The True Meaning of Christmas | Girls Gone Bible

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Yeah, I don't know that I would have been able to. Thank you for asking. I would have had an attitude the whole day. I was, I slept at Allie's last night and I always park in her guest spot, but you need a permit. I will say it is my fault I've gone at least nine warnings. They put like a little orange ticket on your car. And it was a big lesson for me because I think I'm a little entitled in LA. Like, I think I'm a little... You definitely are. I'm a little entitled with the way I drive, with the way I park. Like, I don't really... I feel invincible. I don't believe in you. You actually act invincible. So I wake up this morning and I'm supposed to go get my hair done. And I walk outside and I'm like, where's my car? I got so confused. I thought I was dreaming. And I'm like, I've never been told before. I'm... Did you park in like a red zone? No, it's just you need a permit to park in these like guest spots. We have to like find out where my car is told. We have to like call... You have to call the police. You have to give your VIN number. It was... Anybody ever get told before? Can you please comment if you ever have had your car towed? Because it was my first time. And it was $458. I said, that's my car. What did they do with that money? Where did you... They started to be feeding the poor with that. Yeah, I highly doubted it. Unfortunately, I wish they were. I would have given that $458. But not to this little... Is it... Does it go to the city? Like, does it go to the... Who knows? The freaking Mario, who is helping me there. Like, Mario, if you're watching this, just know... Like, I know it's not your fault, but it's not right. I just showed... I want to show them the... But what right do they have to take my car? That's my car. Well, Angie, it's... You know, when it says you can't park in there, you probably took someone's spot. So they probably said, somebody's in my spot that's not supposed to be there. It's like, you know... All right, and since when are you on their side? Who's freaking better if you want? It's not a deal. It's laughing so hard. It says, Me and having asked God to take a picture of me with the clouds. That's literally arguing. Jesus, can you just give me five more? Or can you just make sure the clouds like... Like, over my head? That is so mean. Hi guys, I'm Angie, and I'm Ari. And this is Girls Gone Bible, where we talk everything Jesus, the Bible, He took two girls and He saved our lives. And now we live to lead hearts to Jesus and share the good news of what He's done for us. We've gained the most beautiful community you guys, and we are just so grateful for sticking by us and doing life with us. We say, come as you are. Just don't stay that way. It's been such a heavy week with what happened in Australia with the shooter. It's so devastating. And we just want you guys to know that we stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters forever. We stand with everybody in the world who is persecuted and oppressed. And there's so many horrific, terrible things happening. It's hard to talk about. It's also interesting for Ari and I, because it's like, there's so much happening all the time that it's like you don't know exactly what to talk about on a platform, because then you'd be mentioning something every 30 seconds. A tragedy that's taking place, a specific group of people that's being targeted. And so yeah, we just want to say we love our Jewish brothers and sisters so much. It's so devastating to watch the evil that's in the world. We're praying for Australia. Anyone who is affected, we know we have so many people that are from Australia, that watch us. We're just praying for you. If you guys are affected by what happened, we're just praying for you. The shooting that happened in Providence, Rhode Island, at the schools. I mean, there's just so much. So we need to continue to pray for our world. And I speak this for myself. May we pray more for our world and for our people than we do for ourselves. May when we hit our knees in the morning, we'd be praying for our community and just the world and our people. Seriously, we all need to come together and be praying relentlessly for the people. What are we talking about today? Well, you guys, today's episode will be releasing on the 19th, December 19th, which is six days before Christmas. We will not be releasing the following week, the following week, which is the 26th and the week after that. Arion and I are taking two weeks off of the podcast. We are going to miss you guys so much. But those two holiday weeks, we're just going to take off to rest and be with our family. And we will see you guys at the top of the new year for new episodes, new conversations. With what Arion and I just talked about, the tragedies and the horrific things that take place every single day in the world. Thank you God for Jesus. Thank you God for the light of the world, the hope of the world, the only one that we can put our hope in Jesus. And so we're going to just read about the birth of Jesus. And I just think in preparing for this episode, I thought a lot about how like Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus, although that is the beginning of our Savior's life. But I'm like, we can't preach the birth of Jesus without preaching the full gospel, without preaching the reason why Jesus came, why he had to die. It's just like, this is the foundation of our faith you guys. I love Christmas, not just because of the lights and the trees and the family and like all the beautiful things that come with Christmas, but it's because it's like, this is, this story is our story. We are in this story. I am never more excited other than for an Easter episode than I am for Christmas episode, because for me, the simple gospel, Jesus's life and his death, his burial and his resurrection, like that's everything. It's all we need, you know? Before we even start reading, can we just talk a little bit about what the world was like before Jesus came? Do it to it, sister. Do it to it. Okay, so I'm like, you guys know, I've said this a million times. If you have not read the Old Testament, it is so crucial to your faith, I'm begging you, I'm asking you over the next two weeks of this holiday season where hopefully you have a lot of downtime. Dive into the Old Testament. I don't believe that you can fully and truly love Jesus without reading the Old Testament, because you can't love him if you don't know why he came. You can't love him if you don't fully grasp. You can't understand the cross of Christ. If you don't understand why it was necessary in the first place, you know? So I think even before talking about the birth of Jesus, we know that the Israelites were gods chosen people. And so what I think is so interesting about the Old