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OK, our scripture reading today 
is Luke chapter 2 verses one 

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through 20. 
In those days Caesar Augustus 

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issued a decree that a census 
should be taken of the entire 

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Roman world. 
This was the first census that 

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took place while Carinius was 
governor of Syria and everyone 

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went to their own town to 
register. 

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So Joseph went up from the town 
of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea 

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to Bethlehem, the town of David,
because he belonged to the house

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in line of David. 
He went there to register with 

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Mary, who was pledged to be 
married to him and was expecting

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a child. 
While they were there, the time 

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came for the baby to be born and
she gave birth to her first 

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born, a son. 
She wrapped him in clothes and 

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placed him in a Manger because 
there was no guest room 

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available for them, and there 
were shepherds living out in the

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fields nearby, keeping watch 
over their flocks. 

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At night. 
An Angel of the Lord appeared to

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them, and the glory of the Lord 
shown around them, and they were

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terrified, but the Angel said to
them, do not be afraid. 

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I bring you good news that will 
cause great joy for all the 

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people. 
Today in the town of David, a 

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Savior has been born to you. 
He is the Messiah, the Lord. 

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This will be assigned to you. 
You will find a baby wrapped in 

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clothes and lying in a Manger. 
Suddenly a great company of the 

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heavenly host appeared with the 
Angel, praising God and saying, 

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Glory to God in the highest 
heaven and on earth, peace to 

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those on whom His favor rests. 
When the angels had left them 

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and gone into the heaven, the 
shepherd said to one another, 

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Let's go to Bethlehem and see 
this thing that has happened 

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which the Lord has told us 
about. 

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So they hurried off and found 
Mary and Joseph and the baby who

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was lying in the Manger. 
When they had seen him, they 

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spread the word concerning what 
had been told them about this 

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child, and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherd said

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to them. 
But Mary treasured up all these 

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things and pondered them in her 
heart. 

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The shepherds returned, 
glorifying and praising God for 

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all the things they had heard 
and seen, which were just as 

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they had been told. 
May the Lord add His blessing to

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the reading and the hearing of 
His Word. 

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We're talking about gravity 
today. 

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One of the maybe the most famous
anthem that comes out of the 

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stage musical Wicked and the two
movies Wicked and Wicked for 

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Good is the song Defying 
Gravity. 

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Now, gravity is a beautiful 
metaphor and I don't want to 

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destroy the story by by focusing
too much on the metaphor. 

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But this morning we're talking 
about this metaphor. 

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And in the movie Alphaba, who is
becomes labeled the Wicked Witch

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of the West. 
Alphaba is defying gravity. 

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She does it literally. 
So we get a visual metaphor in 

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the movie itself where she's on 
her broom and flying, literally 

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defying gravity. 
But the more significant element

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of that is the social gravity 
that she faces. 

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Now, gravity itself, you know, 
without getting, again, getting 

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too far into the sciency stuff, 
gravity is a force that is 

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constant. 
It's related to mass. 

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Gravity is the force that draws 
all things in an area toward the

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object of greatest mass. 
So the earth is the greatest, is

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the object of greatest mass in 
our immediate vicinity, and we 

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are drawn to that. 
And the greater the mass of the 

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thing, the stronger the force of
gravity acts upon that thing. 

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So, so, you know, a big ball of 
lead has more mass than a 

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feather pillow. 
So it's drawn more forcefully 

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toward the Earth. 
And that's gravity. 

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It's, it's an, it's an 
impersonal force. 

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It doesn't negotiate. 
It doesn't act malevolently. 

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It's not trying to do something 
bad. 

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It's not trying to do something 
good. 

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It just is. 
And it's a constant force. 

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And to escape gravity requires a
constant force in the opposite 

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direction. 
It requires sustained effort 

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and, and a strong determination 
to do that. 

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Now, think about, you know, it's
been a long time since we have 

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sent human beings to the moon. 
But think about that. 

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If when we had sent those Apollo
rockets and, and space ships to 

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the moon, we had tied a rope to 
them to make sure that they 

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wouldn't get off, you know, 
wouldn't go too far, we could 

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make sure we got them back. 
We got a big cable, a big rope 

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tie, so we could pull them back,
and they never would have made 

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it there. 
To escape gravity, to defy 

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gravity, you have to be willing 
to let go of anything that 

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tethers you to the Earth. 
That's what Elphaba did. 

