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The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young

Ed Young - Extraordinary

December 23, 2025 | 29:0

Ed Young - Extraordinary
The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young is the international on-air and online teaching ministry of Dr. Ed Young. The Winning Walk proclaims the proven truth of God’s Word to give men and women the world over a winning way to live life.
#WordofGod #Peace #Truth #Nativity #Christmas #VirginBirth #Miracles #WiseMen #TrustGod #SecondComing #EdYoung

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The Winning Walk with Dr. Ed Young | Ed Young - Extraordinary | December 23, 2025
  • ...
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  • Pastor ed young: christmas is always such
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  • A special time of the year.
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  • It's a season filled with joy and beauty with reminder of
  • 00:00:05.628 --> 00:00:09.299
  • God's deep love for you and for me.
  • 00:00:09.432 --> 00:00:12.802
  • It's when god came down the stairs of heaven,
  • 00:00:12.902 --> 00:00:13.703
  • Surprise, with a baby in his arms.
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  • And the baby's name is emmanuel, meaning "god with us."
  • 00:00:18.274 --> 00:00:24.481
  • The savior of the world came to us,
  • 00:00:24.481 --> 00:00:27.083
  • Not in power or splendor but as a baby
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  • Born in a humble stable.
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  • And yet, through him, we find peace and a promise of
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  • Everlasting life.
  • 00:00:37.327 --> 00:00:39.596
  • That's why we're celebrating christmas.
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  • That's what christmas is all about.
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  • It's a world filled with uncertainty.
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  • Jesus is your certainty and my certainty.
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  • It's a time when many feel anxious or alone.
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  • He is emmanuel, our god who is with us.
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  • Through your prayers and support of "the winning walk," you're
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  • Helping to share this life-changing message with
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  • People next door, across the united states,
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  • And around the world.
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  • You're bringing the light of christ into homes
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  • And hearts and lives.
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  • So from all of us here at "the winning walk," i want to wish
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  • You and your loved ones a very blessed christmas.
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  • May you experience the joy of christ's birth in a fresh and
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  • Powerful and invigorating way this new season.
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  • Have a blessed christmas, and thank you for being a vital part
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  • Of "the winning walk" family.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Pastor ed: it was an ordinary night.
  • 00:01:59.242 --> 00:02:02.812
  • Nothing unusual expected.
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  • Clear sky, stars everywhere, maybe a half moon, i don't know.
  • 00:02:06.282 --> 00:02:16.960
  • Little cool, cold breeze blowing, much like here tonight.
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  • Maybe a little puffy white cloud going by.
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  • Ordinary night, the sheep were out in their fold.
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  • Not a single one of the sheep had ever won a blue ribbon at
  • 00:02:36.512 --> 00:02:39.849
  • The houston livestock show, not a single one.
  • 00:02:39.849 --> 00:02:44.954
  • They were ordinary sheep, some fat, some old, some scrawny.
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  • Just sheep, normal sheep.
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  • Nothing unusual, very ordinary.
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  • A shepherd or two was there, and these shepherds were
  • 00:02:55.698 --> 00:02:58.034
  • Always ordinary.
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  • They had everything they owned, all the clothes they had in the
  • 00:03:00.103 --> 00:03:03.906
  • World were on their back.
  • 00:03:03.906 --> 00:03:06.909
  • They lived with sheep.
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  • They smelled like sheep.
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  • They were the untouchables in the middle east.
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  • They couldn't worship in the temple because they
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  • Were unclean.
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  • They were not accepted in a court of law because they
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  • Thought they were ignorant and unworthy.
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  • They were the throwaways of the society, shepherds.
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  • Ordinary sheep, ordinary shepherds, ordinary night in a
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  • Middle eastern little town called bethlehem.
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  • We have gotten to the point, ladies and gentlemen, when we
  • 00:03:41.110 --> 00:03:44.180
  • Celebrate christmas, for most of us, it becomes ordinary.
  • 00:03:44.180 --> 00:03:49.919
  • At my house, we have so many nativity scenes you wouldn't
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  • Believe it.
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  • We've collected them through the years, people have given us
  • 00:03:55.124 --> 00:03:58.127
  • Nativity scenes, and you can walk to any room in my house,
  • 00:03:58.127 --> 00:04:01.531
  • Almost without exception, and there's one, or two, or three
  • 00:04:01.531 --> 00:04:05.268
  • Nativity scenes.
  • 00:04:05.268 --> 00:04:07.970
  • And i even noticed this time we have a nativity scene, and most
  • 00:04:07.970 --> 00:04:12.842
  • Of 'em have the same thing, right?
  • 00:04:12.842 --> 00:04:14.243
  • They have a star, they have a stable, they have the shepherds,
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  • They have the wise men, they have mary, and joseph, and the
  • 00:04:19.415 --> 00:04:24.020
  • Baby, and they have goats or sheep.
  • 00:04:24.020 --> 00:04:26.389
  • But i've got a nativity scene that even has a chicken.