Testament is that if you've ever read it, it is a wild ride. It's nuts. It's crazy. It's weird. It's evil. It's people are destroying each other. They're destroying themselves. You see sin in the Old Testament just like exponentially multiplying and increasing. The evil in the world, and you can even see it today, the evil in the world is just multiplying. Like the more people that are born and reproduced, the more sin is entering in the world. So much so that we get to a point where fallen angels are sleeping with the daughters of men. And at this point, Satan knows that there's a promise and that that promise is the Messiah and it's the Savior. And so you see, there's just so much in the Old Testament. But like if you know the Nephilim, you just, if you know, there's so much to it. But like one of the most fascinating things to me is that like in this moment in the Old Testament where the fallen angels are sleeping with all these women, Satan has a plan because he knows the Messiah is coming and he knows that the Messiah needs to be born through a virgin. And so imagine he is now sending these fallen demonic angels to go and impregnate and violate all these women. So there's no, so there won't be like a pure vessel for the Messiah to be born through. So God at this point literally comes and destroys humanity. And a lot of people might look at the Old Testament and be like, that's so weird. Why would he do that? But the truth is God protects the promise. He protects that promise seat because he knows that without it out, no matter what we need Jesus. Can you imagine if like in the Old Testament how they lived till three, four hundred years old? What did they look like at the... What do they look like? Did they age? Are you bored? Were they still looking 30 when they were 80? That's a good question. Did they get increasingly older looking? Yeah. Can you imagine if I'm like, you're like, I'm 250. I think I'd be bored by that. I'm bored? Yeah. And so realistically, look at the Old Testament before the life of Jesus, which is where we're going to start today. But you see the story of sin and suffering and destruction and disobedience and infidelity and just like absolute chaos. And like if you look at the Old Testament and you're like, it's so evil and it's so crazy, you have to understand that this is a story. This isn't the main part of the story, but it's a part of the story is that, say in the devil, partners with humanity to keep the Messiah from coming. And God does what God needs to do. So when you read the Old Testament and you're like, how does God destroy people? How does he kill people? Like it doesn't make any sense if he's a good God. He is a great God who protects his promises. Isn't that so cool that God will do whatever he has to do to protect his promise, the promise seed, then you can also apply that to your own life, that God will do. Whatever he has to do to keep the promises on your life to come to pass, I think that is so cool. So we're at the beginning of the Gospels. Before there was a baby, there was a brokenness. The human condition was sin, separation, striving and shame. We have Israel waiting in silence and humanity is waiting in darkness. And Romans 323 says, for everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God's glorious standard. This is why we need a Savior. This is why we need a Jesus because we are separated from God. The beginning of our faith is Adam and Eve. We know the story. The two of them fell, they sinned, they went their own way. And our relationship to God broke, it was severed. We could not have access to him. Like how Scripture says, we go boldly to the throne of grace. There was no going boldly to the throne of grace because it was severed. And God had a plan the entire time. The entire time he had a plan. He knew what he was going to do. He knew what was going to happen. And Jesus was always the plan. So. All right, guys, did you know the liver is the second largest organ in your body? It's responsible for over 500 functions, but somehow liver health doesn't always get the attention it deserves. Over 30% of Americans have a sluggish liver and most people don't even realize it. That's why we've been loving dose for your liver. Dose is really on a mission to help people understand why supporting your liver matters. And they've created an easy science-backed way to do that. Dose for your liver is formulated to help cleanse your liver of unwanted elements, aid digestion, and support your body's natural filter. Your liver plays such a big role in digestion, metabolism, and overall balance. 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All right, guys, let's talk about coffee for a second, because we are obsessed with coffee, as you guys know. We genuinely look forward to our morning coffees. It's part of our routine and our quiet moment before the day gets going. But we started noticing that coffee alone just wasn't cutting it anymore. Like, we want the ritual, but we also want something that actually supports our focus and how we feel throughout the day. And that's when we found everyday dose, which is coffee but with benefits. It's high-quality coffee combined with functional mushrooms like lines, mains, shaga, collagen protein, and new tropics. It still tastes like coffee, but it gives you, like, clean, sustained energy without the jitters or crash. I love that it takes 30 seconds to make, but I don't have to research a million ingredients or by separate supplements. It's already there. My mornings feel like smoother, my focus feels clearer, and I don't get that wire than tired feeling anymore. 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That's why we love the glorify app. It helps us slow down, breathe, and actually make room for Jesus in the middle of the holiday rush. They're daily devotionals only take five minutes, and you can either read or listen whatever works best for you. For me, I'll start with the Bible verse of the day, read a short devotional and listen to their daily walk with God. And if I need to reset later, I'll put on one of their meditations or worship playlist. Short but powerful. It's such a simple way to come back to what matters most, his presence. So if you're longing to spend more time with God, but don't know where to start, we truly encourage you to download glorify. And as a little holiday treat, they're giving our listeners 70% of a yearly subscription. Visit glorify-app.com slash GGB right now to download the glorify app for free. That's glorify-app.com slash GGB. Let's start in Luke chapter 1, verse 26. We're going to be reading out of NLT. You want to read? Kick it off, sister. Okay. Okay. In the six month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee. Thank you, Jesus, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings, favorite woman. The Lord is with you. Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. Don't be afraid, Mary. The angel told her, For you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you will name him, Jesus. He will be very great and he will be very great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor of his ancestor, David. And he will reign over Israel forever. His kingdom will never end. Mary asked the angel, But how can this happen? I am a virgin. The angel replied, The Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the baby will be born to be so the baby to be born will be holy. And he will be called the son of God. What's more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age. People used to say that she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. For the word of God will never fail. The word of God will never fail. Mary responded, I am the Lord servant me. Everything you have said about me come true. And the angel left her. I mean, this is insane. Mary, I wrote this down. Completely ordinary lady. Mary is unexpected. She is a teenage, peasant, nobody. Later in the gospel, somebody says, somebody talks about how Jesus is the Savior of the world. And they go, Jesus from Nazareth, how can anything good come from Nazareth? I feel that all the time, but about where I come from. It is. It's so true. How can anything good come from Wayma? How can anything good come from a girl who's an immigrant from an immigrant family? Like how can anything, it's just so cool. She's betrothed. She's in the middle of nowhere. She has no family line, no history, and she did not see this coming. Yeah. And what I love is that God didn't send a message. He sent himself to be born in the dirt, not in a royal family. You guys have to understand this. Actually, we'll get to that later. This word right here overshadow how it says, the holy, so in the book of Luke, Luke's entire message is about the Holy Spirit. Like Luke talks about the Holy Spirit so much, he talks about the power of the Spirit, the healing of the Spirit. And so he says, this is the first time that he mentions the Holy Spirit and says, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the power of the most high will overshadow you. And the Hebrew, an overshadow in Hebrew, is the same word used to describe God, filling the temple, shielding and protecting His people. The birth of the child will be by the Holy Spirit. I think that this is just so insane. You guys have probably heard the Christmas story so much. Like it's such a beautiful thing for Mary, this nobody woman to be chosen by God from a family line of no royalty, peasants, poor people. It doesn't make any sense. Why? Because God constantly does things. He uses the, to confound the wise, what does he say? He uses the foolish to confound the wise. He literally does things opposite so that he can get the glory. He purposefully never pulled on any sort of royal power, political power, like God's whole mission, was to do things in such an unexpected way so that he could get the glory. He chooses Mary. And she is like, about to be married to Joseph. Like her, yes, in this moment, when she says, may everything you've said about me come true, she is counting the cost, that she will be humiliated, misunderstood. Nobody will believe her probably. When she says, like, the Lord came to me and told me that I'm gonna have a baby, but I'm a virgin, I swear, I'm not cheating on you, Joseph. Like imagine the conversations that she was having. This is just so cool that God uses such ordinary people. And I'm just so grateful to him because we all live lives. Every single one of us are walking through life, trying to prove our worth, earn our worth, pretend to have worth, lie about whether we feel like we have worth or not, and what is so cool about God is he knew that we would go through that. We would live a lot, we would all live lives a feeling unworthy. And God never speaks to us in terms of our own worth, but gives us his worth and comes upon us. And let's the Holy Spirit overshadow us to protect us and to empower us to do things that we could never do ourselves. And I'm obsessed. And then it says, and then the angel of the, like back then, that was her word from God, the angel of the Lord came to her and spoke to her in that way. And when you think about her, the faith that she had and walking in obedience because of her faith, you think about us now, right? Like we have the word of God. She had the angel of God where she would, where he told her what God said, but we have the word. So anytime, that's what I mean. Anytime you want to walk in obedience, it's all through the word of God. Anytime you need answers, it's all in the word of God. It's never through our emotions. It's all in the word of God. I like that. And yeah, and so, I just, I love her faith and her obedience. And that's where her obedience comes from. And her faith is because she knows what God had told her. And that's what can give us confidence and walk in obedience because we know what the word of God tells us. We don't have to feel afraid. We don't, he says, we do not have to be afraid. It's all in the word of God. So every time we start to feel in our emotions of these, of these thoughts that tell us we're stuck or we're never going to be anything. Or we should even end our life. All these things, we don't have to, we don't have to rely on these. We always go to the word of God. So good. And then I just love Elizabeth. I love Elizabeth, a barren woman. God brings Jesus, the savior of humanity to come. And in that, while he's doing that, he remembers Elizabeth and provides a miracle in the middle of God bringing Jesus to save humanity. And so I just love that so much because it's just such an indication of, like, God has not forgotten about you. Yeah. I mean, look at what was going on and he still remembered Elizabeth, a barren woman and then provided a miracle for her. So I just love that. As I rub that, I just thought, I even thought I was like, man, in those moments where I feel like maybe he's forgotten about me or maybe he, you know, he has not forgotten about you. Do you know what I just realized? We were going to talk about Elizabeth in this, but Elizabeth is Mary's cousin. Yes. And Elizabeth, all these years, was unable to have a child. They say she's barren, she's not going to have a kid. She probably had given up by that point, right? But imagine John the Baptist is technically Jesus's cousin, right? John the Baptist ultimately is the one who baptizes Jesus. John the Baptist is the one who prophesies Jesus is coming. Baptizes him. And then later on gets beheaded. But just think about this. Like what Ari was saying, how Elizabeth may have been someone who felt so forgotten about God knows his timeline and he knows why he does things the way that he does. He had to line it up so that Jesus and John would be, you know, born at the same