Nov. 28, 2024

Thanksgiving: Law and Gospel

Thanksgiving: Law and Gospel

A discussion about thanksgiving, law, and gospel

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A discussion about thanksgiving, law, and gospel

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Holidays,

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Merry Christmas. Now, when you hear those terms, right, whether

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they're spoken to you or maybe you feel you have

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to say.

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Them, how do they truly make you feel?

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Merry Christmas, Happy Thanksgiving, happy holidays?

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It's the most wonderful time in the.

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World, right, okay, the most wonderful time of the year. Like,

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how does those how does that host sentiment? How do

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those sayings, those expressions, those greetings, Do they make you

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feel warm inside happy, bring back wonderful.

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Memories or do you kind of wish you can? I

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don't know.

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Escape And nobody was saying Happy Thanksgiving, nobody was saying

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happy Holidays. Nobody was saying Merry Christmas. Nobody's saying it's

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the most wonderful time of the year, most wonderful time ever,

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most wonderful time in the world, whatever expression they want

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to use. I know the phrase is most wonderful time

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of the year. I know the phrase, Okay, I know

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the song or the point is, no matter how they

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may express it, no matter what they may say, does

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it make you feel great?

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Do you like that feeling?

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Maybe the entire holiday season is one that you really

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really enjoy and you look forward to and it brings

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you such happiness and joy, or maybe it makes you

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feel discouraged and depressed and maybe a sense of melancholy

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or loneliness, or.

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Resentment or bitterness.

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Maybe if you are a Christian when it comes to

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happy Holidays, Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, the most wonderful time of

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the year, maybe all of that kind of shows up

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in Bible teaching and preaching in such a way that

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maybe make you feel makes you feel guilty, maybe make

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you feel some shame.

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How does it? What does it do for you?

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Look the people who listen to this episode, there's going

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to be lots of different reactions.

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Some of you are like, Oh, I love this time

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of year.

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It's great, it's wonderful. Others of you like, I I

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loathe it, I hate it. I wish I could escape

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from it. I think there's going to be radically different

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feelings when it comes to this and what we're going

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to talk about that we're going to talk about it

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maybe in some ways that maybe no one else is

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going to talk about it, and we will do that

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right after I say good afternoon everyone. It is Thursday,

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November the twenty eighth, twenty twenty four. You know what

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that means, right, It's Thursday, November the twenty eighth, twenty

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twenty four. Well, it means it's Thanksgiving here in the

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United States of America, which is well prompting me to

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have this discussion. So good afternoon everyone. It is Thursday,

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November the twenty eighth, twenty twenty four. It is currently

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two two pm Central Time, and I'm coming to you

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live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

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Now, I know right.

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Now, if you go to the sermon Audio dot Com

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website right there at the top, I think you'll see

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something that says collections, and it says I think it

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shows a picture of a girl holding like a basket

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and it says Thanksgiving. And then you can view the

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collection and their sermon after sermon after sermon about Thanksgiving,

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because today is Thanksgiving here in the United States of America.

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So they've collecting all the sermons about it.

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And if you look at it, well, this is what

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I found. As soon as I opened up the collection.

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The very first sermon are we truly thankful? Are we

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truly thankful?

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Now?

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I think you can just by the title, I think

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you know the way that's going to go right. It's

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a thanksgiving sermon that's going to challenge you. Are you

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really thankful? Are you thankful enough? Do you have the

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right attitude of gratitude? Are you truly being thankful? And

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by the time the sermon is over, you may feel convicted,

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which I guess could be a positive thing, or you

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could be well, you could really feel even worse than

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when you started listening because of this. Now I just

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listen to me carefully. Well, many people love the holidays. Well,

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while many people have great memories about them, there are

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a lot of people in the world who the holidays

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brings back horrible memories. For many people, the holidays is

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a time of horrible memories, bad emotions. They feel lonely,

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they feel depressed, they feel a sense of melancholy, They

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may feel a sense of regret, and it's.

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Not a good time.

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They already come into the holidays already having a bad time.

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And much of the preaching.

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Is hey, hey, hey, you need to be thankful. Hey

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you should have joy, Hey you should have gratitude. Hey,

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you should have this, and you need to do this,

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and you should do this, and you need to do this.

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And it's a very there's no other way to say it.

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It's very law based approach. Law law, and you know,

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wherever the law is, all it's going to do is condemn.

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All it's going to do is show you, well how

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messed up you really are.

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And sometimes we do need to hear the law. Let

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me make it very clear.

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There are times, there are many of us during the holidays,

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we may need to hear a very law based message

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to show us our ingratitude, to show us our wrong attitudes.

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Sometimes we need to hear that I am by no

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means dismissing that I don't want anyone emailing me.

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Going, well, how dare you downplay the law?