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Elphaba defied gravity not just 
by flying on her broom. 

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She defied gravity because she 
was willing to sacrifice 

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everything to escape the 
destructive, dare I say, sinful 

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gravitational pull of the world 
in which she lived. 

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It wasn't a physical force like 
the gravity of Earth that that 

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keeps us from being flung off 
into space. 

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It was a social force. 
And in that context, the, the 

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social force that that was most 
permanent, pernicious, most 

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awful, most sinful, if you will,
was, was a force being driven by

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the not so wonderful and not at 
all amazing Wizard of Oz and his

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chief assistant, Madame 
Morrible. 

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And, and their concern was, and 
the concern of others in ounces 

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was that all of these talking 
animals were dangerous. 

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They posed a threat. 
They need to be silenced. 

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They needed to be put to work. 
They needed to be made useful 

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servants of us rather than 
having their own voice to do 

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what they want to do and teach 
and lead and, and shape things 

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how they would like to shape it.
They had to be silenced or 

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killed or contained or driven 
out. 

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And lots of people were joining 
in. 

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And all of the social pressure 
said if you want to advance in 

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ounces, you have to support this
agenda. 

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You have to support this 
program. 

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If you don't support it, you're 
going to get ostracized. 

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You'll get cut out, you'll lose 
everything. 

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And that was the choice Alphabet
had to make. 

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Would she betray her friends who
were some of whom we're talking 

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animals, and get go along to get
along and and get status and 

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achieve status within the 
Kingdom of Oz? 

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Or would she defy that social 
pressure and do the right thing 

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by speaking the truth and 
helping her friends? 

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Elphaba chose to defy gravity 
and it cost her. 

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It cost her friendships, it cost
her status, it cost her position

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it it nearly cost her her life. 
Spoiler sorry if you haven't 

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seen it. 
She had to give up near and and 

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she had to risk every 
significant relationship that 

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she had and give up most of the 
significant relationship she had

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in order to do what she knew to 
be the right thing. 

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She knew it in the core of her 
she defied gravity. 

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It wasn't a one time decision. 
It was a sustained effort and 

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she was willing to let go of 
everything to do it. 

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Now I'm a strange person. 
There's going to be no argument 

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on that. 
I'm surprised I didn't get at 

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least one Amen out of the crowd 
on that. 

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I know I'm strange because I 
have a hard time watching the 

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Wicked movies and particularly 
listening to the song Gravity 

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without thinking of The 
Godfather Part 3 and Michael 

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Corleone. 
All right, I need I need you to 

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this next clip. 
It's very short and it's very 

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soft. 
Can you can you give me a lot of

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volume on this one? 
But then we have to make sure we

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turn it back down when when 
Allison sings because her track 

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is really loud. 
All right, Michael Corleone, 

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many of you will recognize this.
At this point in the sermon, we 

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listen to Al Pacino as Michael 
Corleone delivering his famous 

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line from The Godfather Part 3. 
Just when I thought I was out, 

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they pull me back in. 
Now back to the sermon. 

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That's it. 
Very short clip, very famous 

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line though. 
Just when I thought I was out, 

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they pull me back in. 
Michael Corleone is talking 

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about the exact same thing that 
Alphaba sings about when she 

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sings about defying gravity. 
This social force, this social 

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pressure that tries to hold on 
to us and keep us in 

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destructive, broken, 
dysfunctional, sinful kinds of 

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ways of thinking and acting and 
behaving as individuals and as 

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groups. 
And Michael Corleone wanted to 

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get out. 
He wanted to get free. 

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He was the head of a of a 
criminal mafia family and he 

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wanted to get out. 
He wanted to legitimize the 

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family businesses. 
He wanted to escape the criminal

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element of what he was doing, 
but he also wanted to like a 

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spaceship trying to fly to earth
with a cable to make sure it 

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didn't drift off into space. 
He wanted to hold on to the 

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perks and the benefits. 
He knew that his wealth had been

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gained through criminal 
activity, but he didn't want to 

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risk his wealth and getting out 
of crime. 

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He knew what he knew his his 
power was was was how he had 

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gotten wealthy, how he had led 
the family, but he didn't want 

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to give up his power. 
He didn't want to give up his 

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status. 
He didn't want to give up his 

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position. 
He didn't want to give up the 

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perks of the criminal life. 
He just wanted to give up the 

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risks of the criminal life. 
Half Measures is what Michael 

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Corleone did. 
He was unwilling to let go of 

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the benefits of the bad things 
in order to escape that 

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gravitational pull. 
And so we couldn't escape. 

