Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000033S
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00:00 - This is the time of year
00:01 that a lot of people hang lights on their houses, 00:03 and personally, I'm kind of glad for it 00:05 because I'm not a fan of short days in winter nights. 00:08 So, any effort to dispel the darkness 00:11 more than welcome in my book. 00:13 And today I'm gonna suggest 00:14 that there's one really big light 00:16 that a lot of people seem to be forgetting. 00:19 [upbeat music] 00:40 I think that today, 00:41 given the fact that it's the Christmas season, 00:43 when most people seem to be aware of the birth of Christ, 00:46 I'm gonna start today by reading from the opening words 00:50 of the gospel of John. 00:52 Here's what it says, 00:54 "In the beginning was the word 00:55 "and the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:58 "He was in the beginning with God. 01:00 "All things were made through Him, 01:02 "and without Him nothing was made that was made." 01:06 So what it's telling us is that Christ Himself 01:09 is the creator, 01:10 which naturally leads to this next thought in verse four. 01:14 "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 01:17 "And the light shines in the darkness 01:20 "and the darkness did not comprehend it." 01:23 The way the Bible describes it, 01:25 the human race was living in the dark 01:27 the day that Jesus was born, at least spiritually speaking. 01:31 A lot of generations had come and gone 01:33 since the human fall from grace. 01:34 And we had compromised our knowledge of God, 01:37 rather severely over the passing centuries, 01:40 to the point where we made a caricature out of our creator. 01:44 Where God had declared that He is love, 01:47 we taught ourselves to think of Him as a relentless tyrant, 01:50 who would destroy us if He didn't get His way. 01:53 We looked at all the heartache and trouble 01:55 that we caused in this world, 01:57 and we somehow managed to convince ourselves 01:59 that all that pain was God's fault. 02:02 And so, in the biblical narrative, 02:04 God intervened by taking on human form 02:07 and entering our human history. 02:09 And over in the book of Hebrews, 02:11 we have this amazing statement 02:13 that kind of describes the moment Jesus adopted humanity. 02:17 It says, "Therefore, when He came into the world, He said, 02:22 "sacrifice and offering you did not desire, 02:25 "but a body you have prepared for Me." 02:29 I know that people often talk about the sacrifices 02:31 of the Old Testament 02:33 and use them to create a distorted picture of God, 02:36 insisting that He must be 02:37 some kind of blood thirsty pagan deity 02:39 whose arbitrary wrath against the human race 02:42 can only be appeased by the violent shedding of blood. 02:47 But, in examining the birth of Christ, 02:49 we suddenly see that it's God who makes the real sacrifice 02:53 in the story found in this book. 02:56 The entire sacrificial system of the Old Testament 02:59 was not some kind of pagan appeasement ritual, 03:02 it was a symbolic foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice. 03:06 God himself would take on human form, 03:09 live like us and die like us. 03:12 In fact, die much worse than us, 03:14 in order to save us from the self-destruction, 03:17 the wages of sin that we seem so intent on collecting. 03:23 At one point in His ministry, 03:25 Jesus prayed that His disciples would have a chance 03:28 to see the glory He used to have 03:30 before He took on human form. 03:33 He said, "Father, I desire that they also whom you gave Me, 03:38 "may be with Me where I am, 03:40 "that they may behold My glory, which you have given Me, 03:43 "for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." 03:47 The birth of Christ in Bethlehem 03:49 was a serious downgrade for Jesus, 03:52 a downgrade from His previous existence. 03:55 The Bible teaches that Christ is the one 03:57 who made this world in the first place. 03:59 And now He starts life as a human infant, 04:02 born to a poor family, spending His first night on earth, 04:06 sleeping in a feeding trough, 04:09 even the luxurious home of Herod the king, 04:11 which you could actually see from Bethlehem 04:14 would have been a downgrade for the Son of God. 04:17 And yet there He was, drawing his first breath 04:20 among barnyard animals. 04:23 The Son of God had become the son of man, 04:26 choosing to exist among us in a human body 04:28 that was subject to all the same problems we face. 04:31 He got hungry, He got tired. 04:34 He did without things that most people consider necessities. 04:37 He experienced loneliness 04:39 and He knew what it was like to be misunderstood 04:42 even by the people closest to Him. 04:44 His was an authentic human experience. 