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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.

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Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.

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Speaker 1: And I wanted to thank you for joining us today.

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Speaker 1: Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith.

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Speaker 2: Hope it gives your perspective to see God is moving.

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Speaker 1: In your life.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy the message, and what a privileged to minister of

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Speaker 2: the Word of God to you today.

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Speaker 1: I decided just to use one verse.

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Speaker 2: It's completely coincidental that this is my eleventh Christmas sermon,

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Speaker 2: is the pastor of Elevation Church, and my text happens

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Speaker 2: to be Isaiah eleven. This is the coolest Christmas scripture

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Speaker 2: that you've never heard. I promise you you've never heard this.

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Speaker 2: You probably never heard this little verse of scripture. And

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Speaker 2: I know you've never heard it in a Christmas sermon

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Speaker 2: and I had not either, So I decided just to

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Speaker 2: preach it. And the Lord has really been using it.

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Speaker 2: And I want to read you this verse. And don't

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Speaker 2: worry if you don't see what it has to do

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Speaker 2: with Christmas right when I read it, but you will

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Speaker 2: in a minute. A shoot will come up. This is

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Speaker 2: Isaiah eleven. Verse one shoot will come up from the

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Speaker 2: stump of Jesse from his roots, a branch will bear fruit. Again,

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Speaker 2: a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse

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Speaker 2: from his roots, A branch will bear fruit.

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Speaker 1: It is a very.

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Speaker 2: Promising prophecy that Isaiah delivers to a people who have

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Speaker 2: been cut down and reduced to almost nothing. One of

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Speaker 2: my favorite country preachers used to have a saying. He

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Speaker 2: would say, when you're down to nothing, God is up

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Speaker 2: to something.

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Speaker 1: Elbow your neighbor real quick, tell him.

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Speaker 2: God is up to something in your life, even if

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Speaker 2: you can't feel it, even if you can't see it,

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Speaker 2: even if you can't discern it with your natural senses.

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Speaker 2: I want you to know that God is up to something.

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Speaker 1: In your life.

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Speaker 2: If you've had a Banner year or a Baron year,

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Speaker 2: God is up to something in your life. He was

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Speaker 2: up to something in the nation of Israel. They had

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Speaker 2: placed their hope in other gods, and yet the promise

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Speaker 2: of redemption echoes over seven hundred years before the birth

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Speaker 2: of Christ through the prophet Isaiah. He says, a shoot

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Speaker 2: will come up from the stump of Jesse from his roots,

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Speaker 2: a branch.

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Speaker 1: Will bear fruit.

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Speaker 2: Let me back up and read that one more time,

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Speaker 2: because I think I see Jesus in this text from

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Speaker 2: his roots, A branch will bear fruit. Could it be

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Speaker 2: that the branch Isaiah speaks of is the baby that

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Speaker 2: was born in the town of Bethlehem. Could it be

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Speaker 2: that the eagle eyed prophet is seeing through seven centuries

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Speaker 2: into our present hope.

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Speaker 1: Peter calls it a living hope.

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Speaker 2: The author of Hebrews calls it an anchor for our souls.

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Speaker 2: We celebrate this season that hope has come. Somebody, shall

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Speaker 2: I have a hope? I have a hope. Say it again,

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Speaker 2: I have a hope. Let the devil hear you say it,

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Speaker 2: because he's been messing with you and you've had a

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Speaker 2: hard year. But let him know that you're still standing

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Speaker 2: by the grace of God and you.

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Speaker 1: Have a hope. Somebody, shall I have a hope? And

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Speaker 1: it's a.

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Speaker 2: Certain kind of hope. It's not a floating hope. I

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Speaker 2: saw Holly watch a movie a few years ago. It's

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Speaker 2: been quite a few years, and they called the movie

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Speaker 2: Hope floats.

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Speaker 1: I didn't watch the movie. Holly had it on.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know anything about the movie, but I

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Speaker 2: know that the title is inaccurate, because.

