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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Teach Us to Praise brought to you by Life Audio

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Speaker 2: and is a part of our Faith Toolkit series. For

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Speaker 2: more inspirational faith affirming podcasts, visit lifeaudio dot com.

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Speaker 1: There are so many ways that we see in the

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Speaker 1: Bible that God speaks to his people because God wants

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Speaker 1: to speak to us. And as we look through the

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Speaker 1: story of jesus birth in the Bible this Christmas season,

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Speaker 1: we see that God is speaking in various ways. Today,

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Speaker 1: we're going to talk about how God speaks through angels,

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Speaker 1: through his Holy Spirit, through dreams, through confirmation, and how

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Speaker 1: all of that is confirmed through the birth story of Jesus.

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Speaker 1: Stay tuned, Welcome back, friend. You are listening to the

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Speaker 1: Teach Us to Pray podcast, where we teach believers practical

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Speaker 1: and real life tips on how to grow your faith

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Speaker 1: in relationship with God through the power of prayer. I'm

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Speaker 1: Christina Patterson, host of the Teach Us to Pray podcast

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Speaker 1: and founder of Beloved Women, where I encourage, equipp and

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Speaker 1: empower women in the love and truth of Jesus Christ.

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Speaker 1: So I've been sharing with you over the past few

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Speaker 1: episodes that currently in our Beloved Women app membership, we

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Speaker 1: are going through an advent devotional together. It's twenty five

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Speaker 1: days and we are reading through the story of Jesus'

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Speaker 1: birth in the Bible, and each day has a reading,

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Speaker 1: a focused verse, a devotional, and a prayer for that day.

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Speaker 1: And if you want to join us, there is still time.

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Speaker 1: You can go to Belovewomen dot org, forward slash Join,

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Speaker 1: or download the Beloved Women app in the Apple or

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Speaker 1: Google play stores and just start with us wherever we are,

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Speaker 1: whatever day they were on. It's a very low key series,

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Speaker 1: very simple daily exercises, just to get us immersed in

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Speaker 1: the story of Jesus' birth and the miracle of his

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Speaker 1: birth and what that means for us today. But as

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Speaker 1: I was preparing for that devotional series that we're going

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Speaker 1: through in the Beloved Woman app, it really made me

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Speaker 1: think about this podcast and how we talk about prayer

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Speaker 1: and how God speaks to us in different ways, and

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Speaker 1: I was so amazed because every turn of the story

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Speaker 1: of jesus birth, we see God speaking to his people

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Speaker 1: in numerous ways. And it just really excited me because,

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Speaker 1: as I've shared so many times on this podcast, God

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Speaker 1: is speaking to his people and we see this so

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Speaker 1: clearly in the Bible. As we read the story of Jesus' birth,

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Speaker 1: and I just want to chat with you about some

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Speaker 1: of those ways that God just went above and beyond

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Speaker 1: to make sure that his people knew that He was

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Speaker 1: speaking to them, that He was moving in their lives

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Speaker 1: in this situation, and that his word was true. And

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Speaker 1: so the first encounter that we see with God speaking

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Speaker 1: when it comes to the story of Christ's birth is

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Speaker 1: actually to Zachariah. He was a priest and he is

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Speaker 1: the father of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was

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Speaker 1: a prophet who prepared the way for Jesus to come.

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Speaker 1: And so what we have to realize is that hundreds

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Speaker 1: of years had passed since there was a prophetic word

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Speaker 1: from God to his people, and that's the time between

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Speaker 1: the Old Testament and the New Testament. And so there's

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Speaker 1: just silence here. There's just silence. God hasn't given them

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Speaker 1: a word. We don't know what's going on. And I

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Speaker 1: imagine the doubt that can arise in those particular scenarios,

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Speaker 1: those seasons where you feel like God is silent and

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Speaker 1: God comes back with a message from an angel to

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Speaker 1: Zachariah to say all those prophecies that he spoke to

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Speaker 1: his people in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah.

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Speaker 1: Maya are upon us and Jesus is coming, and the

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Speaker 1: angel tells Zachariah that his son will prepare the way

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Speaker 1: for Jesus, and John de Baptist is going to be born.

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Speaker 1: Now this was significant because Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth

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Speaker 1: were very old in age, and so he had a

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Speaker 1: hard time believing this, and you can read that story

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Speaker 1: in Luke chapter one. However, God uses an angel to

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Speaker 1: speak to Zachariah and tell him what's going to happen. Again,

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Speaker 1: we see an angel come to Mary and after that

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Speaker 1: and tell Mary that she will birth Jesus the Messiah.

