TLP 466: Your Family’s Response to the Three Annunciations of Christ, Part 2

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Welcome to Truth. Love. Parent. Where we use God's Word to become intentional premeditated parents.

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Here's your host, A .M. Brewster. Welcome back to our break from the norm. If this is your first time to talk parenting with us,

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I welcome you and I pray that today's format will be a blessing for you. Now, when I first preached this message, it was super important to my wife.

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She was so incredibly encouraged and challenged by it. But when I say message, you may be thinking, wait a minute,

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I didn't expect to be listening to a sermon. I know, I know, that's not our usual format and technically it's really only half a sermon.

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So if this is your first time with us, I encourage you to listen to our previous episode where I set the stage and tone for the message you're going to hear and I preached the first half.

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And if you're returning for part two of your family's response to the three annunciations of Christ, I welcome you too.

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And I want to encourage you to consider following me on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. I post regularly on those platforms and I do so because I want to connect as many dads and moms with God's Word as I can.

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Now, why do I hope all that? Well, tomorrow, that's Wednesday at 11 a .m. Eastern Standard Time, we're going to meet up on the

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Wisdom app and continue today's discussion. We're going to dig deeper, make it more practical, and apply it to your family situation.

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And I say that we are going to do that because that's what you do on the Wisdom app. It's just like a talk radio show.

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I'll start us off, recap today's episode, and then proceed to talk about how our families can respond to the third annunciation of Christ in a practical and God -honoring way.

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And that reminds me, if you follow me on social media and set the alerts just right, you'll be able to see when I go live on Wisdom because I'll announce it there as well.

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Head over to truthloveparent .com forward slash donate to learn more. And with that said, as we prepare the way for Christ in our homes this year, let's listen to the last half of your family's response to the three annunciations of Christ.

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What is the believer's response to the third annunciation? Let's first look at what the annunciation is. God himself announces what's going to happen in Matthew chapters 24 and 25.

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Jesus reveals the signs of the end of the age in Matthew 24 verses 3 through 14.

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He describes the abomination of desolation in verses 15 through 28. And then he foretells his own second coming in verses 29 through 31.

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He says, God himself saying,

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I'm going to come back. The rest of chapter 4 and most of chapter 5 are parables illustrating how believers and unbelievers are going to respond in light of the promise of his second coming.

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And then in Matthew 25 verses 31 through 47, it describes the final judgment of Christ at his coming.

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So God is going to announce, he already announced his second coming, but he's also, there's a future announcement that's coming directly from God as well.

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And this is the period that we call the tribulation. In Matthew 24 verse 29, as we read, immediately after the tribulation of those days, this will happen.

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The tribulation is a seven year preparation for the return of Christ. It's seven years of God announcing this is going to happen.

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You can't miss it. But unlike the Christmas incarnation, the tribulation will not be a time of joy.

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It will set the stage for the eternal atrocities to follow for everyone who chooses to reject the

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Savior King. Obviously the prophets have been part of this announcing of the second coming.

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Daniel 2, 7, 9, 12, 1 Thessalonians 5, 2, Hebrews 9, 28, 2 Peter 3, 10,

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Revelation 9, 11 through 21, and many others are preparing and have announced that there is a third part of the gospel.

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The angels will also be used. The angels are going to announce if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the

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Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night.

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These worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name. It doesn't exactly sound like a

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Christmas greeting card, but it's what the angels are going to say right before Christ comes.

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In Revelation 9, verses 11 through 18, Jesus Christ himself will have come.

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At this point, then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called

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Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like the flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

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He's clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.

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That's a little bit different than the baby in the manger. Same person, different message.

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Same message, different parts of the same message. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.

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And from his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.

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He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty, and on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written,

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King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead.

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See, at this point it's done. You've made your choice, and what this angel is announcing is he's announcing that it's buffet time for the birds.

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Come, gather for the great supper of God to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great, parentheses, who refused to follow the king.

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I hope we can see that this second coming will be diametrically different from the first. The first annunciation was followed by the infant

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Messiah who brought with him the glorious fulfillment to all men of the promise that God would be with us.

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The second annunciation invited all men to follow this sacrificial Messiah. But the third annunciation ushers in a period of judgment where God is going to separate all mankind into two groups, one for life and one for death.

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And this is the third part of the gospel. The first part of the gospel is that we are sinners, incapable of rectifying our relationship with God, so what did he do?

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He came down to us. The second part is that we are sinners, incapable of saving ourselves, so what did he do?

