Embracing Peace: The Transformative Power of Christmas

"A key part of the mission of Christmas in Christ is to take away what we couldn't remove from ourselves and in our own lives. Those things that keep us from living life to the fullest in God to take away the sins in our life that keep us from living. A life to the fullest in God, a life of faith, a life of trust in full connection and relationship to God." [00:47:58] (37 seconds)


"He came to calm the storm. Of the invalid. Feelings. In our lives. Back to our feelings. So here you have this infinite God who became infant to silence these invalid feelings, feelings that we might be having, but of many people of all people, really. And, and these people. Have feelings about themselves." [00:48:51] (32 seconds)


"God is constantly trying to demonstrate his love. And acceptance towards you. Now. God himself became gift. As we hear in Isaiah chapter nine, we, we like, this is a great prophetic verse around Christmas time where it says for us, a child is born. So for us, something happened to us. A son is given and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counsel. Mighty God, everlasting father. And what's the last one? Prince of peace, right? Not Prince of fear. But Prince of peace." [00:52:09] (46 seconds)


"Your purpose is so every single person who's ever been created realizes and knows that we came for them. That we came for them. Not just the righteous, not just the rich, but the ordinary, the fearful people, the unrighteous people. You're going to take away with your life and your ministry and your death and your resurrection. You're going to take away all the obstacles that keep people from connecting to us fully. That's your mission. You will show them our love." [00:56:37] (41 seconds)


"And you're going to counter all the pervasive feelings that they have. That they are not enough. You're going to give them power over those feelings. And you're going to let them know they're not valid. Because they're always enough in us. You will save them completely. So, again, they know that God is not to be feared. Their God is loving." [00:57:18] (30 seconds)


"That's going to be our message. You will be hung on a cross, son. You'll be beaten beyond recognition. You will become sin. You will defeat that sin and take away its power. And take away these invalid feelings that people don't, they think about me. Or the feelings they have about themselves. You must do this. We love them. They need you. It is what we want for them. It's what they've been created for." [00:58:52] (32 seconds)


"Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart this Christmas. And extend that peace to others in your life. Now you might be doing that already. But this is our mission. This is what we. So two things. Two simple things. Don't let fear keep you from living life to the fullest. That's the first thing you really can figure out. And then extend the peace of God to others." [01:01:46] (29 seconds)


"There's a reason Jesus came. And he's like, don't believe that anymore. Don't believe that. Didn't I show you something different? Let God destroy those invalid feelings. And take them over. Because Satan uses them to tempt you. They come back. I thought we got rid of them. They come back. Well, don't let them fully take root." [01:02:39] (26 seconds)


"And you can step into that. Empowered by the Holy Spirit. And gifted by the Holy Spirit. And you can actually address some of those things in love. With grace. And that will help them move through these struggles. And know God's with them. Because you're with them. Now, you can also cultivate peace." [01:04:18] (23 seconds)


"So if we're supposed to like extend peace, you can be a peace cultivator. Not just a peace lover. Okay? A lot of people love peace. But they don't make peace. Okay? So be a peacemaker as Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount. You got to forgive." [01:04:56] (19 seconds)