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Speaker 1: When she does give birth to Jesus, we then see

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Speaker 1: angels appear to shepherds in a near by field where

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Speaker 1: a field near where Jesus was born. And then now

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Speaker 1: said the Savior had come. And so we see that

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Speaker 1: God uses angels to speak to the people to deliver

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Speaker 1: his message, to let them know what's going to happen,

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Speaker 1: but also what he needs them to do in those situations,

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Speaker 1: or whether it's what to name the child, or where

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Speaker 1: to go or what to do. And so we do

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Speaker 1: see God speak through angels so many times throughout the

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Speaker 1: Bible and the Christmas in the in the birth, in

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Speaker 1: the story of the Birth of Jesus is no different.

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Speaker 1: And so the word angel essentially means messenger. These are

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Speaker 1: God's messengers who are giving messages to God's people to

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Speaker 1: let them know what's going to happen, what to expect,

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Speaker 1: that He's going to keep his promises, that he's true

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Speaker 1: to his word to deliver that word in the first place.

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Speaker 1: And so I just thought it was really interesting that

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Speaker 1: that was one way that God chose to speak to

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Speaker 1: his people. And honestly, you see the angels always like

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Speaker 1: do not be afraid, you know, because you're like, wait, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I can only imagine like the fear like you're you know,

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Speaker 1: at home, Washington dishes. I don't know what Mary and

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Speaker 1: zachar Yer are doing at the time the angel appeared

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Speaker 1: to them, but it's like the fear of the unknown,

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Speaker 1: like what is this? What is happening? You know? And

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Speaker 1: they're talking to this angelic being and it's an angel

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Speaker 1: giving them a word from God. But then, which is

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Speaker 1: also interesting is that God doesn't always send angels to

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Speaker 1: deliver his messages. So we see that God also uses

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Speaker 1: his Holy Spirit as well throughout this story. So when

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Speaker 1: Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, the Bible tells

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Speaker 1: us that Elizabeth is pregnant, which on the Baptist at

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Speaker 1: the time that the baby like leaped in her stomach

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Speaker 1: and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she

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Speaker 1: starts to this since she like prophesy, and what Elizabeth

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Speaker 1: says in that moment is in alignment with what the

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Speaker 1: Angel had already spoke to Mary, telling her, you know,

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Speaker 1: that she would birth the Messiah. And so we see

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Speaker 1: a different way that God is speaking here through his

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Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, just them being overcome with the Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: and then them speaking through the power of the Holy

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Speaker 1: Spirit in that moment, and the Holy Spirit is kind

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Speaker 1: of coming down in that moment, and so I think

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Speaker 1: it's interesting because like God didn't send Angel that time,

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Speaker 1: you know, it was the Holy Spirit, and so that

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Speaker 1: was really interesting. But then we see that God in

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Speaker 1: this story also speaks through dreams. So you have Mary,

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Speaker 1: Joseph's Mary who is about to marry Joseph, right, and

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Speaker 1: so Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant and he's like, oh, snap,

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Speaker 1: it wasn't me. So he doesn't want to embarrass Mary

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Speaker 1: by divorcing her or calling off the wedding, but he

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Speaker 1: had played it. He thought about just kind of secretly,

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Speaker 1: you know, calling off the wedding, not making a big

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Speaker 1: deal about it, but just kind of being like, oh,

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Speaker 1: let me distance myself from her. This is kind of

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Speaker 1: a sticky situation until God delivers a message to Joseph

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Speaker 1: through a dream, letting him know what he told Mary,

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Speaker 1: that this was God's son. And Joseph he has, I guess,

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Speaker 1: clarity after that and decides not to go through with

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Speaker 1: what he had been thinking or contemplating, which was to

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Speaker 1: just kind of put Mary aside and not marry her,

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Speaker 1: and he moves forward and to embrace Jesus as his son.

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Speaker 1: And so I thought that was interesting because God speaks

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Speaker 1: to Mary and Zachariah through a message from an angel,

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Speaker 1: but then he comes to Joseph and a dream, right,

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Speaker 1: And I think that's interesting because I wonder if God

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Speaker 1: just knew that that was how Joseph would better receive

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Speaker 1: his message, because God's wise in that way. He knows

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Speaker 1: how we best hear from him, and He's gonna come

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Speaker 1: to us in that way, because God isn't like trying

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Speaker 1: to like trick us into hearing from him, Like he's

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Speaker 1: not testing us when he speaks to us. He wants

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Speaker 1: us to get the messages that he is trying to

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Speaker 1: relate to us. And so that's why I think there's

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Speaker 1: so many different ways that he speaks to us. And

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Speaker 1: so he decides to speak to Joseph in a dream.