04:48 The book of Hebrews says, 04:49 "Therefore, in all things 04:51 "He had to be made like His brethren, 04:54 "that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest 04:56 "in things pertaining to God. 04:58 "To make perpetuation for the sins of the people." 05:02 It was an authentic human life, 05:05 a life that was designed to shed light on a dark world 05:08 that had mostly forgotten 05:10 what our lives are supposed to look like. 05:13 The human race was created in the image of God, 05:15 but we had abandoned that distinction a very long time ago, 05:19 and we twisted the human experience 05:21 into something dark and painful. 05:24 Instead of exhibiting the selfless nature 05:26 of a giving and loving God, we started living for self 05:29 and defying the natural order of the universe. 05:33 And then as the whole world went dark, 05:35 we took to blaming God for what we had done. 05:39 Back to the gospel of John now, chapter one, verse nine, 05:43 "That was the true light 05:45 "which gives light to every man coming into the world." 05:49 So what kind of light was that? 05:51 Well, that's actually a pretty big question. 05:54 That light was on the one hand, 05:56 the truth about what God is really like. 05:59 If you have seen Me, Jesus said, you have seen the Father. 06:02 And in the life of Christ, 06:03 we can see very clearly 06:05 that God really is everything He claims to be. 06:09 I mean, even the critics of Christianity still admire Jesus 06:15 because how could you not? 06:17 Thomas Jefferson was hardly what you would call 06:20 a biblical Christian, 06:21 at least in the sense that modern evangelical Christians 06:24 use that term. 06:25 And Jefferson spent a fair bit of time picking away 06:28 at some of the traditional understandings 06:30 of the Christian faith. 06:32 He actually compared the writings of the Jews 06:34 to the writings of the Greek philosophers. 06:37 And he called the ethics of the Jews, I quote, "Repulsive." 06:41 And yet when it came to Jesus, he suddenly softened up, 06:45 and said that, "The system of morality offered by Jesus, 06:48 "was the most benevolent 06:50 "and sublime probably that has ever been taught." 06:54 There's a reason that people back, 06:55 in first century, Palestine flocked 06:57 to hear this humble carpenter from Nazareth. 07:00 And it's because there was light 07:02 piercing through the darkness, in every word He spoke, 07:06 and there was something right and true about His teachings. 07:09 And some of those people back then dare to believe 07:13 that what they were hearing 07:15 was what God Himself must be like. 07:19 But there were also those who recognize 07:20 that the teachings of Christ, if people accepted them, 07:23 were going to dispel the convenient darkness 07:26 they were hiding behind as they clung the power. 07:29 The words of Jesus were going to pull down 07:31 our human way of doing things, 07:33 and that had a way of wounding some people's pride. 07:36 Verse 10, "He was in the world 07:40 "and the world was made through Him 07:41 "and the world did not know Him." 07:44 So, the light was there, but you had to want to see it. 07:47 Verse 11, "He came to His own 07:50 "and His own did not receive Him. 07:52 "But as many as received Him, 07:53 "to them He gave the right to become children of God, 07:57 "to those who believe in His name. 07:58 "Who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, 08:02 "nor of the will of man, but of God. 08:05 "And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, 08:08 "And we beheld his glory, 08:10 "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 08:13 "full of grace and truth." 08:16 All right, I've got to take a really quick break, 08:19 but I don't think you're gonna want to miss what comes next, 08:21 so stick around, I'll be right back. 08:26 - [Narrator] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 08:30 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 08:35 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 08:37 and come away scratching your head, you're not alone. 08:40 Our free Focus on Prophecy guides 08:42 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 08:45 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 08:47 for you and our world. 08:49 Study online or request them by mail 08:52 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 08:56 - My ancient pagan ancestors 08:57 remembers of various Germanic tribes 08:59 and they were really big fans of venerating Oak trees. 09:02 It was a vital part of their belief system. 09:06 The Oak tree represented all kinds of things 09:09 to my ancestors, including a very ancient belief 09:12 that the human race slowly evolved, 09:14 and frankly degraded from a more vegetative state of being. 