  • 00:04:26.389 --> 00:04:30.059
  • You've never seen that, a chicken.
  • 00:04:30.059 --> 00:04:32.795
  • Sort of out of place in the normal nativity scenes, but we
  • 00:04:32.795 --> 00:04:37.066
  • Look at all of this, and it's sort of ordinary.
  • 00:04:37.066 --> 00:04:42.939
  • Christmas again, this is the way christmas is expressed, with
  • 00:04:42.939 --> 00:04:47.443
  • Nativity scenes.
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  • But i want us this christmas eve to zoom in on some very ordinary
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  • Things when we think of christmas and those nativity
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  • Scenes, and to discover something about ordinary things
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  • When jesus gets involved.
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  • First of all, i want us to look at an ordinary star.
  • 00:05:07.764 --> 00:05:13.136
  • We know that star in the east guided those wise men probably
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  • From mesopotamia, between the tigris and euphrates river, and
  • 00:05:17.306 --> 00:05:21.677
  • That star brought them all the way to jerusalem, and then to
  • 00:05:21.677 --> 00:05:25.948
  • Bethlehem, until those wise men were at the very feet of jesus.
  • 00:05:25.948 --> 00:05:31.687
  • How did that happen?
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  • A star led them.
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  • That star was the first, i believe, gps system in all
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  • The world.
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  • It was a travel guide that led them all the way to jesus.
  • 00:05:42.265 --> 00:05:50.239
  • By the way, what is a star?
  • 00:05:50.239 --> 00:05:54.877
  • I daresay few of us could give a definition.
  • 00:05:54.877 --> 00:05:58.448
  • A star is some helium and hydrogen, a little bit of
  • 00:05:58.448 --> 00:06:02.518
  • Carbon, and it's held together by gravity.
  • 00:06:02.518 --> 00:06:07.790
  • And stars are flung all over the universe.
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  • That's what a star is.
  • 00:06:13.830 --> 00:06:15.198
  • And when a star burns out, it puts a black hole in our cosmos,
  • 00:06:15.198 --> 00:06:21.070
  • And that's where the black holes come from, the stars that have
  • 00:06:21.070 --> 00:06:24.507
  • Burned out.
  • 00:06:24.507 --> 00:06:27.276
  • What a story.
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  • How big are stars by the way?
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  • Does anybody know?
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  • A few of us.
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  • The small stars, they're about 124 miles in diameter,
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  • Small stars.
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  • The large stars are almost 622,000 miles through
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  • The diameter.
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  • They are humongous, as children would say.
  • 00:06:48.598 --> 00:06:52.568
  • They are bigger than big.
  • 00:06:52.568 --> 00:06:55.838
  • Therefore, how many stars do you think are in our solar system?
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  • Every grain of sand on every beach in the world multiplied by
  • 00:07:03.746 --> 00:07:10.353
  • Ten, whatever that number would be, how many trillion, trillion,
  • 00:07:10.353 --> 00:07:14.156
  • Billion, billion, i don't know the name for it.
  • 00:07:14.156 --> 00:07:18.160
  • You multiply all those grains of sand by ten, and we have more
  • 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:22.832
  • Stars in our solar system than that.
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  • When i bumped into that, i didn't know it.
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  • I was stunned.
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  • And i said, "god, how great thou art.
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  • How great thou art."
  • 00:07:45.588 --> 00:07:50.059
  • And then i thought about psalm 8. the psalmist that says, "when
  • 00:07:50.059 --> 00:07:54.297
  • I consider the heavens the work of thy fingers, the moon and the
  • 00:07:54.297 --> 00:08:00.303
  • Stars thou hast ordained," the psalmist says, "what is man that
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  • Thou art mindful of him?"
  • 00:08:07.343 --> 00:08:10.112
  • Isn't that what we come to see?
  • 00:08:10.112 --> 00:08:12.415
  • In light of the vastness, the amazingness of the created order
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  • That we know a little bit about, not the billion and billion of
  • 00:08:19.822 --> 00:08:23.859
  • Other consolations and orders that are all over this unknown
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  • World, just the little bit we know about.
  • 00:08:28.998 --> 00:08:33.336
  • We say what the psalmist says.
  • 00:08:33.336 --> 00:08:35.705
  • God, what is man?
  • 00:08:35.705 --> 00:08:38.274
  • What is a human being that you are mindful of him?
  • 00:08:38.274 --> 00:08:42.078
  • Then he said, "or the son of man that you visited him?"
  • 00:08:42.078 --> 00:08:48.084
  • God visited this planet.
  • 00:08:48.084 --> 00:08:55.925
  • That's christmas, that's christmas.
  • 00:08:55.925 --> 00:08:59.895
  • And god came and said let me tell you who you are as a
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  • Human being.
  • 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:05.534
  • You were created just a notch below angels.
  • 00:09:05.534 --> 00:09:10.940
  • Human beings, we're just a notch below the angels.
