was at the seminary,
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I was a college student and I
use to pick up his dry cleaning.
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And also Jim Londis, they
lived there close to each other.
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And I use to pick up
those guy's dry cleaning.
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I admired them because, you
know, they were the older boys
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and I was one of
the younger guys.
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So this is something
that we've looked forward to.
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I knew Ron, we were in ministry
together in New England.
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He is a preacher, a soul winner,
and he is a man who loves God.
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He's married to his wife Carol.
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And he has two
wonderful children.
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I'll let him tell you
about them; Ron JR, a pastor.
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And his daughter
is also a pastor.
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So this is a man that has
impacted, not only a lot of
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other people, but
his very own family.
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Just a moment ago, I dialed
my father-in-law, Roy Thurman.
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They worked
together in New York City.
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And my father-in-law has
told me many of the stories
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about how he and Ron
would go into the ghetto
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and look for people who
were lost, but who had indicated
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they wanted to know
something about Jesus.
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And they would go there
and they would find them.
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Ron spent a great
number of years going back to
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New York City and doing
evangelism in that place.
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He's been doing evangelism
all over the world since then.
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He's currently
doing prayer ministry for
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It Is Written television.
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And in the years when people
think that he should be in
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retirement, he's
still preaching with power
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and is going to Las Vegas very
soon to lead a prayer endeavor
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for this city of Las
Vegas in preparation for the
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It Is Written crusade that will
be held there by John Bradshaw.
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A man of God, and I know that
he is going to have a message
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from our Lord
for each one of you.
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Let's have a
little word of prayer.
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Father in heaven, we just
thank You tonight that we can
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come to You in
the name of Jesus.
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We thank You, Lord,
that You have, through the
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foolishness of preaching,
chosen to use that medium
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to reach people
around the world.
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Your Son, Jesus, was a preacher.
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He spoke, He taught, He
led, and He asked for decisions.
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And those were baptized.
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And then all of His
disciples became preachers
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and they preached the Word.
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And Father, we have been
given the gospel commission
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to take the truth of
Jesus to a dying world.
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We pray tonight, in a very real
sense, that You'll be with us
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in this meeting, that You will
bless every single part of it.
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And we thank You,
Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.
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We felt it was very fitting
and proper that we also include
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in this Anchors series some of
the topics that Pastor Halvorsen
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has mentioned, or will
mention as we go along.
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The first one tonight is,
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Anchored In The
Truth About His Birth.
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It's all about
Jesus and His birth.
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We also felt that it was
very proper to have a New Yorker
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bring us this
special music tonight.
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And John Lomacang, our
own resident New Yorker,
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is going to be singing
for us, I Then Shall Live.
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I then shall live
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as one who's been forgiven;
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I'll walk with joy
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to know my debts are paid.
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I know my name
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is clear before my Father;
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I am His child,
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and I am not afraid.
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So greatly pardoned,
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I'll forgive my brother;
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The law of love
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I gladly will obey.
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I then shall live
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as one who's learned compassion;
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I've been so loved
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that I'll risk loving too.
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I know how fear
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builds walls instead of bridges;
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I'll dare to see
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another's point of view.
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And when relationship
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demand commitment,
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then I'll be there
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to care and see it through.
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Your kingdom come
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around and through and in me;
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Your power and glory,
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let them shine through me.
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Your hallowed name,
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O may I bear with honor;
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and may Your living
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kingdom come in me.
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The Bread of Life,
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O may I share with honor;
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and may You feed
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the hungry world through me.
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Amen,
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amen,
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amen.
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Thank you, John.
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I want to welcome, first
of all, the viewing audience.
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Wherever you are, this is an
important series of meetings.
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And for those of you who
are here, we're beginning
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a series on the Anchors,
The Truth As It Is In Jesus.
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Five biblical
messages that will give you a
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greater understanding,
a greater appreciation,
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a greater love for Jesus Christ.
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And there's no other place
to begin at this Christmas time
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than right here with
the descent of Deity;
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God coming to earth in
the form of a tiny baby.
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The crib that captures
the heart of the whole world.
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But before we begin, let's bow
our heads in a word of prayer
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and ask God's
Spirit to be with us.
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Father God, we pray that You'll
send to us the joyous message
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of Christmas, the joy that
came down at Christmas time
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in the life of Christ.
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May You speak to us through
that Baby, that Child, that Man,
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and that God.
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We pray in Christ's name, amen.
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Amen.
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In his book,
When Iron Gates Yield,
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a British missionary to
Tibet, who was a captive to
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Chinese Communism for
three years, tells an experience
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he had one December 24.
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After a long tiring journey
over a high famous mountain pass
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in the Himalayas, he
was brought down on the
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other side of the mountain.
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The snow was blowing
and the wind blowing.
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They brought him to a
group of little houses
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about 4:30 that afternoon.
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And a Tibetan landlord
had swept out an upper room.
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And the missionary
prisoner went to that room,
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he was to stay for that night.
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It was a beautiful clean room.
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In fact, he'd rarely
seen such a clean place
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in all of his travels
as a prisoner to Communism.
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After the meal, when it was
already dark, he was ordered
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to go downstairs to
give hay to the horses.
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And so he climbed
down the notched tree trunk
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to the lower floor, which
was given over to the animals.
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It was pitch black.
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He said he
stumbled around in the dark.
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And he describes his feelings,
"My boots squelched in the
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manure and the straw.
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The feted smell of
animals was nauseating.
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I felt my way along in
the darkness, expecting
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any moment to be kicked
by a mule or by a horse.
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'What a place,' I thought.
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And then as I continued to
grope my way in the darkness
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towards the gray, it
suddenly flashed in my mind,
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'What's today? What's today?'
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I thought for a moment."
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You see, the days had become
a little muddled in his mind
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in all the travels.
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And then it came to him.
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It was Christmas
Eve, the 24th of December.
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He said, "I stood silently
still in that oriental manger.
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To think that my
Savior came and was born
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in a place like this.
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And to think that my Savior
came all the way from heaven
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to some wretched Eastern stable.
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And what's more, that this
Jesus, to think He came for me.
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How men try to
beautify the cross and the crib.
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As if to hide the fact that
the birth resigned Him to the
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stench of beasts, and His death
exposed Him to the same roads.
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God, forgive us."
00:14:56.64\00:14:58.23
He said, "I returned to
my warm room, clean room,
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which I enjoyed
even as a prisoner.
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And I bowed my head in
thankfulness and worship.
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In the darkness, I
discovered the secret of joy.
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The dark night over
Bethlehem the angels sang,
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'Joy to the world.'"
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Wow, that's powerful.
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We, who in the past have
been prisoners, not to Communism
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or to those in Tibet, but
we who have been prisoners
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to our pent up anger,
to our pent up emotions,
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to our pent up
feelings, to our pent up sin,
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and now free in Christ,
must return to that place
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where Jesus Christ
came to set us free.
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Where He broke the
shackles of our doubt,
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where He broke the
shackles of our emotions,
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where He broke the
shackles of our fears and sins,
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and He set us
free and liberated us.
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It was at a crib
before the cross.
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And so we too, here in
modern times, we must return
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to that Eastern
stable where it all began.
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We must again be reminded
that God descended from heaven
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with a baby in His arms.
00:16:09.17\00:16:11.39
A gifted woman wrote
these words, "From the heights
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of Deity to the
depths of humanity."
00:16:17.21\00:16:20.45
And thus we find the title;
00:16:21.28\00:16:22.86
The Descent of Deity,
The Descent of the Divine.
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Now how do we
arrive at a stable?
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How do we arrive
at an oriental stable?
00:16:30.06\00:16:32.01
Surely not by the mountain
passes of the Himalayas,
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I mean, like the
prisoner in the story.
00:16:34.52\00:16:36.74
But perhaps by the mountain
passes of heavenly places.
