Worst Christmas Sermon of All Time (updated)

Fighting for the Faith

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Okay, we're back! Hour number two, fighting for the faith. Brace yourselves for probably the worst

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Christmas sermon you will ever hear. I mean, this is like the

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Christmas hijack sermon. It's that bad. We're gonna hijack the baby Jesus and we're gonna put you in his place.

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Yeah, I'm not joking. Bendy straws, padding, and duct tape are highly recommended.

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Here we go. The good, the bad, the ugly.

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We review it all here at Fighting for the Faith. We are an equal opportunity sermon reviewing service. Today's sermon comes to us via Potential Church.

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I think this is out of their Miami, Florida campus, but they have multi -sites all over Florida and the

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Bahamas, I think. And Lima, Peru, of all places. But Potential Church isn't really a church yet.

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They're just a church in potentia, and I think this is gonna set them back from actually ever achieving full church status.

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But the person preaching this message is Troy Gramling.

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He's the Führer of Potential Church. Führer is the German word for leader.

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He's not a pastor. No way. A true pastor, somebody who shepherds

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God's sheep, feeds people on God's word and points them to Christ. The name of the sermon, by the way, is

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Christmas Paradox, Turning What's Upside Down Right Side Up.

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That's the name of the sermon. And this is the first week in the sermon series about the

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Christmas Paradox. And I can't even really describe ahead of time what goes wrong with this sermon.

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You're just gonna have to experience for yourself what goes wrong. So to prevent jaw injuries,

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I strongly recommend go grabbing your high schooler's football helmet and put the chin strap on.

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If you don't have that, grab your son or daughter's bicycle helmet. I know it's kind of odd to tell you to wear a helmet while listening to this edition of Fighting for the

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Faith, but believe me when I tell you it's probably safer that way because head injuries are possible while listening to this sermon.

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Jaw injuries are, you know, for sure a very real danger.

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And if you're driving, you may want to pull over because this sermon is so bad it could cause you to steer off the road and literally fly off a cliff and have your life come to a gruesome flaming end.

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So just want to let you all know that. So without any further ado, here's

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Troy Grambling. Just remember, I warned you. Christmas Paradox, turning what's upside down right side up.

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Here we go. Wow.

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It is great to see you guys. We are glad you are here as we talk about the paradox, the upside down Christmas, how to make it right side, right side up.

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Man, the volunteers did a great job, right? You guys ready for Christmas? Now we have a, let's see, how did they, they tied that up.

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I was going to. Now, just so you know, they have kind of like a living nativity thing on stage and there's barnyard animals.

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And so he's grabbing a goat that's tied up to one of the posts and he's going to bring him out on stage.

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Sheila loose. They tied Sheila up to a too tight. I'll let you meet Fred if he'll come out here.

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All right. Come on, Fred. You want to come on out here? See that. Can you guys say hi to Fred?

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Come on, Fred. Come on. It's okay. Well, Fred doesn't like you. Okay. I want to talk though a little bit about, about Christmas, right?

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How many of you have a manger or a nativity set you set up at Christmas time? And when you do, you're really more worried about breaking it and, and because it's beautiful.

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I mean, some of them are just amazingly beautiful. Um, but the truth is, is the real one wasn't so beautiful.

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Instead, it was just, just the opposite. Instead of something that was beautiful, it's really something that was kind of stinky.

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You know, something had to be careful where you walked and where you stepped, or you could get more than you anticipated.

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And I mean, it was a whole, it's actually quite a paradox when you think that a

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King was born in a manger because right where would Kings normally be born and normally be born in a palace, but Jesus, the

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King, let's see if we can get Fred back up here. Come on, Fred. Okay. Now stop here.

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Um, I'm not going to get into the historicity of this understanding that's come down to us regarding the manger in the, in the homes in Bethlehem.

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It, it's kind of based on a faulty understanding of, of how things are, but that's a completely different story.

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Um, this is so far so good. This is kind of the typical Christmas fair. Jesus, you know, born lowly, humble means, okay.

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Not born in a palace, but born in a place where he was laid in a manger.

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Okay. That no problem there so far, it's going to jump the tracks really quickly here.

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And I just, I, you know, listen, I don't even know if I have the ability to warn you for what's going to happen. So you just got to brace yourself and be ready at all times.

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Let's continue. Come on, say bye -bye. All right. Just a little further, Fred. All right,

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Fred. There we go. A King that was born in the manger.

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I want to talk about that paradox. The Bible says in Luke chapter two, verse seven, it says, and she, she being

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Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in clothes and she placed him in a, what placed him in a manger because there was no room for him in the end.

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Kings aren't supposed to be born. I mean, Kings are supposed to be born in a palace, not in a manger, especially when you think about the old

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Testament. In the old Testament, you got Moses. He's this great, you know, spiritual leader takes the people of God out of bondage.

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And Moses, Moses wasn't born or grow up in a manger. Moses, Moses grew up in the palace.

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You got Adam and Eve, the first, you know, God made Adam and Eve. And you could kind of say that they grew up not in a manger, but they grew up in Eden, the most beautiful place that was ever created.

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Kings, Kings are supposed to be born in a palace, not in a, not in a manger. Do you ever feel the

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Christmas paradox in your own life? You ever feel like your life looks more like a manger. There was the jump right there.

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Do you ever feel the Christmas paradox in your own life? That was the transition question.

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All of a sudden we're hijacking the Christmas story and somehow allegorizing it so that we can wedge and literally isagy, that means to read into the story, your life.

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Yeah. Let me just back this up a smidge. Cause I want you to hear the critical question where this whole thing jumps the tracks and becomes the worst

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Christmas sermon of all time. Backing it up just a smidge. Here we go.

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Danger, but they grew up in Eden, the most beautiful place that was ever created. Kings, Kings are supposed to be born in a palace, not in a, not in a manger.

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Do you ever feel the Christmas paradox in your own life? You ever feel like your life looks more like a manger than it does a palace.

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Hmm. Yeah. Are you saying that my life really should be a palace and maybe

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I'm at the manger stage of my life. Hmm. It's kind of manger is,

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I mean, you know, you, it's a little bit stinky. It's, it's, you gotta be careful of where you step because of all the different messes maybe you've made in your life.

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I mean, on the end, you know, seriously, the Christmas story is not about me.

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It's about Jesus Christ and Jesus was literally historically laid to rest.

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The baby Jesus was laid to rest in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.

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This isn't about me. It's about what Jesus did. That's his life, not mine.

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Inside, you know, you were created for more on the inside. You've got this. Oh no, no, no, no.

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He did not just say that. Hang on a second. I got to back the audio up just a smidge again because I mean, this is unbelievable.

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It's more like a manger than it does a palace. It's kind of manger is, I mean, you know, you, it's a little bit stinky.

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It's, it's, you gotta be careful of where you step because of all the different messes maybe you've made in your life.

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I mean, on the inside, you know, you were created for more on the inside. You've got this dream or you've got this destiny.

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You've got this business that you want to start or, or you dream about having like this kind of relationship.

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I mean, on the inside, you know, you were meant for more. You come to church and we talk about how on the inside, you know, you were meant for more.

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So if your life is mangery right now, manger ish is, is that even a word?

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If your life is manger ish, you just know that it's meant for more and you can look at Jesus's life and go,

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Oh yes, Jesus had a manger season in his life too.

