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Hello and welcome to the
Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,

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where we are proclaiming the
truth to the world.

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My name is Pastor Josh, and I
want to thank you for listening to

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this podcast.

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I hope that this podcast can
be a blessing to you and strengthen

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you in the word of God.

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Now come along.

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Let's look into the Bible and
see what God has for us here today.

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The phrase good tidings means
good news.

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And so we're going to read
here in John chapter one, the good

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news of the light of Jesus Christ.

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In John chapter one, it says,
in the beginning was the Word.

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The Word is Jesus.

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It's another term that's used
for Jesus in the Greek.

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It's logos.

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It just means Jesus, the one
who knows all, the one who is all.

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So it says, in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with

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God, and the Word was God.

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This speaks to Jesus's deity.

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You know, if Christmas was
just about a person being born, a

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special person being born, it
wouldn't be any different than any

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other holiday.

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But we know that Christmas is
different because we don't just celebrate

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a good historical figure.

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We celebrate the coming of our
Lord and Savior.

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We celebrate the Creator of
the universe.

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It says here, the same was in
the beginning with God.

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All things were made by Him.

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So the Bible says that Jesus
is the Creator.

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All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything

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made that was made in him was life.

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And so not only do we see that
Jesus is the Logos, the Word, but

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we see that he is the Light,
and the life was the light of men.

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And so there's three Ls here
this evening that you can think of.

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We're.

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We're.

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We're cheating a little bit
because we're going to the Greek.

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He's the Word of the Logos.

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He's the life and he's the light.

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We know that in John 14:6 it
says that Jesus says, I am the Way,

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the truth, and the life.

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No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me.

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And so here in this passage of
Scripture, it's a wonderful description

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of who Jesus is.

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Why is it so important that he
was born in Bethlehem?

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Why is it so important that he
did certain things in his life?

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Why was it so important that
he died for us?

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Why was it so important that
he conquered death through the resurrection?

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Well, it tells us here that,
number one, he is the Word.

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He has always been and always
will be.

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He is God.

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He is life.

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He extends everlasting life to
all those who believe.

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And it says here in Verse
number four.

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And the life was the light of men.

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The Bible says that any hope
that we have, any joy, that we have,

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any comfort that we have any
light in this dark world comes from

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God.

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Really.

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We know that darkness is
actually the absence of light.

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And so evil and difficult
things and painful things essentially

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in this world are the absence
of the goodness of God.

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And what we can see here in
verse five, it says, and the light

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shineth in darkness tonight.

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We're in a few minutes, going
to turn off all the lights as best

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that we can, and we're going
to have our light here, but we're

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going to see that when the
Bible tells us that there's darkness

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in this world, what it's
saying is, is that we live in a world

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that has turned their backs
against God.

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We live in a world, for the
most part, that they don't celebrate

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Jesus the way that they should.

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And so the Bible says that the
light came to this dark world and

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the darkness comprehended it not.

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And there's still people today
who don't comprehend the light and

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the life and the truth of
Jesus Christ.

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And so at Christmas time,
we're not just celebrating an historical

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figure, not just celebrating a prophet.

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We're not just celebrating a
good teacher.

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We're celebrating the light of
the world.

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The light, the truth.

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And the Bible says in verse
six that there was a man sent from

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God whose name was John.

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He.

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He came, as it says here, the
same came for a witness to bear witness

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of the light that all men
through him might believe.

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And so John was not the light.

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John was the witness of the light.

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He was the one to come before
and tell other people about the light.

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Verse 8.

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He was not the light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light

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that was the true light,
Jesus, which lighteth every man that

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cometh into the world.

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He was in the world, and the
world was made by him, and the world

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knew him not.

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He came unto his own, and his
own received him not.

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This is the testimony of Jesus.

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Jesus came to this earth.

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He.

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He lived the perfect life.

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He shined the light to all
those around him.

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But others, they rejected him.

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But not everyone rejects him.

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It says in verse 11, he came
unto his own, and his own received

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him not.

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But as many as received him.

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Meaning there are people who
received him.

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There are people who believe.

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There are people who trust in
the light, who trust in the gift

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it says to them, gave he the
power to become the sons of God.

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Meaning this, when we trust in
the Lord, he shines that Light into

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our life.

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He takes darkness, I love in
the New Testament, later on, Peter

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says it this way.

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He takes us from darkness into
marvelous light.

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That's what salvation is.

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And so when we trust in God,
that light is not because I'm a good

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person.

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That light is not because I'm
really smart or I'm really talented.

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The light in the Christian's
life, as it says here, is received

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by God.

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And so it's something that we
have received of him.

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And so we're blessed to have
that light that we can shine to others.

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So he says, as many as received.

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And to them gave he the power
to be the sons of God, even to them

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that believe on his name.

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And so those that believe on
the name of God, those that believe

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in Jesus Christ in faith and
what he did for us on the cross and

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what he did through us, for us
through the resurrection, we can

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say we have the light given to us.

