Gabriel | A Promise of Peace Week 3

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There's a part of the Christmas story

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that you've probably never heard before,

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but could change your life

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and bring you peace this Christmas.

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Hey, I'm Kyle. Welcome to Crossroads.

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And I'm going to make an assumption

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that we all know the same Christmas story, right?

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Jesus, Mary Joseph, the wise men.

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But what about everybody else?

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I mean, is there anybody else?

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Well, the truth is, the Christmas story

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goes much further than just your classic nativity scene.

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And today we're going to uncover some of

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the unexpected supporting characters of Christmas,

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people left in the shadows,

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but who holds significance for our lives today.

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We can unlock the peace that you need this Christmas.

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Today, I'm going to uncover the hidden story of Gabriel.

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That hidden story of Gabriel contains

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an unexpected question that we have to answer

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if we're going to get to peace this Christmas.

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What's the question? What time is it?

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I don't mean time of day.

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I mean, in the overarching history

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that God is writing through eternity.

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You know, the two classic questions that we ask:

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God, what am I supposed to do? God, who am I?

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Well, I think there's a third musketeer in that bunch

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and not just what and who, but God, when am I?

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To find the answer we're going to examine

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both modern physics and some of

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the oldest, most mystic parts of the entire Bible.

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And you might want to write this down,

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connect the promise of the dawn,

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the science of light, the testimony of stars

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in the words of angels.

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And to examine what are the most overlooked characters

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in the entire Christmas story, the Angel Gabriel.

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Because he holds the key

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to getting the answer that we're after.

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The first time Gabriel shows up is in

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the Old Testament book of Daniel.

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The Prophet Daniel had this crazy vision.

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You can read about it. It's nuts.

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And Gabriel shows up to interpret it and say,

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"Here's what it means."

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And I want you to see what this eternal cosmic being,

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Gabriel emphasizes to humanity, to you and to me

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from the very beginning.

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And he came near the place where I was standing.

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I was terrified and fell prostrate.

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"Son of man," he said to me,

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"understand that the vision concerns

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the time of the end."

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He said, "I'm going to tell you what will happen

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later in the time of wrath,

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because the vision concerns

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the appointed time of the end,

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the vision of the evenings and the mornings

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that has been told is true, but seal up the vision

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for it refers to many days from now."

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Did you notice how much Gabriel

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stressed time in his interpretation? Why?

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Because your basic understanding of time,

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how you interpret the time and when you live

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will determine how you deal with

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all the darkness in your life,

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all the disappointments,

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all the tragedies that you've experienced.

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How come school is harder for me than my friends?

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How come we keep having miscarriages?

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So, how come I prayed and she died anyway?

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How come 2000 years after the supposedly great event,

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the birth of Jesus, the Savior,

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everything still sucks and needs saving?

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Why is it still so dark outside?

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I've asked those questions,

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and I know either you have too, or you will.

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And I'm going to be very transparent with you

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about my wrestling and tell you a piece of my own story

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that's the hardest of all to talk about.

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I honestly sat and even tried to come up with

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a different story to share with you,

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because this one just is awful.

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It's the darkest night of my life.

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It's the day that my father-in-law tragically

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took his own life despite our prayers

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that he'd be healed from his depression.

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It did happen.

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I had read the prophecies like the one from Isaiah,

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about the light will dawn

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and everything's going to be awesome.

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And then in the days and the months afterwards,

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I look at my shattered family and I'd shout at God,

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"This doesn't look like the dawn, God.

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It still seems like it's night out.

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I thought You said the light was coming

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and that horrible things wouldn't happen.

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I thought You said the light would come."

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You know, light and darkness isn't a metaphor

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that George Lucas made up for Star Wars.

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It's actually mystic imagery found throughout

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the entire Bible that's deeply connected

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to the Christmas story and the prophecies about

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the rescuer that God promised called the Messiah.

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Isaiah 9:2 says: The people walking in darkness

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have seen a great light.

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On those living in the land of deep darkness,

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a light has dawned.

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With those words God made a promise to the world.

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He says yes.

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He says, "You live in darkness, but there will be

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a time when the light will dawn."

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And throughout all of human history

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and across all cultures,

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that image of light and darkness

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has run completely, instinctually, true.

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Light will come, but when?

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It's a good question, and it's actually one

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that Jesus said to ask.