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And now he reigns in heaven and he's the king. So that means if I'm going through a manger ish time in my life that I too will ascend into heaven and I will be king.

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You are God's masterpiece. And we talk about how you were created to do something of significance that, that God has a purpose and he has a destiny for you.

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But on the inside, you've got that, but you're living in a manger. I mean, where you or what you feel on the inside seems so far away from where you're actually, where you're actually living.

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So somehow this text is about me, Luke, who knew, you know, that Luke two was about me.

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I just, every time I read the story, I just had the hardest time seeing me in the story.

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But Troy Grambling is now teaching the folks there at potential church. They're not really a church though. They're just a church in potentia, teaching them how to see themselves in the

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Luke story. Amazing. A manger. Jesus wasn't born in a palace.

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Instead it was barn. You ever feel like that? Nobody knows your name. You get up and you go to work.

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Do I ever feel like that? Nobody knows my name. You know, look at poor

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Jesus. Nobody knew his name either. Oh wow. Right. Oh man.

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Unbelievable. And you're underemployed. There's so much more that you think you could do, but nobody, nobody knows what you can really do.

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Nobody knows how you could really perform. They don't know you. Yeah. Cause I'm just like God and human flesh, your name.

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They don't want to know your name. They don't know where you come from. They don't know what you've been through. I mean, you ever feel you ever feel like you're living in a manger and you know, it's funny that you would ask that question.

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I do distinctly remember, you know, when I was a kid and um, you know, being a normal, you know, warm blooded

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American boy. Um, from time to time I didn't clean my room and my mom, she would come into my room and observe the mess.

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And she would say things like, were you born in a barn?

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Clean up this pig sty. You know, things like that. Um, is that what you mean? And there's this question when you live in a manger, it's like, how do

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I change the world from here? When you live in the main, live in a manger, how do you change the world from here?

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Second Timothy chapter three, the apostle Paul prophesying about the end time says this, understand this, that in the last days there will come difficult times for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self -control, brutal, not loving, good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

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Avoid such people. Yeah. It also goes on to say that these are people who are always learning and never being able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

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Among them are those who creep into household, capture weak women, burden with sins, led astray by various passions.

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Folks, if this isn't the worst example of a love yourself sermon, we're hijacking the biblical text so that we can allegorize it.

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Who cares if Troy Grambling believes that Jesus was really born of the Virgin Mary. You're missing the whole point of the text.

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This story is about you. Yeah. Look at, I mean, do you ever feel like you're at a manger point in your life?

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You know, nobody knows your name. Nobody knows what you can do. Poor Jesus. I mean, that's what the Christmas story is all about. There's Jesus.

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I mean, sidelined in a manger and nobody knows his name. Nobody knows what he can do.

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Poor baby Jesus in the manger phase of his life. Are you having the manger phase of your life?

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I'm going to lose it. Sorry. We continue. You know, how do I ever have the kind of relationship

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I want to have when I'm living in a manger? How do I ever, you know, have the kind of business I want when

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I'm financially in a manger. Jesus came that first Christmas morning and his life didn't begin in a palace.

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It began in a barn. It's a great paradox for the first 30 years. You could actually think that we don't hear a lot about Jesus in the scripture, do we?

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I mean, there's a story about the temple, but there's really not a lot about Jesus. I put it going to put that out.

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Yeah. But then again, Jesus made it clear that the entire old Testament's about him. So really from beginning to end, the whole story is really about Jesus.

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Outline you got when you came in. I put this there. If you want to write it down, Jesus spent 30 years in a manger for three years of ministry.

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Cause I know some of us are tired. I don't know what that means. Who cares to the manger? You know, some of us are ready to move on.

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We're ready. So some of us are tired with the main. Jesus didn't spend 30 years in the manger, Troy, to go to that next step.

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We're ready for the palace, baby. We're ready to, to live our destiny. Jesus. We're ready for the palace, baby.

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We're ready to live our destiny, baby. This is narcissistic.

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I said, Jesus just spent 30 years in a barn so that he could do three years of ministry.

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Let's back that up again and kind of test that out. Hold on a second here. Um, let's see if he's accurately handling the biblical texts to live our destiny.

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Jesus spent 30 years in a barn. Really? Jesus spent 30 years in a barn.

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Yeah. Poor guy never was able to leave. I mean, he was just sidelined. Jesus spent 30 years in a barn.

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Uh huh. Apparently he never got out of there and spent time with his father in his carpenter shop.

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No, he was stuck in a barn for 30 years so that he could do three years of ministry.

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Even when Jesus started his ministry, you know, in Luke chapter three, verse 23, it says

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Jesus was almost 30 years old when he began his public ministry. Yeah. Cause he spent 30.

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I mean, he was almost 30 years when he started his public ministry, but then again, yeah, we all know he was in a barn for those first 30 years.

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So there was these 30 years, John one and verse 46, when Jesus actually started his public ministry and he kind of started recruiting disciples.

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Nathaniel was one of those he tried to recruit and Nathaniel knew that Jesus came from Nazareth and he said,

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Nazareth, can anything good come from there? Especially from their barns.

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Who is this? Who is this Jesus and John chapter one in verse 10 it says he,

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Jesus came into the very world that he created, but the world didn't recognize him. Yeah. That's because he was wearing like a, you know, those funny

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Groucho Marx glasses with them fuzzy mustache. No one could recognize him. You know, that's what happens when you spend 30 in a barn.

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When Jesus walked around and he saw all the things that he had created, but when he saw the people that he created, they didn't even know who he was.

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And Mark chapter six, Jesus. Yeah. Just like you. Cause I mean, when you do you walk around and feel like nobody knows who you are and they don't know your potential yet.

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Went home. And it says that next Sabbath, he began teaching in the synagogue and many heard him and they were amazed.

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They asked, where did he get all this wisdom? Right? Cause he's been in a barn for 30 years and the power to do such marvelous miracles, but it's hard to get power like that.

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When you've been locked up in a barn for 30 years, then they scoff. Well, he's, he's just a carpenter.

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He's the son of Mary's the brother of James and his sisters who they live right here with us.

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You know, when John the Baptist, this great prophet in the new Testament, who, when John the Baptist proclaimed as he was baptizing one day, because John had a whole lot of followers.

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And yeah, I mean, John was practically a mega church pastor, just like you. Jesus kind of walked up on the shore and John it's see, that's the thing, you know, see if Twitter was around back then

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John, the Baptist had like 50 ,000 followers on Twitter. And like Jesus only had like 40 and said, behold the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

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See, that's like retweeting right there, you know, to try to, you know, help people. You know, he said it with that great power and everybody's kind of like, who?

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Yeah. Who? Yeah. I'm not following him on Twitter. Who is, who is, who's he talking about?

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We haven't seen him. He looks like he just came out of a barn and like he's been in there for 30 years. That that's the

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Messiah. Nobody knew who Jesus was. You ever feel like that? Oh man.

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Oh, I am going to freak out. You're right.

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So he takes all these verses out of context, makes it sound like, you know, Jesus was just suffering from pure obscurity, you know?

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And do you ever feel like nobody knows who you are too? Don't worry. You're going to be famous, just like Jesus.

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All you got to do is get past your barn phase. I mean, nobody knows who you are.

