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Crowd Christmas Service 2022
25th December 2022 • CROWD Church Livestream • Crowd Church
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Merry Christmas from all of us at Crowd Church. Join in our Christmas Day service for some Christmas Carols and a message from Anna about the joy of God with Us.

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Well, hello everyone.

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Thank you for joining us today in Crowd Church.

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I hope you're all having a wonderful Christmas.

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I'm Anna.

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I'm one of the Crowd Church team here, and I get the wonderful privilege of hosting

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Crowd Church Christmas talk this year.

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So before we start, what is Crowd church?

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Well we're an online church for those who are exploring the Christian

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faith, or perhaps just don't see the point of church and going to a

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physical church space every week.

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Well, we're here online on this live stream every week.

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Every Sunday at 6:00 PM um, just sharing a bit of our faith with you.

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Now, if it's your first time here, then firstly a massive welcome to you.

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We're so thrilled to have you with us today.

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And for those of you who are our regulars though, you'll probably

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notice that we're doing things a little bit differently today.

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For starters, this livestream isn't actually live.

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It's prerecorded.

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And that's just simply so that all of the Crowd Church team here can have a day off

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with their own families and friends today.

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Um, obviously there's a team behind the scenes here that do all the tech, and

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it's just great that they get a break too.

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So no live stream today.

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And also we'll be keeping this service a little bit shorter than normal.

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Uh, normally for those of you who join us, you'll, you'll be aware of the

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usual format, which is that we have, um, a bit of an intro from two hosts.

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Then we have a talk, a worship song and a time of reflection.

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And then we have Conversation Street too, which is a chance for people to ask

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questions and discuss and debate some of the content that we've just heard.

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Now, obviously, the more astute of you will be aware that

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I'm hosting this alone today.

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So clearly that is not gonna work.

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It's gonna be pretty strange if I'm just debating with myself.

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So instead, we're just gonna keep it short and sweet today and we'll jump

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straight into our Christmas talk.

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One of the things about preparing Christmas talk is that there are

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so many different angles that you can explore in the Christmas story.

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Um, and at first when I was asked, I was like, thrilled to do this, but I wasn't

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quite sure what I should be speaking on.

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I mean, the Christmas story, it's just packed with different miracles

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and mystery in it, isn't it?

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I'm sure that everybody's probably fairly familiar with different

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aspects of it, if only from, you know, school nativities or things

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that you've picked up over the years.

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But I mean, there's all, there's all sorts in it.

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There's, um, angel visitations.

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So first to Mary, mother of Jesus, to tell her that she's expecting a

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child even though she's a virgin.

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And then there's also another angel.

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He visits her husband.

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Joseph in a dream or her husband to be, they weren't actually

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married yet, and that angel informs him of this plan of God's.

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And then there's further angels.

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So there's one who appears to Elizabeth, who's her cousin, to announce that

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she's no longer barren, even though she's way past childbearing age,

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that she would bear a child and that child become John the Baptist.

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And then of course, once baby Jesus actually appears and is born,

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there's wonder stars appearing to some wise men in a far off land.

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There's more angels appearing to shepherds on a nearby hill in Bethlehem.

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And not to mention that small detail of a virgin birth itself, of course.

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So many different like directions that I could have taken this talk today.

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But really the more that I reflected on all these different scenes and angles and

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aspects of the Christmas story, the more I realized that really all of it is just

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scene setting for the central message.

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And that is the heart of the whole Christmas story.

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The greatest miracle at the center of it all is God's witness,

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God's physical presence with us.

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And that's the like greatest miracle of all.

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You know, one of the names for God, which you tend to hear a lot at this

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time of year, is actually Emmanuel, which literally means God with us.

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Now.

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It's not a name that we use for God very often today, even though you sometimes

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perhaps see it on Christmas cards, or perhaps we sing about it in old Carols.

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Um, but it's not something we use a lot today.

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But it was a Greek and a Hebrew word for God, and it was first recorded and used in

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the book of Isaiah, which is a prophet in the Old Testament, and he was foretelling

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the coming birth of Jesus when he used it.

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And that was some 700 years before it actually happened.

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And in Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14, he's literally recorded as saying this.

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Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign.

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Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call his name Emmanuel.

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And so there it is, that, that name for God, Emmanuel, God with us.

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And then later it appears again in the first chapter of the gospel account

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of Matthew when he's describing how the birth of Jesus came about.

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And I'm gonna read the whole passage, um, out of that first

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chapter from verse 18 onwards, cuz I think it's quite useful background.

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So it says this, this is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.

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His mother, Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they

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came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

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Because Joseph, her husband was faithful to the law and yet did not

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want to expose her to public disgrace.

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He had in mind to divorce her quietly.

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But after he had considered doing this, An angel of the Lord appeared to him

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in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary

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home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

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She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he

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will save his people from their sins.

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All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah.

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The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call

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him Emmanuel, which means God with us.

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So there we go.

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The only times that this name for God, Emmanuel, which means God with

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us is ever used in the Bible, is in direct references to the birth of

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Jesus who was literally God incarnate.

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Or another way of putting it perhaps is God made flesh.

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Now that little phrase God made flesh is a term that's used by the, in the gospel of

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John as he introduces his account of the birth of Jesus and reflects back on it in

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the first chapter of the Gospel of John.

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His account says that the word was God and the word was with

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God, and that word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.

