Sermon
God reaching to man is the message of Christmas 2025
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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You've tuned into. A mega church.
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We are people hungry to encounter God through worship
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and His Word being witnesses to the world around us.
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We pray this teaching blesses you and trust God will reveal
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Himself to you in a new way today.
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This God seeking man. It's not loud enough.
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Let's do it one more time. Is God seeking man?
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Yeah. It's just, you know, we need to.
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We want to keep it very simple today.
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The message from the time Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of
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Eden. What did they do as a reaction?
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First thing they came to know that they were, they were
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ashamed of. I mean they knew they were, they
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were naked and they were trying to hide it by taking the leaves
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and covering themselves, you know.
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And I mean God kept his timetable and in the evening he
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used to come and speak to them. So he started walking in the
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garden. When they heard the steps of God
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walking in the garden, they hid behind the bushes.
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And then he calls out Adam. Adam, where are you?
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You know all the story. But man's reaction has always
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been to hide from God. It's always been to run away
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from God. From that Adam's behavior till
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today, man has not changed. He may have gone to university.
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He can have degrees, He can make millions of dollars living in
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great houses, but the behaviour of man towards God has not
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changed. They run from God, hide from
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God, but God's heart has always been to reach out to man, as He
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did in the Garden of Eden. He does even today.
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Show me one instance where God has not taken initiative.
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In the Bible you see everywhere the signature that God sought
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man always, always it's he who took the first step.
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So we see in the in the in the story of, you know, as Luke
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describes in Luke chapter 2, when Jesus was born, the angels
Luke 2 chapter mention
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appear to few shepherds. We read it in Luke chapter 2,
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verse 13. Suddenly a great company of the
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heavenly host appeared with the Angel praising God and saying
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glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth.
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Peace to those on whom His favour rests.
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His favour rests on earth. There's no doubt about it.
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That's why we are sitting here. If that favour is not there, we
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will not be here at all. And that favour is pursuing man
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as it pursued those people, the shepherds, who are out in the in
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the open. When the angels had left them
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and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another,
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let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened
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which the Lord has told us about, and they go and find a
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little baby in a Manger. It's just amazing for me, so
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many years. I've been thinking about now
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nearly 48 years now having become a Christian.
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I always wonder how can God fit into a small frame the body of
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Jesus 6 foot let's say he is he was 510.
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Some people say so let's say 510 frame.
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How did this big God fit into the small frame?
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It's a mystery, but that mystery is also the time in very
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encouraging to me very recently when I thought about how does
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God dwell in man and work miracles?
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How does he heal? How do they set people free?
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That insight into incarnation is the key to move in the
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anointing. You wonder, oh, I want to pray
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for somebody. What's going to happen if that
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big God can fit into the small body of Jesus?
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He can fit into your body as well.
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He can dwell in you. So when we say touch, it's not
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me wanting to touch somebody, it is to allow Jesus within me to
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touch the person and to release that power to heal or to give
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answer to any anything they are standing for.
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So that is what it is. And for me, this idea has really
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made Christmas, understanding Christmas very special.
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And then man sometimes, you know, has been trying to find
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his own ways, as you see at the Tower of Babel, he they all came
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together. They had one language.
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They said, let's make build a tower, make a great name for
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ourselves. Let's reach it to heavens and
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they start building it. That is a symbol of man's
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working hard to reach heaven or to become equal to God or to
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take the place of God. And you look at many religions,
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they are based on that. They are based on that.
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I've been breaking my head to with a man.
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I mean he was my friend when I was in primary school and we
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connected now and he is a strong Hindu and now I am not only a
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Christian but I am a pastor and he is trying to convert me to
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Hinduism again because he keeps sending me different videos.
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I told him stop it, you are not going to change me, instead you
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should change. So I send him information and in
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fact I send this message that I am preaching now.
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I send it to him and I don't know whether he read it or not,
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but he sent me in response another video of why we should
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consider Hinduism as an option. The point is, it is a
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revelation. Christmas has to be a
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revelation. Just just as much as God came,
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left heaven and came through and became a small child, and that
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child has become the Christ who died further on the cross, it
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has to be a revelation that knowledge has to come through
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the work of the Holy Spirit. Until that it shines in your
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heart, there will be darkness in the life.
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So that revelation is what is redid.
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And I am praying God, you touched that man out of so many
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people. You brought that man back into
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my life after more than 60 years or even 55 years.
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I'm saying I don't want to lose that guy.
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I want him to. I want you to save him.
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So this is this should be our heart.