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When I was in Arkansas, I was an interim pastor for a church in Black Oak. And Black Oak has a giant population of about 15 people.

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And, and I would go and I would speak there every weekend. Well, one weekend I couldn't go. And so I asked one of my buddies by the name of Tommy Ezell, if he would go and teach for me that weekend.

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He said, sure, no problem. What he forgot was exactly how far it took to get there or how long.

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It was about an hour drive. He left too late. And so sure enough, he got there.

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He was late. The service had already started. I mean, many of you know exactly what that feels like. And so he comes in and he runs up to the front of the church.

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He sits down right there in the front seat and music has started. He's nervous, you know? And as soon as the last song is finished, he jumps up, he gets behind the podium and he just starts to apologize.

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I'm so sorry, man. I didn't realize it was going to take so long to get here. Man, I should have planned better.

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He just apologized. I'm sorry. And about that time, a leader stood up and asked the question, who are you?

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And he's like, oh, I'm Tommy Ezell. Pastor Troy asked me to come and speak on his behalf.

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He couldn't be here. And that same gentleman said, well, who is Pastor Troy? My friend

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Tommy had went to the wrong church. You ever feel like you're at the wrong church?

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You ever feel like that in life, you just have shown up at the wrong place and people are like, who are you?

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What do you do? Well, if they feel like they've shown up at the wrong church, potential church, they're not even a real church yet.

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They're just a church in potentia. And this sermon is going to set them way back. It's going to be a long time before they ever achieve real church status.

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And it looks like they're not going to be able to achieve real church status under Troy. Grambling because now all of a sudden you ever feel like people just don't know who you are.

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Don't worry. You can be famous like Jesus. Cause that's what Jesus's life is all about. He went through the barn phase, which took 30 years.

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He was in 30 years in a barn, but then three years of ministry and boy, he just took off like a rocket.

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And now he's a king and see, you're going to be just like that. And you just kind of feel, feel behind, like you're not making any progress.

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If this Christmas, you and I are really going to turn what's upside down, right side up. There's about three things we need to do.

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So just do these three things and you, you can get out of your barn phase. Would you jot these down here?

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Oh yeah. I'll take copious nose. Here's the first one. As you think about Christmas paradoxes, we don't need to allow our circumstances to determine our destiny.

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It sounds like Joel Osteen kind of stuff. Don't allow your circumstances to determine your destiny.

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You do understand that your sinful condition is going to determine your destiny.

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If you are still dead in trespasses and sins, and you're not repentant and brought to Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.

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Yeah. Those circumstances will determine your eternal destiny in hell. We can't allow our circumstances to determine our destiny.

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The fact that we were born in a manger today can't determine where we're going to live tomorrow.

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This is literally making me angry. Like I can feel my blood pressure rising.

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This is blasphemous because the truth is Jesus loves to do things in secret.

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Really? You got a verse that says Jesus loves to do things in secret. Why do you think

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Jesus was born in a manger? He was, Oh, I know. Cause he was trying to hide. Cause he liked to be in secret.

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That's why he spent 30 years in the barn to be in secret. Cause he likes to keep things a secret, doing something behind the scenes.

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He was doing something that nobody else could see in Psalm 139. It says

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David speaking. He says, you know what? God, you knit me together in my mother's womb. You watched me as I was being formed in what?

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What's that next word? Secret. It was being formed in secret. When really did you go to seminary and learn that Psalm 139 teaches that God likes to do things in secret.

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I mean, this is just unbelievable that by the way, this sermon is an argument in favor of a law being passed, requiring the, um, the random drug screening of all secret driven pastors.

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Nobody else could see what God was doing. God was at work in the womb of David's mother, preparing him for the destiny that was in front of him.

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Oh yeah. See, that's what God was doing. God knit together King David in secret because he was preparing him for his destiny.

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You know what? God made you in secret too. You know what that means? That God was secretly preparing and knitting you together too, for your destiny.

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You're probably going to be bigger than King David. I'm sure he'll, he'll pale in comparison to you and your destiny.

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God loves to do things in secret right now. You may feel like your relationship or your finances, you may feel like your main, uh, your life is in a manger.

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Truth is it's God's doing something in secret. You can't see it right now.

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The people around you can't see it right now, but God is at work. God is doing something.

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Yeah. What if God's, you know, judging them? Look at poor

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Pharaoh. I mean, you know, God hardened his heart and look what happened to him. God was preparing him for his destiny.

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It can't allow where you're at today to determine where you're going to be tomorrow.

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Cause you're great. You're special. You have a great destiny.

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You are, your future's filled with kingdoms and you're going to be a King. Christmas story is filled with these kinds of examples in Luke chapter one in verse 28.

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So the Christmas story is full of these kinds of examples. Only if you completely rip them out of context, allegorize them, and then

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I sedgetically narcissistically read yourself into the text. It says the angel went to her, her being

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Mary and said, greetings you who are read those next two words with me out loud.

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If you would at all of our campuses today, highly with me again.

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So now we're going to read Luke chapter one, the story of Gabriel announcing to Mary, this is the enunciation.

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This is Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she's going to be with child and give birth to a son.

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And we're just going to rip it out of context and focus on this. Did you notice that the angel

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Gabriel said to Mary, you are highly favored. You see, that's not about Mary.

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That's about you. Highly favored. The angel comes to Mary and says, you know what,

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Mary, you're highly favored. That word, uh, could be translated accepted. Mary, you're accepted.

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Now, Mary, Mary was in a manger. I mean, her family wasn't wealthy. Mary didn't live in a big house.

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They, they weren't well known in the community. Mary was really, she's just a teenager.

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And yet God was she in the manger phase prior to the manger. I'm curious. Okay. Comes to this teenager and says,

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Mary, nobody else can see what I'm doing. Nobody else knows what I'm up to. You know what it even says about Mary?

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Mary says, it says that Mary kept these things in her heart and she pondered them or she, she thought about them.

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Yeah. She was pondering the words, how favored she was, you know, because it was all about Mary, because nobody knew her.

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And she was really convinced that, you know, she wasn't quite living up to her potential, you know, she wanted to have her destiny.

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And you know, what's funny is, is that when I read Luke chapter one, um,

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I don't read anything about me in there or you in there or anything like that.

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In fact, let's read the enunciation story and see what's really going on here.

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Are you ready? Luke chapter one, verse 26 in the sixth month, the angel

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Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was

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Joseph of the house of David. And the Virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings,

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Oh, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

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So the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

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Behold, you will conceive in your womb and you will bear a son. You shall call his name

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Jesus and he will be great. And he will be called the son of the most high.

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And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

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And his in of his kingdom, there will be no end.

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So the message that the angel Gabriel gave to Mary was about Jesus.

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It wasn't about her. It was about Jesus. It was about to be what how God was going to use her, but it was about Jesus.

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He left all of that stuff out and says, look, see, God said that Mary was favored and you know, you are too.

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Okay, let's continue. Because God loves, he loves to do things in secret.

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Another great example is, of course, Moses, we mentioned him a few moments ago. You remember Moses is, you know, this great

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I mean, does any of his retelling of any of the biblical stories regarding any of these characters even remotely sound like what actually happened?

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If you read the stories, could you, can you square them with how he's, well, summarizing them?

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Like not at all. Notice he's leaving all the details out so that he can make this about you.