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And to get there we
must have the sherpa, called
00:16:40.05\00:16:42.82
the Holy Spirit, to
guide us to those high places.
00:16:42.85\00:16:45.46
And first we need to go
there to meet Him as God
00:16:45.49\00:16:48.08
if we are ever to
understand Him as God man.
00:16:48.11\00:16:51.63
I mean, amazing isn't it.
00:16:52.97\00:16:54.25
That Christian
liberation began at a crib.
00:16:55.20\00:16:58.56
Now, it is there that we meet
God man as liberating grace,
00:16:59.40\00:17:03.50
the One who
liberates us, sets us free.
00:17:03.53\00:17:06.04
My Bible text it taken
from the first epistle of John.
00:17:06.07\00:17:09.12
And if you have your Bibles,
I want you to turn with me
00:17:09.15\00:17:11.48
to the first epistle of John.
00:17:11.49\00:17:13.47
And I want you to notice
here, chapter 4 verses 8 and 9.
00:17:13.48\00:17:17.17
Listen as the apostle
John, who was faithful to Christ
00:17:17.80\00:17:22.24
even to Patmos, and he writes
these words in his epistle.
00:17:22.27\00:17:25.85
He says:
00:17:26.49\00:17:27.55
And so, first, we
must consider deity.
00:17:45.56\00:17:48.66
We begin with deity.
00:17:49.58\00:17:51.26
Our text this evening says there
is, first of all, the reality
00:17:51.73\00:17:55.84
of the descent
of Jesus to earth.
00:17:55.87\00:17:57.80
Secondly, there is the
reality or the reasons for the
00:17:57.83\00:18:01.36
descent of
Jesus Christ to earth.
00:18:01.39\00:18:04.46
And that's why in 1 John 4:9,
he says, "God sent His Son..."
00:18:04.49\00:18:08.75
Notice:
00:18:09.18\00:18:10.22
Let us, therefore, look at
the reality of that descent.
00:18:17.11\00:18:20.71
We begin with
deity. All things do.
00:18:21.14\00:18:23.37
God who forms all
things becomes man formed.
00:18:23.40\00:18:28.38
The descent of Deity is real.
00:18:28.76\00:18:31.25
God, with all power, descends in
the form of a baby, powerless.
00:18:31.78\00:18:36.82
The descent of Deity is real.
00:18:36.85\00:18:39.45
Plainly it speaks
about this here in Isaiah.
00:18:39.84\00:18:43.26
Notice what it says.
00:18:43.57\00:18:44.87
We begin with deity.
00:19:05.14\00:19:06.60
And all things do.
00:19:06.95\00:19:08.51
All things do.
00:19:09.31\00:19:10.60
Immanuel, God with us.
00:19:10.61\00:19:12.51
The Hebrew means that
God is with us, close to us.
00:19:12.52\00:19:15.80
God is there for us.
00:19:15.82\00:19:17.61
He is there behind us and
beside us and in front of us.
00:19:17.63\00:19:20.90
He's there when we pray,
He's there when we don't pray.
00:19:20.91\00:19:24.75
He is the God with us.
00:19:25.21\00:19:27.15
We begin with deity.
00:19:27.43\00:19:28.86
And all things do.
00:19:29.17\00:19:30.40
Isaiah chapter 9, the Bible
tells us in Isaiah chapter 9.
00:19:30.42\00:19:34.55
And he says here in verse 6:
00:19:34.56\00:19:36.49
Micah 5 verse 2 confirms it.
00:19:51.38\00:19:53.62
He tells us of the
birth of Christ in this way.
00:19:53.64\00:19:56.77
The promise of this Messiah.
00:20:06.31\00:20:08.14
The promise of this God with us.
00:20:08.15\00:20:10.34
We begin with
deity. And all things do.
00:20:10.35\00:20:12.71
God holds all
things in His arms.
00:20:12.72\00:20:15.20
He descends to be held
in the arms of a woman.
00:20:15.22\00:20:17.92
The descent of Deity is real.
00:20:17.95\00:20:19.78
God, who is blameless,
descends to be blame for us.
00:20:19.81\00:20:23.06
The descent of Deity is real.
00:20:23.09\00:20:25.11
Christ, who's
character is the all in all.
00:20:25.15\00:20:28.14
He is eternally inherently.
00:20:28.17\00:20:30.24
He is without cause
and without beginning and
00:20:30.28\00:20:32.93
without end and
without mutation.
00:20:32.97\00:20:35.09
He is timeless Jesus.
00:20:35.12\00:20:37.87
The descent of Deity is real.
00:20:38.50\00:20:40.72
God who speaks is now dumb.
00:20:41.13\00:20:43.55
I mean silent,
speechless, as a little baby
00:20:43.59\00:20:46.97
in the arms of a mother.
00:20:47.00\00:20:49.03
The descent of Deity is real.
00:20:49.06\00:20:50.97
I mean it's a
real Christ who comes.
00:20:51.00\00:20:53.01
God, who forms a
woman, is formed of a woman.
00:20:53.04\00:20:56.27
That's the message
that God has for us
00:20:56.43\00:20:58.54
in the descent of Deity.
00:20:58.78\00:21:01.09
God, who forms the forests,
00:21:01.53\00:21:03.61
lays in a manger made
from the twigs of the forest.
00:21:04.60\00:21:07.87
The descent of Deity is real.
00:21:08.71\00:21:10.59
I'm amazed.
00:21:11.05\00:21:12.31
I'm amazed that so little is
said about this Christ Child.
00:21:12.61\00:21:15.83
So little is spoken in
these last days about His Deity.
00:21:15.86\00:21:19.05
I mean, Christ is God fully.
00:21:19.08\00:21:20.90
He covers the
supernatural with flesh,
00:21:20.93\00:21:23.17
but never uses the
supernatural in a fleshly way.
00:21:23.20\00:21:27.20
I mean, human weak flesh can
be touched by the supernatural.
00:21:27.62\00:21:31.71
That's His message at Christmas.
00:21:31.75\00:21:33.31
You see, you and I, we
can be touched by this God.
00:21:33.34\00:21:37.63
That's how near He is.
00:21:37.67\00:21:38.96
Simply put, we can all
be touched by the Divine.
00:21:39.00\00:21:42.41
While you're
watching this program, God can
00:21:42.61\00:21:44.71
reach out and touch you.
00:21:44.75\00:21:46.06
While you're in this
auditorium, God can reach down
00:21:46.29\00:21:48.60
and touch you.
00:21:48.64\00:21:49.64
When you're walking
the street in crowded ways,
00:21:49.65\00:21:51.84
when you've crowded
God out, He's still there,
00:21:51.85\00:21:54.37
He wants to touch you.
00:21:54.40\00:21:56.03
That's the divine message that
God has at the Christmas time.
00:21:56.07\00:21:59.57
Deity came down.
00:22:00.07\00:22:01.67
God, with hands, in all
points tempted like as we.
00:22:02.07\00:22:05.46
The God with hands, but
don't you ever dirty them.
00:22:05.50\00:22:08.06
God with eyes, but
don't ever put lust in them.
00:22:09.15\00:22:11.44
God with a heart, a
beating heart, that's true.
00:22:12.01\00:22:14.66
But don't every
place envy in that heart.
00:22:14.69\00:22:17.51
God is always God,
Christ is always the Divine.
00:22:17.54\00:22:20.61
I mean, He suffers
as God, He feels as God,
00:22:20.65\00:22:24.48
He pains as God.
00:22:24.52\00:22:26.29
I mean, He dies the
second death so that you and I
00:22:26.32\00:22:29.81
will not have to die that death.
00:22:29.84\00:22:32.03
Laying down His life...
00:22:34.63\00:22:36.34
giving up His life...
00:22:37.66\00:22:39.32
sacrificing His life.
00:22:39.96\00:22:42.08
The descent of modern
theology today so tries to
00:22:42.55\00:22:45.05
humanize Jesus, so
humanizing Him that they
00:22:45.09\00:22:48.00
totally degrade Him.