  • 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:15.144
  • And he says you are charged with being responsible for this
  • 00:09:15.144 --> 00:09:18.881
  • Creation, for the firmament.
  • 00:09:18.881 --> 00:09:23.452
  • You're responsible for the animals, you're responsible for
  • 00:09:23.452 --> 00:09:25.621
  • The fish, you're responsible for the stewardship, because i have
  • 00:09:25.621 --> 00:09:29.925
  • Put you there in charge of all that i have done in the
  • 00:09:29.925 --> 00:09:34.497
  • World order.
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  • What a lofty position.
  • 00:09:37.500 --> 00:09:40.236
  • And then the psalmist says, "the glory of god is declared in
  • 00:09:40.236 --> 00:09:44.573
  • The heavens."
  • 00:09:44.573 --> 00:09:46.042
  • I look to the heavens and i find the glory of god.
  • 00:09:46.042 --> 00:09:49.078
  • So, we go all the way to bethlehem, and we go from
  • 00:09:49.078 --> 00:09:52.415
  • Bethlehem all the way back to the middle east, all the way
  • 00:09:52.415 --> 00:09:55.384
  • Back to mesopotamia, and we see that star that guided those
  • 00:09:55.384 --> 00:10:02.024
  • Wise men.
  • 00:10:02.024 --> 00:10:04.093
  • "the heavens declare the glory of god."
  • 00:10:04.093 --> 00:10:07.296
  • The heavens declared the glory of god to those wise men.
  • 00:10:07.296 --> 00:10:10.499
  • Think about it.
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  • What do you think it would take?
  • 00:10:11.967 --> 00:10:14.637
  • What do you think he would take to take these mystical
  • 00:10:14.637 --> 00:10:18.007
  • Stargazers who probably worked for the king to look at the
  • 00:10:18.007 --> 00:10:23.112
  • Heavens and determine that this is a divine, once perhaps in
  • 00:10:23.112 --> 00:10:30.119
  • Forever, event?
  • 00:10:30.119 --> 00:10:32.755
  • What was that supernatural thing?
  • 00:10:32.755 --> 00:10:35.825
  • That ordinary star there became an extraordinary star.
  • 00:10:35.825 --> 00:10:41.797
  • What did it consist of?
  • 00:10:41.797 --> 00:10:44.133
  • First of all, those mystics looked into the heavens, and
  • 00:10:44.133 --> 00:10:48.104
  • They saw a lion.
  • 00:10:48.104 --> 00:10:52.408
  • They saw the constellation.
  • 00:10:52.408 --> 00:10:54.643
  • They saw the lion and they knew the lion always stood
  • 00:10:54.643 --> 00:10:57.713
  • For israel.
  • 00:10:57.713 --> 00:10:59.381
  • And then they looked around and they saw something else.
  • 00:10:59.381 --> 00:11:03.319
  • They saw not just a lion that stood for israel in that whole
  • 00:11:03.319 --> 00:11:07.890
  • Light being that was created in the heavens, they looked and saw
  • 00:11:07.890 --> 00:11:12.461
  • Venus, the planet, and they knew that venus stood for motherhood.
  • 00:11:12.461 --> 00:11:16.899
  • And then they looked and they saw jupiter, and jupiter, they
  • 00:11:16.899 --> 00:11:20.369
  • Knew, always stood for kingship.
  • 00:11:20.369 --> 00:11:23.472
  • And then they looked and they saw something again, they saw
  • 00:11:23.472 --> 00:11:26.842
  • Romulus, which always stood for divinity, that always stood
  • 00:11:26.842 --> 00:11:31.981
  • For royalty.
  • 00:11:31.981 --> 00:11:33.449
  • So, those stargazers, they saw all of those four lined up, a
  • 00:11:33.449 --> 00:11:38.420
  • Constellation, two planets, and a star, and that would compose
  • 00:11:38.420 --> 00:11:43.592
  • The gps system that guided those wise men all the way to the foot
  • 00:11:43.592 --> 00:11:50.099
  • Of jesus.
  • 00:11:50.099 --> 00:11:51.467
  • That has never before happened in history, and never again will
  • 00:11:51.467 --> 00:11:55.404
  • Happen in history.
  • 00:11:55.404 --> 00:11:58.274
  • Oh god, how great thou art.
  • 00:11:58.274 --> 00:12:02.545
  • You see ladies and gentlemen, god always has a tour guide to
  • 00:12:02.545 --> 00:12:09.485
  • Lead anybody and everybody, anytime, any place, all the way
  • 00:12:09.485 --> 00:12:13.856
  • To jesus.
  • 00:12:13.856 --> 00:12:15.825
  • You can't miss it if you're observing, if you're alert, what
  • 00:12:15.825 --> 00:12:19.295
  • Is god, who is that tour guide in your life?
  • 00:12:19.295 --> 00:12:21.530
  • Where is that star in your life?
  • 00:12:21.530 --> 00:12:23.132
  • Somebody that says get it together.
  • 00:12:23.132 --> 00:12:26.402
  • Find a new life, wake up.