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Speaker 1: It's effective, and Joseph does essentially what God wants him

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Speaker 1: to do. We see again in this story God speak

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Speaker 1: through dreams when it comes to the wise men. So

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Speaker 1: when Mary and Joseph, they travel to Bethlehem because there

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Speaker 1: was a census going on and they needed to be counted.

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Speaker 1: So they travel to Bethlehem. Why they're there, Mary goes

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Speaker 1: into labor. There's no room in any of the ends,

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Speaker 1: and so she delivers Jesus in a manger. Sometime between

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Speaker 1: Mary giving birth to Jesus and them moving back to Nazareth,

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Speaker 1: there are wise men who hear about the birth of Jesus.

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Speaker 1: These are the Bible tells us their magi from the

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Speaker 1: east right, so they're not even Israelites, and they saw

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Speaker 1: a star and they knew the scriptures because when they

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Speaker 1: came to find Jesus. They reference that this was the Messiah.

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Speaker 1: They find out where he's at, and before they find Jesus,

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Speaker 1: they actually approached King Herod to ask about his birth.

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Speaker 1: King Herod is like, what's going on? Who is this

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Speaker 1: king of the Jews that is born that you talk about? Right?

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Speaker 1: And he's like intimidated by this, and so they go.

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Speaker 1: The magi go, They find Jesus. They give him the

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Speaker 1: gifts that they have for him, which were gold, freak

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Speaker 1: and sense and mar and King Herod had told them,

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Speaker 1: once you find Jesus, come back to me and tell

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Speaker 1: me where he is. Now. King Herod had no good

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Speaker 1: intentions for Jesus, which will you soon read later on,

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Speaker 1: and the account of Jesus' birth that he goes on

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Speaker 1: to have young boys under the age of two all

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Speaker 1: murdered in an attempt to try to kill Jesus. But

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Speaker 1: it's unsuccessful because the Magi did not come back to

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Speaker 1: King Herod to tell him where Jesus was. Because while

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Speaker 1: they were with Jesus, God gave them a dream. He

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Speaker 1: gave them a dream not to go back to Herod,

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Speaker 1: and they obeyed God and did not. They want another

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Speaker 1: way to go back to where they came from. And

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Speaker 1: so God had spoke to them through a dream to

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Speaker 1: protect Jesus, because this is the promised Messiah. He would

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Speaker 1: fulfill the purpose for which God sent him. And one

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Speaker 1: of the ways that God ensured that to happen was

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Speaker 1: to give this dream to the magi And I thought

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Speaker 1: that was particularly interesting because here we see God speak

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Speaker 1: to men who are not Israelites and they obey, and

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Speaker 1: it's almost like a glo into God's ultimate purpose for

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Speaker 1: mankind because up until this point it was believed by

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Speaker 1: God's people that the Messiah was only for them, but

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Speaker 1: God's ultimate plan was that, yes they were God's people,

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Speaker 1: they would be the first to be saved, but salvation

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Speaker 1: would be for all. And we see that in this

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Speaker 1: moment God is speaking not just to the Israelites, but

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Speaker 1: to even people that are not, and that He's always

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Speaker 1: had a heart to connect with all people, for God

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Speaker 1: so loved the world the world that he sent Jesus.

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Speaker 1: So anyways, I thought that was really interesting as well.

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Speaker 1: But another way that we see God speak through the

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Speaker 1: story of the birth of Christ is through confirmation, and

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Speaker 1: I already shared with you how Elizabeth confirmed the message

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Speaker 1: that Mary had received from the Angel when she was

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Speaker 1: overcome by the Holy Spirit, but also when Joseph had

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Speaker 1: the dream, and it just confirmed what the Angel had

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Speaker 1: already told Mary that this child is she was birthday

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Speaker 1: that she would birth, was the Messiah. And so in

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Speaker 1: this God confirmed his message in various ways. And so

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Speaker 1: ultimately my main point and why I'm so excited about

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Speaker 1: all this is one, I just love Christmas, and every

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Speaker 1: year I read the story of the birth of Jesus

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Speaker 1: and excites me every year because that's what Christmas is about,

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Speaker 1: and he just puts me in a really good spirit.

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Speaker 1: But also I'm particularly excited about the story of Jesus'

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Speaker 1: birth this year because it just confirmed so much of

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Speaker 1: what we've been talking about on this podcast all year long,

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Speaker 1: and that is that God is speaking to us, and

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Speaker 1: He's speaking to us in various ways. I hope that

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Speaker 1: you are not tired of me saying that to you,

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Speaker 1: but I'm so excited about it because I hope that

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Speaker 1: it empowers you to further hear from God for yourself

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Speaker 1: and know that it doesn't have to be one specific way,

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Speaker 1: but that there are many ways that God speaks to us.