00:22:48.03\00:22:49.63
Supernaturally
marvelous is my Jesus.
00:22:49.66\00:22:52.34
Supernaturally helpful.
00:22:52.37\00:22:53.86
We don't serve a Hollywood
Christ, but a heavenly Christ.
00:22:53.89\00:22:58.03
And He's supernaturally helpful.
00:22:59.15\00:23:01.14
His life tells us that.
00:23:02.12\00:23:03.58
He heals the sick.
00:23:04.05\00:23:05.36
He feeds the hungry.
00:23:06.19\00:23:07.89
He robs the grave.
00:23:07.93\00:23:09.56
He breaks the
funeral procession.
00:23:09.59\00:23:11.35
I mean, He sets multitudes free.
00:23:11.38\00:23:13.63
He restores the deranged mind.
00:23:13.66\00:23:15.54
No man born a woman can
ever ascend to that place
00:23:15.57\00:23:18.47
without Him who
came from that place.
00:23:18.51\00:23:22.74
He was the one
who bore the woman
00:23:24.75\00:23:27.84
so that the woman
might bear the Savior.
00:23:28.90\00:23:31.24
Just as the first Adam
bears, in the side, the woman
00:23:32.16\00:23:35.64
and Eve comes forth...
00:23:35.67\00:23:37.30
Prime rib.
00:23:37.34\00:23:38.36
...and so the second
Adam is wounded in the side
00:23:44.04\00:23:46.77
and there comes forth the new
Eve, the church of Jesus Christ.
00:23:47.17\00:23:50.84
That's the message that
God has for us at this season.
00:23:50.87\00:23:53.49
Mary bled in the womb...
00:23:55.71\00:23:57.16
...and bear a Son.
00:23:58.42\00:23:59.62
Christ bled in His heart...
00:24:01.15\00:24:02.70
...and saved the world.
00:24:04.23\00:24:05.64
So always keep in mind,
00:24:06.80\00:24:08.20
to be God and act
as a man is one thing.
00:24:09.07\00:24:12.00
But to be a man and act as
if you're God is quite another.
00:24:12.83\00:24:16.68
He is the only God man.
00:24:17.67\00:24:22.64
The only God man.
00:24:22.94\00:24:26.81
You see, the mystery
of the humanity of Christ,
00:24:26.82\00:24:29.90
that He came into the flesh...
00:24:31.45\00:24:35.23
Martin Luther said,
"He sunk into human flesh."
00:24:35.26\00:24:38.78
Divine sunk into human flesh.
00:24:39.21\00:24:41.97
It's beyond our
human comprehension.
00:24:42.01\00:24:43.88
Because His resources
cannot be impoverished by any
00:24:43.91\00:24:46.79
degree of expenditure.
00:24:46.83\00:24:48.35
I mean, who is
always in everywhere,
00:24:48.38\00:24:49.98
as we read in Scripture.
00:24:50.01\00:24:51.10
He is always the
verity of God's truth; Jesus.
00:24:51.13\00:24:53.82
He is always the beauty
of God's holiness; Jesus.
00:24:53.86\00:24:56.51
He is the purity
of God's character,
00:24:56.55\00:24:58.99
the majesty of God's power,
the authority of God's throne.
00:24:59.02\00:25:02.73
He is the reality of God's love.
00:25:02.76\00:25:04.94
He is and will always be
the surety of God's love.
00:25:06.96\00:25:10.96
Do you wonder why we
Christians so respect Him?
00:25:10.97\00:25:13.58
Do you wonder why we bow down
for Him and we would be willing
00:25:14.35\00:25:17.21
to die for Him?
00:25:17.25\00:25:18.35
I mean, the pity of
God's heart is in Jesus.
00:25:18.38\00:25:20.85
The legacy of God's will.
00:25:20.89\00:25:22.49
He is the oceans flowing,
the rivers of God's grace.
00:25:22.52\00:25:25.81
A gifted writer said,
"From the heights of heaven."
00:25:25.85\00:25:29.11
"By His humanity,
Christ touched humanity."
00:25:29.97\00:25:32.27
Christ is the
express image of God.
00:25:37.65\00:25:41.01
We are the reflected
image. Don't forget that.
00:25:41.21\00:25:44.63
So in reality of that
descent, there was a decision
00:25:45.68\00:25:48.83
of deity in verse 9; God sent.
00:25:48.87\00:25:51.70
But also, there was a
declaration of that sent.
00:25:52.11\00:25:54.53
He declared it;
the Son born of woman.
00:25:54.57\00:25:56.67
I mean, the Bible says His
Son is not less than the Father.
00:25:56.70\00:25:59.33
It's not an
apparition of the Father.
00:25:59.36\00:26:01.38
He says, "I and
My Father are one."
00:26:01.39\00:26:05.24
That's John 10 verse 30.
"I and My Father are one."
00:26:05.28\00:26:10.84
The Bible tells us,
"The Father dwelleth in Me."
00:26:11.54\00:26:14.67
John 14:10, "The
Father dwelleth in Me."
00:26:14.71\00:26:18.54
Now if Jesus was only
a man, very few chapters
00:26:19.37\00:26:22.87
would have been
written about Him.
00:26:24.01\00:26:25.45
If He was only a man, He would
have been forgotten by now.
00:26:26.36\00:26:28.93
But He was the God man,
00:26:29.64\00:26:32.89
declared
everywhere in Scripture.
00:26:33.83\00:26:35.86
I mean, there never was
a time when He was not God.
00:26:36.53\00:26:38.94
And there never was in a sense.
00:26:39.63\00:26:41.49
And even now, He is God.
00:26:42.70\00:26:44.52
And that's why in 2 Corinthians,
the Bible tells us...
00:26:44.82\00:26:47.65
In the book of
Corinthians the second epistle.
00:26:47.94\00:26:50.77
If you have your
Bibles, turn with me
00:26:50.78\00:26:52.48
to the second
epistle of Corinthians.
00:26:52.51\00:26:54.32
And I want you to notice here
the second epistle chapter 11.
00:26:54.66\00:26:59.11
And notice verse 31.
00:26:59.51\00:27:01.44
"The God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
00:27:02.24\00:27:05.35
which is blessed forever,
knoweth that I lie not."
00:27:05.38\00:27:10.94
God is blessed forever in
the person of Jesus Christ,
00:27:10.98\00:27:14.97
in the deity of Jesus Christ.
00:27:15.41\00:27:17.20
Now who can really
fully understand it?
00:27:17.53\00:27:19.28
There's not a theologian here,
there's not a philosopher here,
00:27:19.31\00:27:22.41
there's not a person here
that can fully understand the
00:27:22.44\00:27:25.24
humanity and divinity of Christ.
00:27:25.25\00:27:26.97
I mean, it's like a fly crawling
across Raphael's masterpiece.
00:27:27.01\00:27:32.05
What does a fly know about it?
00:27:33.37\00:27:35.27
Bumps, some
smell, perhaps color.
00:27:35.90\00:27:41.55
I don't know, I'm not a fly.
00:27:41.95\00:27:43.59
But what does it know?
00:27:44.92\00:27:46.20
I mean, the sum total of
our knowledge, you and me,
00:27:46.23\00:27:49.54
is what we contain in
a little box of brains
00:27:49.58\00:27:51.93
that God has given
us, in our human heart.
00:27:51.97\00:27:54.22
And that is why so
many reject the Divine,
00:27:54.25\00:27:57.07
so many reject the supernatural.
00:27:57.11\00:27:59.28
You see, because they
want to have their own God.
00:27:59.31\00:28:01.98
They create their own God.
00:28:02.02\00:28:03.35
And so when they want
to party, and they want to
00:28:03.38\00:28:05.63
drink and party,
they create a Bacchus.
