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Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hi, this is Jamie, and I'm so glad

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Speaker 1: you decided to join us for our Wednesday prayer through

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Speaker 1: the Psalms. If you're tired of being spiritually weary, you've

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Speaker 1: come to the right place. Join us each Wednesday for

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Speaker 1: a time of prayer, reflection on scripture, and meditation. Leave

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Speaker 1: the baggage of your day behind, and come away refreshed, renewed,

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Speaker 1: and reconnected to God as we explore the Psalms. Hi, there,

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Speaker 1: and welcome to another Prayer through the Psalms episode of

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Speaker 1: the Praying Christian Women podcast. I'm Jamie, and I am

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Speaker 1: so thrilled to be with you on Christmas Week. So

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Speaker 1: if you're listening the day that this goes out, it's

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Speaker 1: Christmas Eve, So ready or not, it's happening. Christmas is here,

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Speaker 1: and I'm just so thankful that, no matter what time

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Speaker 1: of year, you're joining me right now, that you took

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Speaker 1: this time to spend with God, that you set aside

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Speaker 1: first fruits for Him, that you're thinking about making Christ

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Speaker 1: the center of this season and any season really, So

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Speaker 1: before we get started, I'm very excited about this Psalm.

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Speaker 1: I probably say that nine times out of ten when

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Speaker 1: i'm doing these episodes, but Psalm ninety eight is not

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Speaker 1: our chronologically ordered psalm. But I'm really excited to pray

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Speaker 1: through and talk about Psalm ninety eight because it really

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Speaker 1: does pertain to Christmas. Before we do that, though, we've

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Speaker 1: talked about how Christmas is a time where we can

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Speaker 1: get frazzled, we can get distracted very easily from the

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Speaker 1: most important thing, which is putting Christ at the center

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Speaker 1: of Christmas. And so let's just say a prayer to

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Speaker 1: get our minds focused, to put the Christmas lists, the

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Speaker 1: to do lists that haven't been done yet, lists, the stress,

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Speaker 1: the anxiety, anticipation of what's coming up in the next

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Speaker 1: couple of days totally to the side, so that we

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Speaker 1: can just focus on God's word and just open ourselves

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Speaker 1: up to what He has to say to us today.

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Speaker 1: Let's pray, Father God, we just come before you today

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Speaker 1: acknowledging Christmas. We confess that we are wired more today

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Speaker 1: than any time in history, probably to be distracted, to

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Speaker 1: be caught up in what needs to be done, to

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Speaker 1: the point where we're almost afraid to be still. I know,

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Speaker 1: for me, being still sometimes feels like I'm failing at something,

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Speaker 1: or like I'm being lazy or I'm not achieving what

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Speaker 1: needs to be achieved. I just pray for all of

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Speaker 1: us that that lie from the enemy would just be

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Speaker 1: removed from us, as far as the East is from

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Speaker 1: the west. That we would understand what Mary knew, That

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Speaker 1: sitting at your feet was the best place to be.

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Speaker 1: While Martha was busy with all of the today does

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Speaker 1: and the tasks and what needed to be done, Jesus

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Speaker 1: told her that Mary chose the better thing. Help us

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Speaker 1: to remember that, help us to stay focused on the

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Speaker 1: true meaning of Christmas. Help us to approach Christmas imperfectly,

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Speaker 1: because it's not about us. It's not about the spread

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Speaker 1: for our guests on the table. It's not about the

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Speaker 1: quality or quantity of gifts we've been able to pull

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Speaker 1: off this year. It's not even about the church service

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Speaker 1: and whether or not the decorations are just right, or

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Speaker 1: we've been able to participate in as many activities as

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Speaker 1: we've wanted to. It's not about any of that. It's

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Speaker 1: about you. And as long as our focus is on you,

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Speaker 1: all of those other things are going to fall into place.

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Speaker 1: We're going to figure it out. I just pray that

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Speaker 1: we would have the wisdom to know what to say

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Speaker 1: no to, that we would have give ourselves permission to

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Speaker 1: be still, that for those of us with kids or

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Speaker 1: who have kids in our sphere of influence, that we

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Speaker 1: would be able to teach them by example what it

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Speaker 1: means to celebrate Christmas. I don't know if I have

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Speaker 1: gotten that right, but I just pray that you would

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Speaker 1: help me, help us to get it right. Whatever that

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Speaker 1: looks like. However, we can convey to the people around us,

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Speaker 1: and to you most importantly, that you are all that matters.