time so that they could be raised up in a similar timeline to ultimately fulfill God's will in their lives to have the baptism, to go through the things that they did. And so I'm sure Elizabeth, all those years, is like, why is God not having my promise come forth? But you have no idea how God is aligning things in your life because your story is never just about you. It's connected to so many other things. And that's just so cool. I just realized that that's so cool. I was going to say it's, everything God does has a purpose. So if he's making you wait, it's because he loves you so much. And if he's saying no, not right now, it's because he loves you so much. Everything he does has a purpose. So anything that you're in right now where you feel stuck or you have to take an active obedience, maybe God's telling you to let go of a certain job or a relationship or you're in a season where you have to be in a season of singleness like I had to be. May you say let it be done like Mary and just keep walking in that obedience and relying on the word and not on your own emotions because I promise that it is so worth it. And the plan that God has for you may not be what it looks like that you thought it would look like. But I can assure you that the plan he has for you is better than you can imagine and the very best plan for you. And I just feel really inspired right now, even with what we just realized of like the connection, right, we know the connection between Mary and Elizabeth and then John and Jesus. But to think about how like God waited for the perfect time to give Elizabeth the thing that she probably wanted more than anything with which was a child. How much more do we have to trust that God is so intricately working out the minute and big details of our lives? That just inspired me so much to know that like every moment, coming from someone who has such a control issue, who thinks I know exactly how things should go, it's been the biggest struggle and like wrestle of my life to truly believe that God is on the best timeline. That's really hard for me. I'm gonna be honest, it's my biggest weakness is that I feel like I know when things should happen and how they should happen. So for me and anybody else who feels that way, which by the way is all of us, we all think we know when it's best and how it's best. But like if we all wake up every single day and genuinely surrender control and genuinely say, Lord, and you have to mean it with your whole heart, your timeline, not mine, your will be done not mine, I'm just, I'm really, really inspired by that. I just wanna say one more thing, you have no idea what is on the other side of your obedience. Like listen to what we're saying. Oh, in obedience. When I talk about obedience, it's staying in the word of God relying on it. I'm gonna keep saying it to every single episode intimacy with Jesus prayer. Like this is what is going to cause you to stay obedient and have faith and stand firm and be anchored and that's what's gonna cause confidence. That's why Mary was so confident. That's why she was able to be like, whatever it is, let it be done. Because she was so anchored, she had the faith, she was walking in obedience and it caused her to say, whatever you want, you have of me. And I love what you said too, that we might not have an angel of the Lord come visit us. But we do have the word that we can stand on and you always stand on the word of the Lord. All it is. And just one more thing that I'll say about this, I just love that. Christmas is a reminder of God's endless pursuit for the persecuted, the oppressed, the desperate and the needy. His whole point in giving us Jesus was to rescue us from ourselves. And I love so much that this is like a prophetic beginning that God will use the poor, the powerless, the oppressed and the insignificant of this world for his purposes to redeem and reconcile us back to himself. Like God will use the most insignificant people. Oh yeah, you're looking at one. Please. I'm serious. You know? Yeah, it's truly, I mean, it's incredible. It's so incredible. So no matter who you are, please, if you're watching this and you're feeling insecure and you're feeling like you don't matter and you're feeling like you don't have gifts or talents, it's a lie. It's a lie. Your life is, you know what? You are insignificant. So my, so is Ari. We all are. It's the best place to be. But God is who gives us our significance. And He has chosen every single one of us. And not that all of our lives will look the same. They shouldn't. But He is who gives us our significance. He is who, ugh, I'm just, I love it. And then one more thing I wanted to say is what makes all heroes and the Bible heroes? Because Mary is a hero. Elizabeth is a hero. John the Baptist is a hero. All these people are heroes, not necessarily because they did anything profound or special. But because they said yes. Yes. It is the yes. It is the let everything that you have said be done to me. It's the so be it. All that you've spoken over my life, God, let it be done. That yes is everything. And I just want to encourage you guys that you don't just say yes when you get saved and you don't just say yes when you start your ministry. You have to say yes every single day of your life. And you know when the hardest time is to say yes when you're going through something, those are the hardest times to say yes. Because you don't want it. It's so easy to say yes when God is bringing you some beautiful big opportunity. You know, saying yes to girls on Bible was a lot, but that's an awesome thing to say yes to. God is say, not that it's not costly and heavy at times and weighty, but it's a great thing to say yes to. What do you do when you say have to say yes to things that you literally don't want to say yes to? Because we will all be faced with that. More often than we'd like to. Those are the most important yeses. And sometimes even things happen that you didn't even necessarily say yes to, but you have to come to a place of yes in your own heart. Yes is not just a decision, but it's a position of heart to say, I'm not going to resist God's plan and will for my life, even if I don't love it right now. So I just want to encourage you that it is a consistent yes. It's an everyday yes. Every single day you have to say Lord, let everything you've said be done to me, even if I don't want to. And it is the most, it is in those most uncomfortable parts of your journey that God trains you for the assignment that he's called on your life. Yes, yes. I mean, I'll say it again, this season that he called me into of singleness, it was the most uncomfortable season, but it has been the most refining season of my life that was a walk of obedience. Thank God I did it. I would never be who I am today if I didn't. You keep saying did it. Do you have a boyfriend? No. You keep on. Is there