  • 00:12:26.402 --> 00:12:30.339
  • Look up, look out, jesus christ wants to take your life and give
  • 00:12:30.339 --> 00:12:35.244
  • You a brand new life.
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  • No more addictions.
  • 00:12:37.479 --> 00:12:39.381
  • No more filth.
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  • A new being.
  • 00:12:41.083 --> 00:12:43.152
  • A new being in this earth.
  • 00:12:43.152 --> 00:12:44.486
  • You see, god always has a gps for you.
  • 00:12:44.486 --> 00:12:48.691
  • Always has a gps from me.
  • 00:12:48.691 --> 00:12:50.860
  • And we have to find out what's that is.
  • 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:52.695
  • Look around, it's right there, that will lead you to christ,
  • 00:12:52.695 --> 00:12:55.798
  • That'll lead you into the church, where you grow, and
  • 00:12:55.798 --> 00:12:58.567
  • Worship, and be fed and nourished, and become what god
  • 00:12:58.567 --> 00:13:02.071
  • Designed you to become.
  • 00:13:02.071 --> 00:13:05.074
  • He always has a guide there for us.
  • 00:13:05.074 --> 00:13:09.278
  • Don't miss it, respond to it.
  • 00:13:09.278 --> 00:13:12.648
  • So, we focus on the star, and then i want us to focus on
  • 00:13:12.648 --> 00:13:19.021
  • Something else.
  • 00:13:19.021 --> 00:13:20.356
  • I want us to focus on the cave perhaps it was.
  • 00:13:20.356 --> 00:13:24.360
  • The stable perhaps it was.
  • 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:26.095
  • Where jesus was born.
  • 00:13:26.095 --> 00:13:28.297
  • A star became an extraordinary star because god used it, and
  • 00:13:28.297 --> 00:13:33.502
  • Then we see that stable.
  • 00:13:33.502 --> 00:13:35.638
  • Well, there's stables everywhere, all around the
  • 00:13:35.638 --> 00:13:38.474
  • World, especially in the bethlehem area.
  • 00:13:38.474 --> 00:13:41.977
  • What made this stable special?
  • 00:13:41.977 --> 00:13:45.314
  • Because jesus was born there.
  • 00:13:45.314 --> 00:13:47.917
  • What made that star extraordinary and special?
  • 00:13:47.917 --> 00:13:50.586
  • Because it guided them to jesus.
  • 00:13:50.586 --> 00:13:52.755
  • And that stable, what a place for a baby to be born.
  • 00:13:52.755 --> 00:13:56.792
  • Think about it.
  • 00:13:56.792 --> 00:13:58.727
  • The first air that jesus would breathe would the have the
  • 00:13:58.727 --> 00:14:02.031
  • Stench of animal urine, would it not?
  • 00:14:02.031 --> 00:14:05.100
  • The sounds, the smell, untidiness, a stable.
  • 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:11.307
  • It looks to me like if god could prepare a star, those planets,
  • 00:14:11.307 --> 00:14:17.846
  • That constellation, and guide all the wise men, couldn't he
  • 00:14:17.846 --> 00:14:21.684
  • Have provided, you know, the bethlehem general hospital for
  • 00:14:21.684 --> 00:14:25.554
  • Jesus to be born?
  • 00:14:25.554 --> 00:14:26.922
  • Wouldn't that work?
  • 00:14:26.922 --> 00:14:28.257
  • Or maybe the ritz carlton hotel, that'd have been better.
  • 00:14:28.257 --> 00:14:32.695
  • This is god in human flesh, but he didn't.
  • 00:14:32.695 --> 00:14:38.634
  • God, with great intentionality, determined that his son would be
  • 00:14:38.634 --> 00:14:46.041
  • Born in a filthy animal stable, why, why?
  • 00:14:46.041 --> 00:14:56.952
  • It's so that all of us would understand that when divinity
  • 00:14:57.019 --> 00:15:00.456
  • Came into time, and place, and history, divinity didn't carry
  • 00:15:00.456 --> 00:15:04.693
  • With it sort of a gilded life, a special kind of blessing,
  • 00:15:04.693 --> 00:15:09.565
  • Special kinda protection, with all the trappings of the elite.
  • 00:15:09.565 --> 00:15:14.136
  • Instead, divinity came into life in the lowest possible
  • 00:15:14.136 --> 00:15:19.608
  • Common denominator.
  • 00:15:19.608 --> 00:15:23.012
  • Lowest possible common denominator.
  • 00:15:23.012 --> 00:15:26.148
  • Jesus, before he was one year old, was a refugee.
  • 00:15:26.148 --> 00:15:29.952
  • Yep, they had to run to egypt, remember?
  • 00:15:29.952 --> 00:15:33.055
  • Jesus, in all probability, joseph would have died early and
  • 00:15:33.055 --> 00:15:36.458
  • Jesus had to be the oldest child in a family, raised by a
  • 00:15:36.458 --> 00:15:41.296
  • Mom alone.
