Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000059S
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00:01 - At some point you've likely heard some Christians say
00:03 that they believe that God Himself came to this earth 00:07 as a real flesh and blood human being. 00:10 And of course, this being the Christmas season, 00:13 we should probably take a little time to examine that claim. 00:18 [intriguing country western music] 00:38 There's a desperate sense of anticipation 00:40 in the pages of the Old Testament, 00:42 and it begins right at the very beginning of the story 00:45 with the fall of the human race. 00:47 It's a pivotal moment when humanity has decided 00:51 to step outside of the will of God 00:53 and no longer serve as an exhibit of the creator's goodness. 00:57 They were originally made in the image of God 00:59 but they compromised that image through rebellion, 01:02 and the continued existence of our race 01:04 now tells a lie about the character of God. 01:09 We were originally made to reflect something 01:11 of the glory of the Creator, to put His goodness on display, 01:14 to add to the happiness of the cosmos. 01:17 But now that we chose to pursue our own desires, 01:20 instead of finding our fulfillment in God, 01:23 our very existence began to paint 01:24 a wildly inaccurate picture of what God must be like. 01:29 It's a phenomenon that continues to this day 01:31 where people watch the behavior of so-called Christians, 01:34 people who claim to represent the name 01:36 and the character of Christ 01:38 and they come to the painful conclusion 01:40 that something must be wrong with God 01:43 because of the way we behave. 01:45 I mean, honestly, I can't tell you how many times 01:47 over the years I've heard people say, 01:49 "What me go to church after what those people did to me? 01:53 "I don't think so." 01:56 You and I were made in the image of God 01:57 and for all intents and purposes, 02:00 we continue to wear that label, 02:02 kind of like the little label you find on merchandise 02:04 that says, "Made in the USA." 02:07 The manufacturers put those labels there 02:09 to promote a sense of pride, to reassure the customer 02:12 that they're participating in something really good. 02:15 They've branded their product with something much bigger, 02:18 much grander than the product itself 02:21 and that's the United States. 02:23 But if the item bearing that label, 02:25 turns out to be a cheap piece of junk, 02:28 it begins to cast a shadow 02:29 over the entire nation's reputation. 02:32 I mean, fair or not, just think 02:34 about what kinds of impressions you get 02:36 when you see a label that says "Made in China." 02:39 Personally, it makes me assume that it was mass produced 02:42 and that it might just fall apart in short order. 02:45 And I know that's not fair, so don't write me letters 02:48 but the reason I think that way 02:50 is because of the experience I've had in the distant past. 02:54 So what we had in the beginning 02:56 was a human race that bore the label made by God 02:59 and before we compromised His design 03:02 the distinctive marks of the master craftsman 03:04 could be seen on absolutely everything we did. 03:07 On the things we said, 03:09 on the things we built, on absolutely everything. 03:12 But then came that horrible moment 03:14 when we decided we would seize control of our own destiny 03:17 and run the planet however we saw fit. 03:21 But one of the key problems we had, 03:23 was the fact that our label still said made by God 03:26 and now our behavior had become an open lie about who God is 03:30 and how much value we can place on His workmanship. 03:35 It's as if I bought an expensive sedan, 03:37 say a top end Mercedes or a Bentley 03:39 and I decided to drive it 03:40 into the desert and go off-roading. 03:43 And of course it's not designed for that. 03:46 Then after beating the car up, basically destroying it, 03:49 I park its ragged carcass in front of my house 03:51 with a sign that says, 03:52 "This is what you can expect from Mercedes." 03:55 Or, "This is what you can expect from Bentley." 03:58 That would be an unfair picture of the manufacturer 04:01 because these top-end sedans 04:03 were never meant to go off-roading, 04:05 they're high-end street vehicles. 04:08 And that's kind of what we've done collectively speaking, 04:12 the human race was not designed 04:14 to be self-seeking or abusive. 04:16 We were not made to place our own interests 04:18 above everything and everybody else to the harm of others. 04:23 We were made to tend and to keep this planet, 04:25 we were stewards. 