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No, the law is needed sometimes, But there are times,

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and this is just very important to our discussion about

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law and gospel. When is the law needed and when

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is the gospel needed? There are sometimes people are already

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so beaten down, so discouraged, so despondent, so much in

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despair because of the holidays, they need to hear something

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other than hey, you need to be doing this and

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you need to be doing this and stop doing this,

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and don't do this, and don't do this, and stop

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doing this and don't do this and don't.

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Do this and don't do this. And you're like, Okay,

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I've got.

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Not only do I have the million things I need

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to do in the holiday, I now have a to

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do list spiritually that's seventeen miles long. And I've got

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to try to do all of this on top of

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doing all of this, and then I've also got to

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be happy, and I got to be cheerful, and I

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got to be telling everyone Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, It's

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the most wonderful time of the year. When I feel

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like this is the worst time to ever exist in

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my life, sometimes it can drive people almost further into

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the pit of despair.

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And I know people are well.

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Meaning, you know people who come up and go happy Holiday,

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Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas.

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Hey, isn't it the most wonderful time of the year.

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People who say those things, they typically mean well, they're excited,

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they just sometimes forget and maybe other people had a

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different experience. Right, So I felt like, well, if the

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messages in the collection, I'm not saying all of them

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are like this, but the spotlight sermon is are we

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truly thankful? I know which direction that's going to go.

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It's going to challenge level of thankfulness. And I'm not

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saying that that's not needed, but I think there's gotta

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be another approach. So we're gonna have a discussion. I

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don't know for how long we're gonna have this discussion,

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but we're gonna have a discussion because I put together

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some things.

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Right, So, so at first I was gonna. I was gonna.

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I had like a certain way of approaching this, and

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then I kind of changed. Right before we went live

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on the air, I started thinking Thanksgiving, law and gospel, Thanksgiving,

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loneliness and depression, right, almost like two concepts all put together.

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Like at first I wasn't even thinking about law and gospel.

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I was thinking about loneliness and depression. But then right

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when I got ready to go live, I was looking

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at the collections there on sermon audio, and I saw

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the Spotlight sermon and I was like, well.

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That's a law approach.

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So if people are already experiencing loneliness and depression, do

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they need to hear a law message for the holidays?

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I'm not saying those law messages aren't needed, but there's

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got to be someone who speaks to the people who

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maybe have a different approach.

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So let's just consider this.

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I think when we consider we'll call them holiday sermons,

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the sermons leading up to Thanksgiving, the sermons leading into Christmas,

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and the sermons that will lead into New Year's.

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Right. I think all of those holiday.

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Sermons Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's they tend to focus

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on certain themes.

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I think that that's true.

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Joy, peace, hope, gratitude, and those feelings are and those

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things are kind of central to the season. Right. Let's

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talk about joy, let's talk about peace, let's talk about hope,

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let's talk about gratitude. I think you could say those

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themes are central to the season. However, these messages can

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unintentionally I'm not saying pastors are intentionally doing this, but

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they can unintentionally lean heavily into a law.

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Based teaching.

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Because they prescribe how people should feel or what they

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are to think. They almost tell you this is how

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you should be feeling today, this is how you should

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be thinking about the season.

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And then again, for some people, they.

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Need to hear hey, you really should be feeling this way,

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you should be thinking this way.

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But there are some people who are already.

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Kind of in a pit of despair or they're not

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in a good place, and so now they're like, Okay,

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so now not only do I have all of these

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negative feelings, now I'm basically being condemned for having these

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negative feelings. And sometimes I think people want to say, hey,

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you don't know me, you don't know anything about me,

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you don't know where, back off and stop getting in

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my face telling me I need to be happy, happy, happy, happy,

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this is the most wonderful time in the world. Because

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it's not, I think it can sometimes make people feel like, well,

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maybe the church isn't the place for me during this

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time of year.

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See, if you're.

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An individual and you're already struggling with loneliness, depression, or melancholy,

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these sermons may only increase your feeling of guilt, increase

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your feeling of shame, or increase your feeling of feeling isolated,

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in no place to go and misunderstood and that you

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don't really fit in. Instead of offering the comfort of

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the gospel, these messages become burdensome by imposing emotional expectations

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that seem unattainable.

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They're like, hey, this is how you should feel.

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Look at everyone be happy. Look, look, look look at

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the family. They're all dressed nice.

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Look. Oh it's wonderful. Yes, it's Oh. Look there's the

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little Nativity and there's this.

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All the families are together for Thanksgiving and they're doing this,

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and they're doing all those people.

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Look at how wonderful everyone should be.

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You should be filled with gratitude, you should be happy,

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you should have joy, you should have peace.

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I mean, come on, you're a Christian, are you.

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Well?

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Then guess what you end up feeling? You feel like, well, man.