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And it says more here in verse 13.

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Which were born not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor

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of the will of man, but of
God, Meaning we are born again.

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John 3 talks all about this.

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You must be born again.

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You must be in.

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In this.

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In this context, you must come
to life.

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The Bible says that we're dead
in our sins, but when that light

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shines in us, go back.

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What does it say that Jesus is?

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He's the light and he's the life.

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He gives us new life.

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He gives us eternal life.

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And in that eternal life and
in that life that he gives us here

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and now we know that we can
have, as the Bible says, joy, peace,

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comfort.

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He's the prince of peace.

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He's the God of all comfort.

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He's the one as it gives us
the Holy Spirit and allows us to

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have what the Bible says is
the fruit of the Spirit, which one

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element of that is joy.

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That's why we sing joy to the world.

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That's why we sing that he is
the prince of peace, that he's the

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God of all comfort.

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Because that light shines to us.

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And we receive that light.

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And we know that that goodness
is only from God.

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And then it says in verse 14,
and the word was made flesh and dwelt

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among us.

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That's the Christmas story.

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That's the manger.

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That's Jesus's life.

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He came in the flesh.

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He didn't have to do that, but
because he loves us, came and was

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born in a manger.

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He was born there in Bethlehem.

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And it says, not only did he
just come, but it Says he dwelt among

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us.

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And this is John speaking in
the first person.

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This is John saying this.

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He says, I lived with Jesus, I
saw Jesus, I walked with Jesus.

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He says, and we beheld his
glory, the glory of the only begotten

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of the Father.

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He says, I got to experience
his glory.

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And we all, by extension, when
we receive the light, when we receive

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the gift, are able to
experience and know the glory of

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God.

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And then he says, what kind of
glory was that?

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That was the glory as of only
begotten of the Father.

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Meaning that type of glory
that Jesus has and that type of glory

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that he gives to us and we can
experience and that we can worship

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him for is only there because
of who he is.

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It's unique.

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It's unique to him and him alone.

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Then it says here at the end
of verse 14, full of grace and truth.

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That's one aspect of Jesus
that I just love, because it's not

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all about grace.

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Even though grace is there,
he's full of it, but he's also full

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of truth.

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And when those two come
together, we see the perfect understanding

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of what Jesus does for us
because he tells us the truth.

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He's the righteous judge.

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He's the one that does not
accept sin.

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He's the one that can.

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He does not condone sin, but
nonetheless, he comforts us, even

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in the conviction.

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But he's full of grace.

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And that grace is the fact
that we can know that we didn't deserve

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Jesus to be born.

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We didn't deserve Jesus to die
on the cross.

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We didn't deserve the gift of.

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Of salvation.

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But he still gives that to us
because he loves us.

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And so when we think about
Jesus being the Logos, the Word,

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the One who knows all, the One
who is above all, the One who is

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eternal.

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When we think of Jesus being
the light, the One who extends new

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life to us, the One who
extends everlasting life.

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When we think of Jesus being
the light, the One who lights us

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in the midst of our darkness,
in the midst of our world, and gives

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us new hope.

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When we think about that, what
do we think about in the greater

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picture?

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The greater picture is that he
does all of that in his love, right?

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Full of grace and truth.

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And so think about that here
this evening.

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The Logos, the.

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The life, the light.

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It's all wrapped up in his
love for us.

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For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son,

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Man.

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That's.

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That's a picture of love.

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And we're in the Christmas
season, and we're thinking of gifts

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and we're thinking of love,
and we're thinking of family, and

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we're thinking of all these things.

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But the greatest picture of
any of those things is found in what

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Jesus Christ has done for you.

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And if you've trusted in that,
the Bible says that as first, as

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John says here in this first
chapter, verse 12, as many as received

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him to them gave he power to
become the sons of God.

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Meaning this.

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If we have believed in Jesus,
if we have received the gift of grace,

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all of us can claim that we
are children of God.

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And we have that life, we have
that light.

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And so the Bible says that
that's the distinction in this world.

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If we want to shine light to
the world, if we want to see change,

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if we want to see people know
the truth, we must be the ones who

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shine that light.

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And so I want you to go to one
other passage of Scripture with me

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here this evening.

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It's in Matthew.

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Matthew, chapter five.

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The Bible says that when we
receive that light, we don't.

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We don't hide that light under
a bushel.

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We don't have the light.

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And go, well, I don't want
anyone to see that I have the light.

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If I have the light, the Bible
tells me something very clearly that

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I need to do.

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It says in verse number 15 in
Matthew 5, neither do men light a

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candle and put it under a
bushel, but on a candlestick, and

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it giveth light unto all that
are in the house.

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Meaning if God gives us the
light, which he does, if we believe

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in him, we're not to hide that
truth, we're not to be ashamed of

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it.

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We're not to be embarrassed of
what it means for us.

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But actually supposed to put
it on a candlestick and hold it up

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and display it to the world.

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And actually, you know, this,
that the more dark the room is, the

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brighter the light shines.