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He sacrificed himself for us. But the third part is that we are sinners who will receive the just consequences of our choices.

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Those who have submitted to God's glorious gospel will dwell victoriously with him for all eternity, but those who reject a relationship with him will be separated from him for all eternity.

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So we see that God and the prophets and the angels have been and will be part of this third annunciation, but his followers also play a part.

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See, God desires to use his present followers to announce this coming as he used his past followers to announce his past work and coming, and we are the followers he wants to use.

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Matthew 5, 13 through 16, you are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?

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If Christmas time comes and the people who are supposed to be the salt are talking more about Santa Claus and Christmas gifts and delicious turkey hams and our

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Christmas hams and turkeys and beef, if they're talking more about family gatherings and Christmas songs and movies and breaks, then they are the point of Christmas.

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How on earth is the saltiness supposed to be restored to that? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

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You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house.

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In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your

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Father who's in heaven. That's what should be happening, not just during Christmas, but all the time.

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Matthew 28, 18 through 20, Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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Because of that, you go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold,

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I am with you always to the end of the age. So based off of this, what should our response be?

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On one hand, when Christ returns, the believers will experience the same awe and joy that they did at the incarnation.

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It's going to be powerful. It's going to be amazing, and it will be wonderful. However, we should also experience the same honesty, humility, faith, and worship as we are called in response to the second annunciation.

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And then we will also, and this is a unique one to the third annunciation, we will be able to take part in the ultimate victory prophesied in Philippians 2, 9.

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Therefore God has highly exalted him, Jesus Christ, and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord to the glory of God the Father. That will be a victorious and wonderful and amazing, awe -inspiring time.

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But on the other hand, the fate of all unbelievers during the end times should create a very different response in us.

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We must all participate in announcing Christ's future coming, for when he comes, no one will be able to finally change their mind.

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Therefore, we must use both of his first annunciations to set the stage for his third.

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And this is accomplished in two parts. The first of these is evangelism. The second of these is discipleship.

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And I want to finish our time today talking about what those two look like. Now, admittedly, I'm going to spend more time on evangelism than I will on discipleship.

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Why? Because we just don't have the time. And we need to get good at the first before we'll be ready to do the second.

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Because if we're not doing the first, we'll never be able to do the second. There is no discipleship where evangelism has not happened, where people have not responded to the call of Christ on their lives.

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And it's during this section on evangelism that we're going to go back and we're going to look at how did John the

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Baptist announce the ministry of Christ? How did the disciples announce the ministry of Christ?

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Because that should be helpful for us to understand what our part should be in announcing this to others.

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Evangelism. This responsibility encompasses all of the previous responses. To be a

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Christ -like evangelist, we must first, ourselves, be filled with the awe and joy of the Lord.

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If you're not filled with the awe and joy of the Lord, you can't be an evangelist. And if you are, you're not a very good one.

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We also must walk as Christ did in honesty and humility. And our lives should be a testament to our faith as we live for God in righteous worship.

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And as we live this life, we stand out as a shining light and a salty salt to the world. But we're also not just called to live the gospel.

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And unfortunately, there's a push in our society, and it makes sense. It's a wrong push.

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It's a failure philosophy. But there's a push in our society that all you have to do is live the gospel. You don't have to say anything.

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Just live it, and people will see it, and that will be good. It's not enough. That's not what

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Jesus told the disciples to do. Go into all the world and live a good life, and people will respond.

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No. Go into all the world and preach. How can you announce without announcing?

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We're also not just called to live the gospel, but to preach it. To do this, we must acknowledge all three of Christ's annunciations.

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To evangelize well, we can't just allow ourselves to stick on one. We have to understand and unpack the full picture of what it meant for Christ to come, and what he did, and what the future holds.

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The first part of the gospels is that we are sinners incapable of rectifying our relationship with God. And so he came down to us.

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It's a fantastic place to start. During Christmas, it's easy to focus on the fact that God came to dwell with men, right?

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But we must also be quick to share with the unbelieving world why he had to come. This will point to our sin and a need for a relationship with God.

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How can you do this? There are lots of ways, and in many ways when it comes to evangelism,

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I love the fact that Jesus didn't follow a pattern of saying the same thing in the same way. He took the same truth, and he got to that truth in slightly different ways depending on who he was talking to, but he got to the same truth, okay?

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So, you know, you talk during Christmas, we have lots of people come over, right? We have lots of visitors, and more often than not, we can't wait for them to leave.