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Speaker 1: Real hope is like an anchor.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't float on the surface of your situation, but

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Speaker 2: it gets down to the bottom and holds on tight

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Speaker 2: while you're going through hell. Can I preach a little

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Speaker 2: bit on Christmas Eve? Just a little bit? And so

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Speaker 2: when you get Paul involved. Paul is the New Testament

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Speaker 2: apostle who took the Gospel to the Gentiles, and he

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Speaker 2: says something instructive in Romans chapter eight. He wants to

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Speaker 2: talk about the nature of hope, and when he goes

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Speaker 2: to talk about it, he says that in this hope,

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Speaker 2: this is Romans eight twenty four, we were saved, But

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Speaker 2: hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who

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Speaker 2: hopes for what they already have. But if we hope

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Speaker 2: for what we do not have, if we can.

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Speaker 1: Hold on and hold out and hope for what we

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Speaker 1: do not yet have, we wait for.

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Speaker 2: It patiently, and patience is the proof of hope. My

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Speaker 2: subject for this Christmas is learning hope the hard way.

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Speaker 1: Learning hope the hard way.

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Speaker 2: Because what Isaiah's stump that has been cut down in

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Speaker 2: Paul's theology, christology and numatology of the Spirit of God

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Speaker 2: that lives on the inside of you all have in

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Speaker 2: common is that they describe a certain kind of hope,

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Speaker 2: not the kind of hope that you might have as

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Speaker 2: a Panther's fan. Listen, I hope that the Clemson Tigers

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Speaker 2: beat the Ohio State Buckeyes.

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Speaker 1: As do all Christians.

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Speaker 2: Now tossed around like that, the word hope means very little,

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Speaker 2: because the fact of the matter is it.

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Speaker 1: Won't bother me much if they don't.

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Speaker 2: A bunch of boys and some spandex aren't going to

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Speaker 2: keep me up at night. I am not so worried

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Speaker 2: as to really say I hope. All I really mean

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Speaker 2: is it would be nice. It'd be nice my mom

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Speaker 2: went to Clemson. It would be nice if they got

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Speaker 2: to win. I don't care. I don't really hope for that.

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Speaker 2: I didn't come to talk to you on Christmas Eve

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Speaker 2: when you could be doing a lot of other things

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Speaker 2: about that kind of hope. Today, I'm talking about a

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Speaker 2: certain kind of hope, a hope that has to be

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Speaker 2: learned the hard way. How many have ever had to

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Speaker 2: learn something the hard way? If your husband isn't raising

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Speaker 2: his hand, maybe you could raise it for him if

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Speaker 2: he don't want to be honest, some things you have

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Speaker 2: to learn the hard way. Some things can only be

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Speaker 2: developed the hard way. I was talking to a campus pastor.

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Speaker 2: It might have been you, Jonathan, I don't remember, and

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Speaker 2: they asked me about my preparation, and I told him

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Speaker 2: a story. I said, I prepare a lot before I preach,

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Speaker 2: and I overprepare. The reason I overprepare is because one time,

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Speaker 2: thirteen years ago, I went to speak at an event.

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Speaker 2: I got lost on the way, so I started getting angry,

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Speaker 2: and I was a little flustered.

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Speaker 1: When I got there.

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Speaker 2: And I got up in front of the event and

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Speaker 2: it was a mother daughter banquet, and I've never been

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Speaker 2: more unprepared for anything in my life. I didn't know

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Speaker 2: it was other daughter banquet. I had prepared for something different.

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Speaker 2: I thought it was a youth service, and I didn't

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Speaker 2: have anything to say to the mothers and daughters.

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Speaker 1: But I learned the hard way that day.

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Speaker 2: I hated how that felt so much, being up in

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Speaker 2: front of people with a microphone and a Bible.

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Speaker 1: I resolved in my heart I will never stand.

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Speaker 2: In front of people behind a pulpit unprepared again. But

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Speaker 2: it took the experience of embarrassment. You know, my mouth

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Speaker 2: is going dry, and my face is turning red, and

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Speaker 2: I stood there and I resolved. I promised myself, I

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Speaker 2: will never.

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Speaker 1: Be in that situation again.

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Speaker 2: And it doesn't mean that all my sermons are going

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Speaker 2: to be great, and it doesn't mean that all of

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Speaker 2: my sermons are going to be funny or equally inspiring,

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Speaker 2: but they will always be my best. I decided that day,

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Speaker 2: but I had to learn it the hard way. Those

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Speaker 2: of you who come to the church know we have

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Speaker 2: three kids. The only reason I keep them around this

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Speaker 2: for sermon material. And oldest one's eleven. His name's Elijah,

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Speaker 2: and he gave me a good line the other day

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Speaker 2: we were writing. I was taking him to school, and

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Speaker 2: I said, who is your favorite teacher that you've ever had?