something I don't know? Are you dating? Maybe. Do you want to date? Maybe. No, I didn't. I was at this guy, is that that one guy? What did I say? I'm just kidding. You keep saying like, I'm so happy I went through that singleness. I'm so happy I did that. Well, I keep thinking you're talking. I'm just kidding. I say that because now I'm on the other side, not in that uncompropriability anymore. I'm on the other side of it. Yeah. Are you ready to date? I'm so ready. Oh my gosh. I am so ready. I think this is going to be a really good year. Praise the Lamb. Who is he? I can't wait to meet my brother. I know. I think he's cute, right? I think so. I think so. I think so. I think he's beautiful. I hope he's excited to have a sister he never wanted. I'm so sick of not matching. You got to tell me the vibe before we get on here. We have different vibes. Right, but I don't need to look like I'm a truck driver. We kind of opposite styles. I'm a truck driver and you're... I mean, I don't think you'd ever wear this. No. And I would never wear that. Why? It's just a shirt. You know I'm a little bit more dressy? I know, but it's red for Christmas. I would probably wear like a puff sleeve red dressy. Right. You're a little bit more chill. Can I be honest? What? I had nothing else to wear. I had nothing else we have been doing this podcast for two and a half years. That is about 125 episodes at least. That's 125 different shirts. I know. About... We've really... I've had some really weird shirts on this podcast. Well, I mean, literally today I was like, I have... Oh, my stomach's torn. I'm literally like, I don't have anything. Anyways, not that you guys care. I love you. We love you guys. We love you guys. So Luke chapter two, verse one, at that time the Roman Emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for the census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea. David's ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary to whom he was engaged and who's now expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available for them. Let's just talk about that really quick. There was no lodging available for them. You guys have to understand, this is not just a story. This is history. This is not a fictional tale. This happened. Yes, it might be too much for your human mind to comprehend, but that's why you asked Jesus to open your spiritual eyes so that you hear the story and you really understand what you're reading. God exists outside of space and time. He is a spirit and he lives in heaven and he is on a throne. And he literally has a heavenly path. Like he is a king in heaven. So imagine heaven is the most perfect, beautiful place you could possibly be in. And God humbled himself to the point. Of first of all becoming a human, that's humble because God is not limited to being a human. We are really limited in comparison to God. So God not only becomes a human, he becomes a baby. There's nothing more vulnerable than being a baby. You literally can't take yourself to the bathroom. You can't feed yourself, you can't wash yourself. You can't even talk, you can't express your needs. There is nothing more vulnerable than being a baby. Like it's absolutely insane. Take it a step further. He wasn't born to a royal family. He was born to a poor family where they didn't even have the ability to give him a hotel room. He was born in the dirt. Imagine how cold it was. Which by the way, he could have chosen to be born in a royal priesthood or anywhere, right? But he did that on purpose. And so if that doesn't make you humble yourself and be like, truly. No, really though. I agree. If that, every time I'm telling you, every time I start to get a little funny with things, I'm like, going for a class. I'm just kidding. My dad likes to do that to me every time he goes, you think Jesus would do that? And Jesus would drive him that? I'm like, it's right. It's right. I just, I love about Jesus. You just want to be, you want to have a heart of humility, you want to humble yourself when you know him. Yeah. Is to want to be the most, in your most humble state. That's what's so beautiful about your walk with him. It just causes you to just humble yourself so much to be so low to the ground, to get rid of all of the stuff, the stuff. Right. Ugh. Any entitlement or ego or I deserve this or I deserve that, it really puts it into perspective. Just all the things too that people care about. For fame, the money, the cars, the house. Well, I guess it's so, we like nice things, but even me just reading this right now, I'm just like, man, that just, it humbles you. Put you in check for sure. It puts you in check. Yeah. That night, there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. Don't be afraid, he said. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people, the Savior. Yes. The Messiah, the Lord, has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David, and you will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snuggly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others. The armies of heaven praising God and saying, glory to God and highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, let's go to Bethlehem, let's see this thing that, let's see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told us about. They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph and there was the baby lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherd's story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. I love this moment so much. I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all the people. If you're a follower of Jesus, I truly believe, having joy is a marker of being a believer. It's a marker and I'm not saying that it should be easy. I'm not saying that you need to be happy all the time. It is a gift that if you have not received it, something is wrong. He is the joy of the world. The gospel is the joy that is given to us as a gift. Jesus is the embodiment of joy. The fullness of joy is in his presence. I, Heidi Baker, said, I think I said this before, but said no miserable lay down lovers of Jesus. I think about it all the time. That gift is not only a choice that you make, but it's a gift that is received. Like you must receive the joy of the Lord. You must receive what Jesus already gave you. It's yours. You don't have to try. And I just think if anybody is struggling with joy, I get it. I've gone through so many seasons where I struggled with joy. I understand what grief and sadness or pain or troubles will do to you and how it'll suck the joy out of your life. But I think those are the times more than ever that you need to be asking God for joy and cultivating joy and being around people who make you feel joyful because the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy, and he wants to rob you of your joy. And Socrates would always tell