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Found in the old Testament that took people's, God's people out of bondage. Well, at 80 years old, he's already blown it in the palace.

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He screwed up. And so as an 80 year old man, well, let's just read it.

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Exodus chapter three, verse one says, one day Moses verse one. Oh yeah. Let's just read it.

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Cause then it'll look like a biblical sermon. If I just read this verse out of context was tending the flock of his father -in -law

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Jethro. Now it's not his sheep. It's his father -in -law.

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It's not his daddy's sheep. In other words, these sheep aren't going to be handed down to Moses. It's his father -in -law sheep.

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So this is his manger period. Got it. Okay. His father -in -law is now with him because his father -in -law is important.

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It says he was a priest. And so Moses doesn't have his own flock and Moses is not going to get this flock.

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And Moses is, is, is doing the least of things. And look where he's doing it. It says, and he led his flock far into the wilderness, or you could say some translations say the backside of the desert, the least likely place that you think

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God would be working is exactly where at 80 years old, two thirds of his life has already passed is exactly where Moses is because God loves, he loves to do things in secret.

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And you know, yeah, see, oh yeah. Are you on the backside of the desert in your life? Are you still stuck in the barn in the manger?

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Don't worry. God loves to do things in secret. What the very next verse says is that God came to Moses in a burning bush.

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It was on the backside of the desert dealing with somebody else's sheep that God came and did something in Moses's life.

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John the Baptist, the prophet we mentioned a few moments ago that said, behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

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Look what it says about him in Luke chapter one. It says, and you, my little son will be called the prophet of the most high.

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I mean, it's a big job. He says, you know what? Yeah. And you, my little son, we called the prophet of the most high.

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Wow. Little guy, you're going to be a prophet and you're going to be the prophet. Not you're going to be the prophet of the most high.

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And see, this is showing you how God's going to work in your life too, because you're going to let people know that the

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Lord is coming. You're going to prepare the way of the Lord. In other words, there is something out in front of you,

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John, you just not going to believe you've got a destiny, but where is John verse 80 says,

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John grew up and became strong in spirit and he lived in where the wilderness, right?

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Do you guys got an outline? Is that verse in there? And you know how to read. All right. I mean, help me.

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All right. Help me out. He was in the wilderness until he became, but till his public ministry.

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So for several decades, where is John the Baptist? He's in the manger. He's in the manger.

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God says, I'm going to use you in a big way. But John wasn't in the palace or in a great, uh, uh, you know, uh, high school or in a great college.

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No, no, he's in the manger. He's out in the wilderness because God does things in secret.

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Yeah. That's, that's why he was in the wilderness because God was doing something in secret. Yeah. See in the secret.

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And then you go to Ephesians chapter one in verse number six and it says, yeah, Ephesians chapter one, verse six, notice not a single verse is being read in context.

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Why? Because this isn't a biblical sermon. Every little bit is ripped out of context so that you can't actually piece anything, any coherent biblical thoughts together.

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Instead, this is just makes it possible. So, so that we can read you and your life into the

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Bible and you could see yourself in there. I mean, listen, if this is what you want to do with the Bible, do us all a favor, cut the words out and just stick a mirror in the cover.

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So every time you open your Bible, you can look at yourself because that's, what's really going on here.

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I mean, what's really funny is, is that, uh, this parody song that I play from time to time. Now it's coming true in this sermon.

35:06

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36:19

Call today because no one can praise you like you to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

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Now, what in the world flip on over to Ephesians chapter one, would you because watch what he's doing here?

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Does that mean? And what does it have to do with what we're talking about? Just a lot of words that sometimes get tangled up in my mind.

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Yeah, I, I, I always get Ephesians chapter one, verse six tangled up in my mind. So let's untangle it, you know, so that we can make it understandable for people.

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Cause you'll find, you know, man, you ready? Here's our three rules, context, context, and context.

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So we'll start at chapter one, verse one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus grace to you and peace from God, our father in the

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Lord, Jesus Christ, blessed be the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.

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He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the beloved in him.

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We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished on us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to the purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulfillment of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

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You'll notice that this blessed state, this state of acceptance, if you would, that's mentioned in passing in verse six, which isn't even a full sentence hinges on the in Christ thing.

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How are we in Christ? Well, God chose us in him. He redeemed us through his blood, forgave us of our trespasses.

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All of that is part of what it means to be in Christ. This isn't some story here about, oh, your great plan, your destiny.

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Are you in the manger phase of your life? People don't know you. Do you feel obscure? They just don't know what you can do.

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Don't worry. Don't worry. You see, verse six here is telling you that, yeah, you're just like Mary.

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Yeah. Watch what he does with this because that's where he's going to go. You don't believe me. Watch this. And I wouldn't read it to you except for one word, that word accepted.

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And that word accepted found in Ephesians chapter one in verse six is the same Greek word that's found in Luke.

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It's the same word that the angel used for Mary. When the, oh, yes, you are just like Mary.

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So now you can read the story of Mary and look at the great things that, oh, yeah. Angel came to Mary and said,

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Mary, guess what? You are highly favored. In Ephesians chapter one in verse six, God says to you and I, you are highly favored.

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If we're in Christ, you are accepted because he died for us and redeemed us by his blood.

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You left that out. Maybe living in a manger today, but God has a destiny for you to live out tomorrow.

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The text doesn't say that. You know what?

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I, I, this is satanic. It's exactly what this is here. Where you're at today is not where you have to be tomorrow.

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You are highly favored. You are accepted. You know what?

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You are the Virgin Mary. I mean, you've got the, you've got the seeds of greatness in your spiritual womb.

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I love about the Christmas story is that the Christmas story is a great reminder that Kings are born in a manger.

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Yeah. See the Christmas story is a great reminder. Kings are born in a manger. So if you're going through a tough time and you're having a manger phase in your life, just look to the

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Christmas story and realize your time to be a King is coming that just because today your relationship is not what you want it to be just because today your finances is not where you want them to be.

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It doesn't mean that God's not going to do something in your life tomorrow. It doesn't mean that you're not going to have that relationship tomorrow.

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It doesn't mean you're not going to start that business tomorrow. It doesn't mean you're not going to have financial blessing tomorrow because Kings are born in a manger.

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Every time we put up a Christmas, this is just horrendous.

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I mean, it smells like sulfur tree. Every time we hang a bulb on that tree, we are reminded that Jesus was not born in a palace.

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He was born in a manger because you could be just like Jesus. God loves to do things in the secret.

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And right now you may feel like you're in a manger, but it's because God is doing something that not everybody can see.

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But I'll promise you this. He's doing something. He's preparing you today for what he wants to do tomorrow.

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Nobody knew who Jesus was. Yeah, this is the literal, this is exactly what it means to scratch itching ears.

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People abandoning sound doctrine to be told mythologies about themselves of all things.

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Yeah. Is it any wonder why he's a popular mega church pastor? He ain't preaching the biblical gospel.

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He's telling you you're great. Was when he came on the scene, who is he?

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He, he, he's just James brother, his sisters. I mean, they hang out with us at Starbucks.

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He's not anybody important, but 2000 years later, everybody today knows who Jesus is.

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And the Bible says that in the, and you know what? 2000 years from now, probably everyone will know who you are too.

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Future. Every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that he is Lord. He was born in a manger, but he's at the right hand of the

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God today. He's in a palace today. And that's what Christmas is about. So I love it.