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I gotta do better. I gotta do better. I gotta

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do better. I need to act differently, I need to

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think differently. And at some point you may just realize

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but wait a minute, these feelings are inside of me,

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and you become conflicted and you may finally think this

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is unattainable.

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I guess I don't fit in now.

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Not all of you are going to relate to this.

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Some of you men, you're like having the time of

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your life today. You got family, you're playing games, you

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got three plates of food, and you're going back for

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dessert and there's music in the house and laughter and joy,

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and it's family and it's close, and you're like, man,

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this is the best.

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What is he talking about? Just remember.

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Your experience may not be the experience of others. If

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you would have got in your car this morning, you

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could have drove to different restaurants that were open for Thanksgiving.

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You could have walked in and if you looked around,

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you know what you would have seen. You would have

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seen some people sitting by a table, sitting on or

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at a table by themselves, having a Thanksgiving dinner and

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a restaurant. Now you'll see some people there together as

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a family. They're just doing it because it's convenient. But

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you'll look around, you'll be like, man, it seems odd

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and out of place, right, I mean typically, I don't

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think it's odd or out of place to go anywhere

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by yourself, a movie, any going by yourself.

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I mean that I have no problem with that. But

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it stands out.

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It will stand out on a holiday, right, it will

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stand out. Now, how what is that person feeling at

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that particular moment. They may not be feeling anything, or

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they may be sitting there just trying to because the

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holidays make you You're told you almost have to feel

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a certain way. See, many of these holiday sermons can

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lean towards law. Let's consider some of the ways some

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of the holiday sermons can be very law based. Many

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of them focus on emotional states. You see, these sermons

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will stress that Christians shouldeel joy, gratitude, or peace during

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the holidays. While these emotions are certainly desirable, they can

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come across as commands rather than maybe you could call

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them maybe the fruit of the spirit, or maybe sometimes

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it's not even a fruit of the spirit. Sometimes these

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just the result of people in good situations. Have you

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ever noticed how people can have joy and gratitude and

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peace when circumstances are great.

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They might say, Oh, I'm.

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Experiencing the fruit of the spirit, or you're experiencing the

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fruit of a good situation. Take away your situation and

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let's see how much joy, peace, and gratitude you have.

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Sometimes you'll hear something like this, as Christians, we should

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be the most joyful people during Christmas because we know

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the reason for the season.

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And everybody'll be like amen.

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But if you're someone struggling with depression or grief, this

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statement probably will create guilt for not feeling joyful. Rather

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than pointing people to comfort and Christ, you get points

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to an obligation. You get pointed to what you're to.

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You don't find comfort in Christ, you find well mate.

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So all that I need to know is that, well,

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Christmas is about Christ. But what it tells me is

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I'm supposed to have this emotional state. You don't have

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that emotional state. It can lead to some well, negative feelings.

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So number one, these holiday sermons tend to focus on

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emotional state. They really emphasize gratitude. Messages about being thankful

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can become prescriptive, especially when framed as God has done

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so much for you, how can you not be grateful?

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So this approach again maybe not the intended purpose. It

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brings shame to those who are struggling to have any gratitude,

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maybe due to their circumstances. See, it's easy to look

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at everywhere like, hey, God done so much for you.

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You should be grateful, look at all that you have,

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but you don't know who.

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You don't know.

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Everyone who's hearing that message because other people go, yeah,

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things are going great for you, let's talk about me.

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You don't know what you're talking about, and the same

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God that gave these people so much didn't bother to

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show up to give these people anything close to what

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these people have.

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I mean, that's a reality. I know nobody wants to

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admit that.

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Like everything may be going great for you right now,

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right maybe get in your car and go drive to

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a hospital. There's people laying in there's children right now

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in the children's hospital dying of some terminal disease, and

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they're having Thanksgiving an hospital maybe the last one they

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ever see.

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So, I mean, that's the thing.

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It's easy to talk sometimes sitting in the comfort of church,

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which it sounds so good. So I'm not saying we

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don't say we shouldn't be grateful. I'm just saying that

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we have to understand things are complicated. So I think

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number one, we have a focus on emotional states. Number Two,

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sermons tend to emphasize gratitude. Number Three, there's kind of

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a cultural pressure reinforced by the church.

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Within the church.

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There's like a cultural pressure to think a certain way,

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act a certain way.

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Put on the smile, be happy.

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The cultural narrative of the holidays is a time of

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family togetherness and celebration, and this is echoed in the sermons.

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The sermons reinforce the ideals without acknowledging those who may

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feel disconnected or feel grief during the season, the message

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becomes exclusionary. It excludes these people. Hey, the church is

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only for all the happy everyone's got, everything's going wonderful.

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Where we don't really have anything to say for you

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people were life stinks. We don't really, I mean, most

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likely it stinks because you're sinners and you deserve it.