  • 00:15:41.296 --> 00:15:43.399
  • Jesus worked as a construction worker the first 30 years of
  • 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:46.769
  • His life.
  • 00:15:46.769 --> 00:15:48.570
  • Jesus, when he needed friends, they turned on him, and cursed
  • 00:15:48.570 --> 00:15:51.373
  • Him, and denied him.
  • 00:15:51.373 --> 00:15:53.442
  • Jesus died what some people believe one of the most horrific
  • 00:15:53.442 --> 00:15:57.146
  • Deaths anyone can die.
  • 00:15:57.146 --> 00:15:58.914
  • Does that sounded like a specially privileged life?
  • 00:15:58.914 --> 00:16:03.252
  • No, the stable tells a story that any of us back up and say,
  • 00:16:03.252 --> 00:16:07.856
  • "god, you don't understand."
  • 00:16:07.856 --> 00:16:10.893
  • He'd say, "i lost my boy, too.
  • 00:16:10.893 --> 00:16:13.896
  • I've been where you've been.
  • 00:16:13.896 --> 00:16:15.464
  • I have gone through the bottom of shame, and persecution,
  • 00:16:15.464 --> 00:16:19.301
  • And misunderstanding."
  • 00:16:19.301 --> 00:16:21.370
  • See, he was born in a stable so that he can identify with
  • 00:16:21.370 --> 00:16:25.274
  • Anybody and everybody, and nobody can say, "god, god,
  • 00:16:25.274 --> 00:16:30.479
  • You're not treating me fair."
  • 00:16:30.479 --> 00:16:32.247
  • Because jesus took upon himself all the hardship that anyone can
  • 00:16:32.247 --> 00:16:38.454
  • Endure, that stable.
  • 00:16:38.454 --> 00:16:41.490
  • Focus on that stable.
  • 00:16:41.490 --> 00:16:43.725
  • That stable becomes not an ordinary a place for animals,
  • 00:16:43.725 --> 00:16:47.362
  • But an extraordinary place, because it is a symbol of how
  • 00:16:47.362 --> 00:16:52.201
  • Far god has gone to identify with anybody and everybody in
  • 00:16:52.201 --> 00:16:59.108
  • Any position of life.
  • 00:16:59.108 --> 00:17:02.911
  • And then i want us to take and kind of focus in and zero in on
  • 00:17:02.911 --> 00:17:07.883
  • One other thing in that nativity scene, and that's the manger.
  • 00:17:07.883 --> 00:17:13.689
  • I don't believe many of us in the 21st century would even know
  • 00:17:13.689 --> 00:17:16.692
  • What a manger was except for this christmas story.
  • 00:17:16.692 --> 00:17:19.995
  • I don't think we would know that, most of us.
  • 00:17:19.995 --> 00:17:23.799
  • A manger was a trough, a piece of farm furniture, probably
  • 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:30.772
  • Crudely constructed.
  • 00:17:30.772 --> 00:17:33.609
  • But the manger had eminence and became the cradle for a king.
  • 00:17:33.609 --> 00:17:40.682
  • When that little smidgen of scripture says, "mary laid him
  • 00:17:40.682 --> 00:17:46.855
  • In the manger."
  • 00:17:46.855 --> 00:17:50.926
  • And a manger, a feed trough, ordinary became extraordinary,
  • 00:17:50.926 --> 00:17:56.565
  • Because jesus was placed in the manger.
  • 00:17:56.565 --> 00:18:01.336
  • Listen, any time jesus is placed anywhere, anytime jesus is
  • 00:18:01.336 --> 00:18:06.675
  • Allowed to live in somebody's heart and life, the ordinary
  • 00:18:06.675 --> 00:18:11.313
  • Person, the ordinary challenges, become extraordinary, because
  • 00:18:11.313 --> 00:18:15.617
  • They have the touch of divinity on it.
  • 00:18:15.617 --> 00:18:19.288
  • The touch of divinity, a manger.
  • 00:18:19.288 --> 00:18:22.824
  • So, we hear, if you go to services like this, "well, make
  • 00:18:22.824 --> 00:18:26.895
  • Out of your heart a manger for jesus to be born."
  • 00:18:26.895 --> 00:18:29.498
  • Okay, that sounds good.
  • 00:18:29.498 --> 00:18:31.967
  • Jesus in any life changes that life inside and out, so make
  • 00:18:31.967 --> 00:18:36.138
  • A manger.
  • 00:18:36.138 --> 00:18:37.506
  • Let jesus be born.
  • 00:18:37.506 --> 00:18:38.840
  • How does that work?
  • 00:18:38.840 --> 00:18:41.510
  • Let me tell you exactly how it works.
  • 00:18:41.510 --> 00:18:45.080
  • Book of james chapter 4 says, "draw near to god," okay, "and
  • 00:18:45.080 --> 00:18:52.120
  • He'll draw near to you."
  • 00:18:52.120 --> 00:18:54.556
  • That's the deal.