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Luke 12 says:

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Jesus basically says, "Congratulations.

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You know today's weather. That's good.

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But knowing what day is, what today is,

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that'd better, interpret the time.

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Now every few years someone will actually come along

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and they'll say, "This means we're supposed to know

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when Jesus is coming back.

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And by the way, everyone, I have great news,

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I know. I'm the one. I have --

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I have figured it out. I know. Everybody, listen."

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And they'll make a prediction,

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tie it to an upcoming world event of some kind.

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20 years ago, it was all about Y2K

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and then in 2012 it was the end of the Mayan calendar

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and that meant the world was going to end,

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Jesus would come back.

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Aa couple of years later it was the blood moons,

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you know, but we're still here.

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So it turns out predicting the end of the world

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not exactly an exact science,

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but a great way to sell books.

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It also turns out that Jesus says

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no one will ever know that right.

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Now Luke 12 says the Son of Man will come

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at an hour when you did not expect Him.

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So, listen, interpret the times

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doesn't mean interpret when Jesus is coming back.

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He's saying, "Understand when you are alive,

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in the arc of the history of God that He's writing.

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Understand your time."

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It is very important for me asking me

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to understand the time it was like asking me to dunk.

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I don't know if you can tell this right now

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with where I'm standing,

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but I'm 5 foot 6 and 7/16, approximately.

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So if you want me to dunk, I'm gonna need

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a trampoline and a seven foot hoop.

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I'm very bad at time, it's the same thing.

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Anybody else bad at time?

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It's been the way my whole life.

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Classic morning scene growing up in the Ranson household

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is me running to catch the bus

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with no shoes on or pants.

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That's literally happened in my life.

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And it happens because I had no idea

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that it was time to go to school

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until it was way past time.

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Now, as an adult, I understand that

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it's part of having ADHD.

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And if I left that alone,

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it can cause real problems in my relationships.

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Actually, at work a few years ago,

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had a brave employee tell me, "You know,

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you're constantly late to our one on one meetings

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and it's making me feel very devalued."

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It's something I've had to work on,

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my understanding of time, so it doesn't hinder me

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as a leader and a friend.

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See, when there's confusion and conflict about time

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in a relationship, it can be devastating.

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It's the same with us and God.

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The confusion about time is wrecking faith.

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It's wrecking your faith.

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I mean, just imagine for a second that you were a child

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and your parent was coming to pick you up at 5:00 p.m.

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So you waited and you waited, but they didn't come.

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And so eventually you just throw up your hands

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and you usually yell, "Where are you?"

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Then you just walked away.

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But tragically, it was only four o'clock.

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Your dad was on his way. He wasn't late.

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He hadn't forgotten. You just had the wrong time.

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What a tragedy that would be.

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But this is many of us with God.

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We call out, we cry out, we ask and we wait and nothing.

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And I know it's painful. I know it's painful. I know it.

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I'm not condemning your heart,

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your pain, your confusion.

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I think it makes perfect sense.

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I'm saying, wouldn't it be a tragedy

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if rather than understand the time

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you were to conclude that the promise is a lie

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and that the dawn will never come

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and you walked away from God?

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Or maybe worse, you kept going to church

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or watching church with walls of skepticism

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and bitterness built around your heart.

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I know Christians who live this way.

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I have great news, great news for you today.

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You don't have to be one of them.

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The reason? God describes himself as light.

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Psalm 104:2 says: the Lord wraps himself in light

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as with a garment.

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He stretches out the heavens like a tent.

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So if God is light, we have to have a talk

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about physics, because over the past 100 years,

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modern physics has done an incredible amount

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to advance our understanding of light.

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See, light has an entirely different existence

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with time than we do.

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Hang with me for a second

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I'm about to go all science nerd on you.

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Einstein's theory of special relativity unlock this.

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It defines the speed of light as constant,

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and space and time as relative.

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The basic idea is that the faster you go in space,

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the slower you move in time,

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and light because it's always moving through space

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at light speed is therefore not moving through time.

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It's literally outside of time.

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Therefore, light does not age.

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It does not decay. It does not change.

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And this is exactly how the Bible describes God.

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James1:17 says:

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God is light.

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That means that God and time are vastly different

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than us and time.

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A way you can think about it:

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God doesn't see before, now, and later.

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He just sees all of it,

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and that's how he tends to report it.