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Speaker 1: Jesus is all that matters. Plus the reading of your word.

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Speaker 1: We just pray that we would come out of it

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Speaker 1: with a word from You that speaks directly to our

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Speaker 1: place of need today in Jesus' name. Amen Well, I said,

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Speaker 1: we are going to be praying through Psalm ninety eight.

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Speaker 1: And what most people don't know is that Psalm ninety

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Speaker 1: eight was actually the Bible verses that directly were used

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Speaker 1: as inspiration for the well known hymn and Christmas carol,

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Speaker 1: Joy to the World. What people also don't know is

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Speaker 1: that Joy to the World wasn't originally written as a

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Speaker 1: Christmas carol or even about the birth of Jesus at all.

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Speaker 1: And so it came to a complete shock to me

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Speaker 1: to hear that, because it seems pretty obvious that you're

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Speaker 1: talking about joy to the world. The Lord has come,

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Speaker 1: Let earth receive her King, Let every heart prepare him

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Speaker 1: room and heaven and nature sing. Of course, we're welcoming

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Speaker 1: the Savior into the world, right, yes, right, but not

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Speaker 1: in the way that we celebrate it now. So in

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Speaker 1: seventeen nineteen, a pastor and hymn writer named Isaac Watts

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Speaker 1: published a collection of poetry based on the Psalms. And

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Speaker 1: Watts believed that the church needed songs that express the

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Speaker 1: joy and the hope of Scripture in a new way,

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Speaker 1: and so instead of translating the Psalms literally, he paraphrased

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Speaker 1: them through the lens of Christ's coming. So as we

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Speaker 1: read this actual Psalm, we're not going to hear like keywords.

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Speaker 1: Necessarily maybe a few keywords, but we're not going to

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Speaker 1: hear like exact phrasing of joy to the world. He

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Speaker 1: did kind of a loose artistic interpretation of Psalm ninety

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Speaker 1: eight for joy to the world. When he came to

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Speaker 1: Psalm ninety eight, he was struck by this theme of

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Speaker 1: the triumphal King, the whole earth rejoicing, rivers clapping their hands,

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Speaker 1: hills singing for joy. And to Watts, this psalm pointed

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Speaker 1: forward to the moment when Jesus would return and set

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Speaker 1: everything right. You know, the Bible says that all creation

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Speaker 1: groans in eager anticipation of being redeemed, reclaimed, brought new,

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Speaker 1: made right by King Jesus when he returns. That's what

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Speaker 1: he was picturing. So he wrote a poem based on

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Speaker 1: Psalm ninety eight, and he titled it Joy to the World.

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Speaker 1: But it wasn't about Bethlehem. It wasn't about Jesus as

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Speaker 1: a baby. It was about Jesus coming in glory on

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Speaker 1: the clouds at the Second Coming. So there you have it.

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Speaker 1: But a lot of these themes fit really perfectly with Christmas,

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Speaker 1: and so the Church just kind of took it over.

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Speaker 1: They adopted it as a celebration of his first coming too.

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Speaker 1: So that was seventeen nineteen, so more than a century later.

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Speaker 1: The tune that we know today was added by composer

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Speaker 1: Lowell Mason, who adapted some of the motifs from Handel's

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Speaker 1: Messiah giving the song. It's like really triumphant and majestic

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Speaker 1: sound that we're used to it with joy to the world. Basically,

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Speaker 1: we are singing a song that was originally to celebrate

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Speaker 1: the second coming of Christ, but we're adopting it to

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Speaker 1: the first coming. Is really beautiful about this is this

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Speaker 1: is what scripture is because when the Psalms were written,

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Speaker 1: the name of Jesus was not known. Psalms were written

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Speaker 1: many hundreds of years before Jesus was even a thought.

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Speaker 1: I take that back. Jesus was a thought. He was

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Speaker 1: an eternal being living in the heavenly realms beside God

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Speaker 1: the Father, but people didn't know his name. They knew

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Speaker 1: the hope of redemption maybe and about God being sovereign,

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Speaker 1: but they didn't know who Jesus was. So this was

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Speaker 1: originally written to glorify God, the King of kings, but

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Speaker 1: it was also prophetic because it's inspired word of God.

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Speaker 1: So it was a prophetic foreshadowing of the Messiah, both

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Speaker 1: his birth and his return later. So I love the layers,

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Speaker 1: the multi layered understanding of scripture that comes across here,

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Speaker 1: which is another way you know, God speaks to us individually.

