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Glory to Jesus Christ. Well, as you can tell

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from that long list of names, one of the great

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themes of the Christmas season, it's not just

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because you hear it in the media, one of the

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great themes is family. Getting together with

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family, reconnecting with family. with friends.

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Watching the Golden State Warriors losing season,

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I saw a car commercial and was told that the

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holiday season is about creating memories. That's

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what they tell me. Well, memory certainly enters

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into it all, but it's expectation of what has

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happened, not So much creating new ones. Sometimes

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those don't work out so great, I've seen. We

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forget that Christmas is all about how God made

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us his family. And how our fellow believers,

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you are brothers and sisters in Christ by water

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and the spirit. Not by blood, but by the spirit.

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St. Matthew. Begins his gospel. Very strong.

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You know, when you read a novel, we all have

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those favorite opening paragraphs of a novel

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that grab you, that take you right in. St. Matthew

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begins very strong. The book of the genealogy

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of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of

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Abraham. Then you go, wow. What happened, Matthew?

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Why are you telling us all this? You just lost

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everybody. The names may not mean much for us

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because we don't know the Old Testament as we

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should. St. Matthew is using this list of names

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as a shorthand. He's not telling you the whole

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history. You can go back and read that yourself.

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He's telling you that each name represents a

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community. Each name represents some good people,

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some okay people, some really dreadful people.

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It's a family. It's a family story in interaction

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with the God of all who is guiding the history.

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The story begins. The gospel. The gospel is what?

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The good news of salvation. It's the victory.

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It's the story that the king has come so that

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we aren't put in the grave and that's it. But

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we have life eternal. And not only that, we're

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transformed in this life. We become images of

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him who created us. We are not enslaved to that

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grave, the dust of the earth, the corruption

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of sin. We become children of God. That's the

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gospel story, and it's beginning way back when.

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It's as if it's the resistance movement for the

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enemy -occupied territory. And this resistance

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movement has some great people in it. King Josiah.

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On and on and on. David. Judah. And it's got

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some sketchy people. Manasseh. And so forth.

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But this... resistance movement is gaining ground,

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surely gaining ground, each person's leading,

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each begetting, slowly, to Jesus Christ, the

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Son of God, the Savior of the world, born of

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Mary, begotten, not by Joseph, but begotten of

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the Father before all ages. wondrously, of the

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pure and ever Virgin Mary. Jesus Christ, the

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light, the Savior, coming to the world to save

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it. Now a Savior presupposes that salvation is

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from something that's dreadful, that we need

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salvation. Like a drowning man needs to have

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someone pull him out. Like someone in a burning

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house needs to be rescued. In a recent essay,

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one of my former seminary classmates said this.

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He said, 2 ,000 years ago, the people in Judah

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and Israel were praying for a Messiah that would

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bring the wealth and the glory of King David,

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equal to the Romans, back to their nation. by

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saving them from the oppressing enemies, the

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Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, you name it.

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Is this what the Messiah was born to do? To come

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rolling in like Eisenhower on D -Day with tanks

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and machine guns to obliterate the enemy? I read

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the lives of the saints. And it's clear that

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for those in the resistance movement, and that's

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us too, there is a great deal of difficulty,

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hardship, carrying the cross, sorrow, and suffering.

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And most of us aren't perfect at it. In times

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of ease, that's not what the Savior has come

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to give us. That's good. We need those material

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blessings from God. enjoyment, and comfort. They're

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not bad in themselves, but that's not why Jesus

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came to supply all that. What's the heart of

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the problem that we have? And I mentioned this

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at the beginning just a few moments ago. It's

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not bad people. It's not armies. It's not political

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parties we don't like. It's not TV talking heads.

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It's not different kinds of people. That's not

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the authentic problem. The Messiah announced

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by the prophets from the very beginning would

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be the Messiah who would be sent to save us from

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the triple tyranny. You heard of the tripledemic,

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right? The flu, RSV, and COVID, those are terrible

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things. We don't want those. But this is saving

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us from the triple tyranny. frightening, dark,

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corrupting. That is sin, the devil, and death.

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That's why the resistance movement started, and

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then we have the king, our savior, born. Not

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in a famous way, not in a noticeable way, but

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in a quiet way, in silence, in Bethlehem. And

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then you read the gospel, you think, how is this

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good news? Herod is killing a multitude of children.

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The holy family has to flee to Egypt. Jesus is

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baptized, he goes into the desert, and he's tempted.

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Where's the good news, Lord? But as you continue

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to read, and as you continue to act in faith,

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brothers and sisters, as Christians, who know

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that they have been born again by water and the

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Spirit, you see the transformation. You see the

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demonic power cast out. You see the healings

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that occurred. You see the good news preached

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of salvation and deliverance. You see joy and

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peace on earth and glory to God in the highest.

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This is our experience of being a Christian.

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And if it's not, then perhaps... You're like

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one of those names in the Old Testament. You

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don't know anything about. They're foreign to

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you. But you need to start learning how to be

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born again in Christ. Because you've been saved

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from the triple tyranny of sin and death and

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the devil, which even the most rich, the most

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popular, the most... physically ripped people

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are going to experience. We are reminded that

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Jesus has come to deliver us also from ourselves.

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That's why we make confessions so frequently,

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because piled on top of our soul are all things

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that are foreign to it, and we need to be light

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and purified, each and every one of us, whether

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we know it or not, whether we... commune regularly

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or not if we let those sins pile up they become

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forgotten and just part of the scenery but they're

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not they are foreign objects within us we're

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saved from our willfulness and foolishness from

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the inner death of the soul that our sin has

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caused so as we prepare ourselves for the celebration

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of Christmas the Lord gives us all these names.

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The Lord and the church gives all that account

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from the book of Hebrews of those famous men

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and women who acted in faithfulness. That's what

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should be in our minds as we're preparing. That

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we become part of the Savior's family tree also.

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That we live in faithfulness. We act in faith.

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We remember that God is establishing a city,

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not a theocracy, because he's coming in glory,

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not of this world, but of the world and kingdom

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to come, a city whose foundations are built by

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God, filled with saints. Glory to Jesus Christ.