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Speaker 1: He's in sixth grade.

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Speaker 2: Now that's not a prairie quest, but if you want

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Speaker 2: to throw us in on your list, that's okay. And

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Speaker 2: he said, he said, He said, it depends what you

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Speaker 2: mean by favorite. Do you mean the one that I

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Speaker 2: had the most fun with or the one that I

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Speaker 2: learned the most from, Because those answers would be different

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Speaker 2: depending on what you mean by favorite. How did he

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Speaker 2: understand that about school as an eleven year old? And

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Speaker 2: we don't get it in our Christian life, in our

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Speaker 2: spiritual life.

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Speaker 1: That the seasons of our life that are the.

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Speaker 2: Most fun aren't necessarily the most fruitful, And the seasons

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Speaker 2: of our life that we get the most out of

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Speaker 2: aren't necessarily the ones that we would choose to go through.

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Speaker 2: There are some seasons of your life that will cut

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Speaker 2: you down and take off your branches. We call them

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Speaker 2: pruning season. But even in the pruning is a promise.

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Speaker 2: Isaiah said, I see a stump cut down to nothing,

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Speaker 2: but I see a shoot coming forth from the stump

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Speaker 2: and got us up to something.

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Speaker 1: In your life. This Christmas.

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Speaker 2: So we celebrate this season that hope has come into

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Speaker 2: the world, but we've got to remember not only that

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Speaker 2: it has come or who it came through, but how

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Speaker 2: it came. I mean, it had to be hard. It

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Speaker 2: had to be hard. That's kind of left out by

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Speaker 2: the time you see our modern interpretation of the Nativity.

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Speaker 2: It had to be hard for Joseph to really believe

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Speaker 2: that his wife, who had not had sex with him,

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Speaker 2: because they were not husband and wife yet, but they

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Speaker 2: were what the Bible calls betrothed, that his wife, being

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Speaker 2: a virgin, was pregnant. It had to be hard for

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Speaker 2: him to really take that at God's word. It had

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Speaker 2: to be hard for Mary to have to look people

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Speaker 2: in the eye and convince them that.

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Speaker 1: What she was carrying was from the Holy Spirit.

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Speaker 2: Forget about even that part, okay, because it had to

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Speaker 2: be hard for them to believe.

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Speaker 1: I know that, But just.

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Speaker 2: Physically, the way God chose to come into the world

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Speaker 2: shows us something about the nature of the way he works,

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Speaker 2: and I think we should look at it, because if

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Speaker 2: you sanitize the Christmas story, you strip it of its significance.

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Speaker 1: To miss the.

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Speaker 2: Struggle of the Christmas story is to miss a window

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Speaker 2: into the.

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Speaker 1: Way God works. When God wanted to.

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Speaker 2: Come into the world, not only did he pick a virgin,

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Speaker 2: Not only did he pick a womb that would represented

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Speaker 2: impossibility so that he could bring forth infinite potential. Not

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Speaker 2: only did he pick the hardest situation to bring forth

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Speaker 2: this son, but he didn't even make hotel reservations. When

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Speaker 2: it came time for them to stay in Bethlehem. They

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Speaker 2: didn't even have They didn't even have a room at

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Speaker 2: the Ritz.

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Speaker 3: When you think if.

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Speaker 2: God was coming into the world, he would Airbnb or

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Speaker 2: something to make sure that this couple had a place

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Speaker 2: to stay. Talk to me somebody and see. We miss

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Speaker 2: it because we think that when God says he's gonna

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Speaker 2: do something in our lives, it's going to be easy.

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Speaker 1: But it's not.

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Speaker 3: It has to be hard.

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Speaker 2: A quick look at the history of the Bible shows

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Speaker 2: you that God likes to do things the hard way.

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Speaker 2: It is his preferred method of carrying out his purpose.

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Speaker 2: So don't think you're weird if your life has been hard,

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Speaker 2: and don't assume that you're doing something wrong, because God

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Speaker 2: will often allow life to cut you down to the stock.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he did it to Moses.