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Now, I'm not saying that that's the intended message.

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Or the message is. I don't care what you're going through.

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You should be happy.

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You should be.

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Joyful, your lips should be filled with praise. You should

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be doing this. You should be doing this.

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And it's law, la la la la law. So holiday

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sermons can lean towards law by focusing on emotional state,

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by emphasizing gratitude, and by being preached within a culture

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that's already going to put that pressure on people to

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kind of.

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Act a certain way and be a certain way. So

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is there a response to this? Is there a gospel

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response to this? Well, I think the the gospel does

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not demand. The gospel does not demand that we manufacture

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specific feelings. That's the great thing about the gospel doesn't

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demand that you manufacture a feeling. As said, it offers

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comfort and assurance regardless of your emotional state. The gospel is,

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here is comfort, here is peace, and it doesn't matter

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how you feel. You don't have to manufacture it. You

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don't have to pretend. You don't have to do anything,

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because the Gospel is what God has done for you.

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Consider some gospel truths. Here God meets us and our weakness.

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God meets us in our weakness. That's the gospel message.

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God does not require us to feel a certain way

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to receive his love. Christ came for the broken, weary,

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and downtrodden. God meets us in our weakness. He doesn't say,

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pretend that you're not we pretend that everything is great. God,

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God comes to us and our brokenness. I think that's

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an important gospel truth. God meets us in our weakness. Second,

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the incarnation is God's solidarity. Jesus entered a broken and

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painful world. His coming was not for the joyful and strong,

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but for the weak and weary. So God meets us

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in our weakness, and He met us in our weakness

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by sending his son, who was born in a manger,

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born in Bethlehem. He entered into the broken world not

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so that we could pretend that everything was wonderful.

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He came because things.

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Were not wonderful so we could The gospel approach is

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to remind us that God meets us in our brokenness,

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in our weakness, and that the incarnation is well, he's

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kind of there's solidarity with us, there's some kind of

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connection with us because He entered into it in the flesh.

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I think a gospel approach is also it's grace over law.

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The message of Christmas is not about what we should do,

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think or feel, but.

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What Christ has done.

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I think thanksgiving is not about you being thankful so

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much is about just being about being understanding what God

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has done for us. I know we have said, well

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you have to be this level of thankful. It's just

381
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being thankful of what. It's focusing on what God has

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done for me, not on how all the different ways

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I should show thankfulness. I should focus first on just

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what God has done for me. Christmas is not about

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what I should do, think or feel, but what about

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God has done. We emphasize Christ's work over emotions. Right,

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we don't emphasize our emotions. We emphasize what Christ has done.

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The focus should not be on obligation. The focus should

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be on grace. So I think a gospel based message

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is God meets us in our weakness, the incarnation as

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Christ entering in with us. There's solidarity, there's some kind

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of connection with us that we emphasize grace over law.

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And I think another a gospel approach is the reality.

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We speak of.

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Reality see acknowledging that the holidays can be hard, create

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space for those who are struggling. The Gospel reassures that

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sorrow is not a sign of weak faith, but as a.

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Part of life in a fallen world. It does not

399
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mean you have weak faith.

400
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If and there's something necessarily wrong with you, if you're

401
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struggling with bitterness or frustration or loneliness or depression or discouragement.

402
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It's okay because we live in a fallen world.

403
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And I think a true faith, a strong faith, is

404
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the one that can acknowledge that, not the one that

405
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tries to say all the right words, because that's the

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cultural the cultural expectation put onto you by the church.

407
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The psalms are filled with laments, and those are spiritual cries.

408
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Those are spiritual screams of pain and despair.

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And it's okay. A strong faith can say.

410
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Hey, this day is trash, this day is garbage, this

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day is depressing.

412
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I hate this. It's okay to say that.

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So when you have law based sermons that say do this,

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do this, do that, well, how do they affect people?

415
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Well? Number one, it increases guilt.

416
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If you're battling depression or loneliness, well, now you feel

417
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like you're felling God on top of everything else because

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you're not living up to the emotional standards presented into

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the sermons.

420
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What you'll think something like, why can't I feel joy?

421
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Is my faith week?

422
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So you just increase the guilt to people, they are like, okay,

423
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so not only do I feel bad because I already

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feel bad, Well, now I'm disappointing God. So I even

425
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feel bad upon already feeling bad. At that point, it's

426
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just like forget, I'm just going to the liquor store.

427
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You don't know what else to do. It can lead

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to shame and isolation.

429
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A sermon that emphasizes how believers should feel might lead

430
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someone to withdraw believing they're out of place in the church.

431
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And you may feel really out of place in the

432
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:28.200
church because the church is.