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It's so encouraging. It's encouraging because it's really all about you.

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Such a reminder that you can't allow your circumstances, those things that got you down and got you beat up today.

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Keep you from where God wants to take you tomorrow. Now, if we're going to turn what's upside down, right side up here, here's the second thing you might jot down is learning is learn to enjoy where you are on your way to where you're going.

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Learn to enjoy where you are on your way to where you're going. Now I shared with you a few weeks ago, you know,

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I'm doing better with the driving thing, you know, all the freeway and the stress, you know,

43:23

I'm, I'm patient, but I'm still struggling at the airports. And when we went to New York, how many of you here have any kind of like family or friends in New York, like New York, hate

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New York, any of that kind of stuff. And, you know, we like it. I remember the first time we went to New York and, uh, you know, we're there and we get, have a great time.

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Well, I mean, there's five in our family and four of the five actually got food poisoning. Uh, I'm the only one that didn't cause

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God loves me the most, but just kidding. Just kidding. He likes them.

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But, um, so, so we're getting ready to leave and the fog comes in and you know, they start canceling flights.

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And so I'm freaking out. Cause I'm like, man, we don't have enough money to stay another night in the hotel. And, and I'm just getting stressed.

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I'm like, Steph, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? And, and then I look over at my kids and they're just kind of laying there on the ground, you know, they're in the airport and they got, they're playing cards.

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They got their cards out and, and they got their little, um, I'm not going to tell you the airline, but they were eating blue chips and, and got a

44:27

Coke, you know, and they're just having a great time. They were learning to enjoy where they were on the way to where they were going.

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Now I've, that was a long time ago. I I've taught them better since then, you know, they get stressed out like they're supposed to when things like that happen.

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But just a reminder, that story is not found in the Bible. It's found in the, the, the story of Troy Grambling, but it's not biblical.

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We got to learn to enjoy where we're at on the way to where on the way to where we're going.

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Look what it says in Hebrews chapter five and verses eight and nine. It says, although he, he Hebrews chapter five verses eight and nine, okay.

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Being Jesus was a son, he learned active and special obedience through what he suffered.

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I hate that word suffering. Don't you? Anytime I read it in the Bible. Yeah. See, cause you see Hebrews chapter five is about Jesus experiencing the barn phase of his life.

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Cause he was in it for 30 years, you know, but it says that Jesus learned obedience how through suffering.

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And then it goes on and says, and his completed experience, making him perfectly equipped.

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He became the author, the source of eternal salvation to all those who give heed and obey him.

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And the Bible says that Jesus learned obedience through suffering and that in the manger or in the wilderness, he completed experience and he was equipped.

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You might write those two words down. Notice how he's taking Hebrews five and trying to weave it into his wilderness backside of the wilderness manger experience.

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Well, let's take a look at it in context, Hebrews chapter five, starting at verse one for every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

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He came to deal gently with the ignorant and the wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness because of this, he's obligated to offer sacrifice to for his own sins, just as he does for, for those of the people.

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And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when God God calls just as Aaron was.

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So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son today.

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I begotten you. As he says, also in another place, you are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

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Now in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.

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And he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and being made perfect.

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He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him being designated by God, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

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You'll notice here, he wasn't reading from a good translation. He purposely read from a really bad paraphrase in order to obscure the meaning of what's going on here, because here it's talking about how

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Jesus was our salvation and was obedient to God for our salvation being made perfect.

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He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him being designated by God, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

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About this, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you become dull of hearing for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again, the basic principles of the oracles of God.

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You need milk, not solid food. Yeah. So yeah. Interesting here.

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Hebrews 5 mentions nothing about Jesus' barn phase. But that's how

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Troy is reworking this text from this bad paraphrase in order to make it sound like, you see, this was the pattern that Jesus went through.

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See, Jesus was in obscurity. He was in the barn phase, but through the suffering in the barn phase, he was able to learn obedience.

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And then you see, then that's when he was able to have the breakthrough so that he could become popular and have significance and 2000 years, people remember him.

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So if you're going through this phase in your life, it's just like Jesus. The word experience in the words equipped, you know, it's in the wilderness.

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It's in the manger where you and I learn experience and equipment. That's where we learn experience and we good equipment.

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It's where we learn what we need to know. And we see Hebrews 5 is teaching us that in our wilderness and in our mangers, that's where we learn the experience so we can be equipped for our greatness.

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Get what we need to have. It's in the manger that we learn what we need to know, and we get the skills and the tools that we need to have.

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Just seems like there's something about the manger. There's something about the wilderness.

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There's nobody that's been used great by God that hasn't spent some time in the manger.

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Did you know that there's nobody that's changing this? I'm gonna I'm gonna lose it.

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Really, there's nobody great by God who hasn't been who hasn't spent time in the manger. Now pound my head against something.

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Do you mean that we were all babies once world that hasn't lived in the wilderness?

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There's something that God does in the wilderness. You know, it's in the manger that we learn where to step so that we don't get their poop on us.

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Or maybe it's the it's the messes that we make in the manger that we kind of learn where to step and where we're not to step.

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Right. So now we're allegorizing the animal droppings in the manger. This is ridiculous.

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There's so much experience to be gained in the manger. And yet often we're doing everything we can to get out of the manger.

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It's kind of like if you were to go tomorrow and you were going to have surgery, let's say. And so, you know, you're in there and they're about to give you, you know, the happy medicine.

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But before they do, the doctor comes in and the doctor says, I'm so excited. I've never done this before.

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And, you know, I'll see on the other side. Well, not the other side, but I'll see.

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I'll see in a few hours, you'd be like, I don't know. I don't want the guy or the lady that's never done it before.

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I want the one that's done hundreds or or thousands of them. Because experience, there's something about experience and experience is best learned through suffering.

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It's in the valley, not in the mountaintop. Oh, I wish it was the other way around. Nothing wrong with the mountaintop.

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Great place to live. Love the palace. But there's something about the manger that teaches us experience that can be learned no other place.

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It's why some people have 20 years of experience and some people have one year of experience, 20 different times.

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I mean, they keep doing the same thing when Steph and I moved here. And, you know, we didn't move here to teach.

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We didn't move here to lead. And really, when we moved here, as I've shared with you before, I ended up in the parking lot.

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And and while I was in my manger, there are just some things God taught me. And I want to share with you just really quick, because while I was in my

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Troy Grambling's the son of God, he's the Messiah. While he was in his manger,

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I want you to take some time to think about what is God teaching you? What experience are you gaining in the manger and the challenges you're having in your relationships right now or where you're at financially?

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You know what? I was reading a magazine this morning. Miami is the 98th most miserable place.

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No, no, that's not right. The people who live in Miami are the 98th most miserable people in the country.

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In other words, they took a survey and it was about the number of depression, you know, medicine that we take and the unemployment record and all of that.

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And I think we're like 98 or you could think of it like this. We're the second most miserable people in the

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United States. All right. You know, with the worst, most miserable preachers on the planet.

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And so a lot of us are in the manger, evidently. I mean, we're being careful where we step.

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Here's what I learned. The first thing I learned is don't quit. Don't quit. And when I was out there, don't quit.

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You can always quit tomorrow. In other words, I'm just not going to stop today. The second thing I learned was that small deposits on a consistent basis will add up more than an occasional unloading.