me, don't let the enemy steal your joy. Don't let him steal your joy. And I think it's so interesting to me that the moment that the angel of the Lord brings, for the first time, talks about the good news of Jesus' birth, he said, it's good news that will bring great joy. He didn't even say that will bring great protection or great peace or great heal. He said, that will bring great joy. Could it be that joy is somewhat of the basis of all that we need in our Christian walk? I just think joy is so important. And I don't think we have to emphasize joy enough. Like, yes, suffering and sin and obedience and all the things that we have to go through and sacrifice. It's all so important. I think for a while I lost my joy in being a Christian. Like literally some 51 talks about, restore to me the joy of your salvation. Like joy is everything. I think I lost my joy when I first started really walking with Jesus because I got so consumed with sin and obedience and the voice of God and the gifts of God. And I, and like I wanted to be so holy. Yeah, yeah. And it made me robotic. And that period was important because I needed to correct some things and whatever get away from the world and start pursuing a life of holiness. But I finally got to the point where I was like, oh, I'm not a robot and I don't need to be a robot. And I can actually have a really good time as a Christian while remaining holy and all the things. Joy is so important. That's all I'm trying to say. You know, it's so funny. I went to Jesus' image on Sunday and I was just worshipping and I was like, going like this and I was just like picturing Jesus on the cross and I heard the Lord be like, smile. I said, it was so cute. It was such a sweet moment I had because I was like kind of like looking down and just like, you know, like he's trying to get emotional a little bit, you know? And I like, what touched me, touched me. And then I looked up and I just, I started smiling and I just was like, and I just started going like this because a lot of the time we, while being emotional is good, I had the, I just was like in the glory, just smiling and having joy. So Darren, my pastor on Sunday, he preached on joy and he's like one of the most joyful people I know. And he carries a heavy weight in his life. Just like he's a pastor, which is probably the hardest thing you'll, from job you can ever have. And he carries it with such lightness. He's so joyful. He like is putting out fires all day, but it's so light. Like I, and I always look at him and I'm like, how are you just so light all the time? And it's because he values joy. And so he preached on Sunday and goes, if you're lacking joy, this is a little intense. Do you guys need to watch his sermon? You guys need to watch my pastor, Darren. I'll put this thing in. I wanna watch it. You need to watch this sermon. You either said you're oppressed or you're religious. Yeah. Because the Pharisees and the people in the, but I know a lot of people who lack joy and they're a little fair cycle. They're a little religious. And I was there. You were there. Me and Ari got weird for a little while. Do you remember we like wouldn't laugh because we were afraid of being sinful? I just, I just felt, yeah, I think people go through that when you're going through where you're just like. You know what it is? You almost like, you can lose your identity from. I felt like I lost my identity. Yeah. And I felt I didn't know who to be at one point. And I'm sure so many people go through this. I think we should talk about that more. Yeah. Coming from the world. Yeah. And then going all in with Jesus. I know we've talked about it before. But yeah, you're taking on Christ's identity, but that doesn't absolve you from losing your old identity. And then you're also like in between these two worlds. Because you have all your friends in the world. And then you're making new friends who are Christians. And you're like, who am I? Do I? Yeah. And then you come from such darkness. And when you come from such darkness, you want to do everything to please Jesus. Yeah. You don't want to make one. That's how I felt. I was like, oh, it's an over correction. Yes. And then you're wired as a kid from, I know for myself, that the condemning, that these little voices that you were told, I was bad if I did something. And so if I did one little thing wrong, I would just beat myself up. Yeah. Yeah. And it would just knock the joy out of me constantly. Because I would be condemning myself all day if I did one little thing wrong. But that's because, so when, and I think you were the same as me, when I first got saved, and there was no religious religiosity in me whatsoever, it was just me and the spirit going crazy, I was so joyful. I was so happy. And so were you when you first got saved. You and I both went through this period when we got into ministry. And it was the weight of ministry and the weight of leading, which is a beautiful thing to be accountable and it's important. But you and I became so like, we were religious. We were straight up religious, that's what being religious is. It's like you being so much more consumed with not sinning than you are loving Jesus. And so we're here to tell you, just love Jesus. Love people. Have a good day. Be happy. Smile. Crack a joke or two. Don't take yourself too seriously. I know that even though we talk about all this religious stuff, when I really stopped following my own ways, and like, you know, if you're wondering, why don't I have joy? Like you know the good news, but you're still gossiping. You know the good news, but you're still living in habitual sin. You know the good news, but you're just still being nasty behind the scenes. Like when I'm loving his people, when I'm constantly helping others, when I think of others more than I think of myself, and I'm not being selfish, is what gives me joy. That's what makes my soul feel confident. That's what gives me peace. I know that gives me such joy. Yeah. So I love that. Yeah. And then the only, the other part I really would quickly wanted to talk about is, when the angel of the Lord, when the angel of the Lord announces Jesus, the first thing he says is the Savior. And I wrote down, in Matthew 1 verse 21, it says he will save people from his sins. And I just love that his first names weren't teacher or king. They were Savior, you know, Jesus comes to teach us and he comes to be Lord over us and he comes to comfort us and he comes to love us. But first and foremost, he came to save us, which I just think is so cool. And I'm so grateful for a Savior. God knows I need one. Do you need one? Every minute, every minute, every five minutes. I'm just so, he is the Savior of the world. He is our precious Jesus. And we read this story and it's real. This is the gospel and the gospel of Christ, of Jesus Christ should live within you that it should be