433
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Going to be happy, happy, joy, wonderful. Isn't it the

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most wonderful time of the year. Oh, isn't it great?

435
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Isn't it wonderful?

436
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Hey?

437
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Hey, hey, hey, great, great, great, great, great great great.

438
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And when faith a third thing that can do, it

439
00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:44.440
can lead to a misunderstanding of faith. See, when faith

440
00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:49.400
is tied to an emotional performance, it distorts the Gospel.

441
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It makes Christianity feel like an impossible standard rather than

442
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a message of grace.

443
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Hey, if you truly have faith.

444
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You'll feel this way, and you'll have this emotion and

445
00:25:59.640 --> 00:26:06.319
you'll well now, no, no, that's the Psalmist many times

446
00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:10.160
would demonstrate their faith by expressing emotions that would not

447
00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:13.400
be allowed in many churches because they would feel uncomfortable

448
00:26:13.559 --> 00:26:20.799
hearing people express such strong, negative emotions. You don't tie

449
00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:28.279
faith to emotional performance. You don't do that. So how

450
00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:32.640
should we approach the holiday, especially in Bible teaching and

451
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Christian podcasts.

452
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I think we emphasize the gospel.

453
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We focus on what Christ has done, not on what

454
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we must do or feel the message of Christmas is

455
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about God's action in Christ, not on human achievement.

456
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Thanksgiving.

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We should be thankful for what God has done. It

458
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shouldn't be well, we should do this, and we have

459
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to do this and do this. He said, well, maybe

460
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I don't feel thankful enough. It's okay, because whether you

461
00:27:00.759 --> 00:27:03.279
are thankful or not thankful, whether you have gratitude or

462
00:27:03.319 --> 00:27:06.359
don't have gratitude, the truth is Christ still came and

463
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died for you, a sinner, and your sins are still

464
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removed as far as the east is from the west.

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Your sins are covered in the blood of Jesus Christ.

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Your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

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You are eternally saved, no matter if you feel it.

468
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Don't feel it, because it's not about your emotional performance.

469
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I think in our preaching and teaching we have to

470
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acknowledge the reality of struggle and pain. I think in

471
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our preaching and teaching we have to incorporate the reality

472
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of loneliness, grief, and depression. I think we can maybe

473
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use passages. Let me look at this. I think this

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one will work. We could use things like the Lord

475
00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:00.000
is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart

476
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and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many

477
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are the afflictions of the righteous now, it says, but

478
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the Lord delivereth them.

479
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:09.960
Out of them.

480
00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:10.200
All.

481
00:28:10.359 --> 00:28:12.000
Of course, we could try to figure out exactly what

482
00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:12.400
that means.

483
00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:16.799
But it talks about the broken and the contride and

484
00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:30.000
affliction being a reality. John sixteen weave it's John sixteen.

485
00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:35.440
I think you know what this one says, John sixteen

486
00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:39.240
thirty three. These things I've spoken unto you, that you

487
00:28:39.319 --> 00:28:41.960
might have peace in the world. In the world you

488
00:28:42.039 --> 00:28:46.279
shall have tribulation. The Bible does not deny that there's

489
00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:49.000
gonna be affliction. There's gonna be pain, there's gonna be tribulation,

490
00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:52.279
there's gonna be suffering in this life. The hope is

491
00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:54.240
that there is ultimate deliverance.

492
00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:56.119
Now. That deliverance is not now.

493
00:28:56.839 --> 00:29:08.799
It's coming, right, it's not now. I think we have

494
00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:13.759
to acknowledge this. The holidays can be a reminder of

495
00:29:13.880 --> 00:29:15.920
pain or loss, and that's okay.

496
00:29:16.759 --> 00:29:17.039
God.

497
00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:21.079
God's love isn't dependent on your emotional state.

498
00:29:21.480 --> 00:29:23.000
We can acknowledge that.

499
00:29:22.720 --> 00:29:25.519
That the holidays can be a rough time. It's okay

500
00:29:25.559 --> 00:29:34.319
to acknowledge that. So Number one, I think in our

501
00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:36.200
teaching we have to emphasize the Gospel number two. I

502
00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:38.799
think we have to acknowledge the struggle. Acknowledge even that

503
00:29:38.839 --> 00:29:42.240
the Bible acknowledges the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the

504
00:29:42.279 --> 00:29:47.680
brokenness in the world. We could point to God's presence

505
00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:51.039
to some level, right, We could focus on the incarnation

506
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:54.160
as evidence of God's presence and all circumstances. Jesus came

507
00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:57.640
to dwell among us not to demand emotional perfection, but.

508
00:29:57.559 --> 00:29:59.960
To bring peace. God entered.

509
00:30:01.839 --> 00:30:06.640
God entered this broken world not to condemn us for

510
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:08.960
our sadness, but to walk with us through it.