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And so we talk about, well, Jesus has come. Emmanuel is with us. God with us. Well, great, but who cares if he's just here to eat the food?

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I mean, it'll be nice when he's gone. The fact that he's here doesn't really impact me.

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What impacts me is when I acknowledge the fact that I need him here. If he didn't come, it would be impossible for me to have a relationship with him, and I desperately need a relationship with him.

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I was created to have a relationship with him. The second part of the gospel is that we sinners incapable of saving ourselves, so he had to sacrifice himself.

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The fact that we're sinners, honestly, can easily be depressing. It flies in the face of the idea that we need to have high self -esteem.

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We need to think well of ourselves, but the great hope and joy that arises from the fact that God willingly paid our debt far surpasses that grief.

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You see, in one passage we read earlier, God commanded us to grieve, but then another passage in Isaiah, he said that he would take our grief on himself.

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Many of us obviously find this part of the annunciation easier to share during Easter, right?

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But I beg you, I beg us all, when we're sharing the gospel during Christmas, we need to make sure we get to this part too.

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The first part creates awe and joy, but it doesn't create change. Nowhere in the

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Bible does it say you must confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he was born of a virgin in Bethlehem.

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Do I believe it's extremely important to believe that he was born of a virgin? Yes, I do, but a person can be saved without knowing that.

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However, a person cannot be born again without knowing about the details of the substitutionary atonement of Christ, his death, his life, his resurrection on our behalf.

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So if we skip that part and we stick to the baby in the manger, we're not evangelizing.

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Of course, all of this is a moot point if we don't acknowledge the very real future return of Christ. The third part of the gospel is that we are sinners and we will receive the just consequences of our choices.

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Those who have submitted to his glorious gospel will dwell victoriously with him for all eternity, but those who reject the relationship with him will be separated from him for all eternity.

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And these three parts work in perfect harmony to present the glorious gift of eternal life with God.

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We must not leave out any part. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to go back to those passages

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I said earlier about John the Baptist and his disciples. When they were sent by God to go out into the world and say, hey, the

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Messiah is here. What did they say? My friends,

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I'm going to warn you, it's not going to show up on any greeting card. It's not going to be sung about in any song.

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Start with John the Baptist. What I'm going to do is there's a lot of overlap. As you read through each of the gospels, they all say similar things about him.

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So what I've done is I've come up with the Aaron Brewster synchronized version where I'm basically going to read everything that was said about John the

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Baptist for the most part in those opening chapters of each gospel, but without duplicating information. And I want us to pay close attention to what he did and what he said.

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Remember, his job was to make straight the path of the Lord. His job was to announce that the Messiah is here, pay attention to what he's doing, and let's focus on what he said.

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Starting in John, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

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He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. Okay, we've all been called to that.

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In Mark, we read, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

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Lord, make his path straight. John appeared baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

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You see where he started? We don't read anything really about John talking about the fact that Jesus was born.

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Could he have? Perhaps, but his main goal was sin, repentance, a need for change.

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He said, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And all the country of Judea and all

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Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

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Now, John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.

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Now, stop right there just for a second. People like, this shows up in most of the gospels. Why did he dress that way?

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Do we have to dress that way? I mean, I like honey and all, but locusts, eh, actually they're not that bad.

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A little cinnamon, a little sugar, not too shabby. My whole family tried them and my kids actually really like it. So there's that.

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But yeah, do you deep fry anything? It's going to taste good. So, but, but you know, people say, you know, why the fact, why did he live in the wilderness?

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Why was he dressing camel's hair? This was not designer chic. Okay. This was not hipster clothing.

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Uh, why, why did he dress this way? Well, here's the thing, guys, and we can look all through scripture. We're not going to take the time. This is kind of a side note, but here's the thing.

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We're supposed to be different. We're supposed to stick out.

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Something about us should be different that people look at them and they say, huh, what's going on with those people?

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But in a good way. I used to work at Panera Bread Company and every now and then it was unfortunate, but I would have to work on a

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Sunday. I did very, very often. I did not. Most of the time I did not, but every now and then I did. And it was a sad thing that had happened almost most

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Sundays. Okay. Around lunchtime, a family would walk in, dad with his, his button up short sleeve shirt and his tie, kids in their, in their, in their dresses and their whatever else.

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And someone would say, Oh, it looks like church let out. Now I'm not here to judge clothing in this precise moment.

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Okay. That's not the point of all this, but too often the things that we Christians do to set ourselves apart and to be different really are just dorky and out of style.