like bubbling up at all times. The gospel should be so real to you. The cross, the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus should literally live within you in a way that like it's just, it's like a pot of hot water that's bubbly, it's just always bubbling over. It's just two seconds away from spilling over. That's how the gospel should be inside of us. That we should just be always prepared for, like, have it at the tip of our tongue waiting to tell people about Jesus and who he is and what he did. I love Christmas. So guys, as we go into the holiday season, a lot of us will be going home, a lot of us will be with families, a lot of us will be in interesting circumstances, right? So many people don't get along with their family members. So many people don't talk to their family members. I just wanna talk about something that matters to me so much, which is forgiveness. If I've learned anything being alive, but especially being a believer is that we are called to forgive recklessly and carelessly, like carelessly forgive, like just unconditional relentless forgiveness towards people. Again, that does not mean if you are in a situation of abuse or danger or not safe that you go and be with those people. Obviously, that's not what we're saying at all. But I know what it's like to be in relationship with people who are annoying or that I don't even really like or that I don't wanna be with or that trigger me really badly. I know what that's like. Ari knows what that's like. And what I've learned more than anything is that as a believer, you're not allowed to have enemies. You're not allowed to hold onto offense. You're not allowed to not forgive people. And the ministry of Jesus, which is like the ministry of reconciliation, that's what it's called throughout scripture. Jesus' ministry of reconciliation was not just to reconcile us back to God, but it was to reconcile us back to each other. Have you talked about this before? I don't know, but it's really good. When the fall happened and our relationship to God broke, our relationship to each other broke as well. That's why you see in Genesis 3 that immediately there was enmity between man and woman. So automatically when we lost our relationship to God, we lost our relationship with each other. That's why there's relational conflict. That's why most of our issues come from relational conflict. But what I've learned more than anything as someone who used to love to defend herself, love to be right, still do sometimes. It's a forever journey. Love to have justice and make people grovel for forgiveness, honestly. And that's what so many of us do. We feel like if somebody says, sorry enough or the way that I want them to, then I will forgive them. If they truly know what they did wrong, then I'll forgive them. If they proved to me that they're worth forgiving, then I'll forgive them. It's not the call of God on our lives. Jesus did not make the people who are hanging him on a cross-grabble for his forgiveness. All he did was say, his forgiveness, all he says was Father, forgive them because they don't know what they're doing. And so I just want to encourage every single person watching that the Ministry of Reconciliation must be evident in your life and in my life and in Ari's life, that in every relationship in our lives, we should be constantly building bridges. And that's not to say that you can't have boundaries, but also be careful with your boundaries that you're not shutting people out because that's not what God is calling us to do. And what I've learned is to just try to give people as much compassion as I possibly can. And that's so hard. Sometimes with family, they're so annoying, they're so triggering, they trigger all of your childhood stuff. And I get it. Like I get it. But I'm encouraging you guys to be the light of your family, to be the peacemaker. In the Beatitudes, it talks about the people who make peace. I forget what it says, but there's the kingdom of God, one of those. But like it matters to Jesus to be a peacemaker, to walk into rooms and not be someone who so's more discord, not be someone who gossip's behind people's back or says, hey, did you see what they did? I'm so mad at them. But to continuously be like, you know what? They're just a human. They're a sinner like me. And they're trying their best. And their best might not be great, but it might be their best. And to just constantly forgive and forgive and forgive. And someone says something you don't like, forgive them. Somebody triggers you, forgive them. We don't forgive because other people deserve it. We forgive so that we can see properly. Because any situation that you're in, that there's unforgiveness in your heart, you can't see. You can't see. And so I don't want you to be blinded by unforgiveness or offense. And I don't want to be blinded by unforgiveness and offense. And it feels so good to watch people who don't deserve to be forgiven and to forgive them anyway. That's it. It's like, it's like freedom. It's literally freedom. And I said this a lot of episodes. Sometimes that's every day. Sometimes you won't mean it yourself. Sometimes you have to hit your knees 10 times a day, help me. The anger's coming up in my heart. Help me let it go. More Jesus. And it's like, it's a process. Yeah. It's freedom. Jesus' Socrates told me recently, he goes there, because there are some situations in your lives where you might go, okay, I forgive them. You know what, I've had this big moment. I forgive them. But then all of a sudden, 10 minutes later, you're angry again. And you're like, oh God, I forgave them. Now what, why am I mad again? If the forgiveness not happened, did not stick. And Socrates reminded me of the verse that goes, when you have to forgive someone 70 times, seven times. And so realistically, what that means is you forgive them, infinite amount of time and infinite amount of times. But it's constantly, every time it comes up in your heart, every time it comes up in your mind, you forgive them, you forgive yourself and you move on. And eventually the pain stops coming, the anger stops coming. When you start getting, you start looking at them in such love, it's, God will change your heart. Yeah, but making that active decision will bring you to the place where your heart begins to change towards them, towards the situation. I can't even imagine God's face when every active you say, God, it's coming up again, that anger helped me. I know. I mean, the reward of that with Jesus is, and one more thing I'll say, let's all do a challenge, right? Are you going home to Boston? I'm going home to Florida. You guys might be going home to your families. Let's make a pact that if we get triggered by our families, we won't flip out. We won't flip out. But if you do, because it's possible, we all fall short of the glory of God's grace. What? Anyways, if