  • 00:18:54.556 --> 00:18:55.891
  • "draw near to god, and he'll draw near to you."
  • 00:18:55.891 --> 00:18:58.727
  • You want to be near to god?
  • 00:18:58.727 --> 00:19:00.829
  • You want to be close to god?
  • 00:19:00.829 --> 00:19:02.197
  • You want to know god?
  • 00:19:02.197 --> 00:19:03.532
  • Draw near to god, he'll draw near to you.
  • 00:19:03.532 --> 00:19:05.267
  • So, you say, "okay, what do i have to do to draw near to god?"
  • 00:19:05.267 --> 00:19:10.606
  • James tells us, chapter 4, same passage.
  • 00:19:10.606 --> 00:19:14.009
  • He says you have to have clean hands, clean hands.
  • 00:19:14.009 --> 00:19:18.480
  • You can't, i can't go to god, you can't go to god when our
  • 00:19:18.480 --> 00:19:20.916
  • Hands are dirty, our lives are not pure, our lives are
  • 00:19:20.916 --> 00:19:23.885
  • Not clean.
  • 00:19:23.885 --> 00:19:25.254
  • You have to have clean hands, first thing.
  • 00:19:25.254 --> 00:19:28.090
  • And you have to have a pure heart, james says.
  • 00:19:28.090 --> 00:19:30.926
  • What does that mean?
  • 00:19:30.926 --> 00:19:32.294
  • Your motives have to be right.
  • 00:19:32.294 --> 00:19:35.731
  • Why do you write that card?
  • 00:19:35.731 --> 00:19:37.199
  • Why do you care?
  • 00:19:37.199 --> 00:19:38.567
  • Why do you ask?
  • 00:19:38.567 --> 00:19:40.969
  • What's your motive?
  • 00:19:40.969 --> 00:19:42.337
  • What's my motive?
  • 00:19:42.337 --> 00:19:44.439
  • Always we have to deal with motive, so if we're going to be
  • 00:19:44.439 --> 00:19:47.409
  • Near to god, we've got to first of all clean up our lives, clean
  • 00:19:47.409 --> 00:19:51.013
  • Up our acts.
  • 00:19:51.013 --> 00:19:52.347
  • Christ does that.
  • 00:19:52.347 --> 00:19:53.715
  • Then we've got to test our motives.
  • 00:19:53.715 --> 00:19:55.450
  • Let him purify our light.
  • 00:19:55.450 --> 00:19:56.852
  • And then it says you have to humble yourself before the lord.
  • 00:19:56.852 --> 00:20:01.723
  • Humble yourself before the lord.
  • 00:20:01.723 --> 00:20:05.060
  • I like that old boy says, you know, "i'm a lot more humbler
  • 00:20:05.060 --> 00:20:08.297
  • Than i used to be."
  • 00:20:08.297 --> 00:20:10.299
  • My goodness, how do you humble yourself before the lord?
  • 00:20:10.299 --> 00:20:15.804
  • Like somebody said to someone, "i've got good news and
  • 00:20:15.804 --> 00:20:19.241
  • Bad news.
  • 00:20:19.241 --> 00:20:20.575
  • Which one do you want first?"
  • 00:20:20.575 --> 00:20:21.943
  • He'll say, "well, i want the bad news first because the good news
  • 00:20:21.943 --> 00:20:24.846
  • May counteract it."
  • 00:20:24.846 --> 00:20:26.782
  • He said, "okay, what's the bad news?"
  • 00:20:26.782 --> 00:20:28.450
  • And god would say to us the bad news is you can't run your life,
  • 00:20:28.450 --> 00:20:34.623
  • Make all the choices in your life, and end up with a
  • 00:20:34.623 --> 00:20:38.527
  • Lifestyle that's worth living.
  • 00:20:38.527 --> 00:20:41.496
  • Do you get that?
  • 00:20:41.496 --> 00:20:43.298
  • The bad news is, you and i can't run our own lives and end up
  • 00:20:43.298 --> 00:20:47.269
  • With a life that's really successful, and worth living,
  • 00:20:47.269 --> 00:20:51.273
  • And it has relevance to it.
  • 00:20:51.273 --> 00:20:53.642
  • Okay, that's bad news, because i sure want to run my own life,
  • 00:20:53.642 --> 00:21:00.115
  • And i can guarantee you everybody here wants to run
  • 00:21:00.115 --> 00:21:02.384
  • Their own life.
  • 00:21:02.384 --> 00:21:03.752
  • The bad news is, when we do that, we never really have life.
  • 00:21:03.752 --> 00:21:08.590
  • The good news is that jesus christ can come into anybody's
  • 00:21:08.590 --> 00:21:13.362
  • Life, i don't care how long it is, how jaded you are, how
  • 00:21:13.362 --> 00:21:17.099
  • Confused you are, how lost you are, how empty you are, how
  • 00:21:17.099 --> 00:21:21.503
  • Lonely you are.