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When Gabriel shows up, he gives us

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that eternal perspective of God.

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And Daniel's job is just to believe the words of God,

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even though he can't see what God sees.

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Same with you and me.

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If you're going to get on the same page with God

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and experience peace today, you have to understand

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His watch is vastly different than yours.

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See, He will, get this, tell you words,

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make you promises that you can't yet see, but He can.

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And you're going to have to have a moment of decision:

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Are you going to trust him or not?

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There's more to this story that I'll get to in a minute,

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but first, I want you to know that Crossroads

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is more than just an episode once a week.

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It's an online community of people

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that you can belong to, all on the adventurous life

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that we believe that God has for all of us.

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To learn more about that go to online at crossroads.net.

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Crossroads is fueled by people like you and me

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who believe in sharing this message of hope and peace

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with as many people as possible.

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You're a giver, thank you.

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And if you want to join the team,

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you can give at crossroads.net/give.

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In the Bible, angels like Gabriel

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are often referred to as stars,

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which means he's outside of time too.

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So here's something to consider:

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Do you know that when you look at the stars,

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you're actually seeing the past?

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Take Orion's Belt, for instance,

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one of the easiest constellations define.

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What you're actually seeing is those stars

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as they were 900 years ago.

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Or about 100 years before the Magna Carta was written.

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It's crazy.

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Now this point isn't some bolted on

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interesting science fact to a lesson on the Bible.

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Psalm 19 actually says:

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The stars are talking. What are they saying?

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When you look at the night sky, they're saying,

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"Look past the present.

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Look past your own perspective to believe that

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what God has said will come."

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Can we just say out loud that we're bad at this?

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Our modern take on Christmas is that we celebrate Jesus

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by waking up, running to the Christmas tree

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and opening presents.

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In other words, we get what we want, now, today.

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There's a star on top of your tree

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begging you to take a different perspective.

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The message of the stars is the message of Gabriel,

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look past, which you can see here and now

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and believe the words of God.

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Six hundred years after his chat with Daniel,

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Gabriel showed back up to tell

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an old man named Zachariah words from God

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about what will come.

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He tells him he's going to have a son,

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who we now know as John the Baptist.

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But Zachariah, he doesn't believe

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Gabriel's words about the future.

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Luke 1:18 says, Zachariah asked the angel,

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"How can I be sure of this?

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I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years."

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The angel looks at him, he says, "I am Gabriel.

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I stand in the presence of God,

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and I have been sent to speak to you

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and to tell you this good news.

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And now you will be silent and not able to speak

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until the day this happens

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because you did not believe my words,

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which will come true at their appointed time."

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Gabriel has the same job as in Daniel.

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He's focused on delivering the words of God

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about a future time, and he's apparently very sensitive

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when people don't believe those words.

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He punishes Zachariah with not being able to speak.

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Just a few months later, Gabriel appears to Mary.

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His job? The same.

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Notice the emphasis on believing the words of God

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in this passage.

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Luke 1 says:

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In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy,

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God sent the Angel Gabriel to Nazareth,

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a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married

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to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.

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The Virgin's name was Mary.

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The angel went to her and said, "Greetings,

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you are highly favored. The Lord is with you."

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Mary was greatly troubled at his words

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and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

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But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary,

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you have found favor with God.

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You will conceive and give birth to a son

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and you are to call Him Jesus.

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He will be great and will be called

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the Son of the Most High.

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The Lord God will give Him the throne

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of his father, David,

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and He will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

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His kingdom will never end."

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"How will this be?" Mary asked the angel,

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"since I'm a virgin?"

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Now, Mary's objection is so, so similar to Zachariah's.

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They're both all about time.

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Zachariah objects because he's too old,

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too much time as passed.

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And Mary objects because she's too young.

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Not enough time has passed.

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Gabriel shows so much more mercy to Mary.

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So rather than tie her tongue up, he has mercy.

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He actually explains to her.

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The story continues:

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The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you

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and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

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So the holy one to be born will be called

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the Son of God.

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Even Elizabeth, your relative,

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is going to have a child in her old age,

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and she, who was said to be unable to conceive,

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is in her sixth month.

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For no word from God will ever fail.

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Now you may open your Bible app and find this verse

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and see a different translation.

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One more like this one:

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For nothing will be impossible with God.

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So which is it?

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Is nothing impossible or is it something different?

