Isaiah | A Promise of Peace Week 1

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- Peace is not solving my problems,

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it's not avoiding my problems.

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Peace is in spite of my problems, keeping hope.

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- (singing) Oh, Christmas tree,

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oh, Christmas tree, [indiscernible]

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Hey, it's Christmas time again.

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We've been here before, right?

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Every year we're talking about the same people:

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there's Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the wise man,

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rinse, cycle, do it again. Rinse and repeat.

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Not this year.

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It turns out the Christmas story

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has some interesting characters

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who affect it in massive ways,

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and they're not even in this Nativity set.

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Those are the characters and the stories

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we're digging in today because we believe

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they have the biggest impact on your life and my life.

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We're going to start with my friend Paco

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to unpack a character who's impacted this story

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and was a live hundreds of years before it.

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(singing) Oh, Christmas tree (mumbles).

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I don't know the words.

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- We're all familiar with Mary and Joseph

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and the shepherds and the wise men.

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But there's a whole second cast of characters

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hiding in the shadows behind the Nativity.

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Today we meet Isaiah.

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Isaiah was a Hebrew prophet that lived

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700 years before the birth of Christ.

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He spoke on behalf of the leaders of Israel and Judah.

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He prophesied God's judgment and his hope for Israel.

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Today we look at his prophecy

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of the coming of the long awaited Messiah.

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In the book of Isaiah, we hear these words:

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- You know what, I can't stand?

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Waiting. It's the worst.

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I'm all about what's next.

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My whole life is built around what is next.

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Look, there's no off season in sports, right?

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The season ends, the next one begins.

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What's next?

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I'm on to the next episode before the credits even roll.

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And guess what?

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Thanksgiving's over, so you know what that means?

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Christmas is next, baby. It's Christmas season.

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Now, don't worry, I'm not one of those

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weird Christmas music before Thanksgiving people.

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And by the way, if you played Christmas music

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this October, I'm very disappointed.

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No, stop it.

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This is the best season ever.

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The whole world waits for Christmas.

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Problem is, too many of us miss out on the best part.

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So today I'm going to reveal to you the biggest thing

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people miss when it comes to Christmas.

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We've been doing Christmas wrong this whole time.

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But don't worry, I got you. We're going to fix it.

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And to really get to know the meaning

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and the power behind Christmas, we've got to start

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with the players in the story.

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This right here is the Nativity scene.

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You probably have seen these folks.

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This is little Baby Jesus right here. You see Him.

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There's big mama Mary right there.

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There's Joseph, Daddy-O Joseph there.

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These dudes. There's an angel.

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This guy is here.

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He's a wise man, and he's here for a diversity, right?

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You see the players, the sheep, the lamb, the goat,

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thing, the manger scene, typical Christmas.

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All the usual suspects for this wonderful occasion.

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But today I want us to zoom out a little bit

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and see the bigger story

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that God is telling in Christmas.

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And to do that, we've got to zoom out

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really, really far.

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We've got to go all the way back

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to this dude right here.

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This guy. Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos.

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Mr. Here I am, send me.

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Big prophet type energy.

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This guy serving under five ruling under kings

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and doing the things.

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This is the Prophet Isaiah,

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a mouthpiece from God to the people of Israel.

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And he plays one of the biggest roles

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in the story of Christmas.

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And it all happened 700 years before the manger scene,

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before Jesus was born.

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What does he have to do with Christmas?

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Well, first, Isaiah was anticipating something huge,

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the same way we anticipate Christmas each year.

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You know, if you ever wanted something for Christmas,

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you made your list, your Amazon wish list,

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and you thought about it every single day afterwards.

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Or that thing that you put on your Christmas list

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and you thought about year after year because

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you just never seem to get it,

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but you kept hoping like maybe next year,

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but still nothing.

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Isaiah and his people were waiting for a Savior

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in the very same way.

