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Good celebration, right? 
Food and friends and fun and 

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confetti cannons and all that 
good stuff. 

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I can't wait for a good Turkey 
and sugar coma tomorrow. 

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It's going to be awesome. 
Christmas is rich with so many 

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traditions, isn't it? 
But what brings us together 

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tonight is far more than a 
tradition. 

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It is something that is truly 
life altering. 

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See, Christmas is the 
celebration that everything, our

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hearts, our lives, our souls 
have always waited and longed 

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for because it has come. 
If you were alive and living in 

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Israel 2000 years ago, you would
have heard the stories of a 

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Messiah that was coming, a 
savior who was coming to rescue 

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the Jewish people from 
oppression. 

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It was a story that had been 
told for hundreds and hundreds 

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of years, passed down from one 
generation to the next in the 

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same family. 
And maybe after all those years 

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of hearing the same stories 
passed down, maybe, maybe you 

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started to doubt if it was ever 
going to happen, if anything was

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ever going to get any better. 
But if you held on to that hope,

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if you held on to that promise, 
if you kept waiting for the 

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Messiah to come, it was a 
lifeline to your soul. 

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Sure, the human struggle was 
real. 

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Life was hard. 
You were living under Roman 

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oppression. 
You would experience the normal 

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challenges of humanity, human 
relationships. 

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You may have struggled with 
financial hardship or a sense of

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loss because your dreams weren't
becoming a reality, but because 

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you held on to that promise that
you believed the Messiah was 

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coming, you still had this sense
of hope and peace. 

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You still had joy even in the 
hard places of life. 

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And you knew in your heart there
was a real God who loved you and

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he, he would follow through on 
his promises. 

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And then one night in the small 
village of Bethlehem, located in

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modern day Palestine, a baby is 
born. 

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And as he cries out his first 
cries, it pierces through the 

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night and through the darkness 
that you have been living in. 

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It pierces through the night to 
announce the arrival of a new 

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king. 
There is something really 

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special that happens when what 
you're hoping and expecting to 

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happen actually takes place. 
Too many times we hope for 

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things and we expect things, but
then we get let down in the end.

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But man, when you open up that 
gift on Christmas morning that 

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you've really, really, really 
been hoping for and waiting for,

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it just feels so good, doesn't 
it? 

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Or those dreams that you've 
always had for your life, the 

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things that you plan for and 
worked for and dreamed of, and 

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you imagined exactly what it was
going to be like and then it 

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happened. 
It's amazing when your 

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experience meets your 
expectations, but every once in 

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a while there's a rare moment 
where reality is even better 

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than your expectations. 
It's that moment where if you're

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a parent, you always imagine 
what it would be like to hold 

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your first child, and then you 
hold your first child in your 

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arms and you go, man, this is 
way better than I ever imagined.

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It's that moment where you plan 
to go see something spectacular 

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in nature, the mountains of the 
the Rocky Mountains of the Grand

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Canyon. 
And you get there and you go, 

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man, this is way better than I 
ever expected it was going to 

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be. 
And that's exactly what the 

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story of Christmas is like. 
The arrival of Jesus was better 

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than anyone could have expected.
See, we don't merely celebrate 

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an event that took place in a 
Manger, we celebrate a child who

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is still a gift to us 2000 years
later. 

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The Gospel of Luke takes us into
the scene of the birth of Jesus 

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and shows us why Jesus is still 
worth celebrating even today. 

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In the same region, shepherds 
were staying out in the fields 

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and keeping watch at night over 
their flock. 

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Then an Angel of the Lord stood 
before them, and the glory of 

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the Lord shine around them, and 
they were terrified. 

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But the Angel said to them, 
don't be afraid, for look, I 

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proclaim to you good news of 
great joy that will be for all 

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the people. 
Luke tells us that Jesus is the 

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sign that God cares for all 
people. 

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The Angel says to this group of 
shepherds, don't be afraid 

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because I've come to proclaim 
good news to you. 

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Now think back to the last time 
you got some good news. 

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May have been a while for some 
of you, but think back to the 

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last time you got some good 
news. 

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The smile that came across your 
face, what it did to your heart 

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and your soul when you received 
that news. 