09:18 The universe, they thought, 09:20 used to be filled with a fine mist, 09:22 and then that mist took on a more solid form, 09:24 and eventually primitive life 09:25 kind of looked like a huge plant with branches 09:28 that was spread throughout the universe. 09:31 It was in their way of thinking, the cosmic mind of God, 09:34 and it became more tangible and physical over time, 09:37 and then very slowly vegetable life 09:40 gave rise to animal life. 09:42 This is the reason you see so many old paintings 09:44 for human beings look like trees. 09:46 To the ancient pagans of Northern Europe, 09:49 trees were potent symbols for life and creation 09:52 and the divine mind of the universe. 09:54 And what better symbol for all of this 09:57 than the mighty Oak tree. 09:59 Until of course, a Christian missionary 10:01 by the name of Saint Boniface, 10:03 started working among the Germanic peoples 10:05 and cut down a sacred Oak tree dedicated to Thor, 10:09 an act that convinced some people 10:12 to convert to Christianity, 10:13 because apparently there was a miracle 10:15 that helped the great missionary make his point. 10:18 A great wind came along and knocked over the tree 10:21 as he was cutting it, 10:22 which made some people think that the God of Boniface 10:25 was conquering Thor. 10:27 But his act of cutting down that tree, desecrating it, 10:30 also made him a lot of enemies, including my ancestors. 10:34 And eventually, the Friesians, my tribe, 10:37 well, we killed the man. 10:39 Of course, you've got to be wondering 10:40 what that has to do with the birth of Christ. 10:42 So let me get to the point. 10:44 That tree was apparently a magnificent specimen, 10:47 the greatest Oak in the region, 10:49 because it represented Jupiter, the king of the gods. 10:53 But compare that to the story of the burning bush 10:56 that you find in Exodus, 10:57 and you'll notice a dramatic difference. 10:59 The day that God appeared to Moses, 11:02 He used an insignificant shrub. 11:05 It was a humble manifestation. 11:08 And if you read the story very carefully, 11:10 you quickly discover that the presence in that burning bush 11:13 was actually the pre-incarnate Christ. 11:17 He describes Himself as the, I Am. 11:19 And in John 8, Jesus said, 11:21 "Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I Am." 11:27 And at that moment, 11:28 His listeners picked up stones to kill Him 11:30 because in their minds that was blasphemy. 11:32 Jesus was actually claiming to be the God 11:36 of the Old Testament. 11:38 So, here's the big point. 11:40 Jesus appeared to Moses in a burning bush, 11:42 probably an Acacia, and not the mighty Oak tree of Thor. 11:46 The shrub was burning 11:48 and it was obviously shedding a lot of light, 11:50 but still it was humble. 11:52 And that's the pattern you find 11:53 throughout the pages of the Bible. 11:55 The humility of an Almighty God. 11:58 The story always has God moving in our direction, 12:00 and He's always careful to veil the full light of His glory, 12:04 so He doesn't destroy us. 12:05 Jesus says, "A body you have prepared for Me." 12:09 And according to Hebrews 10, 12:10 it was an ordinary everyday body, 12:13 like the ones that we have. 12:15 In fact, when he started, it was an infant's body. 12:18 And in that ordinary everyday human body, 12:21 Jesus visited the synagogue in Nazareth. 12:25 And well, let me read you what happened. 12:27 This comes from Luke 4, it says in verse 16, 12:31 "So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, 12:34 "and as His custom was, 12:35 "He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day 12:38 "and stood up to read. 12:40 "And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. 12:43 "And when He had opened the book, 12:44 "He found the place where it was written, 12:46 "the spirit of the Lord is upon Me 12:48 "because He has anointed Me 12:50 "to preach the gospel to the poor. 12:52 "He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, 12:54 "to proclaim liberty to the captives 12:56 "and recovery of sight to the blind. 12:58 "To set at liberty those who are oppressed, 13:01 "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." 13:05 The blind we're about to get their sight. 13:08 And of course, Jesus did heal people 13:10 who were literally blind, 13:12 but this is also talking about spiritual blindness. 13:15 On that day in Nazareth, 13:17 the light of the world was standing 13:18 right in front of the congregation. 13:21 It wasn't the consuming fire of God's almighty presence, 13:24 but a real live human being, God in human flesh. 13:29 Nazareth of course was Jesus' hometown, 13:31 so they all knew Him from the time He was a little kid. 13:34 And when He was finished reading, He took a seat and said, 13:38 "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 13:42 In other words, the long awaited Messiah 13:44 had just appeared in their midst. 