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Here's a famous Christmas quotable from Isaiah 7:14:

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There it is. You love it. Emmanuel, God is with us.

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I love that song. It puts me in the Christmas spirit.

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I'm feeling the vibes.

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But here's the thing, we have Christmas vibes

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that we think are traditional, right?

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But we're those vibes what Isaiah

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and his people were feeling?

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You know the the traditional Christmas vibes:

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gentle snowfall, nice sweaters, you know, hot chocolate,

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maybe maybe a sheep going baa in the distance,

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maybe a live Nativity scene, maybe seeing like,

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you know, beautiful presents under a tree.

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You know, traditional Christmas vibes?

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That wasn't the life that Isaiah

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and his people were living.

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That wasn't what it was like for Isaiah

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during his time.

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So the question becomes, why would Isaiah

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be waiting for God to be with him,

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for God to be with them?

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It's not because they wanted a new toy

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and wanted a new iPod.

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It's because they wanted God to be with them

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because they were in an absolute mess.

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Here's how the Bible describes it:

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Israel was being plundered on all sides.

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God was upset with them because they had

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turned their back on God

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and they were looking for a literal Savior.

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They messed up what God had set up for them.

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And in the midst of God's divine judgment,

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God reveals to Isaiah a promise that God would

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someday come back and be with them.

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Despite all of the knuckle headed nonsense

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that Israel was dealing with,

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God was going to deliver them.

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And there were staring down the barrel of real threats.

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It's important to note, during Isaiah's time,

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while he was waiting for a Savior,

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there was a kingdom of Syria coming down

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to take control of the southern Kingdom of Judah.

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That's where Isaiah lived, in the city of Jerusalem.

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And Isaiah wanted peace. He longed for it.

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He waited for it hopefully.

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His other famous quotable from Isaiah 9:

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That right there, that is some Christmas prophecy.

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But we've got to look a little closer.

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We've got to look a little bit closer to

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the context of of this whole story playing out.

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Isaiah lives 700 years before Christ was born,

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and he doesn't live to be 700.

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He dies hundreds of years before this

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famous manger scene happens.

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Under a hostile regime. You know what that means?

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That means Isaiah never got to celebrate Christmas.

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He never got to see the prophecy fulfilled.

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In his earthly life, he never saw the kind of peace

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that God had promised him.

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But he found peace in embracing the beauty of hope,

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the beauty of the promise.

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He found peace in the waiting.

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So my question for you is: What are you waiting for?

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And I'm not talking about A Lexus

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in the front of your house with a bow on it.

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I'm talking about what you're really waiting for?

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Think about your life for a second.

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Think about the things that you long for,

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that you hope for, that you want so badly.

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I know some of us this holiday season,

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we've been waiting and waiting and hoping and praying

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for a spouse for a really long time.

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And you're looking at your life and you're like,

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"Man, I don't want to spend the next month

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scrolling through people with matching pajamas.

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I don't want to spend the rest of the holiday,

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the rest of December looking at people doing

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epic proposals in front of beautiful Christmas trees."

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You're waiting.

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You're waiting for that promise to come true.

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Some of us, we've received a diagnosis recently

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and we're thinking through just how many

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more Christmases do we really have?

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You're just waiting for maybe something to change

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or something to get better.

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Maybe some of us, we're in a situation financially

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where our job is just not cutting it,

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and we're waiting and hoping and praying

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and working towards maybe a better job

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so we can give our family that kind of Christmas

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that we know they they want.

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What is it that you're really waiting for?

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Maybe you you're going to sit at a table

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this holiday season, this Christmas season,

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and you're going to look over the kid table

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and it's going to remind you of just how long

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you've been hoping and waiting

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for a child to fill a seat.

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You're waiting. We're all waiting for something.

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And let's be clear here, I want all of these things

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to come true for you this Christmas.

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I want all the things that you're waiting for

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to happen right now for you. I do.