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I'm not judging the clothes, but they don't produce that awe that, Hmm, there's something different about that person.

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I wonder what's going on. Yes. John did that. That was his calling. He had to, he had to dress that way.

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He had to do those things for a very important reason. Everyone dressed the same back then anyway. I mean, seriously. Okay.

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But you know what? There was somebody else I worked with at Panera. His name was Jared. Here's the thing we worked together, which means we were wearing the exact same clothes.

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We had to have our polo shirt and our khaki pants, our green aprons and our Panera hats and our name tags were dressed identically, but there was just something about Jared.

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And one day I went to him. I said, dude, I need to ask you a question. He's like, go ahead. Shoot. I said, this is might sound really strange.

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You might not have any idea what I'm talking about. And if you don't, I can explain it. But if you do,

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I'd be really curious. I said, are you a Christian? He goes, yeah,

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I am. But how did you know? And I was like, dude, everything about you.

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He mean he wasn't proselytizing at work. He didn't leave tracks on the urinals, but everything about him was different.

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Everything about him was different. And we were wearing the exact same outfit. So here's the thing.

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Why did John look different? Because he had a job. Are we different?

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And in what ways are we different? Are we just weird in a bad way? I'm weird in lots of ways.

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I admit that I own that, but none of the ways that I'm weird were designed to point to Christ.

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However, I'm also by God's grace different in many ways that leave people going, huh, not that guy's weird, but there's something different about him in a way that draws them to want to know what is that different.

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So we see that's an important part of the evangelist. If you look like the world, sound like the world, act like the world, live like the world, why on earth is the world going to be interested in what you have to say?

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Of Jesus, John said, after me comes one who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals

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I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I've baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the

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Holy Spirit. There's a humility here saying it's not about me. I read one person described

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John the Baptist as a spotlight. When the spotlight is shining on the speaker, you don't see the light, but you see the speaker because of the light.

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Now, of course, John told us that, you know, he wasn't the light. The metaphor breaks down, but you see the point? It wasn't about John having a following.

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It was about him pointing people to Christ. Then we pick up in Matthew 3, we read more of the story, but when he saw many of the

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Pharisees and the Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, welcome brothers, please come.

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No, he said, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Bear fruit, keeping with repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have

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Abraham as our father. For I tell you, God's able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

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Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance, but he is coming who is mightier than I, whose sandals

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I am unworthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire and his winnowing fork in his hand, and he will clear the threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

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Thanks for coming. Hope to see you next week. Well, Aaron, that was

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John the Baptist. No, that's what we see preached all throughout the scriptures.

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Well, but Aaron, God is love. Exactly. He loves people enough to tell them the truth, and these

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Pharisees and these Sadducees who were denying God's truth, living a nice looking life, leading in the community, saying and doing everything they thought they were supposed to do,

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John had the love and the respect to go, no, what you're doing is wrong.

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Moving into Luke, the crowds asked John, what then shall we do? He answered, whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none.

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Whoever has food is to do likewise. Tax collectors also came to him to be baptized, and he said, teacher, what shall we do?

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And he said, collect no more than you are authorized to do. Soldiers also asked him, and we, what shall we do?

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And he said to them, do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, but be content with your wages. And as the people were in expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the

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Christ, we'll get to that in a second, what was he telling people? He was pointing, he said, listen, you got to change.

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You've got to change. If you haven't changed, then there's no life in you.

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The only things that don't change are things that are dead. Rocks don't change inherently in themselves.

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Things that change are things that are living. You claim to have life in you, you need to change.

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This is what John was saying. We've got to change. We have to repent. We have to confess our sins.

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We've got to move into something else. And when people came to him and said, are you the

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Christ? Because man, this is powerful. And it is powerful. He says, I baptize you with water.

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But again, he says it again. I want to see it. He who's mightier than I is coming. The strap of whose sandals I'm not unworthy to untie.

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And he shows both sides. We heard it once. I wanted us to hear it again. He shows both sides. He will baptize you with the

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Holy Spirit and fire. And he shows these two things later on. His winnowing fork is in his hand.

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So clearing his threshing floor and gathering the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

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This is John the Baptist talking about that second coming too. He's talking about what's happening now.

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And he's warning about what's going to happen then. So with many other exhortations, he preached good news to the people.

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The last long extended passage I'm going to read. When Jesus sent the disciples out, and this was before he was crucified.

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This was during those three years of ministry. He said, all right, guys, you've learned what you need to learn.