00:28:05.67\00:28:07.81
And when they want
unbridled sex, immorality,
00:28:09.95\00:28:13.74
they create an Aphrodite.
00:28:13.76\00:28:15.11
And when they want to go to war
and hate each other and kill,
00:28:15.14\00:28:19.33
they create a Zeus or Mars.
00:28:19.36\00:28:22.07
You see, they want
God in their own image.
00:28:22.10\00:28:24.07
But the Bible says He is
in the image of His Father.
00:28:24.11\00:28:27.12
And by the way, one of our
problems is, we spend more time
00:28:30.55\00:28:34.14
contemplating
what we need to become
00:28:34.17\00:28:36.12
than what He has become for us.
00:28:37.49\00:28:40.64
And by the way, that is a
false pursuit of legalism.
00:28:41.04\00:28:44.69
Instead of pursuing the fact
of what He has become for us.
00:28:45.91\00:28:49.00
And that leads to the
reasons of the descent.
00:28:49.03\00:28:50.83
Why, the reason.
00:28:50.86\00:28:52.04
Humanity must be
touched by divinity.
00:28:52.08\00:28:54.37
Because, you see, there is
a limit to what we can do in
00:28:57.22\00:29:01.45
securing a place in heaven.
00:29:01.48\00:29:02.91
We humans can only submit
to the touch of the divine.
00:29:03.24\00:29:06.28
We can only open the heart
to the touch of the divine.
00:29:06.52\00:29:09.01
The baby does not decide
to be touched by the seed.
00:29:09.05\00:29:12.23
Something mysterious is
touched and the baby is born.
00:29:12.26\00:29:15.41
The Christmas
message humbles us.
00:29:15.71\00:29:17.70
The Christmas message makes
us solely dependent upon Deity.
00:29:18.20\00:29:22.52
The Christian message
and the Christmas message
00:29:23.09\00:29:25.41
forces us to retrace our steps,
00:29:25.45\00:29:28.07
and to rethink our
theological positions.
00:29:29.63\00:29:32.55
The Christmas message
stops us in our tracks,
00:29:32.95\00:29:37.54
that we might
walk in His tracks.
00:29:37.84\00:29:40.39
You see pagan.
00:29:42.84\00:29:43.85
There's nothing pagan
by the descent of Deity.
00:29:44.49\00:29:48.15
Christmas is not
pagan because we honor Him
00:29:48.84\00:29:51.31
during the wrong season.
00:29:51.34\00:29:52.77
It's pagan because we
honor Him in the wrong spirit.
00:29:52.80\00:29:55.34
You see, Christmas is
not pagan because we give.
00:29:57.39\00:29:59.85
It becomes pagan because we
expect something in our giving.
00:30:00.55\00:30:04.34
By the way, the
value of any gift is
00:30:06.18\00:30:07.76
in the love of the giver.
00:30:07.77\00:30:08.92
When my
children were very young,
00:30:10.01\00:30:11.58
we had a law in our house.
00:30:11.59\00:30:12.61
It was called, the law
of the Medes and Persians.
00:30:12.62\00:30:14.99
And that was; when daddy was in
his office studying and praying
00:30:16.58\00:30:18.92
and reading the Word,
he's not to be disturbed.
00:30:18.96\00:30:21.59
I mean, that was
written in cement.
00:30:22.69\00:30:26.38
One day, I was in my
office and the door was
00:30:27.73\00:30:29.48
left open a little crack.
00:30:29.52\00:30:30.81
And I was studying the Word
and I heard a noise at the door.
00:30:31.11\00:30:33.46
And I looked and it was my
little Diane looking in through
00:30:33.47\00:30:35.50
the crack in the door.
00:30:35.51\00:30:36.79
Beautiful.
00:30:37.46\00:30:38.46
You can imagine,
she looks a lot like me.
00:30:38.86\00:30:40.95
And her blue eyes sparkled and
the sun reflecting on her hair.
00:30:44.49\00:30:48.90
She looked in.
00:30:49.28\00:30:50.60
I said, "Diane," and
she remembered the law.
00:30:50.63\00:30:53.22
And so she started to run.
00:30:54.26\00:30:55.87
I said, "Stop," and she stopped.
00:30:56.54\00:30:58.66
You see, in those days when
you said, "stop," they stopped.
00:30:58.70\00:31:01.61
I said, "Come here," and so
she came as far as the door.
00:31:05.97\00:31:08.08
The law said.
00:31:08.12\00:31:09.12
You see, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound.
00:31:09.15\00:31:11.66
I said, "Honey, come
in," and she bounded in.
00:31:11.67\00:31:13.62
When she came up, she said,
"Daddy, I have a gift for you."
00:31:15.17\00:31:17.57
Now you know the
law went out the window.
00:31:17.97\00:31:19.72
Come on.
00:31:19.75\00:31:20.75
I said, "Well
honey, give it to me."
00:31:21.89\00:31:23.08
She said, "Guess."
00:31:23.09\00:31:24.17
You parents know
what that's about.
00:31:25.40\00:31:27.01
She said, "Guess."
00:31:28.40\00:31:31.03
I said, "Guess?"
00:31:31.31\00:31:32.31
And so she
wanted to play a game.
00:31:32.35\00:31:34.42
And I said,
"Well, is it a new car?"
00:31:34.82\00:31:36.77
And she laughed and giggled
and her blue eyes sparkled.
00:31:36.80\00:31:40.11
"No, Daddy."
00:31:40.88\00:31:41.89
And I guessed of all
the things I wanted to have
00:31:42.38\00:31:44.38
and couldn't have.
00:31:44.41\00:31:45.41
And finally, even
the patients of a saint
00:31:46.32\00:31:49.76
wears thin.
00:31:51.01\00:31:52.16
I said, "Honey,
give me the gift."
00:31:53.40\00:31:55.52
And she took it out.
00:31:55.55\00:31:56.56
And it was a
lamb made of noodles.
00:31:58.09\00:32:00.80
A noodle lamb.
00:32:00.83\00:32:01.95
I took my Kmart
painting off the wall
00:32:04.99\00:32:07.25
and put up a noodle lamb.
00:32:08.24\00:32:09.97
The value of the gift...
00:32:11.04\00:32:13.02
...is in the love of the giver.
00:32:14.32\00:32:16.20
You see, the message
of Christmas, the message
00:32:17.13\00:32:18.95
of the season is the gift.
00:32:18.99\00:32:21.90
The value of the gift.
00:32:22.39\00:32:23.85
You see, we human
beings are always come short
00:32:25.04\00:32:27.37
of the spirit of true
giving, true sacrifice.
00:32:27.38\00:32:30.60
Not because we do not
desire to give unselfishly,
00:32:30.80\00:32:33.83
but because we're helpless to.
00:32:33.87\00:32:35.51
Our giving is always selfish.
00:32:36.67\00:32:38.11
Oh no, no. That's not true.
00:32:38.12\00:32:41.11
I give because I love.
00:32:41.14\00:32:42.45
Come on, yea to a degree.
00:32:42.48\00:32:43.95
You give human
corruptible selfish nature.
00:32:45.68\00:32:48.59
I'm a grandfather.
00:32:49.29\00:32:50.32
I know it's hard for
you to believe, but I am.
00:32:50.35\00:32:51.96
I'm a grandfather.
00:32:51.97\00:32:53.01
And I love my grandkids.
00:32:54.44\00:32:55.99
I give to them out of love.
00:32:56.82\00:32:58.98
But I do get
something in return.
00:32:59.38\00:33:00.87
Come on now.
00:33:00.90\00:33:01.91
Even if I say I don't
want anything in return,
00:33:03.11\00:33:05.50
I get it; I get a
hug around the neck.
00:33:05.54\00:33:07.43
Especially when
they were younger.
00:33:08.55\00:33:10.02
I get a kiss on the cheek.
00:33:11.24\00:33:12.62
I get a note...
00:33:14.04\00:33:15.02
...a drawing.