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And in this world, it gets
darker and darker.

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As, you know, look at the news.

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I mean, people around us with
violence and anger and bitterness

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and all this division.

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But folks, here's the thing.

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The way we fight that is not
by more darkness and not by getting.

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Getting to a place in our life
where we separate ourselves from

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the world.

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We are supposed to be separate
from the world in what we do, right?

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We're not supposed to join in
with them.

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We're in the world, but we're
not of the world.

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But we're in the world.

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So therefore, how do we
influence the world?

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We shine the light.

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We hold the truth of Jesus
Christ up by what we say and by what

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we do.

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And that's what he says in
verse 16.

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Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works

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and glorify your Father, which
is in heaven.

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So this, here it is.

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He says, as a Christian, as
someone who has received the light,

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I don't hide it under a bushel
and say, well, I'll pull the light

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out at church when everyone
else has the light.

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But we hold the light up in a
world that's dark.

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We hold the light up in a
world who doesn't like the light.

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You ever been in a dark place?

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We're about to have it in a
few minutes where it's totally dark,

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and then we flip the lights on.

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You ever been around people
that they've been inside the darkness

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for so long, you flipped all
the lights on and it's.

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It makes them recoil, right?

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Because it's different.

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It hurts them.

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And that's sometimes what it is.

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In the world.

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Today, when we shine the light
upon darkness, there is going to

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be opposition.

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But at the end of the day, the
light's the only thing that can save

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our world, that can save the
person who is lost in his or her

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sin.

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And it's the only thing that
can save on.

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And so the light is there to
light our lives.

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But again, we're not the
source of the light.

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Think about the source.

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The source is Jesus Christ
living within us.

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And so what we do is
essentially we reflect the light.

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The light comes in our life,
it changes us.

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And we show that light to
others so that they may see our Father,

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that they may see him, and
they may trust in him, so that they

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can see the light, so that
they can shine the light.

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So here's what we're going to
do here.

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For the next few minutes, I'm
going to see if we can do this.

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It's probably not going to be
as effective as we would love it

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to be, but I'm going to try to
see if we can just have all the lights

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off in the room, at least
these up here, and, you know, maybe

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try to be creative here and
pretend like it's completely dark.

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Can we do.

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Can we do that?

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Appreciate it.

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Okay, so now what I want you
guys to do, I want you to think about

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this for a second.

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Okay?

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Now our eyes are going to
adjust a little bit so it's not going

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to be complete darkness in here.

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But think about this.

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We're going to leave here
tonight, and some of you maybe are

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going to go look at Christmas
lights, or maybe you're already eaten,

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or maybe you're gonna go eat
some more food or you're gonna go

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to bed and get ready for
tomorrow, whatever it might be.

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But eventually what's going to
happen is we're going to go out into

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a world that's dark.

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Not just physically dark, but
we know spiritually dark.

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And what we can do is we can
say, you know what?

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I'm just going to join in in
that darkness, or maybe I'm going

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to hide my light.

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But the biblical thing that
we're called to do is say, no.

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Jesus came and he gave us the
word, the Lagos.

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He gave us life, and he gave
us light.

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And so you know what?

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What I'm going to do is I'm
going to be different.

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I'm going to shine the light
where it's dark.

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I'm going to tell others about
who Jesus is.

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I'm going to tell others what
Jesus does for me.

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I'm going to tell others what
it means to be different.

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Why?

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Not because I'm better, but
because I've experienced the light

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and now I'm a child of God.

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And so here this evening, what
I want us to think about is this,

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and it's a very visual thing,
is that if I'm a Christian, sometimes

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I'm willing to hold it right here.

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Sometimes if I'm at church,
I'm willing to hold it out.

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But how many of us, including
myself, I will put myself in this,

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are ashamed sometimes to hold
it out, hold it up high and show

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it to people around us.

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Not in a prideful way, because
when we do it that way, what do we

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do?

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We say it's about us.

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But Matthew 5 says, no, it's
about Jesus.

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It's about glorifying our
Father in heaven.

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And so I want us to think
about that.

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Thank you again for listening
to the Middletown Baptist Church

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00:14:47,350 --> 00:14:47,990
podcast.

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00:14:48,230 --> 00:14:50,550
I hope that this sermon has
been a blessing for you.

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00:14:51,190 --> 00:14:53,550
If you would like to find out
more information about our church

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00:14:53,550 --> 00:14:57,030
or this sermon, you can find
us at middletownbaptistchurch.org

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00:14:57,270 --> 00:14:59,830
or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

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00:15:00,550 --> 00:15:05,070
You can also email me directly
at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch

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00:15:05,070 --> 00:15:09,490
dot com if you've enjoyed this
podcast, please subscribe and follow

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00:15:09,490 --> 00:15:12,290
along for future podcast and updates.

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00:15:12,930 --> 00:15:13,890
Thank you so much.

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00:15:14,130 --> 00:15:14,850
God bless.

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Have a wonderful day.