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Every time he tried to get out, 
they pulled him back in. 

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Why of Michael Corleone was 
learning what those in chemical 

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addiction recovery programs have
known for years, that half 

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measures avail us nothing that 
that a partial effort to escape 

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gravity. 
The the desire to escape the 

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gravitational pull without being
willing to risk everything that 

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comes along with giving into 
that pull without willing to 

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give all of that up means you'll
never escape and you'll never 

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get free. 
And that's what happened to 

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Michael Corleone. 
He just kept getting pulled back

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in. 
What does it take to defy 

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gravity? 
What it takes is a sustained 

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effort in the opposite direction
of the gravitational force. 

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It takes energy. 
It takes determination. 

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It takes 110. 
Well, I like that phrase. 

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No one can give more than 100%. 
It's not possible. 

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So you know, there you go. 
Takes 100% effort. 

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Are willing to let go of 
everything, even the perks that 

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come along with the bad 
behavior, even the positives, 

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even the benefit. 
Because there's always perks and

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positives that come along with 
bad behavior otherwise no one 

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would do them. 
I have said for years we don't 

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have to have any laws telling 
people don't hit yourself in the

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head with a hammer because no 
one does that because there's 

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nothing good that comes from it.
We don't have to have any laws 

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saying you're not allowed to eat
cat poo out of the litter box. 

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I have that law with my dogs 
because they're dumb. 

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I love my dogs, but they eat cat
poo. 

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We don't need that for people. 
There's no positives. 

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The stuff that the reason why we
have to have laws and 

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consequences and punishments for
bad behavior is because there's 

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good things that sometimes come 
from bad behavior. 

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And if we want to let go of that
personally and socially, we have

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to be willing to give up those 
perks as well as the downsides. 

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A sustained effort in the 
opposite direction. 

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This is what Jesus was talking 
about when he said if you want 

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to be my disciple, you need to 
deny yourself, take up your 

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cross and follow me. 
It's not a pretty metaphor to 

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take up your cross. 
When Jesus said it, everyone 

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understood that meant you were 
on your way to die. 

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You were willing to give up 
everything to follow Jesus. 

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To let go of everything to 
follow Jesus is why I said 

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things like if you want to 
follow me, if you want to love 

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me, you have to hate. 
Hate everyone else doesn't mean 

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have a nasty attitude toward 
everyone else. 

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It means being willing to let go
of every other relationship in 

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your life in order to follow me.
It's why Jesus preached the 

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Sermon on the Mount and he said,
yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all 

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y'all religious folks out there.
You want to preach against 

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adultery, but you want to 
entertain lustful thoughts for 

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the people around you. 
You want to preach against 

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murder, but you want to live in 
resentment and anger toward the 

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people around you. 
You want to preach against 

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greed, but you want to 
accumulate wealth on the side. 

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You want to preach against 
hypocrisy, but you do your 

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religious deeds, all of them out
in public, so you get the praise

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of the people around you. 
Half measures will avail you 

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nothing. 
You let go of all of it, or 

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you're not really letting go of 
any of it. 

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It takes a sustained effort, a 
conscious decision to do that. 

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Elphaba was able to do that, to 
risk it all. 

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Ultimately, she didn't have to 
sacrifice it all. 

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Very few of Jesus's followers 
ultimately have to sacrifice it 

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all. 
We call those people martyrs. 

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Most followers of Jesus are not 
martyrs. 

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But we have to be willing to 
hold it all loosely. 

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So those perks, if in our 
effort, and it takes effort to 

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follow Jesus, these things have 
to fall away. 

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They fall away because if we're 
holding tight on to them, 

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they'll just pull us right back 
down to the ground, right back 

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down to all of the same 
destructive patterns and habits 

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and systems and cultures that we
thought we were escaping and 

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said we wanted to escape. 
It takes sustained effort in the

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opposite direction. 
The good news is, is that Jesus 

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is the OG defier of gravity. 
There's my vain attempt at 

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trendy language. 
The OG defier of gravity Jesus 

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was doing. 
He walked on water. 