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Speaker 2: Moses was called to lead the children of Israel out

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Speaker 2: of Egypt. I'm gonna take you through the whole Bible,

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Speaker 2: but I do want to go to Exodus because there's

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Speaker 2: this interesting Prisms verse that says, out of Egypt, I've

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Speaker 2: called my son because Jesus had to go with his

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Speaker 2: parents to Egypt when he was very little, because Herod

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Speaker 2: wanted to kill him. Because God doesn't birth his son

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Speaker 2: into the world into ideal circumstances, but into a very

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Speaker 2: chaotic environment where Roman oppression was so common to the

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Speaker 2: people that they feared for their very life under the

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Speaker 2: madman named Herod. We think we have bad presidential candidates.

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Speaker 2: I mean, this guy was killing babies in Bethlehem when

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Speaker 2: he heard Jesus was born because it represented a threat

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Speaker 2: to the throne. And so Isaiah's prophesying to a people

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Speaker 2: who are under a Syrian oppression, and Jesus comes into

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Speaker 2: the world under Roman oppression. Because God likes to come

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Speaker 2: into hard situations, He's not scared of that. And so

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Speaker 2: when he picks Moses, he says, go to Pharaoh, the

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Speaker 2: most powerful man in the world.

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Speaker 1: And tell him to let my people go.

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Speaker 2: And when you tell him to let my people go,

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Speaker 2: he's going to say no. Now, why would God tell

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Speaker 2: me to do something, And in the next breath inform

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Speaker 2: me that it won't work.

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Speaker 1: Because it had to be hard.

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Speaker 2: If it was easy for Moses, if he just walked

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Speaker 2: up into Pharaoh's court and said let my people go

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Speaker 2: and Pharaoh said all right, Moses would dab on Pharaoh

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Speaker 2: walk out and think he was convincing. But Pharaoh had

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Speaker 2: to say no so that God could And this is

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Speaker 2: God's own wording.

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Speaker 1: I didn't make this up.

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Speaker 2: He said, I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that I

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Speaker 2: can gain glory. In other words, if it wasn't hard,

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Speaker 2: you would think it was you. If it wasn't hard,

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Speaker 2: you would trust in yourself, and yourself is not an

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Speaker 2: adequate support system for the glory of God. So I've

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Speaker 2: got to allow some things into your life that are impossible.

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Speaker 1: For you so that you can know what Mary knew.

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Speaker 2: That nothing shall be impossible with God.

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Speaker 1: It had to be hard.

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Speaker 3: By the time the.

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Speaker 2: Israelites came out of Egypt, they come up to the

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Speaker 2: Red Sea and God instead of taking them around the

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Speaker 2: body of water, WA's what God does?

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Speaker 1: God is kind of crazy.

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Speaker 2: God says, I'm not gonna take you around it. That

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Speaker 2: would be the normal way, that would be the human way.

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Speaker 1: Let's do it the hard way.

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Speaker 2: I'm not gonna take you around it.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna take you through it.

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Speaker 2: Stretch out to your staff, and the waters will part.

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Speaker 1: And about the time.

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Speaker 2: You get through, look back over your soular and the

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Speaker 2: Egyptians that were ruling.

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Speaker 1: Over you, you will see them no more. I'm about to drown.

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Speaker 1: What's chasing you down? But I gotta take you the

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Speaker 1: hard way, the hard way. God likes to do it

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Speaker 1: the hard way.

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Speaker 2: I don't have time to tell you about David and

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Speaker 2: his slingshot. God could have used the armed soldier to

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Speaker 2: kill Goliath, but how would they have known that he

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Speaker 2: was the Lord if God didn't do it through something

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Speaker 2: so silly as one rock.

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Speaker 1: God likes to do things the hard way. Get so

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Speaker 1: if you have.

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Speaker 2: Thirty two thousand men, he's not gonna let you fight

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Speaker 2: with thirty two thousand men.

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Speaker 1: He's gonna get you down to three hundred.

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Speaker 2: Maybe that's why you've been cut down to a stump.

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Speaker 2: Maybe you were relying on the fruit too much. But

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Speaker 2: this is a season where God wants to prove your

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Speaker 2: root system and show you real hope, and sometimes you.

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Speaker 3: You got to learn it the hard way.

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Speaker 2: He couldn't come into the world floating on the crowd

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Speaker 2: cloud looking like some superhero.

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Speaker 3: He couldn't.

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Speaker 1: He couldn't have come like that with an s on

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Speaker 1: his chest.

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Speaker 3: For savior of the world.