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Now, remember, this is what he learned in the manger phase of his life because Troy's the son of God. In other words, if you really want to save money, how do you do it?

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You put a little bit into savings every time you get paid. You don't just every once in a while unload it.

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If you want to get into shape, you don't just I mean, you exercise what a little bit every day.

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You don't just go for six hours once a month and think you're going to get in shape hanging with God. If you want to get close to God, it's better to spend 10 minutes every day with him than to go one day a month and spend six hours with him.

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It's it adds up quicker if we're consistent than every once in a while, just throwing in a whole bunch.

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Here's the third thing that I learned is difficult discussions or decisions get more difficult with time.

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You know, that discussion you need to have with your spouse, your best friend, your boss, your employee, the longer you wait, the more difficult it's going to get that decision you need to make that you've been putting off hoping that somehow it'd work itself out.

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It's not going to work itself out. It's going to work itself into a bigger problem. You just got to go ahead and make it.

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Here's the fourth thing I learned is don't worry about what other people think of you. Isn't this just amazing pearls of wisdom from Troy Gramling's manger phase?

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Because they're not thinking of you. You know, some of us came today. We've got all dressed up.

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We looked in the mirror and we're like, well, I just I just hope everybody thinks I look nice. You know what? What do you think about my shoes?

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Well, nobody's thinking about your shoes. They're thinking about their shoes and what you think about their shoes.

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But you're not thinking about their shoes. You're thinking about your shoes and what they're thinking about your shoes. In other words, nobody's thinking about anybody else's shoes other than the one that's wearing them.

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Right. You can't worry about what other people are thinking. Here's the fifth thing that I learned is criticism is the result of doing something, not the result of doing something wrong.

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It's just the result of doing something. Oh, yeah. See, criticism. You don't get criticized when you do something wrong.

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No, no, no. You just do something and someone will criticize you. Something amazing about experience that can only be learned, that can only be discovered in the manger.

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But Jesus not only learned experience, he was also equipped. You guys ever go to school with somebody that every time the teacher said, get out a pencil and paper, they would lean over to you and say, hey, can

55:53

I borrow a pencil and paper? They might go to school with somebody like that. You don't talk. How many of you were that person?

55:59

Notice he's not doing any biblical preaching here. And what biblical preaching he attempted to do was all out of context.

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And he wove together his own deceitful narrative. This is not what the Bible teaches at all.

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You can't reach your destiny, borrowing somebody else's tools.

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You've got to have your own tools to reach your destiny. It's kind of like that doctor when he comes in and he's like, ah, you know,

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I've never done it before. And I left my scalpel at home. Yeah, you got to have your own tools if you want to reach your destiny.

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This is what he learned in his manger phase, you know, because I mean, he's just preaching his life as if he's the son of God, you know, can

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I use your butter knife? You know, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're not going to use my butter knife to accomplish your destiny.

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You can't borrow tools. You have to get them yourself. And the only way to get them, only place to get them is in the manger.

56:57

You remember Moses and God came to Moses on the backside of the desert.

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He lit up that bush. He got Moses's attention. And he says, Moses, I'm going to do something in your life right now.

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And, and Moses starts to argue with him a little bit, man, God, I'm 80 years old and two thirds through my life and, and all these different things.

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And God speaks to him in Exodus chapter four and verse number two. And here's what he says, says, then the Lord asked him, what is that in your hand?

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And Moses says, well, it's a, it's a shepherd's staff. You see, Moses's story is all about you learning to follow the pattern of Moses is, you know, going from, you know, nothing to something, you know, from zero to hero.

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It's the only thing I own. When I left Egypt, I left everything behind. I ran out of there as fast as I could.

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And Moses had the only thing that was his, his shepherd's staff. It's what he used to guide the sheep.

57:51

He picked it up every day on his way out. It's the thing that he used in his business.

57:57

It's the thing that he used to protect himself. Yeah. By the way, that reminded me, y 'all seen the movie

58:04

Hercules. This is the, uh, what Troy Grambling here is preaching is not actually biblical theology.

58:10

This is the theology of Disney's movie Hercules. Yeah. Listen in.

58:56

I'm sorry. I get really excited. Listen to that kind of music. Okay. So weird though.

59:02

Don't you think that's the weird that Troy Grambling's preaching the theology, the same exact theology from Disney's Hercules zero to hero.

59:12

And the way he's pulling it off is by completely mangling the biblical text, not really telling us the story of Jesus or the

59:18

Christmas story, but somehow pouring into it this theology in this theology, of course, well, it's mythological.

59:25

It's, I mean, it's not even the real story of Hercules per se, but huh.

59:30

Hmm. I think Troy Grambling has been well, greater influenced theologically by Hercules Disney's version than by what the

59:39

Bible really teaches. Hmm. Strange. Let's continue. It's the thing that he relied upon.

59:44

It's the thing that was always right there beside him. He says, God, it is a shepherd staff.

59:50

And what does God ask him to do? And verse three, he says, we'll throw it down on the ground. Yeah. And so Moses throws it down on the ground.

59:58

Yeah. And if you keep reading, you know what happens when he threw it down on the ground, it turned into a snake.

01:00:03

Yeah. Cause God was trying to show him. He had some great things, man. And I love the

01:00:09

Bible because, because Moses went from zero to hero too. It says that Moses did what you and I would do.

01:00:15

He jumped back. Oh, wow. Cause it was a snake. He didn't want to get bit. I knew what

01:00:20

God said. God said, pick it up. Yeah. Come on God, make me a glove or something. You know,

01:00:26

I'm just pick it up. Come on. I mean, is it poisonous? You know, God says, pick it up. And Moses reached down and picked it up by the tail.

01:00:33

And when he did it turned back into a staff. See, there was something that happened to that staff when

01:00:39

Moses threw it down, something supernatural happened. God turned it into a snake.

01:00:44

Duh. When Moses threw it down, God added something to that staff so that when he picked it up, it wasn't what he threw down.

01:00:54

The staff he threw down was just a piece of wood, but the staff he picked up divided the red sea.

01:00:59

Even the staff went from zero to hero. No way. There's something about throwing down what's in your hand.

01:01:09

Right? I mean, you've got that thing and God said, man, I want you to throw it down. I want you to surrender it to me.

01:01:15

I want you to give it to me. And he's going to turn you into a snake. And until you give it to me,

01:01:22

I can't supernaturally act upon it so that when you pick it up, it's not what you threw down.

01:01:29

I mean, can you imagine if Moses would have got there with his staff and had not thrown it down? This is just absurd.

01:01:37

I, Oh man. Somebody send that boy back to seminary. Uh, they would have all drowned in the red sea.

01:01:45

Yeah. Cause aren't you glad that Moses remembered to activate the staff so that it had the, had the special mojo powers.

01:01:53

Cause if he hadn't had done that, you know, everyone would have drowned in the red sea. Would it ever been able to part it?

01:01:59

Something about throwing it down. I was thinking about when Steph and I got ready to, to move here.

01:02:05

Yeah. Cause his life is just like Moses is. And, uh, God said, I want you to throw down your house, you know, cause we were young and we'd just been married.

01:02:13

You could lift your house and throw it down. That's impressive. I mean, you don't even look like you work out.