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The Christmas. Let's have this heart of praying
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for people who need salvation and speak to them, be persistent
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in presenting love of Jesus to them is very, very important.
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And then you see, God took the initiative to send the angels to
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proclaim that a son is born for you guys who is the savor of the
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world. He is Jesus, he is Emmanuel, God
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with us. And the shepherds went and found
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it as the angels proclaimed. So again, the initiative is
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coming from God, not from the shepherds or for anyone.
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And you have another story of miraculous guidance to find
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Jesus in Matthew chapter 2. And you find 3 wise men who
Matthew 2 chapter mention
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travelled from the east and when they saw the star in the sky and
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they said, ah, this star means somebody great is being born.
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A great king is being born. And they were looking for a sign
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and they found the sign in the sky and they said let's go and
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find this child or this king who is born.
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And they travel probably 3 months, six months, 2 years.
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I don't know how long it took, but they travelled and then the
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star kept guiding them. I've been doing some research,
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you know, Google research. So in that what you find here is
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that that is indication of the birth of Jesus.
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He is trying to find a star. And there was one NASA
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scientist, he said, oh, he figured it out.
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He looked up into some of the writings of Chinese writings and
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he says he was able to say there was a comet that appeared and
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guided those Magi or the wise men to the place where Jesus
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was. And they came to here and said
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where is the king who is born? King of the Jews is born here.
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He felt alarmed about it and he calls the priests and they finds
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out that he is going to be in Bethlehem.
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And then he says OK, go and find him and worship him and come
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back and tell me so that I too can go and worship him.
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But they were warned in the dream not to go back to the
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king, but to go by another way. And afterwards he got angry, got
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all the children killed under 2 years of age.
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So looking into those kind of a thing they were able to say,
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yeah, it is BC four or five between that time and there is
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one more clue that you come across in the in the in the
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Gospel of John in verse 14, he says God in the beginning was
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the word, the word was with God, word was God.
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And in 14 he says the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
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The word dwelt, the Greek word is Tabernacle.
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So they think that that is a big clue John is giving that it
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should coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles, which they
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celebrate for seven days in a year, once a year, remembering
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their deliverance from Egypt. So the Feast of Tabernacles
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should be the time when Jesus was born.
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That's how they come to a conclusion about it.
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And then you look at so many other things here and there, and
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ultimately it is not 25th of December anyway.
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That's the good news. It's not 25th December, so they
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come up with a date in September and some people come up in
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March, whatever it is. So my point is very simple that
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Jesus left heaven, who was the Word, the Logos, and who had no
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beginning and no end. He had the same beginning, same
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continuous existence or ontological existence as the
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Father and the Spirit. That means they are coexistent,
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Co, eternal and all powerful, equally to be loved and to be
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worshipped and to be obeyed. He left heaven for you and me
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and dwelt and took the form of the flesh.
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And I think it is a great event, great event, not to be
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celebrated just one day in a year.
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It has to be celebrated every day.
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Every day, every day it's Christmas for us and every day
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it is Easter for us because that is the purpose ultimately why he
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came into the world to die on the cross.
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So it is something Good Friday and Easter.
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Everything you have to celebrate.
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You have to worship him because he's worthy of the sacrifice.
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He's a lamb who became the sacrificial animal for you and
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me. He died as you, you died as me.
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That's why we celebrate. That's that's the most powerful
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thing that we can ever think of it.
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And then he did not come into a he could have been born in a
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kings family. He could have been born in a
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very rich persons family, but he was born to a couple who are not
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very wealthy. In fact, when they wanted to
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come back and register, you know, there was an addict to go
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back and register. And then they traveled to
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Bethlehem from Nazareth. And then when they went to the
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inn, there's no room. So he LED into a place where she
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gave birth in the, you know, animals were kept and they had,
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she had to keep the baby in a Manger.
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You know, many times I used to wonder about the word Manger.
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One day I had to look up with the dictionary, you know, it's
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just the tub in which they put some grass or whatever they want
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to feed the animals. And that was the place they put
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some dry hay and that was a bed for Jesus.
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And he was laid in the small Manger.
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And that is just, you cannot get more simpler than that.
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You cannot get more simpler than that.
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I don't know whether he ever had experience of lying down on a
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hay. Have you ever had the
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experience? Yeah.
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Those who have farming background, it is not very
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comfortable. It's very itchy.
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I don't like it. I tried it, I don't like it.
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But they just put some cloth on it probably.
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And then he was laid in that Manger, not the most comfortable
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bed. Why?
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Because he was identify with you and me, Every common man.