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Speaker 2: Had to come in weakness, so that you would know

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Speaker 2: that in your weakness he is strong.

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Speaker 3: And I don't know it's because I.

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Speaker 2: Spend so much time speaking to young people that I

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Speaker 2: think in such simplistic terms, or maybe I'm just a

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Speaker 2: simple man.

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Speaker 1: But I started thinking about.

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Speaker 2: And I texted Jess and I said give me a

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Speaker 2: bouncy ball. I want to use it in the sermon.

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Speaker 2: I didn't tell her I wanted to use it in

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Speaker 2: the sermon. I said, give me a bouncy ball. I

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Speaker 2: didn't tell her why I wanted it. Maybe she thought

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Speaker 2: I was losing my mind, or I hadn't bought Christmas

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Speaker 2: for Holly yet.

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Speaker 3: That'd be bad, wouldn't it.

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Speaker 2: But I was thinking that it has the ability to

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Speaker 2: bounce back. That's exactly what it was designed to do.

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Speaker 2: That's exactly what it's meant for. That's why it's called

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Speaker 2: a bouncy ball. They named it appropriately for the function

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Speaker 2: that it is intended to serve, for the potential that

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Speaker 2: it has within its composite structure.

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Speaker 3: But in order.

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Speaker 2: See if I did the same thing, give me a chair, Rick,

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Speaker 2: I know he doesn't mind giving me his chair.

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Speaker 1: Rick could do anything for me when you're recking anything.

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Speaker 2: Anything to help me preach the gospel, even even your

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Speaker 2: own seat on Christmas Eve. Now, look, same ball, different surface.

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Speaker 2: Didn't work, because in order for this to do what

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Speaker 2: it's meant to do, the surface that it bounces on

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Speaker 2: has to be She's on it. Some of y'all are

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Speaker 2: remedial it has to be. It has to be. And

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Speaker 2: maybe that's why in this season of your life things

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Speaker 2: have been hard. Maybe God isn't punishing you. Maybe he's

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Speaker 2: preparing you. Maybe you've been cut down for a comeback.

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Speaker 2: See as a believer, y'all better help me. Preacher, I'll

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Speaker 2: have you here until midnight. As a believer in Jesus Christ,

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Speaker 2: you have the ability within you to bounce back. Maybe

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Speaker 2: that's why they lay Jesus in a borrowed grave, because

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Speaker 2: God had to show the world.

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Speaker 1: That you can put me.

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Speaker 2: Down in rock bottom, but you can't keep.

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Speaker 1: Me from bouncing back. Does anybody have a bounce back

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Speaker 1: in your sphere? At this Christian.

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Speaker 2: Touch, three people say I can bounce back. I can

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Speaker 2: bounce back. I have a hope that bounces back. I

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Speaker 2: can bounce back from rock bottom. As a matter of fact,

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Speaker 2: the harder the bottom, the higher the bounce. God let

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Speaker 2: me be cut down for a little while. But I

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Speaker 2: see a shoe coming from the stock.

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Speaker 3: It had to be hard.

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Speaker 2: Mary had to wonder, the Bible says she.

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Speaker 1: Pondered these things in her heart.

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Speaker 2: What was happening inside of her wasn't obvious to the

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Speaker 2: people around her, because it.

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Speaker 1: Had to be hard, and it had to be hidden. Hidden.

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Speaker 2: When God really likes something, he hides it. We get

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Speaker 2: sent a lot of delicious Christmas treats this time of year.

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Speaker 1: Praise the Lord.

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Speaker 2: And when I like it, okay, I put it out

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Speaker 2: for the.

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Speaker 3: Kids when I really like it.

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Speaker 2: I have some places around the house, come on that

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Speaker 2: I can put stuff where Graham can't find it, where

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Speaker 2: the devil can't find it. I have some secret compartments

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Speaker 2: for certain carbohydrates.

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Speaker 1: Holly doesn't even know that I have.

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Speaker 2: I'm not stashing anything illegal, baby, but sometimes peanut butter,

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Speaker 2: some stuff is too good for me to just leave out.

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Speaker 2: And don't you find it the least been intriguing. I mean,

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Speaker 2: I just love the Bible. Here's Isaiah seven hundred years

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Speaker 2: out from the birth of Christ.

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Speaker 1: Now we have what Isaiah was hoping for.