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I want you to go out and I want you to tell the world about me. Tell the world about the kingdom, really. He gives them a whole list of things.

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He tells them, first of all, don't go to where the Gentiles are. Start with the children of Israel. That was important. He tells them, kingdom of heaven is in that hand.

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He tells them to heal the sick and raise the dead and cleanse the lepers and cast out the demons. That's not appropriate. That's not us here.

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That was a unique specific task the disciples had. He tells them what to take with them.

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He didn't tell them to take, you know, don't take a sword. Don't take two tunics. I'm going to take care of you. Okay. All that kind of stuff. Right. But then as he goes on to describe what's going to happen to them as they, as they share this news, it's not really a very pretty picture.

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It's not like, and people will flock to you and you will love it. And you will start a mega church and it'll be amazing.

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That wasn't it at all. Basically what he sets forth for them is that there's, and people are going to hate what you have to say.

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That's where I want to pick up. Behold, I'm sending you out as sheep into the midst of wolves.

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So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues.

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And you will be dragged before governors and Kings for my sake to bear witness before them and the

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Gentiles. When they deliver you over, when, not if, go out and this is going to happen.

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When that happens, when they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say or for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.

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For it is not you that speak, but the spirit of your father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death and father his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death and you will be hated by all for my name's sake.

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But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute in one town, flee to the next. For truly

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I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher nor a servant above his master.

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It is enough for the disciples to be like his teacher and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house

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Beelzebub, how much more will they malign those of his household? So have no fear of them for nothing is covered that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.

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What I tell you in the dark, say it in the light and what you hear whispered, proclaim it on the housetops. Now what comes into a passage is a passage that's very familiar that we all love.

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It's a passage that gives us peace and it gives us joy, but when we detach it from the broader context of how it's being or what

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Christ is saying to the disciples, we miss the impact of it all because we all know that Jesus loves us more than sparrows, right?

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Isn't that wonderful? Doesn't that make you feel better? He dresses us better than he does Solomon, right? That's in context of what's being said here.

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He said, listen, they're going to hate you. You're going to share, you're going to say Merry Christmas to people and they're going to turn up your noses at you.

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Oh, you have been persecuted. Good for you. No, no. He said, you're going to go out, you're going to speak truth and people are going to hate you for it.

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Well, Aaron, if they hate us for it, maybe we shouldn't be saying it because then they won't come to Christmas church with us on Christmas Eve to see the children put on their play about the incarnation.

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The church wasn't designed for them. The church is an assembly of God's people, the body of Christ to be equipped to go out to evangelize and to disciple so that more people can become part of the body that now they're coming in.

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Yes, we want them to come into church, but we want them to know God. We don't just want them to walk in the doors because too often we want them to walk in the doors so the guy who stands up here can tell them about Christ because I really don't want to.

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It's uncomfortable, Aaron, to tell them about Christ, but you seem to have no problem standing up on chairs and yelling, so we'll let you do it.

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It's not my job. It's my job to evangelize the people who

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God puts into my way. It's your job to evangelize the ones in your way. To not tell them the truth because you're hoping to get them to a community dinner so they can eat some good food and have someone else preach to them is not how it's supposed to work.

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Do we love the community dinners? Yes, we do. Praise God for that. Thank you for Carol and everyone else who put that together.

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Amen. But that's just a small part. It's not the thing. Hopefully the people who were invited to that were people who you're already in the process of evangelizing because it's going to happen and people are going to hate you for it and so therefore he says, do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

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Rather fear him and Jesus Christ himself is talking about the end times. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

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Are not two sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father but even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

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Fear not. Don't be afraid to evangelize. You are more value than of sparrows.

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So everyone who acknowledges me before men I will also acknowledge him before my father who's in heaven but whoever denies me before men

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I will also deny before my father who is in heaven. And then listen to Jesus's own mission.

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Jesus is going to share with us his mission statement and you know what?

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It's painful. It's harsh. Jesus says this.

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Do not think and this is he's telling them this is going to be the context of your message. I need you to go out.

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I need you to tell people this. Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. Oh wait, hold on.

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Wait, wait, wait, wait. Peace on earth, goodwill toward men. I mean isn't that kind of like the whole Christmas thing, right?

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And Jesus is going no, I didn't come to bring peace to the earth. I came to bring a sword.

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Now the peace comes eventually after the sword.

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For I have come to set man against his father and daughter against her mother and daughter -in -law against her mother -in -law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household because whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me and whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

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Whoever finds his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Your unsafe family members are coming over for Christmas.