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Good news comes at us in all 
kinds of different ways, doesn't

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it? 
Sometimes it comes very 

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unexpectedly, like we don't even
know we need the good news until

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we hear the good news. 
It's that moment when someone 

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sends you an encouraging note 
you didn't even realize you 

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needed to hear. 
Sometimes good news comes at us 

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when we're sitting in the middle
of the unknown, those difficult 

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places where it could go either 
way. 

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We might get good news or bad 
news. 

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But man, when the good news 
comes, it feels so good. 

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It's. 
It's that moment where you're in

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a health crisis and you're 
waiting for some test results 

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and the doctor calls you and 
says everything's clear. 

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That's good news. 
Sometimes good news comes to us 

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when we're living in the pain. 
We're at rock bottom of our life

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and we're waiting just for 
someone or something to change 

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the story. 
Well, the birth of Jesus is not 

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just good news. 
It's good news that God cares 

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for all people. 
Not just people who live 2000 

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years ago, not just Jews, but 
for all people. 

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And He cares for you today, that
whoever you are and whatever 

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brokenness you are feeling and 
facing in life, whatever heart 

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breaks or challenges 2025 has 
brought for you, God cares about

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you. 
He doesn't sit at a distance. 

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He shows His care by entering 
into the chaos and sending His 

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Son Jesus to become one of us, 
to live the full human 

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experience. 
The birth of Jesus is good news 

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for anyone who is sitting here 
today. 

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And you're in that waiting in an
unknown situation because not 

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only did God become a human take
on flesh, but he comes to be 

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with us. 
That the God of the universe 

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walks with us even in the 
waiting. 

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And it's good news for anyone 
who doesn't even realize that 

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they need this good news. 
God's care is for all people, 

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including people who could care 
less about God. 

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See, the birth of Jesus is the 
sign that God cares. 

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But it's even better news than 
that because God shows his care 

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by sending his Son to fix what's
wrong. 

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In verse 11, it says, today in 
the city of David, a savior was 

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born for you. 
Who is the Messiah, the Lord? 

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When you have a problem that you
can't fix, what do you normally 

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do? 
Now, I know some of you are 

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thinking there isn't a problem I
can't fix. 

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I've got this. 
And I know if I were to ask your

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spouse or your kids, they would 
tell me a different story. 

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There are problems you can't 
fix. 

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If you're like most people, you 
go and you if there's a problem 

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you can't fix, you start to look
for help. 

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There's got to be somebody out 
there who knows what to do. 

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So you go to YouTube or you go 
to whatever your favorite AI is.

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If you're really old school, you
go to Google and you say like, 

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what is this? 
How do I fix this problem? 

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And then what do you do when you
realize you still can't fix the 

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problem? 
Well, that's when in theory, 

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you're supposed to call the 
experts in, right? 

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It's why we go to the doctor. 
It's why we go see our mechanic 

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or we call the repairman in. 
But what do you do in a 

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situation when nobody can fix 
the problem? 

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See, if we're honest, we look at
life and we look at the bigger 

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picture of life and history. 
And our own experience tells us 

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that no matter how much money or
how much expertise humanity 

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throws at some problems, there 
are just some things we cannot 

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fix. 
I asked Chachi BT this week how 

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can Kirk fix the problem of 
human suffering? 

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And here's what it told me. 
You can't. 

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There is just something inside 
of us that feels all the wrongs 

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of the world. 
And we wish, we hope, we dream 

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that someone could fix them. 
And so we try to be our own 

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savior. 
Or we look for someone with lots

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of money or lots of power to 
come in and save the day. 

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We long for a reason to have 
hope. 

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We long for a reason to be 
happy. 

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We long for someone to give us a
reason to be at peace. 

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We long to know that we are 
loved, even though we know we're

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deeply flawed. 
From God's perspective, the 

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biggest problem that you and I 
cannot fix is the problem of 

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sin. 
And our sin has done more damage

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then all the diseases in the 
history of humanity combined. 

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Our sin has created so much 
chaos in this world. 

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Our sin has created a separation
between the most important 

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relationship we were ever 
supposed to have, our 

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relationship with God. 
Our sin is something that we 

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have lived in day in and day 
out. 

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All of us have been sinned 
against and felt the impact of 

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sin on our lives. 
We've had other people and 

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things do things that hurt us 
and cause us stress and harm. 