13:47 I highly doubt if this story was happening today, 13:49 and Jesus was appearing in your home church, 13:52 that you'd find anything unusual 13:54 about His physical appearance. 13:56 Renaissance painters put a halo over Jesus' head, 13:59 but I assure you, he didn't have a visible halo that day. 14:04 The prophet Isaiah says, "He has no form or comeliness, 14:07 "and when we see Him, 14:09 "there is no beauty that we should desire Him." 14:13 The light of God was humble, and you had to want to see Him, 14:17 if you were going to recognize who He was. 14:19 This was God in human flesh, 14:21 the Son of God becoming the son of man 14:23 living in authentic human life 14:25 and showing us what God is really like 14:27 all at the very same moment. 14:30 Our sense of self-importance has taught us to think 14:33 that important people should look important, 14:36 that they should be very impressive. 14:38 But when God came to live in our midst, 14:41 he was everything we didn't expect. 14:44 That day after Jesus finished reading the scriptures 14:47 to the synagogue in His own hometown, 14:50 the people struggled to figure out 14:51 what they had just witnessed. 14:53 Obviously something extraordinary had taken place. 14:57 Jesus had just made an extraordinary claim, 15:00 but it was coming from such an ordinary person. 15:04 Luke 4 says this, 15:06 "So all bore witness to Him, 15:09 "and marveled at the gracious words 15:11 "which proceeded out of His mouth. 15:13 "And they said, is this not Joseph's son?" 15:17 In other words, Jesus is just so average. 15:21 And so many people rejected Him 15:23 and they actually made plans to kill Him. 15:26 After leaving Nazareth, here's what Jesus said 15:29 in the town of Capernaum, 15:31 "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, 15:34 "and upon those who sat in the region in shadow of death, 15:38 "light has dawned." 15:41 The King of Glory stooped very low to become one of us 15:44 and His real glory was veiled 15:46 so that we would be attracted to Him 15:48 for all the right reasons. 15:50 It was the truth about God 15:52 that was gonna pull us in His direction. 15:54 The revelation of a creator who practices self-denying love. 15:58 And so the Redeemer of the world was born 16:01 in a crude structure designed for barnyard animals. 16:04 An idea that made pagan philosophers recoil with disgust, 16:08 because to their way of thinking 16:11 a physical human existence is utterly flawed. 16:14 So how could a pure God become mere flesh and blood? 16:20 You and I have put a lot of halos over the Christmas story 16:23 with our twinkling lights and our holiday pageants, 16:26 making the birth of Christ, 16:28 the important festival that in some ways it deserves to be. 16:32 But it's important to remember 16:33 that apart from a handful of shepherds, 16:36 almost nobody noticed the night that Christ was born. 16:39 I often try to imagine the amazement of angels 16:42 as they watched what happened that night 16:44 on a hill next to Bethlehem, 16:46 Herod the king was living in luxury. 16:48 And he had no idea that the rightful king of this world 16:52 had been born just a few miles away. 16:54 Not until a group of wise men from another country 16:56 came much later and told him, 16:59 and then he wanted the baby dead. 17:01 Because he considered the appearance of Messiah 17:04 to be a personal threat. 17:07 Almost nobody noticed the birth of God in human flesh. 17:10 Even though there were lots of prophetic indicators 17:13 that the time for Messiah had come, 17:15 it pretty much went unnoticed. 17:17 And so the angels broke through the night sky 17:20 to let a group of shepherds know what had happened, 17:23 not high ranking statesman, not influential businessmen, 17:27 not well-regarded academics, but shepherds, 17:31 one of the lowest occupations on the social ladder, 17:34 because maybe those people would appreciate 17:38 what had just happened. 17:39 Luke 2 says, "Now there were in the same country 17:43 "shepherds living out in the fields, 17:45 "keeping watch over their flock by night. 17:47 "And behold angel of the Lord stood before them, 17:50 "and the glory of the Lord shone around them, 17:52 "and they were greatly afraid. 17:54 "Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid 17:56 "for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, 18:00 "which will be to all people. 18:02 "For there is born to you this day 18:04 "in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 18:07 "And this will be the sign to you. 18:09 "You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, 18:13 "lying in a manger." 18:15 I'll be right back after this. 18:19 - [Woman] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 18:21 we're committed to creating top quality programming 18:23 for the whole family. 