00:33:16.78\00:33:17.85
I am always the benefactor...
00:33:19.67\00:33:21.73
...of the gift of giving.
00:33:23.41\00:33:24.63
But Jesus is the only one
who loved truly unselfishly,
00:33:26.33\00:33:29.78
truly unconditionally.
00:33:29.82\00:33:31.29
And that is why it is His
love that gets us into heaven.
00:33:31.32\00:33:34.34
He loved at the cost of a crib.
00:33:34.37\00:33:36.29
Not to be honored,
but to be humiliated.
00:33:36.33\00:33:38.59
He gets nothing in return.
00:33:38.63\00:33:40.19
When I love, I get
love or a gift or something
00:33:40.23\00:33:42.63
in return for loving.
00:33:42.66\00:33:44.18
I give a gift, I get.
00:33:44.21\00:33:45.66
You expect something in return.
00:33:45.69\00:33:47.58
Come on now, I
know you're saintly.
00:33:47.62\00:33:49.70
But you're human.
00:33:50.86\00:33:51.93
Deity descended...
00:33:53.91\00:33:55.32
...knowing that
if He gives the gift,
00:33:57.77\00:34:00.22
...He will get
nothing in return.
00:34:01.70\00:34:03.18
Well, He will.
00:34:04.30\00:34:05.33
He'll get the pain of the cross,
00:34:05.77\00:34:07.42
the agony of the cross,
00:34:08.81\00:34:10.63
the death of
the cross in return.
00:34:12.02\00:34:15.31
How many of us would do that?
00:34:15.35\00:34:16.55
Come on.
00:34:16.59\00:34:17.59
You see, Jesus came anyway.
00:34:19.26\00:34:20.67
Here is the reason for that
descent, the divine descent.
00:34:22.50\00:34:25.45
The reason is clear.
00:34:26.91\00:34:28.22
He came to earth so we might
see what giving is all about,
00:34:29.71\00:34:32.96
how love is suppose
to act in the flesh.
00:34:35.44\00:34:39.39
He touches us.
00:34:40.33\00:34:41.66
He doesn't for a
moment sacrifice deity,
00:34:43.39\00:34:46.57
He submits it to humanity.
00:34:46.61\00:34:48.47
He will never use
deity in selfish reason.
00:34:48.50\00:34:50.86
He will never use
it to help Himself
00:34:50.89\00:34:52.70
out of a jam, out of a crisis.
00:34:52.71\00:34:54.24
He will surrender it to
a lesser power; humanity.
00:34:54.27\00:34:57.39
All the love we've known
before Him is a selfish love.
00:34:57.42\00:35:00.82
The Christmas story, the
birth, the Bethlehem, the baby,
00:35:03.86\00:35:09.28
is unselfish love.
00:35:10.84\00:35:12.42
Now by the way, there
are only two times really
00:35:13.43\00:35:15.35
in our human existence
that we love truly unselfishly.
00:35:15.89\00:35:19.20
One is at our birth.
00:35:20.47\00:35:21.81
A baby.
00:35:22.84\00:35:23.85
Not a child, mind you.
00:35:26.30\00:35:27.81
I mean, children exploit love...
00:35:29.20\00:35:31.60
Come on.
00:35:31.64\00:35:32.69
...in order to get things.
00:35:33.52\00:35:35.11
My grandchildren say to me,
"I got good grades, Pappies."
00:35:35.35\00:35:38.92
My wallet comes out.
00:35:39.88\00:35:41.30
Come on.
00:35:42.86\00:35:43.86
"I did my homework."
Like that was a great thing.
00:35:45.27\00:35:47.72
"I love you."
00:35:49.26\00:35:50.39
It comes out fast.
00:35:50.59\00:35:52.00
"Now can I have an ice cream?"
00:35:52.53\00:35:53.69
Come on.
00:35:53.73\00:35:54.73
Teenagers are great at it.
00:35:55.74\00:35:57.16
They play mind
games for our affections.
00:35:58.06\00:35:59.88
Come on.
00:35:59.89\00:36:00.89
I mean, they
think we don't know.
00:36:00.90\00:36:03.42
We invented it
when we were teenagers.
00:36:03.46\00:36:05.73
I mean, teenagers
will take out the garbage.
00:36:07.05\00:36:09.38
I've noticed that.
00:36:09.39\00:36:10.44
They will clean their rooms and
do some self sacrificing thing.
00:36:10.84\00:36:15.21
Why? Because they love us.
00:36:15.25\00:36:17.42
Come on, get real.
00:36:18.35\00:36:19.56
Smell the roses.
00:36:20.47\00:36:22.00
No, they want
the keys to the car.
00:36:22.23\00:36:24.83
They love us, but in a
fleshly way, a human way.
00:36:26.81\00:36:29.62
They gladly give up a few
fleeting moments of their time,
00:36:29.63\00:36:32.61
sit a moment with
us, communicate with us,
00:36:32.65\00:36:35.85
as long as they know
they'll get something out of it.
00:36:35.89\00:36:38.29
Teenage girl
snuggles up to her daddy,
00:36:40.71\00:36:42.42
"I love you, daddy."
00:36:43.21\00:36:44.91
Pause.
00:36:49.68\00:36:50.94
"Can I stay out
late Saturday night?"
00:36:52.08\00:36:54.30
Say no and see how
much she loves you.
00:36:54.60\00:36:56.94
Come on now.
00:36:56.98\00:36:58.05
We use our love to get things,
00:37:01.97\00:37:03.61
to bargain for
things, to strike a deal.
00:37:05.04\00:37:08.81
We exploit it for our benefit.
00:37:10.13\00:37:13.81
We prostitute it for something.
00:37:14.95\00:37:17.11
But a baby loves
unconditionally, you see.
00:37:17.50\00:37:19.69
That's why
Christmas shows us a baby;
00:37:19.73\00:37:22.87
divine, unconditional love.
00:37:22.91\00:37:25.17
That is why the crib
and that is why the baby.
00:37:25.21\00:37:27.76
For a baby, it takes
only the touch of someone else
00:37:27.79\00:37:30.59
to snuggle up,
to coo, and to love.
00:37:30.62\00:37:33.72
A baby feels with his or
her heart, not with their head.
00:37:33.73\00:37:36.67
They don't know
how to use things.
00:37:36.70\00:37:39.27
So they don't need things.
00:37:40.57\00:37:42.76
They need a touch.
00:37:43.63\00:37:45.17
And that is why Jesus said,
"Ye need to be born again."
00:37:46.59\00:37:51.36
You see, two time only
mankind loves unselfishly.
00:37:52.82\00:37:55.68
At birth and at death.
00:37:55.72\00:37:58.85
You see, at
death we have nothing
00:38:01.04\00:38:02.31
in our hands to cling.
00:38:03.51\00:38:04.85
We can't even get
anything in return.
00:38:07.52\00:38:09.45
We can't take it
with us when we go.
00:38:10.83\00:38:12.68
And they fight
over it when we do go.
00:38:13.77\00:38:15.59
And that's why He says this,
"To gain life you must lose it."
00:38:17.14\00:38:24.19
At our baptism, we bring
nothing, as a baby brings.
00:38:25.98\00:38:29.45
Nothing.
00:38:29.46\00:38:30.46
We're born again, that's why He
said, "Ye must be born again."
00:38:30.47\00:38:32.79
We die; we hold our breath,
we go down under the water
00:38:32.82\00:38:35.56
into the grave, and we
come up in newness of life.
00:38:35.57\00:38:38.32
A new life.
00:38:38.36\00:38:39.65
We die to self.
00:38:46.02\00:38:47.19
That is to nothingness.
00:38:48.81\00:38:50.14
And that is why Christ
offered salvation as a gift.
00:38:51.49\00:38:54.25
By the way, if you ever
think you have to pay for it,
00:38:55.58\00:38:58.05
it's no longer a gift.