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And the truth is, we've also 
done our fair share of things to

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create some problems for other 
people as well. 

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We've also contributed in some 
way to the chaos of the world. 

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And when the Angel shows up and 
announces the birth of Jesus, he

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announces that not only does God
care, but Jesus is the Savior 

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who's born to rescue us. 
See, this baby isn't sent just 

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to fix one part of what's 
broken. 

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He's not coming just to fix the 
one problem in your life. 

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He's come to fix all the 
problems of life. 

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He's arrived to fix everything. 
We celebrate the birth of Jesus 

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because Jesus is the one who 
brings the promise of heaven to 

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earth. 
Suddenly there was a multitude 

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of the heavenly hosts with the 
Angel praising God and saying 

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glory to God in the highest 
heaven and peace on earth to 

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people he favors. 
This is the reason the birth of 

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Jesus is better than anyone 
could have expected. 

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Jesus did not come simply to 
make life just a little bit 

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easier for us or to remove the 
one thing that's making our life

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difficult. 
Jesus is born so people like you

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and me can experience the peace 
of heaven. 

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Heaven. 
The place where there is No 

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Fear, there's no sorrow, there's
no pain or suffering, there's no

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tears. 
Where God is the place where 

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there are pleasures that last 
forever. 

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A place of complete peace where 
all things are in order, where 

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all things are in right 
relationship with each other and

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with God. 
The ancient Jews would have 

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understood this to be the idea 
of Shalom. 

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God's peace is far more than 
just a lack of conflict in the 

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world. 
It's the presence of complete 

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Wellness and wholeness. 
Think about all the money and 

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energy that gets spent in our 
culture today on Wellness. 

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Think about all the energy that 
we put into an entire industry 

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00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,440
that brings in billions of 
dollars for the sake of the 

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Wellness of people. 
Why? 

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Because there's something deep 
down inside of all of us, at the

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core of our being. 
We long for this idea of Shalom,

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of wholeness. 
And Jesus is the gift that God 

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has sent to bring peace on 
earth. 

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That's the story of Christmas. 
Jesus is God's gift to us, to 

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bring the promise of heaven to 
earth. 

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And just like any other gift, 
you have to receive it in order 

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to enjoy it. 
If you're here today and you've 

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already received Jesus as the 
Savior and Lord of your life, 

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you can celebrate. 
You can be like a kid on 

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Christmas morning opening up the
most remarkable present ever. 

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00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:50,520
Now I, I recognize that there 
may be some people in the room 

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today and you're not feeling 
this idea of celebration because

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life's hard and it's difficult 
and you're looking at it and 

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00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:06,040
you're saying, Kirk, I, I think 
Jesus failed in his mission. 

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00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,080
It's been 2000 years and I don't
see peace on earth. 

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00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:15,280
It's been 2000 years and I don't
see the rescuing and making of 

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00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:18,800
all fixing all the problems that
we face as humanity. 

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00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:24,960
So why? 
Why can we still celebrate? 

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Because the story isn't done 
yet, that's why. 

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00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,360
See, the birth of Jesus is 
simply the beginning of the 

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00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,000
story. 
The life of Jesus is bookended 

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00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,440
by two announcements from an 
Angel. 

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00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:46,200
It starts with an Angel 
announcing glory to God in the 

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00:14:46,200 --> 00:14:52,920
highest and on earth peace. 
But just after Jesus finishes 

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00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:57,040
the final moments of his life, 
another Angel shows up on the 

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scene. 
The Angel says to people like 

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you and me who are sitting there
going, well now what happens? 

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That Angel says to that group of
people, that same Jesus, he's 

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coming again. 
And when he comes again, he is 

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coming to make everything right 
and finish the mission that he 

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started. 
God kept his promise once to 

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send the Messiah and God's going
to keep his promise to send him 

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again. 
And for those of us who have put

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our faith in Jesus, this is is 
why we can celebrate and sing 

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that we are a joyful and 
triumphant people even while we 

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still see some of the hardships 
of life. 

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Because the end of the story, 
it's, it's already written. 

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We celebrate that Jesus has come
and we celebrate because we 

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can't wait for him to come 
again. 

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Let's sing together.