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Speaker 1: The Word of God is living and active. The Bible

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Speaker 1: says sharper than a double edged sword. It penetrates to

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Speaker 1: divide soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the

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Speaker 1: thoughts and the attitudes of the heart. That's what God's

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Speaker 1: word does, and it's beautiful. So without any further ado,

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Speaker 1: let's read Psalm ninety eight that we now understand in

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Speaker 1: a much better way, and it's from the Nasby nineteen

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Speaker 1: ninety five. As usual, this is not attributed to David

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Speaker 1: or the Sons of kra It just says a call

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Speaker 1: to praise the Lord for his righteousness. No author and

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Speaker 1: then it just simply says, is the subtitle assalm So here'

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Speaker 1: Psalm ninety eight. Oh, sing to the Lord a new song,

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Speaker 1: for he has done wondrous things. His right hand and

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Speaker 1: his Holy arm have gained the victory for him. The

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Speaker 1: Lord has made known his salvation. He has revealed his

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Speaker 1: righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered

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Speaker 1: his loving kindness and his faithfulness to the House of Israel.

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Speaker 1: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation

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Speaker 1: of our God. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth,

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Speaker 1: break forth and sing for joy, and sing praises, Sing

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Speaker 1: praises to the Lord, with the liar, with the liar,

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Speaker 1: and the sound of melody, with trumpets and the sound

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Speaker 1: of the horn, shout joyfully before the King the Lord.

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Speaker 1: Let the sea roll and all it contains, the world

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Speaker 1: and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap

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Speaker 1: their hands. Let the mountains sing together for joy before

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Speaker 1: the Lord. For he is coming to judge the earth.

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Speaker 1: He will judge the world with righteousnes and the people's

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Speaker 1: with equity. So you can see how he might have

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Speaker 1: read this as the second Coming. He's coming to judge

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Speaker 1: the earth. That's the judgment that we're familiar with. I

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Speaker 1: also now want to just read the words of Joy

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Speaker 1: to the world for you, just to kind of compare

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Speaker 1: them side by side. Joy to the world. The Lord

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Speaker 1: is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart

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Speaker 1: prepare him. Room and heaven and nature sing joy to

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Speaker 1: the earth. The Savior reigns are mortal songs, employ while

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Speaker 1: fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains repeat the sounding joy.

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Speaker 1: No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest

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Speaker 1: the ground. He comes to make his blessings flow far

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Speaker 1: as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth,

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Speaker 1: and grace and makes the nations prove the glories of

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Speaker 1: His righteousness and wonders of his love. Let's pray, Jesus,

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Speaker 1: we praise you as the King of Kings and Lord

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Speaker 1: of lords. Thank you for coming to earth as a

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Speaker 1: baby to live a life that was far from easy

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Speaker 1: to choose, to be born into a cold, dark world,

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Speaker 1: to grow up and ultimately live a pretty lonely life.

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Speaker 1: You were misunderstood, You were despised. You were rejected both

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Speaker 1: by people who hated you and even those who loved you.

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Speaker 1: You had no home, no place to lay your head.

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Speaker 1: You wandered, you taught, you rebuked, you encouraged, you healed.

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Speaker 1: You were a revolutionary. You brought a kingdom that no

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Speaker 1: one understood, but that everyone needed. You gave dignity to women,

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Speaker 1: to the poor, to the burdened, to the oppressed, to

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Speaker 1: the afflicted, to the disabled, to the hurting and sick,

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Speaker 1: to the oppressed, and you declared that the last shall

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Speaker 1: be first and the first shall be last. You saw

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Speaker 1: through the exterior into the heart and soul of a person.

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Speaker 1: You called out the good, You inspired truth, You silenced

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Speaker 1: the enemy, and you defeated sin and death by suffering greatly,

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Speaker 1: but you sit at the right hand of the Father now,

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Speaker 1: and you will come again and we will join you.

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Speaker 1: And that wouldn't have been possible without all of this

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Speaker 1: that you did for us. So Jesus, we celebrate you,

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Speaker 1: We welcome you, We welcome the birth of a baby

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Speaker 1: into this undeserving but desperately needing world. Thank you. Amen.

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Speaker 1: don't forget to follow us. New episodes come out every

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Speaker 1: week and you don't want to miss out. We'd like

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Speaker 1: to take just a quick second to thank the team

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Speaker 1: at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast.

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Speaker 1: If you go to lifeaudio dot com. You will find

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Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've

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Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and so much more.

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Speaker 1: That's lifeaudio dot com.