  • 00:21:21.503 --> 00:21:22.838
  • God can come into any life and say hey, let me take over
  • 00:21:22.838 --> 00:21:26.808
  • That life.
  • 00:21:26.808 --> 00:21:28.677
  • That's the good news.
  • 00:21:28.677 --> 00:21:30.579
  • And then you'll have a capital l-i-f-e, life, life.
  • 00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:40.021
  • That's how it works.
  • 00:21:40.021 --> 00:21:44.025
  • Imagine that you're a figure skater, you've worked on the ice
  • 00:21:44.025 --> 00:21:50.632
  • All your life.
  • 00:21:50.632 --> 00:21:52.401
  • Once you a little bitty toddler, you begin to ice skate, and you
  • 00:21:52.401 --> 00:21:55.737
  • Loved it, and you disciplined yourself.
  • 00:21:55.737 --> 00:21:57.906
  • You had athletic ability and talent, and you became a very
  • 00:21:57.906 --> 00:22:01.576
  • Proficient ice skater.
  • 00:22:01.576 --> 00:22:03.145
  • Until finally, the day came which you tried out for the
  • 00:22:03.145 --> 00:22:06.314
  • Olympics, and you're accepted in the olympics, and now you're an
  • 00:22:06.314 --> 00:22:10.585
  • Ice skating champion.
  • 00:22:10.585 --> 00:22:12.320
  • And your whole goal in life is to win the gold medal in skating
  • 00:22:12.320 --> 00:22:19.494
  • In the olympics.
  • 00:22:19.494 --> 00:22:21.296
  • You've gone through all the preliminary events, bang, bang,
  • 00:22:21.296 --> 00:22:25.667
  • Bang, bang.
  • 00:22:25.667 --> 00:22:27.369
  • It's the finals, you're ahead of all the other skaters from the
  • 00:22:27.369 --> 00:22:32.541
  • Other nation, all you have to do is that final performance with
  • 00:22:32.541 --> 00:22:37.579
  • The music, and the crowd, and the world watching you in
  • 00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:40.115
  • The olympics.
  • 00:22:40.115 --> 00:22:41.883
  • And you're warming up for the event of your life.
  • 00:22:41.883 --> 00:22:47.722
  • I've got one question.
  • 00:22:47.722 --> 00:22:50.325
  • Are you nervous, anybody nervous?
  • 00:22:50.325 --> 00:22:55.864
  • You've had your whole life to get this moment, now you're
  • 00:22:55.864 --> 00:22:59.334
  • Warming up for the final event.
  • 00:22:59.334 --> 00:23:01.503
  • Are you nervous?
  • 00:23:01.503 --> 00:23:04.105
  • You bet your boots you're nervous.
  • 00:23:04.105 --> 00:23:07.642
  • You're saying, "oh, lord, i was born a performer.
  • 00:23:07.642 --> 00:23:11.313
  • I've trained, i've worked all my life, i'm here at the moment
  • 00:23:11.313 --> 00:23:14.716
  • I've always dreamed of," and you're just petrified.
  • 00:23:14.716 --> 00:23:20.222
  • But you're warming up, and your coach comes over there and says,
  • 00:23:20.222 --> 00:23:25.660
  • "hey, hey, come here."
  • 00:23:25.660 --> 00:23:28.497
  • What in the world?
  • 00:23:28.497 --> 00:23:29.831
  • You skate over there and your coach says, "listen, i've just
  • 00:23:29.831 --> 00:23:33.301
  • Talked to the judge, the chairman of the board that'll
  • 00:23:33.301 --> 00:23:37.405
  • Judge this event, and he told me that you're so far ahead of
  • 00:23:37.405 --> 00:23:42.644
  • Everybody that you've already won the gold.
  • 00:23:42.644 --> 00:23:46.615
  • You're already a living champ."
  • 00:23:46.615 --> 00:23:48.216
  • He said, "you can go out there and fall down and 15 times,
  • 00:23:48.216 --> 00:23:50.819
  • You'll still win."
  • 00:23:50.819 --> 00:23:54.222
  • And you say, "thank you," and you continue warming up.
  • 00:23:54.222 --> 00:23:59.427
  • And i've got a question.
  • 00:23:59.427 --> 00:24:01.696
  • You're going to skate the last event of your life before the
  • 00:24:01.696 --> 00:24:04.666
  • Watching world, and you know whatever happens you've already
  • 00:24:04.666 --> 00:24:08.403
  • Won the olympic gold.
  • 00:24:08.403 --> 00:24:10.372
  • How will you skate?
  • 00:24:10.372 --> 00:24:16.378
  • I'll tell you how you'll skate.
  • 00:24:13.909 --> 00:24:18.747
  • You'll skate with power, with rhythm, with confidence.
  • 00:24:18.747 --> 00:24:24.219
  • You will skate and perform as you never have in your
  • 00:24:24.219 --> 00:24:27.355
  • Entire life.