you do flip out, if you do act out of character, if you act on Christ like, because guys, I know what it's like to feel like a very healed version of yourself and then go home and be like, who was that? What did that come from? I know. That's the old edge. I thought she's dead and gone. So let's just all make a pact to be the peacemakers, the lightbringers, the joy carriers that say sorry. I love that. And a lot. Because when you do that, it makes your family, or friends, or whoever say, I want what they carry. Yes. Yes. But I want what they carry. And you could be the ones to bring them to Jesus if you have unbelievers in your family. Yeah. As we end this year, I just felt so heavy in my spirit that some of you felt like Elizabeth before God gave her the miracle. You feel barren. You feel like God has forgotten you. I just felt so many of you. I don't know why I kept seeing in my prayer time mothers, mothers that have given so much to their kids. Like your whole lives are your kids. And you have no life of your own. And you just feel like God, where did my life go? You just feel so lost. You feel like you don't have any life of your own in that you've just wasted years. I don't know why. Maybe that's for someone. But I'm going to go back to when it says that the word of God will never fail. And there's nothing like reading scriptures that we can just lean on and stand on. And as we go into this new year, I want you guys to stand on these scriptures because this is the truth. We can talk a whole podcast, but you just, we just, let's just go to the scriptures. So hard times, if you guys are in a hard time and you just feel like he will never restore the years that I've lost. Like is he going to get me through this? Psalms 126 verse 5 says, those who plant in tears and the next season will have shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest. Isaiah 43 verse 18 through 19. But forget all that. It is nothing compared to what I'm going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun a new thing. And Zachariah 9 verse 12, come back to the place of safety. All you prisoners who still have hope. I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles. Jeremiah 30 verse 17, I will give back your health and heal your wounds. That's what Jesus says. Psalm 113 verse 9 says, he gives the childless woman a family making her a happy mother. Praise the Lord that could go for. The doctor could have told you that you'll never get pregnant and God will give you that miracle like he did with Elizabeth. Or it could be meaning that he will bring someone so beautiful, beautiful child of adoption. It could go either way. First Samuel 1 verse 10, Hannah was in deep anguish, crying bitterly as she prayed to the Lord. And she in due time, she gave birth to a son. How encouraging is that? I think that's so beautiful. I relate to that. Are you worried you missed out on something that was meant for you? Romans 8, 28, my favorite. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love and are called according to his purpose. His plans for you, I said this in the beginning, his plans for you is so much better than the ones you think you have for yourself. And it may not look like the path that you thought it would, but I promise it is better. His ways are better. Ecclesiastes 3 verse 1, for everything there is a season. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. Joel 2 verse 25, one of my favorites, I will give you back what you lost. Period. Period. I can tell you that what you lost, he will work it out and he will redeem it and he will give you back everything you lost. I can be a testimony for that. Isaiah 55 verse 8, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts and my ways are far beyond anything you can imagine. Write that on your heart, please. Every time you start to get anxious or feel like you're missing out or God hasn't brought one of the desires of your heart. Psalm 84 verse 11, no good thing does he withhold from those who do what is right. All you have to do is constantly keep saying yes. Being obedient, focusing on the cross and in due time his will for your life will prevail. Your only job is to be obedient, to follow him and to rely on this more than you rely on your emotions. If you are going into this new year feeling shame, Isaiah 1 verse 18, though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wall. Let's not sit and shame the season. Let's really remember what he says where he will make you as white as snow. That means that you don't have to sit and shame of your past. Let me just say one more thing. I know that the holidays can bring up so much, can bring up grief, it can bring up. If you're in your singleness season and you're just like, man, I'm in other year, I'm single. I know I want to let you know that we see you and we're with you and we understand and I know that it can just bring up so many emotions but let's focus on one thing Jesus. I'll never forget one of my favorite memories was I was so buried in grief and I, this is a moment that I'll just, I will carry in my heart forever. I closed my eyes, I said, Lord, please help me in this moment. I want to enjoy my family. I don't want to rely on my emotions in this grief and miss out on my family and I felt the peace of God and I was able to enjoy my grandmother and enjoy my dad and my mom and my sister and I just had this peace and so I don't want you to look back and be like, I didn't get to enjoy my family because I was so worried about my singleness and things that I don't have in my life and so if we can just focus on the purpose of Christmas with Jesus and really be present in the moment with our family, I promise you won't regret it. I thank God that I wasn't, I didn't stay buried in my grief and I just kept relying on Jesus and his strength and now I have these memories of my grandmother and my dad so I pray that you just focus on Jesus and your family and I just pray for your hearts and I pray for healing over your hearts. Anyone who's dealing with grief or heartbreak right now, I just pray that this Christmas season in New Year's is your best one yet and you feel the love and the peace and the joy, the joy of the Lord like never before. And Jesus name. And Jesus name, thank you Lord. We love you guys so much, Mary Christmas. Have the best Christmas. Just focus on Jesus, focus on the reason for the season, keep the main thing, the main thing and we just, we love you guys so much. We can't wait to see you in a couple of weeks. Have a great Christmas, have a great New Year's, read your Bible, give your life to Jesus, stay close to him and just rest in his presence, rest as much as you can, these couple of weeks for the holidays. Love you guys, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face towards you and give you peace. Shalom, Shalom and joy. And Christmas. Merry Christmas guys.