04:27 And we were not supposed to strip this planet 04:29 of its resources in the pursuit of wealth and power 04:32 as if this place belonged to us. 04:34 We have taken something made in the image of God 04:37 and we've completely abused it 04:39 but we kept the label, made by God. 04:43 And the moment that happened 04:45 as we radically redirected our human destiny 04:47 in the direction of pain, and suffering, and death, 04:50 God stepped into the middle of our terrible mess 04:52 with an undeserved promise found in Genesis 3:15, 04:57 where He addresses the serpent directly 05:00 and says, "I will put enmity between you and the woman 05:04 "and between your seed and her Seed; 05:06 "He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel." 05:11 Now here's what I want you to notice, 05:13 not only does God promise to overturn 05:15 the disastrous results of our rebellion 05:17 but He also says that the solution will come 05:20 from the human race itself. 05:22 "The Seed of the woman," he says, 05:23 "will crush the head of the serpent." 05:26 The problem began with a member of the human race 05:29 but now God says it will be solved 05:31 by a member of the human race. 05:34 And so the rest of the Old Testament 05:36 is pregnant with anticipation 05:38 as each new generation eagerly waits 05:40 for the arrival of this person who will set things straight, 05:44 a person who will reverse the tragic plight of humanity 05:48 and restore the Kingdom of God. 05:50 They were told that Messiah would be one of their own, 05:53 the seed of the human race. 05:57 And it's this idea that forms the critical foundation 05:59 for what people celebrate during the Christmas season. 06:02 What happened in Bethlehem is more than just the birth 06:05 of a special baby or a key historical figure. 06:08 This is not just the appearance 06:10 of another teacher or prophet. 06:12 This is God's solution to our worst problem, 06:15 a solution that was born as a member of the human race 06:19 and as you watch the anticipation 06:21 throughout the Old Testament 06:23 you can see this all important concept 06:26 being underlined again and again, and again, and again. 06:29 Messiah would be human. 06:32 So for example, consider the promise made to Abraham, 06:36 a man considered to be the father 06:38 of the world's largest monotheistic religions. 06:41 Listen to what God tells Abraham in Genesis chapter 22. 06:45 He says, "In your seed, all the nations of the earth 06:49 "shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." 06:55 It's a reiteration of the original promise, 06:56 Messiah would come from us. 06:58 And now in this case it gets even more specific. 07:01 Abraham, the promised child will come from you. 07:06 The Savior of the world would not be some cosmic outsider, 07:09 a knight in shining armor who swoops in from the outside 07:12 to save the village. 07:13 No, He is one of us fully human. 07:17 He would quite literally be carrying Abraham's DNA. 07:21 Now, carry forward a few hundred years 07:24 from that moment with Abraham, 07:25 and you get Moses the illustrious but hesitant leader, 07:29 who led the descendants of Abraham 07:31 out of their slavery in Egypt. 07:33 Toward the latter part of his career, 07:35 Moses reminds the people that Messiah will come 07:38 and he does it by making this prediction. 07:42 "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me 07:46 "from your midst, from your brethren." 07:50 So of course Moses eventually died 07:52 but he said there was another prophet coming 07:54 who would come from their own genetic stock. 07:57 Messiah would come from the midst of the people. 08:00 He would be a bonafide member of their tribe, 08:03 which meant that at some point, one of their children 08:07 was going to be the person that God had promised. 08:12 Of course, it's really not all that unusual 08:14 for a hero to be born as a human being, 08:16 I mean, most heroes are but Messiah would be different. 08:20 He would be fully human, a real member of the race 08:24 but He would also be something else. 08:26 There would be something absolutely unique 08:28 that set Him apart from the rest of humanity 08:30 something predicted in the words of Isaiah the prophet. 08:35 "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. 08:38 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son 08:42 "and shall call His name Emmanuel." 08:45 I'll be right back after this. 08:51 - [Announcer] Life can throw a lot at us. 08:54 Sometimes we don't have all the answers 08:57 but that's where the Bible comes in. 09:00 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 09:03 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 09:04 we've created the Discover Bible Guides 09:06 to be your guide to the Bible. 