18:25 Like our audio adventure series, Discovery Mountain. 18:28 Discovery Mountain is a Bible based program 18:30 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 18:33 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 18:35 from this small mountain summer camp and town, 18:38 with 24 seasonal episodes every year 18:41 and fresh content every week. 18:43 There's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 18:49 - I think today, a lot of people still struggle 18:51 with the sheer humility of Jesus. 18:54 He's the most important child who was ever born, 18:56 and yet he lived a life of subsistence. 18:59 The religious authorities of Christ's Day 19:01 complained that He eats and drinks 19:03 with tax collectors and sinners. 19:06 Tax collectors were the very bottom of society. 19:09 A group considered treasonous 19:11 because they worked for the Romans. 19:12 That's who the King of the Universe chose to hang out with, 19:16 tax collectors and prostitutes and lepers, 19:19 and everybody who had nothing to offer Him in return. 19:23 "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests." 19:26 Jesus said, "But the son of man has nowhere 19:29 "to lay His head." 19:31 It says a lot about the way that modern Christianity 19:33 continues to tell the story of Jesus. 19:36 I mean, there's nothing specifically wrong 19:37 with material prosperity. 19:39 In fact, a lot of God's best friends in the Bible 19:42 were very wealthy people. 19:44 Abraham, Job, David, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea. 19:50 But the way that we tell the story, 19:51 particularly in some corners of American Christianity, 19:55 well, sometimes I get the impression 19:56 that we've started to think about Jesus, 19:58 the same way we think about $1,000 20:01 self-improvement seminars. 20:03 Now we would never say this out loud 20:04 because it sounds so ridiculous, 20:07 but we certainly give the impression sometimes 20:09 that the natural home for Jesus is the modern palace. 20:14 Slick-looking preachers, 20:15 who earn tens of millions of dollars try to convince us 20:18 that Jesus was some kind of self-help guru, 20:20 who was born to make you richer, 20:22 smarter and more attractive. 20:24 They boldly make Jesus 20:25 the God of personal achievement and success. 20:28 And I sometimes find myself wondering if we'd be comfortable 20:32 with the kind of company that Jesus chose to keep. 20:35 The prophet Isaiah wrote this, 20:37 "For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, 20:40 "and as a root out of dry ground. 20:42 "He has no former comeliness, 20:43 "and when we see him, 20:45 "there is no beauty that we should desire Him. 20:47 "And we hid as it were our faces from Him. 20:50 "He was despised and we did not esteem Him. 20:53 "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, 20:56 "yet we esteemed Him stricken, 20:58 "smitten by God, and afflicted." 21:01 Today, the name of Jesus carries a great deal of appeal. 21:05 And the fact that a lot of people now recognize 21:07 that something very special happened in Bethlehem. 21:10 Well, that's a good thing. 21:12 The nativity scenes you see 21:13 on the side of the road this time a year, 21:15 they're useful reminders 21:16 that something really important took place a long time ago. 21:21 The joy, the pageants, the caroling, it's all good. 21:24 And I wouldn't want it to go away 21:26 because at least for a few weeks, 21:28 people are willing to slow down and listen 21:30 and think about who Jesus was 21:32 and how God humbled Himself to enter human history. 21:36 One of my favorite songs this time of year 21:38 is the old carol that William Chatterton Dix wrote in 1865. 21:42 The one that goes to the tune of green slaves. 21:45 Now I'm not gonna try and sing it for you 21:46 because I really would like your holiday to remain joyful. 21:49 But as William Dix compose this tribute 21:52 to the birth of Christ, he makes a very important point. 21:55 The first verse, well, everybody knows it, right? 21:57 "What child is this, who laid to rest 21:59 "on Mary's lap is sleeping? 22:01 "Whom angels greet with anthem sweet 22:04 "while shepherd's watch are keeping? 22:06 "This, this is Christ the King, 22:07 "whom shepherds guard and angels sing, 22:10 "haste haste to bring him laud, 22:12 "the babe, the son of Mary." 22:14 Now that's a pretty good description 22:16 of what happened in Bethlehem. 22:18 Most of us associate Christmas 22:20 with the scent of evergreen branches, 22:22 or maybe that incense that some churches burn 22:24 on Christmas Eve, 22:26 but the birth of Christ quite honestly 22:28 probably smelled more like a stable. 22:32 And what Jesus came to do was even more humble than that, 22:34 which is what William Dix moves on to in his second verse. 