511
00:30:09.000 --> 00:30:12.599
He didn't come to say, hey, turn that round upside down.

512
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:14.960
You better do this, you better know he I don't

513
00:30:14.960 --> 00:30:20.920
think that's the right way to do that. And I

514
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:22.960
think another thing we can do in our preaching is

515
00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:26.880
I think we can encourage other Christians to be a

516
00:30:26.960 --> 00:30:30.680
source of support and to avoid guilting other people that

517
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:33.279
they have to participate in all of the reindeer games,

518
00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:36.359
do all of the thing. Stop doing that, Stop guilting

519
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:38.680
people that, hey you should do this, and you should

520
00:30:38.759 --> 00:30:42.480
stop guilting people. Let people be who they are and

521
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:45.160
process it however they need to process it, and maybe

522
00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:52.920
it doesn't conform to your nice little Christian idea.

523
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:54.799
Walk with people through sorrow.

524
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.400
Don't sit there and give them other little stinking cliches

525
00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:00.640
that mean nothing. You're a little bumpers stick or answer.

526
00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:04.559
Don't get so defensive sometimes. I think when other people suffer,

527
00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:08.599
it makes some people feel uncomfortable and they don't like it,

528
00:31:08.680 --> 00:31:10.119
so then they feel like they have to say that

529
00:31:10.400 --> 00:31:12.880
you don't. Sometimes you don't need to say or do anything.

530
00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:20.799
I think the message of the holidays is that Christ

531
00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:23.799
came into the world and he came into a world

532
00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:26.920
of darkness. He came into a world that was broken,

533
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:30.599
and he came to bring light. And this light that

534
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:33.240
Christ came into the world to bring does not depend

535
00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:36.359
on your ability to feel joyful, hopeful, but it shines,

536
00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:39.240
shines regardless of your circumstance or mind.

537
00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:42.000
We shift the focus from.

538
00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:47.200
What we must do to what God has done, then

539
00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:52.079
holiday messages could maybe be an offering a lifeline of grace,

540
00:31:53.440 --> 00:32:03.839
especially to those who feel burdened during this season. I

541
00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:09.160
think we need a gospel approach, not a law approach. Now,

542
00:32:09.680 --> 00:32:12.640
I was gonna do all my entire My original idea

543
00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:15.359
for this was to really kind of focus on the

544
00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:21.519
idea of loneliness, depression, melancholy, and a realistic faith. That's

545
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:23.599
really the direction I was going to go. But I

546
00:32:23.640 --> 00:32:24.559
think I'm just gonna.

547
00:32:24.359 --> 00:32:27.240
Leave it right here. My all of my notes actually.

548
00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:30.960
We're we're dealing with things like loneliness, depression.

549
00:32:31.279 --> 00:32:33.160
That's what I was going to go with, right.

550
00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:35.519
I have something here about loneliness here, I have something

551
00:32:35.519 --> 00:32:38.799
here about melancholy. I have something here about a realistic faith.

552
00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:41.000
I have practical steps.

553
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:43.559
For the season, I have, I have I have, I

554
00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:46.480
have scriptures here about it all like I had.

555
00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:50.640
I had an entire different idea. But just when we

556
00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:55.279
got ready to get started, I'm like, oh, yeah, Cermonadio

557
00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:58.160
has the Thanksgiving collection. Let me look, Oh look at that.

558
00:32:58.640 --> 00:32:59.880
Are we truly think?

559
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:02.799
And I'm like, oh boy, you can already hear.

560
00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:05.200
The answer is going to be, well, we're probably not

561
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:07.319
truly thankful, so I need to feel bad for not

562
00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:08.000
being thankful.

563
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:09.680
And I'm like, that's very law based.

564
00:33:10.079 --> 00:33:11.839
Now, I'm not saying the sermon may turn out to

565
00:33:11.880 --> 00:33:14.559
be very gospel based, but I'm saying the title makes

566
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:16.920
me immediately feel like which directions go. I'm not saying

567
00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.839
that's the direction the sermon goes. No, when I accuse

568
00:33:19.920 --> 00:33:22.160
me of that, I'm saying that. When I saw that title,

569
00:33:22.200 --> 00:33:24.799
I was like, oh boy, I'll bet you that's the

570
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:26.400
way it's going to go. It may turn out to

571
00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:31.359
be the most gospel driven message in history. But when

572
00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:33.640
I saw that, it made me start thinking of how

573
00:33:33.680 --> 00:33:36.000
many times the church makes you feel like, oh, you

574
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:37.319
got to do this, you got to feel this, you

575
00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:38.680
got to think this, you got to act this way,

576
00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:40.279
you got to put a smile, you got to do this,

577
00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:43.000
and you almost at some point you may feel like

578
00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.039
I don't belong with any of these people, or you

579
00:33:46.039 --> 00:33:46.839
start thinking all.