00:38:58.99\00:39:00.67
Come on now.
00:39:02.06\00:39:03.06
I should have had
more "amens" on that one.
00:39:03.52\00:39:05.77
But no, we like to take control.
00:39:06.88\00:39:08.73
We like to discipline ourselves.
00:39:09.75\00:39:11.75
He gives me grace, I give Him
a lifetime of Sabbath keeping.
00:39:12.65\00:39:16.46
No, friends.
00:39:16.47\00:39:17.62
He gives me grace, I give
Him a lifetime of clean habits.
00:39:18.15\00:39:21.17
No, friends.
00:39:21.21\00:39:22.40
I do not give Him my heart.
00:39:23.05\00:39:24.75
My heart is corruptible.
00:39:24.99\00:39:26.46
I give Him His heart.
00:39:27.36\00:39:29.11
I'm incapable to give Him.
00:39:32.56\00:39:36.93
Jesus descended to
the crib as God man.
00:39:40.69\00:39:45.02
Jesus descended to
the cross as God man.
00:39:48.18\00:39:52.29
And that's the reason.
00:39:54.22\00:39:55.33
And it's clear in 1 John
chapter 4, again, and verse 8.
00:39:56.79\00:40:03.09
How clear can it be?
00:40:03.10\00:40:04.64
You see, love must be
close to the one loved.
00:40:15.62\00:40:19.27
It's not happy to be separated.
00:40:25.21\00:40:26.92
I'm married 54 years.
00:40:27.95\00:40:29.66
Why?
00:40:32.13\00:40:33.25
I hate to be separated.
00:40:33.92\00:40:35.47
I take her along wherever I go.
00:40:36.22\00:40:38.10
Sometimes the
brethren don't like that.
00:40:39.36\00:40:41.23
But I'm married 54 years.
00:40:41.86\00:40:43.30
I wonder how
long they're married.
00:40:43.33\00:40:44.95
I'm not happy
when I'm separated.
00:40:47.85\00:40:49.67
Why?
00:40:50.07\00:40:51.07
And God is not happy separated.
00:40:51.11\00:40:53.34
For two reasons.
00:40:53.37\00:40:54.49
The first is what I
call, the intimacy of love.
00:40:54.52\00:40:56.92
And the second is,
the adequacy of love.
00:40:56.96\00:40:58.87
The text tells us
that "he loveth not."
00:40:58.91\00:41:01.35
But how can we understand how to
love without seeing it up close?
00:41:01.39\00:41:05.37
How can we ever love a person if
we haven't seen the Person love?
00:41:05.40\00:41:08.94
The ultimate love.
00:41:10.32\00:41:12.11
The most unselfish love.
00:41:12.64\00:41:14.69
The most beautiful love.
00:41:15.22\00:41:17.07
How can we?
00:41:17.60\00:41:18.60
The text tells us, "we
loveth not, we knoweth not God;
00:41:19.38\00:41:23.15
for God is love."
00:41:23.19\00:41:24.73
And that's why the stable.
00:41:25.87\00:41:27.25
And that's why in John
4 verse 10, look at it.
00:41:27.82\00:41:30.60
Listen.
00:41:32.04\00:41:33.16
A propitiation, selfless,
00:41:49.12\00:41:51.89
so that we might love Him.
00:41:53.01\00:41:54.55
Learn the lesson.
00:41:57.29\00:41:58.32
If you want your
children to be abusive,
00:41:59.36\00:42:01.47
be abusive in the home
00:42:03.30\00:42:04.65
to your husband, to
your wife, and they'll learn.
00:42:06.36\00:42:08.51
And you'll create a
whole generation of abusive
00:42:10.40\00:42:12.48
husbands and wives.
00:42:12.51\00:42:14.17
If you want your children
to lie and cheat and steal,
00:42:15.31\00:42:17.76
do those things in the
home and you'll create a
00:42:19.25\00:42:20.90
whole generation of liars
and of thieves and of cheats.
00:42:20.91\00:42:26.54
You do not make any decision,
good or bad, without affecting
00:42:27.34\00:42:30.70
the future generations.
00:42:30.74\00:42:32.90
And that is why Jesus came.
00:42:33.52\00:42:35.28
To show us unselfish
love, unconditional love.
00:42:36.20\00:42:40.25
Not only to show
it, but to share it.
00:42:40.88\00:42:44.67
That kind of love comes
from His heart and not ours.
00:42:46.29\00:42:49.25
Therefore, we must
give Him our heart,
00:42:49.29\00:42:50.67
transplanted as it were.
00:42:50.70\00:42:52.25
Why a crib?
00:42:52.26\00:42:53.26
Why not a church?
Why not a cathedral?
00:42:53.27\00:42:55.64
A crib is intimate love.
00:42:55.67\00:42:57.17
You see, it is caressable love.
00:42:57.20\00:42:59.49
Intimacy is what
sent His Son to us.
00:42:59.53\00:43:02.23
And adequate love, because
He is totally full of love.
00:43:02.26\00:43:07.64
Selfish love is
always trying for intimacy.
00:43:09.04\00:43:11.26
Have you notice
that in this culture?
00:43:11.30\00:43:12.83
And always for adequacy.
00:43:14.14\00:43:15.64
It writes books about love...
00:43:16.82\00:43:18.90
...but it escapes them.
00:43:20.08\00:43:21.42
Because love is
not in the glands.
00:43:22.26\00:43:24.20
Love is in the heart.
00:43:25.17\00:43:26.75
And God came to show us that.
00:43:27.72\00:43:29.44
You see, intimate
level; He comes in human form.
00:43:30.80\00:43:34.62
Human personality, a human body.
00:43:35.47\00:43:38.87
He needs to make God's love
intimate, so He must touch it.
00:43:39.64\00:43:42.71
And the divine touch of Christ
teaches us of our destiny.
00:43:42.75\00:43:46.19
The divine touch of
Christ touches us at our duty
00:43:46.22\00:43:48.68
and our destiny.
00:43:48.69\00:43:49.69
1 John 4 verse 4 tells us that.
00:43:49.70\00:43:52.43
The touch of divinity
makes for a better humanity.
00:43:53.46\00:43:56.34
For a better humanity.
What do I mean by that?
00:43:57.13\00:43:58.86
Let me illustrate.
00:43:58.89\00:43:59.91
I have a glove.
00:44:00.21\00:44:01.49
We'll say the
hand is the divine.
00:44:04.18\00:44:06.15
The glove is you or I.
00:44:08.29\00:44:10.80
And you know the thing about
it is, the hand in the glove
00:44:11.63\00:44:16.50
does not for a moment
make the glove a hand.
00:44:16.54\00:44:19.05
It is impossible for the
glove to become the hand.
00:44:23.11\00:44:26.40
The cold leather of the
glove is made warm by the hand.
00:44:27.56\00:44:30.59
Take the hand out of the
glove and the glove is cold
00:44:30.63\00:44:33.62
and lifeless and powerless.
00:44:33.66\00:44:35.33
Without Christ, we
are cold and lifeless.
00:44:35.36\00:44:39.19
The cold heart is
warmed only by Christ.
00:44:42.50\00:44:44.83
You'll never come to a place,
we will never come to a place
00:44:45.85\00:44:49.66
of being the heat of the hand.
00:44:49.69\00:44:53.04
It can never hold heat
without the hand in the glove.
00:44:54.68\00:44:57.39
The hand give
strength to the glove.
00:44:57.87\00:44:59.98
The cold leather is
incapable of strength.
00:45:00.02\00:45:02.38
Aside from the hand, we
will never, through eternity,
00:45:02.41\00:45:05.77
have any strength
aside from the hand.
00:45:05.80\00:45:08.36
Not one moment will
be without the hand,
00:45:08.37\00:45:11.12
in heaven or on earth.
00:45:11.15\00:45:12.87
I say to the glove,
"Pick up the Bible, glove."