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Some things, we know are actually impossible for God.

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God is love, that means it's impossible

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for God to not love.

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God is truth.

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That means it's impossible for God to be untruthful.

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If you actually go to the actual translation.

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If you go back to the original language here

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and you look at it word for word,

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I think the better translation is:

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For nothing spoken by God shall be impossible.

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It's the final line recorded from Gabriel in the Bible.

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It's his thesis statement, so to speak.

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His message to humanity for thousands

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and thousands of years, his message to you,

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his message of me today.

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Nothing spoken by God shall be impossible.

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How is that possible?

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The answer is given in the name of the Messiah

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that Gabriel was sent to announce.

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The names for Jesus is the bright and morning star.

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Revelation 22:16 says:

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You want to know something fascinating,

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astronomically, the bright morning star

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actually isn't a star at all. It's the planet Venus.

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It's the brightest thing in the sky,

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outside of the Sun and the Moon,

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it's been over my shoulder this whole time.

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It's this brighter star just over the horizon.

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And here's the key about the bright morning starr:

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it rises just before the dawn.

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So what time is it in the story of God?

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It's the dark before the dawn.

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See, Jesus did come as the light,

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the light of the morning star

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that declares that the dawn is coming.

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See, God said it will happen. It'll happen.

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Nothing will be impossible.

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It's a sign that you can place your confidence in,

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just like Zachariah, just like Mary.

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God has a promise for you about the future

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that I know may seem impossible in the present,

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but with God, anything is possible.

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We're going to do the song right now together,

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and I encourage you to sing along with it,

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or at least consider the lyrics.

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It says that to God, it says,

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we believe that anything is possible.

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Just like that song says,

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the Kingdom of God is unstoppable, it's unstoppable.

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And where is it going?

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It's going to a place where one day

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there will be no more mourning.

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One day, the full light will come.

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Isaiah 60 says:

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Gabriel teaches us that every word,

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every single word spoken by God will come true.

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It's a hope that you can embrace if you're willing

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to lay aside your own understanding of time

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and step with Him into the perspective of eternity.

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So don't be like Zachariah,

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don't be like Mary and question the Word of God.

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Believe it.

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Your step you can take right now

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is to tell God you believe it.

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Risk hoping again.

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Maybe it's been a long time for you.

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Maybe you used to hope back in the day,

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and the darkness came in and you just gave up hope.

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Today's your day to resurrect that hope.

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See, I know Zachariah and Mary, they got their miracles.

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And I can't promise you that you're going

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to get yours in the here and now.

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But I can promise you that living your life hopeful

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is going to be better

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than you living your life hopeless.

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Pray with me right now.

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God, we're asking You to give us the courage to hope,

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to see the morning star, the coming of Jesus

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as the sure sign that the dawn will come.

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Today, God, right now in this moment, fill us with hope,

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fill us with peace. Amen.

00:21:25

Gabriel's story, it's the eternal cosmic context

00:21:29

of the Christmas story that we never knew.

00:21:32

But it can change the way that you approach God

00:21:34

in your life this Christmas.

00:21:36

For nothing spoken by God shall be impossible.

00:21:39

Do you believe that?

00:21:41

You know, maybe this message helped you today,

00:21:43

or maybe you have some other need in your life.

00:21:45

Our team would love to connect with you.

00:21:47

We're not a TV show. This is a church.

00:21:49

That means there's a community ready to care for you

00:21:51

and help you with whatever you need.

00:21:53

Just go to online.crossroads.net to reach out to us.

00:21:57

You know, part of what makes Christmas amazing

00:21:59

is the opportunity to give back.

00:22:01

As a community, we go out of our way

00:22:03

to bless people during the holiday season.

00:22:05

One way is for you to join in that

00:22:07

is through the Christmas Gift Drive.

00:22:08

For more info, just go to online.crossroads.net.

00:22:12

Next week on Crossroads will uncover

00:22:14

yet another unexpected character

00:22:16

in the story of Christmas.

00:22:18

- He was never content with himself,

00:22:20

and he was always trying to push people down

00:22:22

and exalt himself.

00:22:24

You can't have peace that way.

00:22:26

At best, all of us are middle managers.

00:22:29

God's in control. God's the king, not me.

00:22:33

He's working a plan.

00:22:35

I know this doesn't sound good,

00:22:37

but you and I, we just don't matter that much.

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