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Amen. But if you love them more than you love him because you're too afraid to talk about him to them, there's a problem.

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But Aaron we're being told by those guys who write books and have blogs and podcasts that you know we're supposed to build this foundational relationship before we can speak the truth to them.

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I think there's wisdom there. I mean people you know they don't know you know they don't care how much you know until they know how much you care all that kind of stuff right and that's all very important.

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It is but here's the thing it's going to shine out of us.

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If you truly love somebody you can knock on their door and have them open the door and start a conversation with them that just makes them go whoa

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I want to hear what this guy has to say. The problem is our evangelism is disingenuous. It's not shining out the truth of who we are and so we talk about building relationship with people but sometimes we take the time to build relationships with people just long enough for them to get to know that we really don't believe the gospel we're planning on telling them because we live like practical atheists.

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So Jesus is saying you need to follow me and when you're following me people will get it and you can tell they're going to ask where are you going what are you doing and you can tell them and they'll go wow.

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Now say Aaron are you suggesting that we use these exact words with your exact tone?

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No no this is the equipping part this is us getting the real severity of the issue so that we can go from here truth in love so that everyone can come to know him and be built up in him but it love without truth isn't love we have to speak the truth and then

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Jesus finishes off by saying whoever receives you receives me whoever receives me receives him who sent me the one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward and whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple truly

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I say to you he'll by no means lose his reward so here's some application questions for us today first of all if you are here today and you have not responded to Christ by confessing that he is

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Lord and believing that God raised him from the dead to save you from your sins and to enter into an eternal relationship with the

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God of the universe if that's you I implore you in awe and joy and honesty and grief and humility faith and worship

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I implore you to follow Christ I invite you to speak to anybody here after the service to learn how you can become and have a living relationship with the only true

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God of the universe our Savior Jesus Christ on the other hand if you're already a born -again follower of Christ I believe that regardless of the time of year you should be aware of all three annunciations to miss any one is to potentially neglect an important responsibility that we have before God the followers on this earth that he is left here to announce the future coming of Christ I mean if he didn't want us to be here announcing it he would have taken us home already he didn't leave us here to do our to work a job he didn't leave us here to to commute he didn't leave us here to chop a

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Christmas tree down he left us here to be part of the announcing therefore

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Christmas should not be the only time of joy and awe but also a time of honestly considering our position before God humbly choosing to forsake our own way and faithfully living in daily worship for those of you who have perhaps again only ever stopped at the awe and joy stage

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I implore you to see that Christ is more than just a cute baby in the manger and for those of us who are already followers of the great

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Christ I encourage you I encourage all of us to allow the Christmas season to stir up in us that love and good works in the work of the ministry this time should be drawing us just opening a door

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I mean this season is a season that should just impel us to seek the lost it's a fantastic time of year to witness and to evangelize and proselytize because people are singing about the

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Messiah radio stations that you otherwise could never listen to are playing like 24 hour seven days a week

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Christmas music and many of those are sacred that they're setting the stage for us to do this and yet we still feel awkward and don't want to the season should also produce in us a desire to not only win the loss but also engage in active discipleship so allow me to end with just three questions number one have you personally experienced the awe and joy and honesty and humility and faith and worship that typifies a repentant response to Christ's first two annunciations have you done that if not again

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I urge you to discover today before you leave how you can receive God's free gift of eternal life and salvation number two are you actively engaged in shining the light of the gospel into the world around you are you living the gospel are you speaking the gospel are you speaking the gospel by following the pattern that we see in scripture are you leaving parts out and the third question today are you actively engaged in a discipleship relationship with someone else in this church we could expand it are you engaged in a discipleship relationship with somebody else who's a born -again believer in this area

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I know that we may not yet know what that looks like I need to be being discipled and I need to be discipling yeah how do

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I do that I get that we might not know but if discipleship I'll say this if discipleship isn't happening among the relationships here okay then we are not one another in the way we should be they're not being fulfilled as they should and we're dropping the ball in that area so Jesus Christ was announced twice and there will be a great announcement in the future how are you going to respond to those announcements and what part are you going to play as you prep your family for the celebration of Christmas I urge you to do so with all three of his annunciations in mind and I hope you'll join us tomorrow as we talk on the wisdom app

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I also invite you to meet up with us again next week as we once again open God's word to discover how to parent our children for life and godliness to that end we'll be discussing your family's ultimate

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Christmas hero truth love parents is part of the evermind ministries family and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional premeditated parent join us next time as we search