09:08 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 09:10 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 09:13 and they're absolutely free 09:15 so jump online now or give us a call 09:18 and start your journey of discovery. 09:21 - According to the Prophet Isaiah, 09:23 when Messiah finally arrived, 09:25 He would have a very unusual birth. 09:28 First of all, He would be born of a virgin, 09:30 a biological impossibility. 09:33 And secondly His name would be Emmanuel, 09:36 which means God with us. 09:38 And it didn't just mean that God was with us 09:40 in the sense that He sent a delegation to help, 09:43 it meant that it would be quite literally God in our midst. 09:48 And that's what Christians are talking 09:50 about when they mentioned the mystery of the incarnation, 09:53 the fact that this child born in Bethlehem 09:56 was not just fully human 09:57 but also fully God at the very same time, 10:00 this was God in human flesh. 10:04 Back in the earliest years of Christian history, 10:06 a lot of deep thinkers 10:08 struggled to wrap their minds around that concept. 10:11 Jesus was not just a man and He was not just God, 10:16 instead He was both things at the same time. 10:20 So how in the world could that possibly be? 10:22 How can a human being also be God, 10:25 not God-like or merely Godly, but actually God? 10:31 How exactly would that work? 10:33 Was He half God and half man? 10:35 Did He have a human body but a divine mind? 10:37 Was He some kind of apparition, 10:40 a spiritual being who only looked like He was human. 10:44 If you sort through the pages of ancient Christian history, 10:46 you'll find all kinds of really strange explanations 10:50 for how they thought it might work. 10:52 There were some groups 10:53 who were heavily influenced by Greek thought 10:56 and they didn't like the concept of the incarnation 10:59 one little bit. 11:01 Material things, they believed, were just too worldly 11:05 to coexist with God. 11:07 A perfect God in their opinion, 11:09 would never adopt a material body. 11:11 In fact, the way these people viewed the world, 11:14 the material creation itself 11:16 with all of its apparent imperfections 11:19 had to be the work of some kind of lesser deity. 11:22 It had to be some kind of mistake 11:24 or maybe even a malicious act. 11:27 So to suggest that the Creator 11:29 could become a material being, 11:31 a real flesh and blood person, 11:33 that was completely unthinkable to these people. 11:37 Maybe Jesus just appeared to be human 11:39 for the sake of helping us trust Him more. 11:42 Maybe He wasn't God at all 11:44 but just assume that exalted title Son of God 11:47 when He proved to be a very pious person. 11:51 The earliest centuries of the Christian Church 11:53 were riddled with people who tried to explain 11:55 how Jesus could be a God man or God in human flesh. 12:01 And that led to all sorts of heresy, 12:04 departures from the Orthodox Christian faith. 12:06 One of the more notable departures 12:09 was a renegade North African priest named Arius 12:12 who ended up denying the deity of Christ 12:15 because he could not conceive of the dual nature 12:18 of Jesus in any other way. 12:21 Of course, to suggest that Christ was nothing but 12:24 a regular human being would never be an acceptable solution 12:28 so the Arians or the followers of Arias, 12:31 made Jesus a very special person, 12:34 unique among people because God had made Him a Son. 12:38 And of course the Arians were not alone. 12:40 There were some other early heresies 12:42 and as authors Clark and John point out, 12:45 they were really the product of people 12:47 trying to define the nature of Christ by using their reason. 12:52 In other words, they weren't happy 12:53 with the real nature of the incarnation being a mystery 12:57 so they wanted to solve it. 12:59 They just couldn't accept the idea 13:01 that there might be some things in this universe 13:03 that fall outside of our intellectual capacity. 13:07 So in other words, unbiblical heresy usually comes 13:10 from people trying to explain the inexplicable. 13:16 And there are all kinds of doctrines in the Bible 13:18 that defy human explanation. 13:20 The incarnation is really just the tip of the iceberg. 13:23 Another good example would be the nature 13:25 and the origin of evil, which even the brightest among us 13:29 have been at a loss to explain. 13:31 I mean, if God is all loving and good, and all powerful, 13:36 then why is the world so full of very bad problems? 13:39 How does a God who describes Himself as love 13:42 come up with a universe that seems 13:44 to suggest precisely the opposite? 13:47 And of course, if you were to come up with a good reason 13:50 as to why evil exists, 13:52 well then it probably wouldn't be evil anymore. 