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I tell you if you are making 100,000 or more in a year, you
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are the top 3% of the people, rich people, top 3%.
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You may not be millionaire or a billionaire, but you are in the
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top 3%. And when Jesus came into the, I
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mean into the world and was laid in the Manger, He was
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identifying with the 97% of the people of the population of the
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world. He is just saying I have loved
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you to leave my heavenly home and to become one with you.
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He identified with us. It is amazing.
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I just don't know. I don't have enough words to say
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how amazed I am to think about God trying to identify himself
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with a common person if in this 21st century, if he came, he
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would choose to be born in a Mumbai suburb or Bombay suburb
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where is a slum area. Probably because they are the
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people who are down economically, socially, in every
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way, ignored, trodden upon, used.
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He would be choosing to be born in such a place.
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Why? That is the heart of God.
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Heart of God. To seek man makes him to come to
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the lowest point so that you can be lifted up to the highest
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point. To sit with him in the heavenly
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realms in this by the right hand side of the Father.
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It's amazing. The more you think of
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incarnation, the more you will be humbled.
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And I tell you, that is how God was to conquer your heart this
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morning. And you had to put him on the
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throne in your heart, the highest place.
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Why? Because he came to the lowest of
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the point a man can live in. So that's why he's called
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Emmanuel, God with us. Let's shout.
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Emmanuel, God with us. Yeah, he ordained a star to get
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the Magi, and he does not leave you without proof, without the
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message of the gospel. He as he ordained a star to
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guide those people from the East.
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What God is saying is he is interested in the whole world.
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He did not come as a Christ or a Redeemer just for the Jewish
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people. It is for the whole world.
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And he made it clear from day one and we cannot make him a
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Jesus for justice. Christians, it is for everybody.
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So many times we confine him to the church just on Sunday or on
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a Bible study day. No, he has to be Lord of every
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day of your week. And that should compel you to
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see somebody and look at that person and say made in the image
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of God should be saved by the gospel of Christ and reach out
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and touch the people. It is the same thing we are
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repeating again. Actually I had a very different
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message to preach, but I said I don't want to preach that
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message because it's a bit harsh.
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Very, very harsh message I had. I was reading the book of Jonah
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and the book of Jonah. God says to Jonah, go and preach
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to Nineveh. I am going to destroy in 40
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days. He didn't want to take that
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message. Why?
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Because he can. As a prophet he must have
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forcing that the same people are going to attack Israel and carry
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them as captives. So he doesn't want them to be
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alive. So he says he refuses to go and
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preach and he runs away. If this is where God tells him
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to go, he goes this way and he had to cause so much of trouble
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to him. You know, he had to bring the
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storm on the sea. He has to send a fish to swallow
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him. And next day or after three days
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again, he commands the fish and it vomits him on the shore.
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And then the word of the Lord comes to Jonah again.
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Get up, go and preach to Nineveh.
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Why? God had to take that trouble
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because the man was unwilling to preach the gospel or message of
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repentance to Nineveh. And what we are doing is
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repeating the story of Jonah in our lives.
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We are unwilling to share the gospel of Jesus.
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You are and you and me are a Jonah.
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To someone who is working with you, to someone who is a
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relative to someone who is your friend, you are a Jonah.
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I am a Jonah. If you don't open your mouth and
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say Jesus loves you and came into the world, you have to
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choose whether you want him to bring a storm in your life.
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You want us to be thrown into the sea and a big fish to
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swallow and warmed you out again in front of his house where you
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have to preach the gospel. I don't want that to happen.
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I would rather be willingly say, God, I want to partner with you.
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I want to pray for this person. Will you please pour out a mercy
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and grace? I have saved the person.
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You know, that's how we have to be doing it.
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Cool. And he crossed many barriers
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from heaven to earth. You know, God has nothing to
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share in. In a sense, God is transcendent.
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He is far above, far away from whatever is belong to the earth.
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He has nothing in common. But he crossed that barrier and
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shared in our humanity, in the in the flesh and blood that we,
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we, we are in. He took he partook in that human
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nature. And that's that's a big barrier
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he has crossed. Secondly, he crossed the barrier
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of holiness to sinfulness. He is holy, He's being
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worshipped by the angels, holy, holy, holy all the time. 24 by 7
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But he left that holy Kingdom of God, his own presence, his own
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heaven, and became and came into the midst of sinners and lived
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like a common man. That's a crossing the barrier.
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It could have been as painful as going through the cross.
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It may not be simple for God to become man.
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It's not a OK, I'm going for a holiday for 33 years.