580
00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:48.759
These people are just fake. They're all faking this.

581
00:33:48.920 --> 00:33:53.400
No, no, come on, I know their lives, or maybe

582
00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:56.200
the people are genuine, and then that makes you feel

583
00:33:56.200 --> 00:33:57.599
even more messed up.

584
00:33:58.279 --> 00:34:01.079
So I just I just want you this this. I mean,

585
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:02.359
it's Thanksgiving now.

586
00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:04.680
We got from Thanksgiving now, we got we gotta make

587
00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:06.279
it all the way through New Year's.

588
00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:07.440
We got to get all the way.

589
00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:10.280
Through it, right, and some of you, you're just gonna

590
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:12.119
have the most wonderful time. I know, I don't know

591
00:34:12.119 --> 00:34:14.000
why I said the most wonderful time in the world

592
00:34:14.119 --> 00:34:16.360
at the beginning of this But the most wonderful time

593
00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:19.119
of the year, maybe the most wonderful time, it's the

594
00:34:19.159 --> 00:34:22.599
most wonderful place anywhere in the world is to be

595
00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:25.920
wherever you are during the holidays. It may be filled

596
00:34:25.960 --> 00:34:30.639
with just lots of presence and family and fun and

597
00:34:30.719 --> 00:34:34.400
food and activities and you're just gonna you're gonna.

598
00:34:34.119 --> 00:34:34.599
Live it up.

599
00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:38.960
And now you know what, that's great, that's make the

600
00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:41.000
most be grateful for what you have.

601
00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:47.119
Be grateful. Just remember that maybe you have all of

602
00:34:47.159 --> 00:34:48.599
those feelings of peace.

603
00:34:48.400 --> 00:34:52.360
And joy and gratitude and it has nothing to do

604
00:34:52.440 --> 00:34:55.639
because of how spiritual you are. And maybe you just

605
00:34:55.719 --> 00:34:57.639
have a lot of good things to be grateful for.

606
00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:03.239
And that's okay. Just never forget not everyone else is

607
00:35:03.280 --> 00:35:10.679
in your position, so don't forget others. And when you

608
00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:16.000
hear sermons about all of this, and I would challenge

609
00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:17.599
you to listen to a lot of the holiday sermons,

610
00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:20.599
you're gonna hear it advents beginning. I think Advent begins Sunday.

611
00:35:20.639 --> 00:35:24.960
I think it's Sunday. You gotta season an advent, Christmas Thanksgiving.

612
00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:27.519
When you listen to sermons that are about Thanksgiving, Advent

613
00:35:27.639 --> 00:35:28.159
or Christmas.

614
00:35:28.639 --> 00:35:33.480
Just listen. Are they law or are they gospel? There's

615
00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:34.599
always a need for law.

616
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:45.800
Sometimes there's a need for gospel. People are already broken, shattered, traumatize, destroyed.

617
00:35:48.920 --> 00:35:50.360
They need the message of the Gospel.

618
00:35:53.639 --> 00:35:55.960
This this one completely a different direction than I wanted

619
00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:57.960
it to go. But that's okay. I think I think

620
00:35:58.000 --> 00:35:59.719
this is good. I think this is a good a

621
00:35:59.760 --> 00:36:00.840
good thing to consider.

622
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:04.079
I think it's a good thing to consider because I

623
00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:06.400
think many of the sermons that start off at very

624
00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:09.719
gospel minded, they tend to devolve.

625
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.360
They kind of just fall apart and the next thing,

626
00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:14.000
you know, are you doing this? Are you doing this?

627
00:36:14.159 --> 00:36:15.760
You should be doing this? You should be doing this.

628
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:18.400
And I think many of the sermons I've ever preached

629
00:36:18.400 --> 00:36:21.239
about Thanksgiving or even Christmas, many of them are very.

630
00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:24.320
Law law law law, law, law, law, law law.

631
00:36:24.599 --> 00:36:26.199
Because in many cases I felt like the way to

632
00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:28.400
deal with some of my issues is performance.

633
00:36:28.639 --> 00:36:30.079
Well, if I do this and do this, and do

634
00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:32.039
this and do this, then Christmas in.

635
00:36:32.159 --> 00:36:34.079
The Holidays will feel better because look at all the

636
00:36:34.159 --> 00:36:36.559
spiritual things that I'm doing. Well, am I just trying

637
00:36:36.599 --> 00:36:40.559
to overcome maybe certain feelings because by religious performance, and

638
00:36:40.599 --> 00:36:45.719
then it usually all ends very not good. Anyway, I

639
00:36:45.800 --> 00:36:49.639
don't know that. The thing is, we start the conversation.