13:55 I mean, you still might not like it. 13:56 It might make you uncomfortable 13:59 but if there's a reason for it, 14:01 well, then you'd have to come to the conclusion 14:03 that evil was unavoidable and necessary, which it isn't. 14:09 So how can Jesus be fully human 14:11 and fully God at the same time? 14:13 The answer is I don't know and I probably never will. 14:18 And to be honest, 14:20 it's one of those things that makes me suspect 14:21 that the Bible is probably true. 14:24 I mean, generally speaking, 14:25 when you come across a strange religious teaching 14:28 you can ultimately trace that teaching 14:31 back to human thought, to some kind of flaw in human reason. 14:35 There will be some kind of mad logic 14:38 just lurking in the background. 14:40 You might still find it very strange 14:42 but at least you can understand 14:43 how someone arrived at a particular conclusion. 14:48 But when it comes to the idea that Jesus is the the God man, 14:51 that He has two natures at the same moment, 14:54 well, it's pretty hard to find a line of human reasoning 14:56 that will bring you to that conclusion. 14:59 And now that we've spent 2,000 years 15:01 unsuccessfully grappling with that concept, 15:05 it just seems reasonable to say 15:06 that maybe we didn't invent this. 15:09 Maybe it's one of those things that God understands 15:12 from His perspective but you and I don't. 15:15 And I know that that doesn't sit easy with a culture 15:18 that demands rationality for everything. 15:22 We've managed to convince ourselves 15:24 that given enough time and brain power, 15:26 we can explain just about anything. 15:29 We tend to believe that we are intellectually capable 15:33 of uncovering all the secrets of the universe. 15:36 But at the same time, the further we pry, 15:39 the more we discover just how much we don't know. 15:44 So now let's consider the Christmas story itself, 15:46 a baby in Bethlehem, 15:47 unlike any other child in the history of the world. 15:51 And the question we need to ask is this, 15:53 why in the world did God have to come in human form? 15:57 It's really a a bigger question than we have time to address 16:00 but I think there are aspects of it that we could explore. 16:04 So let's take a look at a remarkable statement 16:07 found over in the Book of Hebrews chapter two, 16:10 and I think I wanna pick up in verse 14 where it says, 16:13 "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken 16:17 "of flesh and blood, 16:18 "He Himself likewise shared in the same." 16:22 So in other words, Jesus needed to become one of us. 16:25 We were the ones who made the mess in the first place 16:28 and so it was gonna take another human being 16:31 to solve the problem. 16:33 The Bible repeatedly speaks about the debt of sin 16:37 and then it speaks about redemption, 16:39 which means that somebody, a human being, 16:43 had to pay the debt. 16:45 It says, "Inasmuch then as the children 16:48 "have partaken of flesh and blood, 16:49 "He Himself likewise shared in the same, 16:52 "that through death He might destroy 16:54 "him who had the power of death that is the devil 16:57 "and released those who through fear of death 17:00 "were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 17:04 Now, let me just pause there 17:05 so I can slip in a little bit of a personal note 17:07 because this just happens to be 17:09 one of my all time favorite statements from the Bible. 17:12 In the midst of everything that Christ accomplished for us, 17:16 it says He also released us from the fear of death. 17:19 And that's a powerful concept. 17:21 I mean, how much of your life 17:23 has been wasted by the fear of death? 17:26 All of us realize sooner or later 17:28 that there's this massive clock 17:29 in the background of life 17:30 marking down the seconds before we die. 17:34 And you've got to wonder how much of our lives 17:36 are spent preparing for that. 17:39 For example, we know the day is coming 17:41 and we will no longer be able to work like we do right now. 17:44 So we put in extra hours and we do without things, 17:48 and we save up for the future to make sure 17:51 we can continue to be comfortable when we're old. 17:54 So how much of your life has been invested in that? 17:58 You also have to wonder how many opportunities we miss 18:00 just because well, something's risky 18:03 and we don't want a chance dying. 18:06 Somehow Christ releases us from that anxiety 18:09 and it's almost as if He reaches out 18:11 and stops that clock from ticking, 18:13 so that you're not always being reminded of your mortality. 