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Speaker 2: And I wonder do we take it for granted because

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Speaker 2: we've got it. Paul said, it's harder to hope the

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Speaker 2: more you have, because when you have it, you lose

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Speaker 2: your ability to hope because you start to hope in

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Speaker 2: what you.

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Speaker 3: Have and you forget how to hope when you don't

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Speaker 3: have it.

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Speaker 2: Hope for reconciliation when it's not going well, Hope for

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Speaker 2: provision when you're down to nothing. But God is up

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Speaker 2: to something. And Isaiah said, you can see it in

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Speaker 2: the roots. But the roots, that's the part of the

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Speaker 2: tree that you can't see. But that's where the action is.

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Speaker 2: As long as that tree stays rooted, it has the

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Speaker 2: promise of new beginnings. So Isaiah I said, God's doing

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Speaker 2: a hidden work in your life. Sh He's up to something.

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Speaker 2: Christmas came in a whisper. Jesus spent the first couple

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Speaker 2: of years of this life hiding from Herod because when

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Speaker 2: God brings a promise into the earth, that alerts the enemy.

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Speaker 2: And maybe you've been in a season of hiding. Maybe

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Speaker 2: God is trying to show you the nature of true hope,

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Speaker 2: not the kind that floats, but the kind that gets

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Speaker 2: down deep enough in your heart where people can't get it.

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Speaker 2: Some of you keep giving your hope away easily. You

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Speaker 2: haven't learned how to hide it. You're not rooted yet,

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Speaker 2: and you have hope when good things happen. But how

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Speaker 2: is your home when God seems silent? How is your

401
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Speaker 2: hope when there's no fruit on the tree? How is

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Speaker 2: your hope. It's in those seasons. Elijah said, it depends,

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Speaker 2: do you mean the teacher that taught me the most

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Speaker 2: or the teacher I had the most fun with. Some

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Speaker 2: of God's greatest work in my life was when I

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Speaker 2: couldn't feel him. That's where he built my faith. When

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Speaker 2: I couldn't feel him. He had to hide my faith

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Speaker 2: beneath my feelings. That's where hope lies. Beneath the surface.

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Speaker 2: That's where hope lies. When you get a bad report

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Speaker 2: from the doctor, but somehow, some way, you still have hope.

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Speaker 2: Not just hope when you're healthy, not just hope when

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Speaker 2: it's a clean bill, not just hope when there is

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Speaker 2: a bonus, hope when you don't know how you're going

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Speaker 2: to make it through. But my hope doesn't have to

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Speaker 2: know how.

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Speaker 1: I know who. I don't know how, but I know who.

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Speaker 1: I don't know when, but I know who.

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Speaker 2: I don't even know what, but I know who.

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Speaker 3: It and all.

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Speaker 2: It's an anchor for my soul. It's an anchor. And

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Speaker 2: what does an anchor do? Goes all the way down

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Speaker 2: to the bottom, and from a stump a shoot.

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Speaker 3: Is coming forth.

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Speaker 1: Think about it. The stump of.

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Speaker 2: Jesse that was David's father that represented the Kingdom of Israel,

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Speaker 2: and when that kingdom was cut down, God shows Isaiah's

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Speaker 2: word to say.

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Speaker 1: There's a stump coming forth from the shoote.

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Speaker 2: God said this Christmas, some of you have been going

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Speaker 2: through things and you thought God was gone.

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Speaker 3: He's not gone.

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Speaker 2: He is preparing you or growth, and He is rooting

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Speaker 2: your hope in a deeper place. I used to think

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Speaker 2: that disappointment was the enemy of hope. I don't think

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Speaker 2: so anymore. I think disappointment is the doorway to deeper hope.

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Speaker 1: See, you have to learn it the hard way. You

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Speaker 1: have to put your hope.

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Speaker 2: In a person and find out that people can't hold

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Speaker 2: your hope. They're not meant to. You have to put

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Speaker 2: your hope in your bank ballots to realize that your

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Speaker 2: bank account can't.

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Speaker 1: Hold your hope. God help you if you're looking to.