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But we have a flawed view of what waiting is,

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because we have a flawed view of what peace is.

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See, peace is not solving my problems,

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it's not avoiding my problems.

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Peace is in spite of my problems keeping hope,

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having hope.

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The peace of Christmas is not in

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the elimination of peaceful circumstances,

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that's called wishful thinking.

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The peace of Christmas is continuing to ask,

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continuing to hope, continuing to trust

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that God's promises of being with us are real

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and will eventually happen.

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The peace of Christmas is found in

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the long-term belief of God's goodness.

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Maybe even mega long term,

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of waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled.

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In Chapter 40, Isaiah says it like this:

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This snapshot of Isaiah's life and the prophecy

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that God gave him and this snapshot of God

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being with us in this manger, it's connected

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to an even larger, more epic story that

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I'm going to share with you in just a second.

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So be patient. Wait, more to come.

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- Hey, I'm just going to jump in here really quick

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and talk about giving for 30 seconds, I promise. Go.

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Isaiah 1:19, says if you are willing and obedient,

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you shall eat the good of the land.

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Giving a spiritual act

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and it's one we believe God wants us to do,

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if nothing more and to be obedient.

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And being obedient is not like telling my dog to sit

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or whatever.

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It's more like listening and staying in line

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with what God would have for your life

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based on his character.

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Giving us one of those things.

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It can expose whether your heart is with God

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or with something else.

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And you know year end giving us a big deal

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this time of year.

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And I just want to ask that if you're considering

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giving at year end that you would consider us.

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You go to Crossroads.net/give for more information.

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Let's get back to Paco.

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- Christmas is a snapshot in God's unfolding plan

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for you and for me.

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Too often we're looking at this Christmas thing,

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we're thinking, God is with us.

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Yeah. There he is, right there, the little baby. Yay.

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And we leave it at the manger.

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We leave the story at the manger.

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And Christmas, it's just a snapshot of God's story.

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The God of the Cosmos comes,

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and He puts himself in human form.

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Big deal; that is a huge deal.

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But if we leave it here,

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we lose its power and its potency.

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I don't want you to short sell the power of Christmas

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and the power of God's promises.

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So what we've got to do is we've got to see

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what the rest of the story plays out

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because Isaiah was waiting for God to be with us.

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Then what next?

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Well, eventually this little guy,

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little Baby Jesus here would grow up

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and He would become a grown man,

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and He would start to fulfill even more of the promises

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that God gave to Isaiah.

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And in Luke 14, he says this:

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See all that stuff that Jesus was saying,

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He's quoting Isaiah 61.

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All the stuff that Jesus is saying,

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He's saying, "I'm going to bring that.

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I'm going to bring that to people.

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Freedom from guilt and shame,

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a life of joy and abundance, hope for the future,

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peace for right now, peace in the waiting."

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Jesus says, "Hey, I'm that guy.

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You want peace? I'm that guy.

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You want hope? I'm that guy.

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You want a future? I'm that guy."

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He is saying the prophecy has been fulfilled in Jesus.

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How do we know that this was the thing?

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How do we know that he wasn't

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just kind of talking talk?

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Well, wait, right there. I'll show you.

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We know that because the Cross.

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You see this little baby that we see in the manger,

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these little baby hands and these little baby feet,

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they would eventually grow up to be

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full grown man hands and feet,

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and a nail would pierce them

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as Jesus hung up on a Cross.

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This little baby's skin that has, you know, baby lotion

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would eventually become a full grown man body

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that would be pierced.

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Jesus would put himself up on a Cross

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to redeem us, to redeem humanity, to redeem people.

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And it's a gruesome death to die on a Cross.

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But it had to happen because the promises of God

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are going to come true.

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Here's another quotable from Isaiah 53:

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Pierced for our transgressions.

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See that deliverance from bondage

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that Isaiah was hoping for,

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that maybe you and I are hoping for,

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it's answered in what Jesus did.