18:17 So now we have the Bible statement 18:20 that for some reason Jesus had to share our physical nature. 18:24 He had to be one of us 18:26 and that the ultimate problem He came to destroy was death. 18:30 But now it's time for another break 18:33 so I'll be right back after this. 18:39 - [Announcer] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues, 18:43 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 18:48 If you've ever read Daniel or Revelation 18:50 and come away scratching your head, you're not alone. 18:53 Our free Focus on Prophecy guides 18:55 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 18:58 and deepen your understanding of God's plan for you 19:01 and our world. 19:02 Study online or request them by mail 19:04 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 19:08 - Okay, just before the break, 19:10 we were reading from the Book of Hebrew chapter 2 19:13 where it discusses some of the reasons God chose 19:16 to become a human being in Christ. 19:18 So let's pick that up again now starting in verse 16. 19:22 It says, "For indeed He," that's Jesus, 19:25 "does not give aid to angels 19:28 "but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham." 19:31 Now, remember, God promised Abraham 19:34 that Messiah would eventually come from his family. 19:37 Now pay careful attention to verse 17. 19:40 It says, "Therefore, in all things 19:42 "He had to be made like His brethren." 19:46 Not in some things it says but in all things, 19:50 when God the Son adopted human form, He did it completely. 19:54 In other words, He was just as human as you are. 19:57 If there was something about Jesus 19:59 that wasn't actually human 20:00 that would mean one of two things. 20:03 First of all, it would mean 20:05 that there must be some part of our human nature 20:07 that wouldn't need redemption. 20:09 Or secondly, it would mean 20:12 that whatever part of humanity Jesus didn't adopt, 20:15 well you and I would have to save 20:17 that part of ourselves for ourselves. 20:21 And of course, neither of those is true. 20:24 The Bible is crystal clear that whatever is wrong with us, 20:27 there is no way we can fix it. 20:30 In Jeremiah 17:9 the Bible says, 20:33 "The heart is deceitful above all things 20:36 "and desperately wicked, who can know it?" 20:39 Isaiah 64 indicates that even our best efforts 20:43 are marred by sin when it says in verse six, 20:46 "But we are all like an unclean thing 20:49 "and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. 20:53 "We all fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind 20:57 "have taken us away." 20:59 It's an utterly hopeless condition. 21:01 And according to the Bible 21:03 sin is not just some list of misdeeds, it's a condition, 21:07 a perspective on the universe that changes who we are. 21:12 You might think of it in terms of an infection. 21:14 Yes, it causes bad behavior 21:17 but that bad behavior is the product 21:19 of the underlying condition. 21:21 We have been separated from our creator 21:23 in a devastating way, 21:25 and even though our label still says, "Made by God," 21:29 you'd never know it from the way that we think 21:31 and the way that we act. 21:34 And it's because it's an infection 21:36 that we pass it on from generation to generation. 21:40 Our children are born instinctively selfish 21:43 and self-serving. 21:44 Maybe one of the worst moments that life has to offer 21:47 is when you see your own negative character traits 21:50 come out in the lives of your children 21:52 and you know that they got that from you. 21:56 And because this is a distinctly human problem, 21:59 it's going to take a real live human being to solve it. 22:03 The only possible solution, 22:05 the only way to utterly restore the happiness 22:09 of the universe is to eliminate us, get rid of us, 22:13 because you can't just stop sinning 22:15 and hope that that turns everything around, 22:17 it's too late for that. 22:19 Our existence has already become a lie about who God is 22:23 and the mere act of stopping your sins doesn't fix that. 22:27 I mean, consider the case 22:28 of John Wayne Gacy, that infamous serial killer. 22:32 What would you think of a judge who simply let him go 22:35 because he stood in court and said, 22:36 "Your honor I promise I'll never do it again"? 22:39 It would be a gross miscarriage of justice 22:42 because his crimes were so heinous 22:44 that future good behavior doesn't make up for it. 22:48 And the same is true for sin so what does God do? 22:54 He decides to become a human being 22:56 and He takes in the entire human experience 22:58 from lying helpless in a cradle to early childhood, 23:02 to the teenage years, to living as a human adult 23:05 in a very difficult world. 