22:37 The one that not many people sing, 22:40 "Why lies He in such mean estate, 22:42 "where ox and ass are feeding? 22:44 "Good Christians, fear, for sinners here, 22:46 "the silent word is pleading. 22:48 "Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, 22:51 "the cross be borne for me, for you. 22:53 "Hail, hail the word made flesh, 22:56 "the babe, the son of Mary." 22:58 Now there's the brutal reality of the incarnation. 23:01 God knew we'd been plunged into darkness 23:04 and there was no way out if he didn't do something. 23:06 So He took on human form and lived a real human life 23:09 in order to cure our blindness 23:11 and show us what He's really like. 23:13 And then he took the penalty for our rebellion 23:16 so that we could live in the light forever. 23:20 It's such a short statement in the book of Hebrews, 23:22 "A body you have prepared for Me." 23:25 But I honestly think that we have scarcely started 23:27 to understand what that means. 23:29 You'll notice in the story of the shepherds, 23:31 it was just one angel who first appeared, 23:33 human beings are so used to living in darkness 23:36 to not understanding God's glory, 23:38 that it was almost like the angels were taking it slowly. 23:41 It starts with one angel and the shepherds were scared. 23:44 And so the angel says, 23:46 "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings 23:49 "of great joy, which will be to all people. 23:52 "For this is born to you this day 23:55 "in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ the Lord. 23:58 "And this will be the sign to you, 24:00 "you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, 24:03 "lying in a manger." 24:06 A manger. 24:07 Now that was something these shepherds could understand. 24:10 The long awaited Messiah had come straight into their world. 24:13 And then when their fears began to dissipate, 24:16 the sky lit up with the glory of God 24:17 and all the angels became visible. 24:20 The Bible says, 24:22 "And suddenly, there was with the angel, 24:23 "a multitude of heavenly host, 24:25 "praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, 24:28 "and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." 24:33 It was another indication of what God is like. 24:35 He reveals himself to us just a little at a time, 24:38 steadily moving in our direction 24:40 until the darkness falls away, 24:42 and we finally begin to recognize who He is. 24:46 He approached the shepherds carefully bit by bit, 24:48 and today He still approaches us the same way. 24:52 I'll be right back after this. 24:56 - [Woman] Life can throw a lot at us. 24:59 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 25:02 but that's where the Bible comes in. 25:05 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 25:08 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 25:09 we've created the discover Bible guides 25:11 to be your guide to the Bible. 25:13 They're designed to be simple, easy to use 25:16 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions. 25:19 And they're absolutely free. 25:21 So jump online now, or give us a call 25:23 and start your journey of discovery. 25:26 - The scriptures teach, that once upon a time, 25:29 way back when you and I had more direct communication 25:32 with God, before our fall from grace, 25:35 the Bible says, He used to come visit the human race 25:37 in the cool of the evening, just to be near us. 25:41 And ever since we broke that communion, 25:43 he's been trying to re-establish it, 25:45 because frankly, He misses you. 25:48 All your life He's been moving in your direction 25:50 one little step at a time, 25:52 revealing himself as a God of love. 25:55 And the greatest proof we have for what God is like 25:58 is found in this Christmas story. 26:01 He spent his first night in a far more humble crib 26:04 than most of us were born in. 26:05 And he lived in an authentic human life 26:07 so that you could see what your life might be like 26:11 if you only paid attention to the light, 26:13 that streams from the Bible. 26:16 I kind of liked the fact that this time of year, 26:18 at least in the Northern Hemisphere, 26:20 a lot of people hang lights on their houses 26:22 to help dispel the darkness of winter, 26:25 because that's exactly what God did 26:27 through the birth of Christ. 26:29 He brought light to a very dark world. 26:32 [ethereal music] 26:50 So this holiday season, 26:52 I wanna encourage you to pick up a copy of the Bible 26:55 and have another look. 26:57 For some of you it's been a really long time, 26:59 but maybe, just maybe, you'll notice a little light peaking 27:03 through the darkness that surrounds your life. 27:06 From all of us at the Voice of Prophecy, Merry Christmas. 27:10 I'm Shawn Boonstra, and you've been watching, Authentic. 27:13 [ethereal music] 28:00 [epic music] |
Revised 2021-12-23