640
00:36:50.239 --> 00:36:53.760
We start the conversation on Thanksgiving Day. Now, the people

641
00:36:53.800 --> 00:36:55.719
who will be able to know most are people who

642
00:36:55.800 --> 00:36:58.679
can say, man, I can relate to you because the

643
00:36:58.760 --> 00:37:02.840
holidays are not good for me, And I'll be like, man,

644
00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:08.559
I can understand. I can understand that. I can understand

645
00:37:08.840 --> 00:37:12.960
that I am sitting in the room that I'm sitting in.

646
00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:17.480
I am just a little over ten minutes away, maybe

647
00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:19.800
not even ten minutes, maybe less than ten minutes away

648
00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:26.599
from the psychiatric hospital where I spent a Thanksgiving when

649
00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:29.960
I was a teenager after trying to kill myself after

650
00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:34.400
my mother died. My mother died in October, tried to

651
00:37:34.480 --> 00:37:37.400
kill myself in November, and I was in the psychiatric

652
00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:41.559
hospital on Thanksgiving Day. So I will always remember Thanksgiving

653
00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:43.599
Day being inside that hospital.

654
00:37:46.199 --> 00:37:48.760
So yeah, I have clear memories.

655
00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:53.719
And yeah, and just the holidays for them just naturally

656
00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:57.119
create a sense of melancholy. And there's just a lot

657
00:37:57.159 --> 00:38:01.280
of feelings and this and that understand it by and

658
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:04.159
my situations and then I've got lots of bad memories

659
00:38:04.199 --> 00:38:06.480
from things happening on holidays. Growing up, I could go

660
00:38:06.559 --> 00:38:08.760
into all the horror stories there. The point is I've

661
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:12.000
got enough to go. I can relate to some I

662
00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:15.119
can't really, And so I've always been and you'll notice

663
00:38:15.119 --> 00:38:18.039
anytime I do holiday messages, they tend to be much

664
00:38:18.159 --> 00:38:23.079
more somber, much more depressing, much more discouraging, because.

665
00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:25.639
It's almost like, this is the way I feel.

666
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.760
Let all those other pastors speak to all the normal people,

667
00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:31.679
and those normal people can go listen to those messages

668
00:38:31.760 --> 00:38:33.599
and they can all say we need to do this,

669
00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:36.920
and they can, but there's there's gotta be a voice

670
00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:39.079
out there for the people who are like, man, yeah,

671
00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:42.000
this is not a good day for me, this is

672
00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:44.400
not a good week. It's not gonna be a good month.

673
00:38:45.320 --> 00:38:48.480
From now till New Year's it's gonna be down. And

674
00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:51.639
and you know what, look at how many suicide attempts

675
00:38:51.639 --> 00:38:57.280
happen during this time of year. So there are people

676
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:59.480
out there who maybe need to hear more than just say.

677
00:38:59.559 --> 00:39:01.000
You should do this, and you should do this, and

678
00:39:01.039 --> 00:39:02.320
you should do this, and you should do this.

679
00:39:03.320 --> 00:39:04.880
Maybe there's some people who need to hear what God

680
00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:08.280
has done for us, and that stays true no matter

681
00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:10.760
how we feel. And He did it for us, not

682
00:39:11.039 --> 00:39:14.199
so that we can be guilted into feeling better. He

683
00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:17.960
did it for us because God so loved the world

684
00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:20.199
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed

685
00:39:20.199 --> 00:39:25.840
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. How

686
00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:28.760
can we make it more gospel based and not law based.

687
00:39:32.440 --> 00:39:35.599
Maybe you disagree, maybe you feel most Christmas and holiday

688
00:39:35.639 --> 00:39:39.159
sermons are gospel based. I mean, that's a whole conversation

689
00:39:39.320 --> 00:39:40.719
we could have, but I'll let.

690
00:39:40.679 --> 00:39:41.079
You have that.

691
00:39:41.239 --> 00:39:45.039
You can get back to your activities, fun, food, family,

692
00:39:45.599 --> 00:39:49.800
Please have a great time, Please enjoy, make the most

693
00:39:49.920 --> 00:39:50.320
out of it.

694
00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:55.159
Make the most out of it. Don't if you have

695
00:39:55.679 --> 00:40:03.519
a good situation, don't waste it. All right, that's what

696
00:40:03.639 --> 00:40:04.079
you should do.

697
00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:08.519
But I think it's a good conversation to have about

698
00:40:08.559 --> 00:40:12.480
how law and gospel can even show up as a

699
00:40:12.559 --> 00:40:17.039
meaningful philological discussion when it comes to even holiday sermons.

700
00:40:18.280 --> 00:40:21.920
Thanks for listening, everyone, Have a great rest of your Thanksgiving.

701
00:40:23.480 --> 00:40:24.000
God bless