23:08 Jesus experienced everything we do including loneliness 23:14 pain, and hunger, and then He dies. 23:17 He's completely innocent but He dies, 23:21 and He dies at our hands. 23:24 He deals with our problem as an authentic human being 23:27 and is one who perfectly satisfies 23:30 the claims of God's moral law, 23:33 and He can do that because He is God. 23:36 He perfectly demonstrates God's character, 23:39 which is why the person of Jesus 23:41 is so incredibly attractive. 23:44 This baby in Bethlehem was the perfect image of God 23:49 and in the process, 23:50 He became the new head of the human race, 23:52 or the last Adam, as Paul calls Him in 1 Corinthians 5. 23:59 A descendant of Adam and a descendant of Abraham, 24:03 came to set the universe right. 24:06 The Creator is a just and loving God, and Jesus proves it. 24:11 So now back to Hebrews 2:17, 24:13 it says, "Therefore, in all things 24:16 "He had to be made like His brethren 24:18 "that He might be a merciful 24:20 "and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God. 24:23 "To make propitiation for the sins of the people. 24:26 "For in that He Himself has suffered being tempted 24:30 "He is able to aid those who are tempted." 24:34 So now for a moment, consider the new lay of the land. 24:40 The human race is no longer a lost cause 24:42 because there is one human being that is done it right. 24:46 He lived the perfect life 24:47 and He faithfully showed us the character of God. 24:52 I like the way that Martin Luther once described it, 24:55 he wrote, "For the Son, comes down to us from the Father 24:59 "and attaches Himself to us, 25:01 "and we in turn attach ourselves to Him 25:03 "and come to the Father through Him. 25:06 "This is the reason for His incarnation 25:08 "and His birth from the Virgin Mary, 25:10 "that He might mingle with us be seen and heard by us, 25:13 "yes, be crucified and put to death for us 25:16 "and draw and hold us to Him. 25:19 "He was sent to draw up to the Father 25:21 "those who would believe in Him just as He is in the Father. 25:24 "He forged these links between Himself and us, 25:28 "and the Father, thus enclosing us in this circle 25:31 "so that now we are in Him and He in us, 25:33 "just as He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him. 25:36 "Through such a union and communion, 25:38 "our sin and death are abolished 25:41 "and now we have sheer life and blessedness in their stead." 25:47 I'll be right back after this. 25:52 - [Announcer] Here at "The Voice of Prophecy", 25:53 we're committed to creating top quality programming 25:56 for the whole family like our audio adventure series, 25:59 "Discovery Mountain". 26:00 "Discovery Mountain" is a Bible-based program 26:03 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 26:05 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 26:08 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 26:11 With 24 seasonal episodes every year, 26:13 and fresh content every week, 26:16 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 26:22 - So maybe today, let me finish with something 26:24 a little more traditional, 26:26 a little more Christmasy from Luke chapter two. 26:29 The Bible says, "Now there were in the same country 26:32 "shepherds living out in the fields, 26:34 "keeping watch over their flock by night 26:37 "and behold an angel of the Lord stood before them 26:40 "and the glory of the Lord shown around them 26:42 "and they were greatly afraid. 26:45 "Then the angels said to them, 'Do not be afraid 26:48 "'for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy 26:51 "'which will be to all people.'" 26:54 And of course that would be a real live, 26:56 flesh and blood human being. 26:58 The angels continue, "'For there is born to you this day 27:02 "'in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord 27:06 "'and this will be a sign to you. 27:07 "'You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths 27:10 "'lying in a manger.' 27:12 "And suddenly there was with the angel, 27:14 "a multitude of the heavenly host 27:16 "praising God and saying, 27:18 "'Glory to God and the highest and on earth, peace, 27:21 "'goodwill toward men.'" 27:25 The birth of Christ represents the realization 27:29 of God's deepest desire 27:31 and that's to be reconnected with you. 27:35 Contrary to some of the preachers I've heard, 27:37 God is not trying to keep you away from His presence. 27:41 He's trying to bring you closer. 27:43 So close, in fact, that He became one of us 27:47 and He did that forever. 27:50 Thanks for joining me, Merry Christmas, 27:52 and on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men. 27:56 ["Carol of the Bells" instrumental playing] |
Revised 2022-12-22