00:45:12.90\00:45:16.73
Incapable.
00:45:18.75\00:45:19.90
I say to the glove, "Practice."
00:45:20.61\00:45:23.33
Preach to it.
00:45:23.95\00:45:25.08
I can preach to it, practice it.
00:45:25.12\00:45:27.10
I mean I can yell at
it, I can penalize it,
00:45:27.13\00:45:29.94
"Time out, glove."
00:45:30.27\00:45:32.89
I can even raise the
standard for the glove,
00:45:34.44\00:45:37.42
and requirements.
00:45:39.81\00:45:41.55
As Israel did from
10 commandment to 250.
00:45:42.09\00:45:45.40
And how many do we
have in the church today?
00:45:46.13\00:45:49.09
Come on.
00:45:49.63\00:45:50.74
But to no avail.
00:45:51.15\00:45:52.15
It's incapable.
00:45:52.16\00:45:53.16
You see, it needs a hand.
00:45:53.17\00:45:54.14
God never told us to
keep the law apart from Him.
00:45:54.18\00:45:56.73
He showed Israel
it was impossible.
00:45:56.76\00:45:59.03
"I will be the
hand inside of you."
00:45:59.06\00:46:01.27
"I will be," He said. "I will."
00:46:01.30\00:46:03.44
And any kind of
movement, any kind of good,
00:46:03.47\00:46:06.33
any kind of righteousness, comes
from the hand and not the glove.
00:46:06.37\00:46:10.33
The glove merely
needs to submit to the hand.
00:46:13.51\00:46:15.89
Amen. Come on.
00:46:15.93\00:46:17.15
It needs to submit
to the divine touch.
00:46:18.01\00:46:22.86
And that is why
divinity came to a crib.
00:46:23.92\00:46:25.85
And that is why
salvation came to a stable.
00:46:26.85\00:46:28.97
To touch us, to caress us.
00:46:29.71\00:46:31.69
Stephen T. Sinatra,
cardiologist, in his book,
00:46:32.03\00:46:35.08
"Heartbreak and
Disease," says this.
00:46:35.09\00:46:37.30
"Touch is the most
essential sense we have.
00:46:37.63\00:46:40.39
It is the first to
be perceived at newborn.
00:46:40.40\00:46:43.38
It is often the
last to leave us."
00:46:43.42\00:46:45.80
He talks about
touching as being therapeutic.
00:46:45.84\00:46:48.27
I mean, it is essential to
heart patients recovery; touch.
00:46:48.30\00:46:51.69
And when I learned
that, I came home and said,
00:46:52.03\00:46:53.81
"Honey, touch time."
00:46:53.85\00:46:55.60
When I see my
grandchildren; touch time.
00:46:58.25\00:47:01.34
The power of touch.
00:47:02.90\00:47:04.50
Many years ago when I was young,
and it was many years ago,
00:47:06.08\00:47:08.12
I went to P.S. 100 in Brooklyn.
00:47:08.13\00:47:09.96
I've got to admit,
I didn't like school.
00:47:10.97\00:47:12.71
School didn't
like me, by the way.
00:47:13.29\00:47:15.24
But I went to P.S. 100,
it was about six blocks away.
00:47:18.84\00:47:21.37
And when I got to school, there
was always the bully there.
00:47:21.38\00:47:23.80
Met them.
00:47:24.73\00:47:25.75
He made my life miserable.
00:47:27.03\00:47:29.53
I mean he beat me up, picked
on me, made life miserable.
00:47:30.95\00:47:38.31
I finally got the
courage enough to tell my dad.
00:47:38.33\00:47:40.34
I said, "Dad, this
bully is beating up on me."
00:47:40.89\00:47:43.00
He said, "Well,
ignore him." Ignore him?
00:47:43.04\00:47:44.71
So I went to
school to ignore him.
00:47:44.74\00:47:46.29
Whoa, did that hurt.
00:47:46.52\00:47:47.86
He pounded me into the pavement.
00:47:49.63\00:47:51.51
So I came home bleeding.
00:47:51.94\00:47:52.94
My father said, "What happened?"
00:47:52.98\00:47:54.21
I said, "I ignored him."
00:47:54.23\00:47:55.26
He said, "Well, don't act
like you're afraid of him.
00:47:56.98\00:47:59.08
Stand up to him."
00:47:59.83\00:48:01.49
And so I stood up to him.
00:48:02.17\00:48:03.75
And I came home
with a black eye.
00:48:04.05\00:48:05.78
I tried it the next day.
00:48:09.43\00:48:10.78
Boy did that hurt.
00:48:11.27\00:48:12.59
Finally, my father
stayed home from work.
00:48:13.15\00:48:15.39
And very rarely did my
father stay home from work,
00:48:15.43\00:48:17.46
let me tell you.
00:48:17.47\00:48:18.47
Hardest working
man I've ever known.
00:48:18.48\00:48:20.05
My father walked me to school.
00:48:21.33\00:48:23.79
I took his hand
and I walked to school.
00:48:25.81\00:48:29.44
The bully was there
but when he saw my father,
00:48:29.78\00:48:33.28
he didn't try a thing.
00:48:34.37\00:48:36.16
He was the same bully.
00:48:37.20\00:48:38.67
But he acted differently.
00:48:41.23\00:48:42.90
Because my father was with me.
00:48:44.13\00:48:47.95
That is why Jesus came
down from heaven to earth.
00:48:49.59\00:48:52.66
You see, He came down to
this world to walk with us
00:48:54.90\00:49:00.70
to school and to
work and to play,
00:49:00.94\00:49:06.21
home and abroad
and around the world.
00:49:06.98\00:49:10.02
He came to walk us to school.
00:49:10.05\00:49:12.45
The descent of Deity.
00:49:14.44\00:49:15.81
So the devil
wouldn't mess with us.
00:49:18.60\00:49:20.11
Or if he did, he would
come out on the wrong side.
00:49:20.12\00:49:23.97
So that living
would be bearable.
00:49:25.14\00:49:26.92
Without Jesus
Christ, living is unbearable.
00:49:26.95\00:49:30.02
There is someone
watching this program.
00:49:30.55\00:49:32.78
Living without
Christ life is unbearable.
00:49:32.82\00:49:36.62
And dying would be unredeemable,
00:49:38.63\00:49:42.25
unredeemable.
00:49:43.62\00:49:44.91
I remember I was visiting
in Morganton, South Carolina.
00:49:46.19\00:49:48.66
I was a young evangelist then.
00:49:48.67\00:49:50.08
I would visit the people
before my meetings would start
00:49:51.01\00:49:53.67
and invite them to
come to my meetings.
00:49:53.71\00:49:55.20
And so I had this
name and I had the address,
00:49:55.83\00:49:58.26
and the preacher and I, we drove
down into this little community
00:49:58.29\00:50:01.77
there in Carolina.
00:50:02.58\00:50:04.99
Now I don't know if
it was North or South.
00:50:06.19\00:50:07.76
My wife probably does,
if it was North or South.
00:50:09.47\00:50:11.53
But it was Carolina.
Morganton, North Carolina.
00:50:11.57\00:50:14.40
I came to the house
and I knocked on the door
00:50:16.44\00:50:18.08
and a little girl
answered the door.
00:50:18.09\00:50:19.63
She was crying.
00:50:20.56\00:50:21.70
And right away, soon this
big lug you know, I'm crying.
00:50:22.96\00:50:25.36
I don't even know
what I'm crying about.
00:50:25.40\00:50:26.98
And I said,
"Honey, what's wrong?"
00:50:28.49\00:50:29.59
And she said, "Mom
is down at the cemetery.
00:50:29.63\00:50:31.42
Baby sister died last week."
00:50:31.46\00:50:33.34
My heart was broken.
00:50:36.20\00:50:37.29
So I quickly got in the
car and drove down to the
00:50:39.25\00:50:43.74
little cemetery behind
the little Baptist church
00:50:43.75\00:50:46.08
outside of
Morganton, North Carolina.