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The breaking down of strongholds in our life,

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the promise is answered in what Jesus did.

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Justice promised in what Jesus did,

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comfort when we're hurting, promised in what Jesus did.

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Good news to the poor and to mourning,

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promised in what Jesus did.

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Not just by dying.

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Big part of it, but by what happened three days later.

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See, three days later, Jesus was in a tomb

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and He gets up out of the grave

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and He walks out of the tomb.

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It's called resurrection.

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You see, the story of Christmas is tied to

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the large story that God is unfolding

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that includes the resurrection of our Savior Jesus,

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and it includes power that can be in you and me

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to overcome anything we face,

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to be able to withstand everything

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that life throws at us, to have peace while we wait.

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And wild for me to say this,

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but the story of God doesn't even end here.

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Revelation 19, we get this image of Jesus coming back.

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Not as a baby, not as a -- not as a carpenter builder.

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He's coming back riding a white horse

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with a sword in His mouth and a rod in His hand,

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ready to claim it all, ready to make it all right.

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And until that day, we're still waiting.

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And we still hold on to His promises

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that He will sustain us.

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It's the same way Isaiah waited,

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the same way the people in this stable waited,

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the same way followers of Jesus have been waiting.

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I am anticipating Jesus's return.

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I'm anticipating coming in all His fullness

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and the full fulfillment of that ancient promise,

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that super old prophecy

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that He's going to make everything right.

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He is going to be the person that redeems all of us

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and all the brokenness in the world.

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I don't want you to short sell the promises of God

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because you're only focused on

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parts of the story that is unfolding.

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Christmas is a chapter in the long unfolding story

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of God that started well before Isaiah,

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included His prophecies,

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included Emmanuel God with us in this manger,

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includes the Cross, includes Jesus's resurrection,

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and also includes His return to make everything right.

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So while you wait, while you wait,

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I want you to hold tight to God's promise

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that if He said it, He will do it.

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Christmas is about anticipation, it's about waiting,

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waiting for the peace that comes

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when God fulfills His promises.

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And the greatest news is you can have peace

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while you wait.

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In the middle of the wildest season of the year,

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you can have this peace that passes all understanding.

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So while you're waiting on God, I want you to do this.

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I want you to lead into something this holiday season,

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this Christmas season.

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While you wait for that thing that feels like

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it's just not going to come.

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I want you to trust like Isaiah.

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Because you can grow in peace, you can grow in hope,

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and you can lean into the belief that if God said it,

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it will come as promised.

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- That can be life changing, can't it?

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To know that I can have hope,

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I can have peace in God's unknown.

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You know, Paco talked about Isaiah who prophesied

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about this awaited Savior who was coming.

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One of the best ways to experience that hope

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and that peace is through music.

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And great news, our band actually made an album

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a number of years ago called Awaited

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by the artist Awaited.

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You can find it on Spotify or Apple Music.

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And I would love to just invite you

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to make it part of your Christmas soundtrack.

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It directly talks about this awaited one

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that Paco talked about.

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You can sink your mind in that hope and that peace.

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We also wanted to let you know this is not a TV show.

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We are a community.

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There is an online community that you can be part of,

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no matter who you are, no matter where you live.

00:21:01

One of the ways to take a step into that community

00:21:03

is by joining our Night of Prayer.

00:21:05

It's on December 2nd.

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Whether you love prayer, whether prayer

00:21:08

is something that's intimidating to you,

00:21:10

this is the place for you to experience

00:21:12

that breakthrough of peace and power in your life.

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Also, by the way, as a community, we need more mentors.

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We need people who are at the place in their life

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to say, "Hey, I think I could help somebody.

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I think I can walk them just

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a step or two closer to Jesus."

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If that's you, we would love to know.

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Details about both of those things, by the way,

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are online.crossroads.net.

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That's it for this week.

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We'll see you next time on Crossroads.

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