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He literally defied gravity, but
in his life he defied all of 

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that social pressure. 
The story of the birth of Jesus 

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is so beautiful partly because 
we see that Jesus was born not 

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into fabulous wealth, not into 
great privilege and position and

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and glory and honor. 
But he was born to a poor family

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and a poor part of town didn't 
even have a bed, had to be laid 

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in a feed box at his birth, not 
wrapped in silks and fine linen.

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But but swaddling clothes is 
just a is just an old English 

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way of saying strips of cloth 
got rags to wrap Jesus in and 

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swaddle him in. 
He was willing to let go of 

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wealth and power and privilege 
and position. 

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He was willing to let go of the 
social pressure to do great and 

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dramatic things and, and, and, 
and cow people into following 

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him, intimidate people into 
following him. 

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He was willing to to resist the 
social pressure that said, you 

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know, Jesus, you should really 
under only hang out with these 

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good, respectable religious 
folks and not those people over 

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there. 
And Jesus said, these are the 

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people I came to hang out with. 
If you want to join me, you're 

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welcome to come over here with 
me. 

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He was willing to let go of and 
suffer all the social 

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consequences, let go of all of 
the social perks in order to 

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defy gravity. 
And Jesus was so good at defying

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gravity that he couldn't even be
kept in a grave with a stone Rd.

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over the entrance. 
He still rose up. 

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He still rose up. 
And he invites us to follow him.

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And it seems at times 
impossible, there is such social

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pressure on us in the world to 
conform to the world's way of 

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thinking on so many different 
ways, whether it's rejecting 

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this person or that group, 
whether it's pursuing wealth as 

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a means of securing our peaceful
and, and hopeful future, whether

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it's what all of these different
pressures that are out there. 

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And Jesus says, I want you to 
live in my Kingdom and think my 

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way and treat people the way I 
treated them when I was with you

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here. 
Even if it costs you your life, 

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even if it costs you your job, 
even if it costs you your 

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position, even if it costs you 
respectability. 

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All of these things let go of 
and defy gravity like I did. 

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That's the choice that we have 
and that's the choice that 

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Elphaba made. 
I'm going to invite Allison. 

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She's going to come up and she's
going to sing Defying Gravity 

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for us. 
I am, again, I'm an ignorant 

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person as well as being strange 
and I this was one of the few 

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songs that I'd heard before I 
first saw the musical Defying 

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Gravity. 
I love this song. 

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I didn't pay close enough 
attention to it. 

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I I, I called Alice and I said, 
hey, could you sing Defying 

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Gravity for us? 
She says, I, I can sing that. 

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And then she said, you know, 
that's a duet, right? 

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I'm like, no, no, I didn't. 
No, I'd only seen the movie and 

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the stage musical. 
Somehow it had missed the fact 

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that two people were singing. 
I said, how's that going to 

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work? 
She said, I'll work it out. 

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Boy, did she work it out. 
This is great. 

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So Allison is going to sing 
Defying Gravity for us and then 

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we'll talk just a little bit 
more. 

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At this point in the sermon, 
Allison Bradbury sang Defying 

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Gravity. 
She did a beautiful job with the

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song and I wish I could include 
it here, but for licensing 

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reasons I can't include it on 
this platform. 

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If you would like to hear 
Allison singing, check out the 

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same sermon on YouTube. 
Just search for CRSNB sermons 

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and click on the Defying Gravity
sermon. 

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Please be aware though, that I 
don't have good tech for 

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recording live musical 
performances, so the audio 

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quality is not nearly as good on
the recording as Allison was 

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live. 
You can also find Cynthia Revo's

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version on YouTube and all major
music platforms. 

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Now, back to the sermon. 
Wow again, wow. 

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By God's grace, that's we can do
that. 

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We can. 
Well, we can't do that. 

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Allison can do that, but we can 
do that. 

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We can defy gravity and and no 
force, no power can ever bring 

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us down. 
We will, like Prophet Isaiah 

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said, we will mount up on wings 
like eagles, run and not grow 

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weary, walk and not fate. 
Soar above, defying the gravity 

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that wants to pull us back in 
because of our Lord, our Savior,

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Jesus Christ, His Holy Spirit, 
which gives us all that we need 

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to do that. 
It takes work, it takes 

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sustained effort, it takes a 
decision, it takes a willingness

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to hold everything loosely and 
sacrifice whatever needs to fall

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away. 
And we can defy gravity too. 

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In Jesus name, Amen. 
Amen.