Episode Transcript
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Let's hear God's Word from Galatians chapter
four, Galatians four, versus four and
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five. For those of you who
have been with us, you know that
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I'm preaching a series through December called
the incarnation and why it matters. And
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then I'm throwing another question words to
focus our topics. Who, what,
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when, where, why and how. We looked at this verse last time
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when we considered the first phrase about
when the fullness of time had come,
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answering the when question of the incarnation
and why. That's important to us today.
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This this morning, we consider the
why, the why of the incarnation
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and if you're with us this afternoon
I will have a mini a service and
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will consider the WHO of the incarnation, but for now the why and Galatians
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for versus four and five. Let's
here God's word. But when the fullness
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of time 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 so
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that we might receive eve adoption as
suns. You may be seated. One
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of my favorite words is Christmas time. I just love the way it's all
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one word and and and I will
have the way that it has these connotations
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all sort of wrapped up in it. It's a word that expresses least I
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think. I think it expresses a
lot. At the same time, it
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has its its limits, and I
want to consider some of those things today.
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One of the things to mention about
Christmas time is that it's a popular
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time to think about miracles. It's
one of those things that Christmas time connotes.
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Of course, there's the big M
miracles, the kind that involve the
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Virgin conception of a child, harrowing
escapes as the result of angelic warnings,
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big M miracles. There, of
course, the big M pretend miracles that
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involve Santa, and then there are
the small m miracles, the ones that
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we think about and hope for around
Christmas time, the hallmark movie moments and,
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you know, it's easy to say
that somewhat jaded Lee, but really
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they're not so bad. In fact, I think it's all right to hope
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for them. It seems to me
that when everyone is reflecting on the past
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and hoping of the future, while
surrounded, why with beautiful lights and Christmas
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decorations and cookies and singing and good
food, sometimes it brings out the best
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in people. Sometimes Christmas time reminds
us of what's important, what's worth fighting
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for, what's worth living for,
and sometimes these small m miracles result.
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Relationships are rekindled, forgiveness is granted, things that we had hoped for,
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perhaps all year, are sometimes experienced, especially around Christmas time. At the
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same time, we know that they
don't always happen, and when they don't,
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we are reminded of the darkness the
Christmas time is unable to overcome.
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In fact, for some of you, perhaps you have experienced more Christmas tragedies
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than Christmas miracles. I know for
a fact that for some of you,
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the holidays have more dread than hope. Why be such a downer? Why
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take away the lights and those kinds
of things? Well, I want to
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point this out, not just for
the sake of honesty, but to remove
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the thing that covers up our happiness
so that I can give you the thing
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that really cures it. It's like
taking away a bandaid so that we can
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look at a wound, not so
that we can just Gawk at it or
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feel the pain together, but to
heal it. This is what Christianity is
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about. It's about being honest,
it's about saying the truth about the way
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things are, and Christmas time is
both those things. It's wonderful and happy
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and full of sugar and Candy and
lights and Nice things, sometimes even nicer
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things, like forgiveness and love and
and peace. But it has its limits,
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too, real limits, things it
cannot overcome, things that only the
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big and miracle of Jesus Christ can
truly solve. This is why I want
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us to think about when we think
about the father's purpose in sending the son
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into the world, we consider why
God became human, why he took on
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humanity and what that means for us. When we read Galatians for and many,
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many other passages in the Bible,
when the fullness of time had come,
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God sent forth his son, born
of a woman, born under the
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law. For this. Why?
For this reason in verse five, to
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Redeem those who were under the law
so that we might receive adoption as sons.
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There's a lot of big theological concepts
in verse five, and that doesn't
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mean they're wrong. It just means
that there's a lot going on in this
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verse, a lot that's explained in
Matthew, mark, Luke and John and
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the other letters of the new testaments. Indeed even throughout all of the Old
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Testament, when it says that Christ
came to redeem those under the laws,
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talking about us, all of us
who are born under the law, but
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particularly under the curse of the law, because we are born under Adam,
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born because, as a result of
Adam and eve in their fallenness, in
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their fallen nature and under their sin, we're all in this predict pre predicament.
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We all are under this darkness that
we feel, these Christmas tragedies and
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really year long tragedies that we feel. There is something that we need to
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be brought out, up, out, brought out from under so that we
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can become something else. The opposite
phrase of adoption as sons is rejection,
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as children of Wrath, as those
born under the law who are unable to
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fulfill the law and live our lives
as in disobedience to the Lord. We
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are those that are rightly rejected by
him, judged by him. But when
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he comes to save us, when
he takes on our humanity, when he
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becomes a brother to us, he
does so so that we can be brought
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in and made part of a larger
family, so that we can be adopted
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and not rejected and, as he
goes on to say, one implication of
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this in verse six, because you
are sons. God has sent the spirit
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of son, spirit of his son, into our hearts, crying Abba father.
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So you are no longer a slave
but a son, and if a
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son, then an heir through God. There's other ways the scripture puts a
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in Colossians, for example, Paul
writes that God has rescued us, or
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deliver heard us out of the dominion
of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom
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of his beloved son. These are
white nights that comes into the world and
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rescues us. This is the big
M miracle of Jesus. It's what really
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saves us. You might think about
it this way. When you think about
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the why of Jesus, it's hard
to understand the significance of his coming unless
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you recognize what he came to save, the kind of world that he came
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into. So, for example,
in the gospel of John, John says
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that the light shines in the darkness. Speaking of Jesus, the light shines
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in the darkness. That's what he
does. He says a few verses later,
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the true light, which gives light
to everyone was coming into the world.