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Speaker 1: And so just as a review, I want to share

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Speaker 1: with you some of the past episodes that we've talked

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Speaker 1: about how God speaks to us. We talked about how

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Speaker 1: to hear from God through his word. We've talked about

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Speaker 1: how to hear from God when we pray. We talked

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Speaker 1: about how God speaks through our current circumstances and even

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Speaker 1: our past experiences, how God speaks to us through creation.

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Speaker 1: We've talked about how God speaks to us through dreams

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Speaker 1: and how to know if a dream is from God.

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Speaker 1: We've talked about how God speaks through prophecy and how

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Speaker 1: to know if a prophetic word is true, and how

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Speaker 1: to know if someone is a false prophet. We've talked

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Speaker 1: about how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: and how to sense the leading of the Holy Spirit

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Speaker 1: in your life. We've talked about how to know the

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Speaker 1: difference between conviction and condemnation, and how God will convict us,

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Speaker 1: you know, to move us in a certain direction that's

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Speaker 1: always better for us. But He will not because because

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Speaker 1: He loves us, and that's what he sent and he

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Speaker 1: sent Jesus to show us that love and that that

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Speaker 1: in Christ there's no condemnation. And we even spoke about

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Speaker 1: how to get a confirmation from God, had a confirming

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Speaker 1: word that you have received from God. And all of

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Speaker 1: this was because I want you to be empowered to

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Speaker 1: hear from God yourself. I don't want you to feel

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Speaker 1: like you gotta I have to listen to this person's bible, celler,

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Speaker 1: I have to listen to this podcast. All these supplemental

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Speaker 1: materials when it comes to hearing from God and understanding

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Speaker 1: his word are great, but they're just that. There's supplements.

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Speaker 1: If you think about actual like vitamin supplements, like you

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Speaker 1: wouldn't just take vitamins alone. No, you still need a

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Speaker 1: nutritious meal every single day. Jesus is our daily bread.

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Speaker 1: His word is the bread of life, and He gives

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Speaker 1: his word to each and every one of us so

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Speaker 1: that we can hear from Him ourselves. Supplements are great,

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Speaker 1: and I appreciate that this podcast is a supplement for you.

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Speaker 1: I hope and I hope that it's great for you.

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Speaker 1: But even more, I want you to know that you

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Speaker 1: can hear from God yourself because He is speaking to you.

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Speaker 1: And I hope that as we've discussed how God has

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Speaker 1: spoken to these people even through the story of the

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Speaker 1: birth of Jesus that it doesn't just inspire you this

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Speaker 1: Christmas season, but that it encourages you to know that

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Speaker 1: He wants to speak to you always because He is.

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Speaker 1: It is my hope that today's episode has provided you

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Speaker 1: with insightful and helpful tips on how you can pray.

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Speaker 1: As a gift to you, be sure to download my

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Speaker 1: free five day Prayer Guide and take my Prayer Personality

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Speaker 1: quit to learn how you best hear and connect with God.

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Speaker 1: You may find all links in today's show notes. Listen.

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Speaker 1: We have so much more to talk about when it

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Speaker 1: comes to prayer, so I hope that if you are

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Speaker 1: encouraged by today's episode, share with a friend and subscribe

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Speaker 1: so that you don't miss any future episodes of the

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Speaker 1: Teachers to Pray Podcast, where we will continue to learn.

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Speaker 1: I'm just like breathing prayer can become a natural, consistent,

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Speaker 1: and life giving part of our everyday lives. Until then,

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Speaker 1: be sure to connect with me at Belovewomen dot org

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Speaker 1: and join me on the Beloved Women app for unlimited

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Speaker 1: videos to grow your faith, learn God's word, and encourage

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Speaker 1: your soul. Available now in the Apple and Google play

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Speaker 1: stores or at Belovewomen dot org. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for taking time to listen today. God bless you, and

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Speaker 1: I'll talk to you in the next episode. Teach Us

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Speaker 1: to Pray is a production of Life Audio and Salem Media.

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Speaker 1: If you like what you heard today, please take a

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Speaker 1: second to rate and review this podcast in your favorite

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Speaker 1: podcast staff so that more listeners like you can find

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Speaker 1: the show. For more faith filled inspirational podcasts, visit us

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Speaker 1: at lifeaudio dot com.