00:50:46.11\00:50:47.95
I looked out over the
cemetery and there was a woman
00:50:47.99\00:50:49.77
kneeling beside a new dug grave.
00:50:49.81\00:50:51.51
And she had put a
little picket fence around it,
00:50:51.55\00:50:53.39
a little lamb and
some plastic flowers.
00:50:53.43\00:50:55.39
And someone came along,
some children or whatever,
00:50:55.42\00:50:57.51
and threw them and
messed up the grave.
00:50:57.54\00:50:59.73
You see, life
messes up the grave.
00:50:59.76\00:51:02.00
So I walked back and came up.
00:51:03.25\00:51:04.97
And she looked
frightened for a moment.
00:51:05.27\00:51:06.86
I said, "Oh, I'm the preacher.
00:51:06.87\00:51:07.87
I just came to help you
straighten out the grave."
00:51:07.88\00:51:10.04
I knelt down beside her.
00:51:11.24\00:51:12.57
I said, "Honey, this is not
going to be like this forever."
00:51:14.20\00:51:19.08
Someday Jesus is going to
place that baby in your arms.
00:51:19.77\00:51:22.15
She said, "I wish I
could believe that."
00:51:23.38\00:51:24.76
I said, "Well, you can.
00:51:25.81\00:51:26.81
I'm having a
series of meetings."
00:51:26.85\00:51:27.95
And I invited
her to the meetings.
00:51:27.98\00:51:29.02
She said, "Well, I work
but I'm off for an hour."
00:51:29.05\00:51:31.50
She said, "I'll run
over to the little church."
00:51:31.54\00:51:33.16
So she did, she
showed up that night.
00:51:33.29\00:51:35.20
And the next night, and the
next night, and the next night.
00:51:35.23\00:51:37.10
On down in the meetings,
she gave her life to Christ.
00:51:39.26\00:51:42.10
Life was changed.
00:51:44.15\00:51:45.71
She was baptized
into the kingdom of God.
00:51:46.68\00:51:48.66
And at the end of the
meetings, the last night,
00:51:49.06\00:51:51.02
people are gone
and she stayed by.
00:51:51.06\00:51:53.22
And she said, "I
need to talk to you."
00:51:53.62\00:51:55.18
And she sat down beside
me and she said, "Pastor Ron,
00:51:56.24\00:51:59.71
when Jesus comes
and we go to heaven,
00:52:00.62\00:52:04.57
I want to
introduce you to my baby."
00:52:05.59\00:52:07.56
I said, "Yea, you look for the
tall ugly one at the right hand
00:52:08.72\00:52:12.10
of the throne of God, that's me.
00:52:12.14\00:52:13.47
And I want to meet."
00:52:15.42\00:52:16.42
You see, Jesus came to
the crib so that you and I
00:52:17.25\00:52:24.21
might come through the crypt.
00:52:24.81\00:52:26.64
Touched by His divinity.
00:52:29.63\00:52:31.18
Warmed by His humanity.
00:52:32.68\00:52:34.53
During the Nuremberg trials,
00:52:36.38\00:52:38.42
a witness told how
he miraculously escaped
00:52:40.57\00:52:43.42
the Nazi gas chamber
00:52:44.22\00:52:45.86
by hiding in a
cemetery in Poland.
00:52:48.22\00:52:50.69
He lived there for
many months in the cemetery
00:52:52.00\00:52:54.53
with others who made
the graveyard their home,
00:52:54.57\00:52:57.07
their place of refuge.
00:52:57.10\00:52:59.13
It was their
secret hiding place.
00:52:59.65\00:53:01.58
He related that one day in an
open grave, a woman gave birth
00:53:02.84\00:53:07.27
to an infant boy.
00:53:07.30\00:53:08.29
The 80 year old grave
digger assisted at the birth.
00:53:09.60\00:53:13.33
And when the new baby
uttered the first cry,
00:53:14.09\00:53:16.53
the devout elderly
digger exclaimed, "Good God,
00:53:16.57\00:53:19.38
hast Thou finally
sent Messiah to us?
00:53:21.23\00:53:24.70
For who else but the Messiah
could be born in a grave?"
00:53:26.58\00:53:31.40
Three days later, he saw the
baby sucking the mothers tears
00:53:32.83\00:53:36.64
because there was no milk.
00:53:37.43\00:53:39.16
"For unto us a child is born,
00:53:40.57\00:53:42.58
unto us a Son is given."
00:53:44.69\00:53:48.10
You see, from that
moment on since Bethlehem,
00:53:48.97\00:53:51.96
the poor could never say to God,
"You don't understand poverty."
00:53:52.67\00:53:56.14
Because He became poor for us.
00:53:57.16\00:54:01.49
The sick could
never again say to God,
00:54:02.38\00:54:03.99
"You don't understand sickness."
00:54:04.03\00:54:05.55
He became sick for us.
00:54:05.58\00:54:07.40
The homeless could
never say, "What do You know
00:54:08.36\00:54:09.93
about being homeless?"
00:54:09.94\00:54:10.97
He had no place to lay His head.
00:54:11.01\00:54:12.63
And the dying
could never say again,
00:54:14.94\00:54:16.71
"You don't understand dying."
00:54:18.57\00:54:22.01
Because He died for us.
00:54:24.93\00:54:30.06
He died for us.
00:54:31.67\00:54:33.12
This Christ Child wants
to be born in your heart.
00:54:36.59\00:54:42.21
He wants to find
residence in your heart.
00:54:44.16\00:54:46.63
Open your heart
this Christmas time.
00:54:47.86\00:54:49.70
Receive the Gift of gifts.
00:54:50.71\00:54:52.50
And know that
Jesus Christ is Lord
00:54:53.21\00:54:58.73
and Savior right now.
00:54:58.76\00:55:02.60
Remember, you leave
this place but you never
00:55:03.87\00:55:05.26
leave the presence of God.
00:55:05.27\00:55:06.27
And wherever you are in
this world, God loves you.
00:55:06.30\00:55:08.85
When your waters are so troubled
00:55:45.77\00:55:49.50
you don't think
you count at all.
00:55:49.99\00:55:52.90
Waves may seem like mountains
00:55:54.37\00:55:57.92
when your boat
seems oh so small.
00:55:58.36\00:56:02.37
Somewhere past the clouds
00:56:04.64\00:56:08.36
waits a new day to begin.
00:56:08.40\00:56:12.09
You can receive Jesus
Christ into your life.
00:56:13.82\00:56:16.84
You can, in your
living room right now,
00:56:18.15\00:56:20.96
close your eyes and
ask Him into your life.
00:56:21.69\00:56:25.54
And the divine
Son, the Lord Jesus,
00:56:26.50\00:56:31.16
will come to you and
be born in your heart.
00:56:32.24\00:56:38.75
And you can
understand liberating grace.
00:56:39.98\00:56:44.42
You say, "Ron,
how can I do that?"
00:56:44.86\00:56:46.96
First of all,
confess that you're a sinner.
00:56:47.84\00:56:50.48
You need Christ to forgive you.
00:56:51.59\00:56:53.58
Repent of your sins.
00:56:54.89\00:56:56.54
Say you're sorry.
00:56:57.15\00:56:58.42
And now turn and
look to Him for guidance.
00:56:59.87\00:57:05.53
I want you to take
your Bible, in John,
00:57:06.26\00:57:08.21
and look at the
first chapter of John.
00:57:08.86\00:57:10.77
Begin right there.
00:57:10.81\00:57:11.91
I want you to read
that chapter in prayer.
00:57:12.92\00:57:14.94
And know that He
who began the good work
00:57:16.00\00:57:18.06
in your heart right now,
He will finish the good work.
00:57:18.09\00:57:23.71
Good night.
00:57:24.11\00:57:25.32