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Speaker 2: A governmental agency to hold your hope right now. And

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Speaker 2: maybe God even allows nation sometimes to get down to

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00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:55,520
Speaker 2: a stump so a shoot can come forth. And the

446
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:59,199
Speaker 2: Lord said, there would be somebody here today who has

447
00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,520
Speaker 2: allowed your hope to be in things and people and

448
00:25:01,560 --> 00:25:05,359
Speaker 2: success and status. And one day when and if I

449
00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:08,399
Speaker 2: ever and he brought you here, and there's a shoot

450
00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:12,439
Speaker 2: coming forth from the stump. This little Christmas message is

451
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:13,160
Speaker 2: just the thing.

452
00:25:13,440 --> 00:25:17,520
Speaker 1: See, you came just for Grandma, You came just to

453
00:25:17,640 --> 00:25:18,320
Speaker 1: check it off.

454
00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 2: But God had something different, something deeper, something lasting in mind.

455
00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:29,280
Speaker 2: God wants to give you hope. But my brother, my sister,

456
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:32,520
Speaker 2: you've got to take hold of it. Hope is here,

457
00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,000
Speaker 2: but it is not yours until you take hold of it.

458
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,320
Speaker 2: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence

459
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:43,440
Speaker 2: of things not seen, and from its roots a branch

460
00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,879
Speaker 2: will bring forth fruit. You cannot have the fruit of

461
00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:52,800
Speaker 2: fulfillment without the branch of Jesus Christ. That's why he

462
00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:56,760
Speaker 2: was born. He is the branch. And you don't have

463
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,520
Speaker 2: to leave this place disconnected from God. You don't have

464
00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 2: to leave this place disconnected from hope. And you don't

465
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,880
Speaker 2: have to leave this place down to nothing. A shoot

466
00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 2: is coming forth from the stump, and hope is being

467
00:26:11,400 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 2: born as the word of.

468
00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,800
Speaker 1: God goes forth. This is your day.

469
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,560
Speaker 2: Today is born to you in the city of David,

470
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 2: a savior, which is Christ, the Lord.

471
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:26,080
Speaker 1: He is the Prince. This is the hope. Now is

472
00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: the time, This is the hope.

473
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,360
Speaker 2: He is the Prince, and now is the top.

474
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:34,720
Speaker 1: This day.

475
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:39,320
Speaker 2: I want to ask you to stand at all of

476
00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:42,560
Speaker 2: our locations. I'm praying for people right now who need

477
00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 2: to take hold of hope. I had a special sense

478
00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 2: of what God wanted to do in this worship experience.

479
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,720
Speaker 2: This will be the greatest response of people giving their

480
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,199
Speaker 2: lives to Christ that we will see all Christmas in

481
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:02,600
Speaker 2: this worship periods right now. There are many of you

482
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,600
Speaker 2: who have never truly placed your hope in Christ. The

483
00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,199
Speaker 2: story is familiar to you, but you are not rooted

484
00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,639
Speaker 2: in it. And you know, if we were just talking,

485
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:18,400
Speaker 2: I wish we could just talk. I wish we didn't

486
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:20,159
Speaker 2: have to be in this crowd like this where you

487
00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 2: want to act like you got your fake fruit on

488
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:25,720
Speaker 2: your tree and acting like you're But if we could

489
00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:31,760
Speaker 2: just talk, you would say.

490
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: Man, I'm far away from God.

491
00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,560
Speaker 2: And you may feel like the shepherds who were the

492
00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 2: last ones who ever thought that God would appear to them,

493
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 2: but they got the first noel.

494
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,760
Speaker 1: And maybe that's you. Maybe maybe you've become disconnected.

495
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:47,440
Speaker 2: Maybe you had a connection with God at one point

496
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,359
Speaker 2: in your life, but.

497
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:50,720
Speaker 1: You've been cut down to a stump.

498
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,960
Speaker 2: The good news is that from that stump, a shoot,

499
00:27:56,280 --> 00:28:04,040
Speaker 2: a small thing that seems so insignificant, so little, that

500
00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:05,400
Speaker 2: you'll miss it if you walk by it.

501
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,800
Speaker 1: I think these are the moments that God speaks to us.

502
00:28:07,720 --> 00:28:10,600
Speaker 2: At and if you're not careful, you'll walk right by

503
00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:14,119
Speaker 2: it and go right back into your next year, disconnected

504
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,880
Speaker 2: from hope, putting your hope in people, putting your hope

505
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:17,720
Speaker 2: in achievements.