01:02:19

You know, you do what you do. You rent a house. You, we lived in our, uh, my father -in -law,

01:02:25

Stephanie's parents' basement. And I don't know, you know, we don't have basements in South Florida.

01:02:31

It's it's, it's rooms under the ground, you know, and they, they tend to have low ceilings and, and this one had a low ceiling and it had a ceiling fan that hit me about right here.

01:02:41

Okay. And, and I'd be back in the kind of kitchen area or the bedroom. And so was this in the main, still part of the manger phase of your life, but he would knock on the door and from the bedroom to the front door was the ceiling fan.

01:02:55

And I would forget that it was there every single day. Well, that explains a lot.

01:03:01

Cause you know, and I'd hear that doorbell ringing, you know, thinking, Ooh, that's my, you know, that's, uh, Ed McMahon with my check and, and I'd take off running and I'd hit that ceiling fan and it would not meet to the ground.

01:03:14

And as it probably just made you incapable of rightly handling God's word to obviously you're handicapped when it comes to biblical exegesis and goes back to the ceiling fan incidences.

01:03:25

I was kind of waking up later. I'd think, man, this is so, so humiliating, you know?

01:03:31

Well, finally we bought a house, had our own house at three bedrooms, two baths and tile floor.

01:03:38

I mean, it was our, it was our house. And God said, I want you to, I want you to throw it down. I want you to give it to me and move to Florida.

01:03:47

Did he turn it into a snake? And Steph and I threw that down and we moved here. We didn't move to South Florida into a palace.

01:03:54

We moved into a mobile home and nothing wrong with a mobile home, but it wasn't near as nice as the house that we threw down.

01:04:02

But you know what? A couple of years ago, Steph and I were able to move into a home. That's just beautiful.

01:04:09

Did you do a circle maker prayer in order for that to happen? Or did you pray a sunstand still prayer or did you chase the wild goose?

01:04:17

That's so much nicer for us than the house that we threw down. See, because when you throw down what's in your hand,

01:04:24

God does something to it so that when you pick it up, it's not what you threw down.

01:04:32

When we got ready to move here. The other thing God told me to throw down was, was my teaching. You know?

01:04:38

I mean, I mean, we had planned. Well, it's obvious God didn't pick it up. The church, we had started a church.

01:04:45

I had given up coaching so that I could be a pastor so that I could be a teacher. When I moved here,

01:04:50

I yelled a lot because I was serving in the parking lot, but I wasn't teaching. I wasn't preaching.

01:04:56

And, and, and God said, man, I want you to, I want you to throw that down. And I just remember being here and different things happening.

01:05:02

And, and Samantha, but can I tell you something? See, God wanted me to throw that down so that he could do something in my teaching so that when

01:05:09

I would pick it up, it'd be more powerful. Yeah. Notice by the way, none of this makes any sense.

01:05:16

Really. How do you throw down your teaching? Uh, what does that mean exactly?

01:05:21

It doesn't mean anything. Then that it was when I threw it down, that God does something and there's something in your life that God wants you to throw it down.

01:05:30

And you're like, you don't understand God. It's only thing that I have. It's really, God wants me to throw something down.

01:05:38

Oh, hang on a second here. Here's a bottle of a staples, clean your computer screen fluid.

01:05:44

Hang on there. I just threw it down. Didn't turn into a snake or nothing.

01:05:51

What do I want to have? Once I pick it up thing that I use every single day, it may be a relationship.

01:05:56

It may be a home. It may be finances, but God says that if you'll throw it down, when you pick it back up, it's going to be supernaturally activated.

01:06:04

Hang on a second. I'm going to see if my screen cleaning fluid is now supernaturally activated. Let's see here.

01:06:11

Nope. It works just the same. There's nothing super. I threw it down. Huh? Weird.

01:06:17

Nothing happened. And what you pick up is not going to be what you threw down. It's going to be more powerful.

01:06:23

It's going to accomplish what you need to accomplish to hang on. Let's see. I mean, I've got my screen wet.

01:06:30

Let's see if it's more powerful now that I threw it down. I'm just not noticing any noticeable difference.

01:06:38

I mean, okay, so I've maybe it's I should grab the screen cleaning fluid from office max and throw that down instead and see if it becomes supernaturally activated.

01:06:49

Live your destiny, but you got to throw it down. The Bible says in first Peter, so humble yourselves under the mighty power of God.

01:06:59

And at the right time, he will lift you up. So don't allow your circumstances today to determine your tomorrow.

01:07:08

You got to learn to enjoy where you're at on the way to where you're going. And Exodus chapter 33,

01:07:16

Moses has led the people of God out of bondage. And so he's out of the wilderness manger thing now.

01:07:22

And he's what phases in exactly kind of on their way to the promised land. And God takes

01:07:28

Moses to this mountaintop and he gives him the 10 commandments. You heard of the 10 commandments, you know, and he writes them in stone.

01:07:34

Now why God and Moses are on the top of the mountain, writing out the 10 commandments. One of them, which says, you know, not to have any idols.

01:07:41

You know what the people of God are doing? They're building an idol. It's a golden calf. And Moses gets all upset and throws down the stone tablets and they break into pieces.

01:07:50

And God says, you know what? He says, I'm done with you. He says, you can go to the promised land, but you're going by yourself.

01:07:56

I'm not going with you. And Moses is like, no, God, you can't do that. God will never make it without you.

01:08:03

We need your power. We, we need your passion and, and, and God relents.

01:08:09

And he says, I'll go. And Moses is like, well, God, I want to see your power, man. I want to,

01:08:14

I want to experience your presence. And God says, really serious. This is how are you getting any of the, this from that story?

01:08:22

I mean, really you can't notice. He's not reading it. If he was reading it, he couldn't make any of these claims.

01:08:29

This is absurd. Man can see my face and live. And so in Exodus chapter 33 in verse 22, here's what happened.

01:08:37

God's speaking to Moses. And he says, as my glorious presence, cause God says, okay, I'm going to walk in front of you, but here's what we're going to do.

01:08:45

When my presence passes by, I'm going to hide you in the crevice of a rock.

01:08:50

And God says, I'm going to cover your face with my hand until I have passed by, then

01:08:56

I'm going to take away my hand and you'll see my back, but nobody can see my face and live.

01:09:03

And what does all of that mean? I was here listening to someone teach just the other day. Here's what you can write down.

01:09:08

What does all that mean is that you may not see him coming, but you will always know when he's been there.

01:09:15

In other words, when Moses was on the backside of the desert, he, I've just am speechless.

01:09:25

I mean, this is the most, this absurd stuff I've ever heard in my life.

01:09:31

This guy doesn't know how to hold a single biblically lucid thought in his brain. It's obviously it's from the low hanging ceiling fan incident.

01:09:41

He didn't see God coming. He's just out on a normal day doing what he had always done.

01:09:47

He didn't know that God was coming his way. But can I tell you, he knew we, he had been there when the bush lit up and God took him and used him to set his people free.

01:09:57

I remember when we were in Arkansas and our things in our life were kind of falling apart. It was a normal, average, ordinary day.

01:10:03

I just got up like I had always got up. And then all of a sudden I got a phone call that invited me to South Florida and radically changed my life.

01:10:15

You see what I've discovered is that God, God works suddenly. You don't see him coming, but you know, when he's been there, man, we moved to South Florida and we're out there in the parking lot.