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But to understand that light again,
I say you have to understand something
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about the darkness, and honestly,
that's not that hard. I don't think
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which one of you doesn't have disappointments
or regrets? Who among us has nothing
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to feel embarrassed about humbled by?
Who among us has never been hurt or
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sad or lonely? This world is
not an easy place to live in.
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We might remember a Christmas truce,
for example, during a war, but
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how can we forget the bloodshed on
either side of that event? We might
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see our neighbors Christmas lights, but
they can't drown out the yelling and the
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screaming at night. And it wasn't
even long after Jesus himself was born that
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Herod murdered all the male children two
years and under throughout that region. At
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that Christmas time there was terror and
weeping in tragedy. This is the darkness
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that the light came into. But
John goes on to say that the light
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shines in the darkness and the darkness
has not overcome it. That's a big
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M miracle. It's dark, it's
really dark. It's a result of our
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sins, a result of our disobedience
a result of God's wrath and judgment.
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But the light shines in the darkness
and the darkness does not overcome it.
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Without the light, the result of
sin and the curse it envelops us,
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the darkness and Vell Lops us,
it in dwells us. But when the
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light comes into the world, this
light is called Emmanuel, God with us,
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he shines in the darkness and the
darkness does not overcome it. When
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we think about this, it means
that we have a hope beyond just a
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certain time of year. Time can't
save us, even when it falls around
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December, even when it's a time
attached to a significant event in the world.
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Christmas time can't save you, but
Christ can, and that is our
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joy, that's our peace, our
hope, because the light shines in the
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darkness and the darkness does not overcome
it. To impress this point on you,
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perhaps you could consider reading verses in
the opposite way. Consider what would
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have happened if the light came into
the world and the darkness overcame it.
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Consider what would happen if the big
M miracle of Jesus and is coming into
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the world to save sinners, was
actually not a big and miracle, but
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just a happy family finding a new
Sun. Then we'd read that verse,
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like Galatians for and we'd read.
But when God sent forth his son,
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born of a woman, born under
the law, nothing happened. No one
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was redeemed, no one was rescued, no one was adopted. Let me
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read something more in full again,
just to impress on you not just the
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darkness but the light. What would
have happened if Jesus had not come?
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Listen to Ephesians chapter two, versus
one through eight, and you were dead
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in your trespasses and sins in which
you once walked, following the course of
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this world, following the Prince of
the power of the air, the spirit
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that is now at work, and
the sons of disobedience, among whom we
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all once lived in the passions of
our flesh, carrying out the desires of
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our body and the mind, and
were by nature children of Wrath, like
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the rest of mankind. That is
our state. Jesus came in to change
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all of that, to shine in
the darkness and not be overcome, and
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that's what he does. Listen to
verse four through eight. Now this dark
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scenario changes with the light first for
but God, being rich in mercy because
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of the great love with which he
loved us, even when we were dead
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in our trespasses, made us alive
together with Christ. By grace, you
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have been saved, and raised us
up with him and seated us with him
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in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he
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might show the immeasurable riches of his
grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
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None of that would have happened if
Jesus hadn't come. What if we
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said that God, not being rich
in the mercy because he hated us,
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left us in our dead in our
trespasses and sins, never made us alive
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together with Christ, judged us in
our sins, didn't raise us with him,
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didn't seed us in the heavenly places
in the coming ages, instead of
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showing us the immeasurable riches of his
grace and kindness, poured out on US
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each his eternal wrath for our sins. That's the other story and that's not
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what happened. The light shine in
the darkness and the darkness did not come
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and overcome it. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth his son,
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who was born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem
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us and to give us these things
so that we wouldn't be nay children,
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who were by nature children of Wrath, so that we'd be the adopted children
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of God. Why is the incarnation
important? Do I need to say it
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again? Isn't it obvious? Do
you want to remain in darkness? Do
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you want to be enslaved your passions? Do you want to be remaining forever
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under the curse of the law and
suffer in the coming ages for all eternity,
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the wrath of God for your sins? No, we don't, and
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so we trust Jesus, we believe
Jesus, we follow Jesus. The incarnation
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matters because this is how God saved
us, because God was on a rescue
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mission to take us out from the
dominion of darkness and bring us into the
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Kingdom of his beloved son, that
we might live and reign with him forever.
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He is our white knight swooping in, rescuing us, giving us eternal
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life, healing forgiveness, and not
little M homemark ones, which are plenty
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nice, but eternal ones, everlasting
ones, where every sorrow ever tear all
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gone. God wanted, through Jesus
is incarnation and his coming death on the
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cross, so that all of our
sins could be forgiven through his work.
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He wanted to bring us not just
a period of time of love and joy,
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but the very spirit of love and
joy that now bonds us all together
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in such a way that will never
die. So, as I say,
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there's nothing wrong with small m miracles. These aren't just hallmark moments, their
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moments of God's common grace. We
should be thankful for them, we should
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seek them, we should want them
and desire them. But his calmon grace,
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these wonderful little things that happen in
this world, from a reconciled relationship
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to a really delicious piece of food, they should point us towards the greater
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grace that he offers, the saving
grace that he offers, the eternal grace
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that he offers in Jesus, because
in Him we have redemption, freedom forgiveness.
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Put Your faith in him. Put
Your faith in him. Let's pray