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There's one translation of that same verse that I particularly

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like, and it's from the message translation and it John one, verse 14.

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And that version simply says it like this, God put on flesh and blood,

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and moved into the neighborhood.

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Wow.

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Isn't that just such an amazing thought?

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It just blows my mind that God, the creator of the whole universe,

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will consider putting on flesh, becoming human, and just moving into

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an ordinary neighborhood like ours.

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For me, when I think of the whole of the Christmas story, that's why I feel like

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this is the greatest miracle of all.

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It's literally the truth that changes everything.

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Because this story of Jesus' birth reminds us that God isn't distant,

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disinterested, or far removed from our human suffering, struggle or pain.

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It shows us that God is a God who chooses to be with us and more than

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that, to actually become one of us.

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And it was a choice too.

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You know, God didn't have to do things this way.

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Being God, I'm pretty sure he could have orchestrated a great rescue plan for

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humankind from afar without having to get his hands too dirty or get too involved.

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But no, that's not the way he planned it.

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That's not the way he did it, because God is a relational being, and the

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Bible says that God is love itself.

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So of course, of course it figures that he would choose to demonstrate his

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closeness and to draw near to humankind to become God with us as one of us.

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And not only that, but he did it in a very, very specific way.

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He came as a newborn baby for starters, and he was as tiny,

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vulnerable and defenseless as any human baby has ever been.

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I, I can't imagine what it takes for God of the universe to put himself in

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the most frail and small little body that's so vulnerable to other people.

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Um, and you know, he wasn't just any baby either.

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He came as one born to an unmarried woman and in a time in a

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culture where that was really not socially accepted or okay at all.

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And what's more?

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He was born into, not like an easy life, but he was born into a persecuted

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people group cuz Jesus was a Jew.

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Um, a displaced family too.

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You know, his family had to flee their own home very soon after his birth

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due to the violence of the regime that they were living under at the time.

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Um, you know, that's not so different to experiences of many, um, refugees and

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immigrants today, all around the world.

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Uh, I don't think it is coincidence, um, that this was the way that God

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chose to come and put on flesh cuz it speaks of the very heart of God for

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the poor, the politically oppressed, for the racially abused, the socially

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marginalized, and for the overlooked.

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You know, it seems to me that it was the ultimate act of solidarity.

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That God wasn't just content to offer a solution and to fix things from

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a distance, but instead he chose to fully participate in our human story,

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to immerse himself in our problems, and to walk in our shoes, experiencing

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some of what we've experienced and feeling what we feel as humans.

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But you know, this is all good and well.

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But this story is some 2000 plus years old.

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Um, some people might wonder what it really has to do with us today.

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What, you know, what does it really mean for us today?

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Well, So many people, I think still ask questions like, where is God if

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there's so much suffering in the world?

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Or how can I personally believe that God cares about me when hard things

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are happening in my life right now?

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And you know, I, I understand those questions.

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I've asked all of them myself at times too, but I think probably the Christmas

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story, this nativity story that is so familiar for some of us, but the idea

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that's wrapped in it that God would come down to earth in human form and take our

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problems on as his own is probably the greatest answer we have for all of that.

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The truth is that Jesus never promised his followers that life would be

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easy, but what he did promise over and over in the Bible when you read the

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accounts of his life was that he would be with them and that he'd be in it

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with them all the way, and that they didn't need to fear because he was

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with them and he'd never leave them.

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And so for those of us who are believers, he still offers that

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same sense of solidarity and witness through his presence with us today.

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You know, if we're not sure about it, the Bible says that God is the

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same yesterday, today, and forever.

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And so what he promised then is still true now.

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The bottom line though for me at Christmas is that there's just so many things

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to enjoy about this festive season.

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And you know, I am a big fan of Christmas and I am here for it all, but at the

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same time, I really don't want to get so caught up in all the busyness

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and the hype and the activity that I miss the chance to pause and remember

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Emmanuel, the God who is with us.

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And I don't want you to miss that opportunity this Christmas either,

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because this really is the greatest Christmas gift of all that God would

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choose to draw close to us and to draw close to us just because he loves us.

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So as I draw this short talk to a close, let me just finish

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with a Prayer for all of us.

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Father God, I thank you that in this Christmas story, We have the ultimate

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evidence that you are not a cold or distant, far off or uncaring God, but

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that you are God who chose to draw near to us, who wants to be with us, and so much

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so that you would even become one of us.

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I pray that each of us would experience a greater sense of your closeness,

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of your being with us both today and throughout this whole Christmas season.

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Amen.

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So that's pretty much a wrap on this Christmas special except to

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say, please don't forget that you can still connect with us at Crowd

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Church throughout the holiday season.

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You can look us up on crowd.church on our website, and you can also find

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us on Facebook and on Instagram too.

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You can drop us a DM or a text message at any time if you'd like to connect

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with us or if you'd like the Crowd Church team just to pray for you about

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something, you can just send us a message.

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We know that times this time of year can be quite difficult for some people,

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so please, if you're struggling in any way, then reach out and let us know.

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We're happy to pray for you.

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And other than that, all that's left for me to do is wish you a very happy

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Christmas and to let you know that we'll be back here next week on the live stream.

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We'll be back to normal at 6:00 PM and running throughout January as normal.

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So have a wonderful Christmas and we'll see you all soon in the New year.

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