01:10:27

And it's not exactly what I thought. It's not exactly what I expected. And I'm like, God, man, why can't

01:10:32

I teach? Why, why can't I have an opportunity? But then suddenly Pastor Dan asked me if I would teach on a

01:10:39

Wednesday and it forever changed my life because you may not see God coming in your life, but I'll tell you something.

01:10:44

You'll always know when he's been there because when God, yeah, listen, don't be blaming

01:10:50

God for you teaching. It's obvious that based upon the fact you can't handle

01:10:56

God's word, God doesn't want you teaching. How you turned out to be teaching is probably a judgment from God not to feed his sheep, but God shows up.

01:11:05

God does something. He takes you out of the manger and he puts you in the palace. He allows you to run after your destiny.

01:11:12

And I remember the church kind of going as a normal day, just ordinary day, got up, got dressed like I always do.

01:11:19

And all of a sudden I got a phone call or had someone walk up to me and say, Hey, I think we ought to put the next series on TV since they were paying for it.

01:11:27

I thought it was a good idea too. And that radically changed my life and the direction of this church.

01:11:33

Can I can I tell you cue sappy music? Um, something God does suddenly.

01:11:42

Yeah, that sounds so amazing. Yeah. God does. Suddenly, you just throw an adverb in there.

01:11:51

God does. Slowly. God does drippingly.

01:11:59

God does sappily. It just sounds profound, doesn't it? You know, kind of work.

01:12:05

Just so it may be a rainy kind of day. It may be a normal day. You just do what you've always done.

01:12:12

You Yeah, because God does rainily. Just get up and you put your pants on like you've always put your pants on.

01:12:18

Yeah, because you might still be in your manger phase and thinking you'll never have the great glory in the palace.

01:12:25

So you put your pants on thinking it's just like any other manger kind of day and and then

01:12:32

God will suddenly do something big. They come to a service because somebody happened to ask you to come to a service.

01:12:41

And so you come kind of doing your religious duty. But suddenly, God knows where you're at. Suddenly God finds the chair you're at, and he comes to you and he radically changes your life.

01:12:52

And your life is never the same. Again. It's suddenly, suddenly you are accepted.

01:13:02

This is like a complete string of absurdities. You are highly favored.

01:13:10

Yeah, you are highly favored just like Mary. For some of us, it's time to get out of the manger and move in the direction of the palace.

01:13:22

For some of us, it's time to throw down that thing that we've hung on to for so long.

01:13:27

For some of us, it is our spiritual suddenly moment. This is your moment you only came

01:13:34

Yeah, because I mean, are you looking for your spiritual suddenly moment? Oh, bring your bring the poop from your manger up because you're getting ready to throw it down into your kingdom and make progress towards your kingdom.

01:13:48

Somebody asked you, but God found you didn't he? And the whole time I've been talking, God's been talking to you.

01:13:53

He's saying, you know what, that's you. He's talking to you. What's he saying? What's going on in your life?

01:14:00

No, no, I got I'm back here. And nobody can see what's going on in my nobody knows me. Nobody.

01:14:05

Nobody knows me, God. You know, I'm just the geeky nerdy guy at the seventh grade dance that none of the really cool girls want to dance with.

01:14:17

They just want to make fun of me God. Because I was born in a manger. No, no, God says no.

01:14:23

He's talking to you. This is your sudden. No, it's my suddenly found where you're at.

01:14:30

And he wants to do something with where you're at. He wants Yeah, he wants to think be do my process right to do something with you forever change your spiritual eternity.

01:14:44

But you gotta you gotta surrender. Right? You gotta throw it down. You gotta step towards him.

01:14:54

And so in just a moment, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do that.

01:14:59

Yeah, I'm sure you will. I don't even know what it means. If you're here, and God which direction is he so I can step there found where you're at.

01:15:07

This is your suddenly. Yeah, you haven't been brought to repentance and the forgiveness of your sins.

01:15:12

You're being brought to greatness. And he found the chair you're sitting in. Maybe you're watching online or on your lucky day television.

01:15:20

And the last thing you expected was to encounter God, but he found you. Oh, I had no idea.

01:15:29

It's your son. Yes, it's my son. Oh, I finally feel like I can have some strength to carry on because my suddenly has come.

01:15:40

And you gotta decide whether you're going to throw it down and be obedient. Throw what down? Are you just gonna hope that it'll pass?

01:15:50

Huh? Listen to me, you didn't see God coming. But you will know, right? He has been here.

01:15:57

Yeah, cuz he does. He likes to work in secret. Yeah, you said that. And take courage in a moment.

01:16:02

I'm gonna pray. And at the end of this prayer, I'll pray for us. Please don't. In this prayer, we're gonna sing one last song together.

01:16:10

And I'm going to invite you if you're here. And this is your suddenly, are you gonna sing Hercules zero to hero, man,

01:16:15

God's grabbed your heart. God's been speaking to you about what? Just come and join me here at the front.

01:16:22

I'm gonna do anything weird. I'm gonna do anything crazy. The whole sermon has been weird. We're just gonna finish singing the song and I'm gonna lead you in a prayer.

01:16:30

The power of throwing down to embrace your density, simple prayer, but a prayer that suddenly can change your life today and your eternity tomorrow.

01:16:42

Don't let where you're at today determine where you're going to be tomorrow. Would you bow your head?

01:16:48

No, you don't get to pray for me at all. What you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things

01:16:59

I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling incoherent response, were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought?

01:17:11

Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points and may

01:17:19

God have mercy on your soul. The ultimate insult from the movie

01:17:26

Billy Madison. This is unbelievable. That folks was the worst excuse for a

01:17:34

Christmas sermon I have ever heard in my entire life. I mean,

01:17:39

Troy Gramling has no business teaching Bible to a group of preschoolers who still haven't learned the

01:17:47

English language yet, let alone leading a church. That was abysmal, narcissistic, eisegetical ridiculousness and this demonstrates perfectly what's wrong in so many churches today.

01:18:09

He needs to repent because I don't even know what he believes, but if he believes what he just preached that somehow the

01:18:17

Christmas story is about him or you or me. Well, may

01:18:22

God have mercy on his soul because he doesn't even know what the biblical gospel is. He doesn't even know what the

01:18:27

Christian faith is. How did he become a pastor? He needs to go back to working in the parking lot.

01:18:36

Even that might be too dangerous of a place. He probably shouldn't even be allowed on church property. Unbelievable.

01:18:43

So there you go. I don't even know what to say. I mean, how do you undo that damage?

01:18:50

I mean, was Christ preached? No, the pieces about Jesus, that was all emptied of.

01:18:56

I mean, talk about a Christless Christmas sermon. So I don't want to hear nobody complaining about the fact that the lady at Walgreen's said happy holidays.

01:19:06

That's what's wrong with the Christian church right now. That's the problem. You know,

01:19:12

I'm just going to go and cool off. Anyway, if you'd like to email me regarding anything you've heard on this edition or any previous editions of Fighting for the

01:19:21

Faith, you can do so. My email address talkbackatfightingforthefaith .com or you can ask to be my friend on Facebook.

01:19:27

It's facebook .com forward slash pirate Christian or you can follow me on Twitter. My name there, pirate Christian. Until tomorrow, may

01:19:32

God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.

01:19:38

Christmas is about him and what he did. Sorry, I did it again. See you later.