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It's not like that. It is not like that.
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At least that's what I think. And yeah, the cradle, probably
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even the Manger could have been a wooden through.
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If it is a wooden through that is used, that would stands for
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the cross. If she made a cradle to put baby
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Jesus to sleep, that word symbolizes the cross.
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That is, from day one, the cross is at the heart of Jesus who
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came into the world. You cannot separate the cross
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from his incarnation. You don't have any mission.
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You've got no purpose if you separate them.
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And Jesus came into the world just precisely for this purpose
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to die on the cross so that he can make the atonement cover up
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for you my everybody's sin in the world.
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So we may be saved and become one with him and share in his
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royalty, share in his sonship and share in his ruler ability
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to rule with him. And I tell you, this is just
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from rash to riches kind of a story.
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We are having that kind of rags background and he wants to lift
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you up to riches background. And this is quite amazing to me.
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It's very amazing. And I'm telling you this, Christ
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deserves your worship. It deserves your praise,
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deserves your Thanksgiving. And this is not for something to
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think about one day in a year. It is to be lived daily, daily.
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You need to understand that as he incarnated came into the
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world, so should we reach out to somebody?
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So should we reach out to somebody. 2 more minutes I have.
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I think I'll just tell you. Once I went to Delhi and we had
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a meeting in in that place. It was very dirty, very dirty,
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smelly. He went to crossover into that
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area. There was an open drain and
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there were two or three bricks in between to keep your leg on
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the brick and crossover to the other side.
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And there are millions of flies. And I was, I didn't want to
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really go and sit down on the ground.
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So I was just standing there. So the preachers, the pastor
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said, will you please come and sit here?
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I said, no, no, I'm quite all right here.
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So he thought, I'm separating myself.
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This guy has come from New Zealand.
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He's not identifying with the people.
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It wasn't the case. I just my knees are not great.
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So I don't want to go and sit on the floor.
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I was quite happy to stand. But at the time came, I did go
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there. I laid my hands upon them and I
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prayed. And this man is waiting to for
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me to say, do I have a sanitizer or something to wash my hands?
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I didn't do any of those things. I laid my hand on them.
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I prayed and he said, this is surprising to me.
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I have seen many other pastors come here.
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They come with hand sanitizer. When they lay hand again, rub
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their hands. But I did not see you do it.
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I said They are men and women who need God, and I have come
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here to bring God to them. I am not here to impose myself
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as a man who has come from a rich country.
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That is not my purpose. Jesus crossed barriers to bring
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the gospel to each one of us. I cannot afford to do it.
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I cannot afford to do it. There has to be a change, a
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transformation of heart and mind, otherwise we are going to
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lock up the gospel in our heart. Shall we pray?
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Father, this morning, thank you for the Word.
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I bring your children before the throne of grace.
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And Father, I pray, Holy Spirit, that you move here right now.
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Move here right now. I pray that you convict and
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convince and give them a vision, a vision of taking the gospel to
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someone. Oh my Father, Holy Spirit, I
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pray open their eyes to see, open their ears to hear right
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now and touch their heart. Touch their heart.
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I can feel right now God is warming your heart.
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God the Holy Spirit is putting that warmth in your heart.
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You feel warm in your chest right now and that is happening
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to you by the Holy Spirit. I want you to just stand up so I
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know that the Holy Spirit has stirred you and you are not
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going to be the same. You are going to carry this
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gospel to someone, somewhere to bring glory to His name.
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If you feel that warm sensation in your heart right now, I want
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you to stand up so I can pray for you.
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Sastre sarane mahasarasto korobo sandastereni mandana sarastoroni
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bahasastere sandara mahare shandara sastro kohori BA
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samandar sokoroni rehas sandastakoroni ho sabasta
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koroni. The Lord says, I have kept a
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reward for you because you want to follow me.
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You want to have a heart like my own.
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I will reward you in due season, says the Lord.
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We praise you God for the for the word and bless your children
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and I pray that everyone will go today with this burden in their
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heart to take the gospel to somebody.
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Let not this year pass before they open their mouth and share
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the gospel with somebody, a friend, a relative, or someone
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to the glory of your name. Thank you again for your
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presence in our mission. We worship you, we honour you.
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You're worthy of our worship because you cross the barriers
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and came into the world to dwell in a human body.
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I worship you Jesus. We praise you, Lord, in Jesus
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mighty name. Amen.
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Amen. Thanks for joining us at Omega.
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If you need prayer for healing or breakthrough, or simply to
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find out more, please head to our website or Facebook page in
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the links below.