506
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:21,280
Speaker 1: But in this moment, if you'll reach out to God,

507
00:28:22,119 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: he has already come near to you. We live on

508
00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,520
Speaker 1: this side of hope. Our hope has come.

509
00:28:29,680 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 2: And today, if you are far away from God and

510
00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,320
Speaker 2: you know it in your heart, I want to pray

511
00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:38,240
Speaker 2: for you. Would you buy your head and close your eyes.

512
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 2: We do this as a church family, is something that

513
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 2: we do every time we gather, but this Christmas it

514
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 2: has special significance. What a perfect time to have your

515
00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:53,440
Speaker 2: slate white clean, your sins washed away, your heart made new,

516
00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:55,800
Speaker 2: and your new life began.

517
00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:57,760
Speaker 1: In this moment.

518
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:01,080
Speaker 2: If you say that's me, you're preaching to Pastor Stephen,

519
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 2: And right now I want to pray with you, and

520
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:05,920
Speaker 2: I want you to pray for me, and I want

521
00:29:05,960 --> 00:29:07,800
Speaker 2: to call on God. The Bible says that if anyone

522
00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:08,520
Speaker 2: calls on the name of.

523
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 1: The Lord, he will be saved, She will be saved.

524
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:12,760
Speaker 1: All you have to do is.

525
00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:15,120
Speaker 2: Reach, and a shoot will come forth from the stump

526
00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:19,960
Speaker 2: of Jesse, and from its roots a branch will bear fruit.

527
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:25,200
Speaker 2: He is the branch. Take hold of him in this moment,

528
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:27,480
Speaker 2: and I want you to pray out loud with me.

529
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:29,600
Speaker 2: We'll pray all together now as a church family, for

530
00:29:29,640 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 2: the benefit of those who are coming to God or

531
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:34,960
Speaker 2: back to God. Would you repeat this prayer, the simple

532
00:29:34,960 --> 00:29:40,800
Speaker 2: prayer after me, Heavenly Father. Today is my day of

533
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:46,040
Speaker 2: new beginnings. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son

534
00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,840
Speaker 2: of God and the Savior of the world, and right

535
00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,840
Speaker 2: now I give him my life. From this stay forward,

536
00:29:54,720 --> 00:29:59,080
Speaker 2: I will follow you. I receive your love, and this

537
00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 2: is my new beginning. I turn from my sin. I

538
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 2: trust in you. Make me a new creation. Head still bowed,

539
00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:11,400
Speaker 2: eyes still closed. If you just prayed that on the

540
00:30:11,440 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 2: count of three, shoot your hand up in the air

541
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:14,160
Speaker 2: and make it official.

542
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,680
Speaker 1: One, two, three, This is the day. Now is the time.

543
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:21,480
Speaker 1: This is the day. Now is the time. This is

544
00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:23,480
Speaker 1: the day. Keep your hand up for a moment.

545
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 3: We have a gift.

546
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,400
Speaker 1: We want to give you. God, bless you, God, bless you.

547
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,040
Speaker 2: God bless you, God bless you.

548
00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,520
Speaker 1: Hands shot up everywhere. I wish you could have seen it.

549
00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 1: I mean, there's a party going on in heaven. I

550
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 1: think we ought to join in. On the earth.

551
00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:43,280
Speaker 2: People say, and this is the time, this is the time,

552
00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 2: this is the time, and a.

553
00:30:45,720 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 1: Shoot, we'll come up from the stuff.

554
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:50,560
Speaker 2: I've seen you coming up all around you.

555
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: I've seen new.

556
00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:53,960
Speaker 2: Beginnings in your family, in your.

557
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:57,800
Speaker 1: Heart, in your situation. Come on, let's look our hands

558
00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 1: to heaven.

559
00:30:58,360 --> 00:30:59,840
Speaker 2: Right now, let's join the.

560
00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:07,040
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us.

561
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:09,840
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to

562
00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,400
Speaker 2: this ministry. Is because of you that this ministry is possible.

563
00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 2: You can click the link in the description to give now,

564
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:20,800
Speaker 2: or visit Elevationchurch dot org slash podcast for more information

565
00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:24,120
Speaker 2: and if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe.

566
00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:25,719
Speaker 1: You can share it with your friends.

567
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:28,280
Speaker 2: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and

568
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,480
Speaker 2: share it on your social stories and tag us at

569
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 2: Elevation Church.

570
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:38,040
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you.