  • 00:24:27.355 --> 00:24:28.723
  • The music will be playing, it will be a magnificent
  • 00:24:28.723 --> 00:24:31.760
  • Exhibition, because you are already an olympic gold medal
  • 00:24:31.760 --> 00:24:37.732
  • Champion, and you will skate like a champion.
  • 00:24:37.732 --> 00:24:41.369
  • Listen to me.
  • 00:24:41.369 --> 00:24:44.940
  • If christ is in you and christ is in me, there is nothing that
  • 00:24:44.940 --> 00:24:50.645
  • Can come in this life or in the next life, except to identify
  • 00:24:50.645 --> 00:24:54.716
  • The fact that you already are a champion for god in
  • 00:24:54.716 --> 00:24:59.754
  • Jesus christ.
  • 00:24:59.754 --> 00:25:01.556
  • That is the good news of christmas.
  • 00:25:01.556 --> 00:25:05.260
  • Pastor ed: god uses ordinary people.
  • 00:25:06.494 --> 00:25:08.797
  • Have you noticed that?
  • 00:25:08.797 --> 00:25:10.465
  • He doesn't pick the biggest and best and the most promising, he
  • 00:25:10.465 --> 00:25:14.502
  • Just calls people like us, like you and like me, why?
  • 00:25:14.502 --> 00:25:19.808
  • Because when we trust jesus and learn from him, we experience
  • 00:25:19.808 --> 00:25:23.778
  • Something amazing and we're changed and made, believe it or
  • 00:25:23.778 --> 00:25:28.083
  • Not, brand new.
  • 00:25:28.083 --> 00:25:31.252
  • We are no longer slaves to self and sin, but free, forgiven, and
  • 00:25:31.252 --> 00:25:36.424
  • At peace with god and man.
  • 00:25:36.424 --> 00:25:38.593
  • And you can experience peace like this this christmas.
  • 00:25:38.593 --> 00:25:42.564
  • It all begins with saying this simple prayer after me.
  • 00:25:42.564 --> 00:25:45.667
  • It's not my prayer, it's your prayer, spoken sincerely to
  • 00:25:45.667 --> 00:25:49.904
  • The father.
  • 00:25:49.904 --> 00:25:51.239
  • Will you repeat these words?
  • 00:25:51.239 --> 00:25:52.574
  • Dear heavenly father, thank you for christmas, for the perfect
  • 00:25:52.574 --> 00:25:56.411
  • Gift of your son, jesus christ.
  • 00:25:56.411 --> 00:25:58.613
  • And lord, right now i want to make sure that i'm in your
  • 00:25:58.613 --> 00:26:03.451
  • Family, so i confess my sin, i turn away from all known sin,
  • 00:26:03.451 --> 00:26:09.157
  • And i invite jesus to come into my life and give me that new
  • 00:26:09.157 --> 00:26:14.329
  • Walk, that new relationship with you.
  • 00:26:14.329 --> 00:26:16.998
  • Thank you this christmas for bringing me into your family, in
  • 00:26:16.998 --> 00:26:21.336
  • Jesus's name, the christ child, amen.
  • 00:26:21.336 --> 00:26:26.408
  • Listen, if you prayed that simple prayer with me, you
  • 00:26:26.408 --> 00:26:29.344
  • Became a member of god's family.
  • 00:26:29.344 --> 00:26:32.213
  • Please take a moment and call the number on the screen.
  • 00:26:32.213 --> 00:26:35.283
  • We want to rejoice and celebrate with you in that life-changing
  • 00:26:35.283 --> 00:26:39.120
  • Decision you just now made.
  • 00:26:39.120 --> 00:26:41.723
  • We also have some materials we'd like to send to you and help you
  • 00:26:41.723 --> 00:26:45.293
  • Begin your winning walk this holy christmas season.
  • 00:26:45.293 --> 00:26:49.764
  • And from my family to yours, i want to wish you a very
  • 00:26:49.764 --> 00:26:53.802
  • Blessed christmas.
  • 00:26:53.802 --> 00:26:55.837
  • Pastor ed: we have so much to be thankful for.
  • 00:26:57.605 --> 00:27:01.543
  • And i wanna thank you for your faithfulness,
  • 00:27:01.543 --> 00:27:03.178
  • Your generosity, your prayers as part of
  • 00:27:03.178 --> 00:27:06.548
  • "the winning walk" family.
  • 00:27:06.548 --> 00:27:08.016
  • Thank you again for boldly giving and standing with
  • 00:27:08.016 --> 00:27:11.386
  • "the winning walk," with me through your
  • 00:27:11.386 --> 00:27:13.488
  • Prayers and support.
  • 00:27:13.488 --> 00:27:15.490
  • God bless you.
  • 00:27:15.490 --> 00:27:16.825
  • From all of us at "the winning walk," merry christmas.
  • 00:27:16.825 --> 00:27:20.695
  • May god richly bless you and your family
  • 00:27:20.695 --> 00:27:23.732
  • In this brand-new year.
  • 00:27:23.732 --> 00:27:23.732