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Great to see you all.

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Welcome again to Harbor West.

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My name is Justin.

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I'm one of the pastors here at our church.

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And if you have a Bible, grab it now, and you can open it to the book of Micah.

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We're going to be in Micah chapter 5 as we continue worshiping God this morning.

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If you need a Bible, there should be a Bible under the chairs in front of you, and Micah

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5 is on page 826.

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Have you ever gotten yourself in a situation where you needed to be rescued?

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A situation where you knew like you could not rescue yourself, you were powerless and you

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needed someone else to come and rescue.

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You ever get yourself in that situation?

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I feel like I get myself in that situation daily, but I got myself into it big time once.

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I was in Africa with one of my best friends and we decided to go whitewater rafting on

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the Nile River.

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And so we were at the source of the Nile and we spent 16 hours on the river one day and

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we went over 14 rapids that were class four or five. And those are the big ones. Those are the

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ones that like are dangerous. And so it was this epic day, but our Ugandan guide in the back of the

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raft, every time we'd come up to a rapid, he would tell us what the name of it was. And so we came up

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to one and he said, oh, this one is called the Frenchman. And I would look back, I look back at

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him and said, why is it called the Frenchman? And he said, because the first guy who died here was

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French. And I was like the names of all of them was like people who had died. And he would kind of

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say it, joking, smiling. So I didn't know if it was true or not. But then we got to the last rapid

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of the whole experience. It was the toughest one, class five. And he pulls over the boat and he

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stops joking. He was dead serious. He's like, this one's called the bad spot. And 17 people have died

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here. And so we've got to do this the right way. And so he prepped us. He said, here's exactly what

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we're going to do. He's like, you got to make sure that you do exactly what I tell you to do. Listen

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to me. Here's what you do with your arms, your paddle. Here's how we brace for impact. Let's do

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it all the right way. So we practiced, practiced a couple times, got back in the raft and headed for

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it. And we did the exact opposite of everything that guy told us to do. We did it the absolute

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wrong way. And it turned our raft where I was in front, staring at this rapid. We were going in

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sideways the wrong way. And when we hit, I went in and the nine others were thrown over. All right.

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So they were thrown to safety and I went right into the bad spot. And it was awesome. It was so

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fun in there. It was so cool because I was 22. I didn't have a wife or kids. And so like, I was

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just an adrenaline junkie. And I was like, man, this is the greatest thing. I was in this rapid,

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just getting worked, just like a washing machine. Just, I had no control of my body. It was just

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working me over. And I was like, this is so much fun. But then it hit me like, I got to breathe

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again. I got to figure out how to get out of this thing. And so I thought that I had read somewhere

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that when you're in a rapid, curl up in a ball. So I was like, okay, so I'll do that. I did it for

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what I thought was like 20, 25, 30. It might've been only like four seconds, but I did it for a

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while and it didn't work. I just felt myself in that washing machine even more intensely.

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And so then I did the opposite. I freaked out. I flailed my body around, just flailed everything.

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And I realized in that moment, I am powerless here. There is nothing I can do to save myself.

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You ever been in that situation? I think that's actually the reason why we love superhero movies,

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why the superhero movie and comic books and stuff,

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there's this boom of it all

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because we all have this desire for someone

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to come in and rescue us from this mess we're in.

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Someone that has powers that we don't have,

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someone otherworldly,

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someone that can do something that we can't do,

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someone to come in and just rescue us.

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I remember coming out of the first time I saw the Avengers.

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I came out with a few of my friends that I saw it with

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and one of them turned to me and was like,

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man, it almost makes you wish

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that those guys really existed, doesn't it?

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Like, doesn't it make you wish

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that those guys were real and really here. And man, I had one of them that day in Uganda. Like, so,

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so what happened was my best friend was thrown to safety. He got to shore and all the rest of the

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like hundred people rafting that day on the river stood on the bank and watched to see if I would

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get kicked out or if I would die in that rapid. So they're all sitting there watching. My best

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friend told me, and he said there were these six or eight Ugandan dudes just sitting in their kayaks,

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floating just outside the rapid, waiting, waiting to see if they were, they could rescue me.

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And I guess one of them saw just enough of my helmet to say, I'm going to risk it.

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And he paddled into a class five rapid on a kayak, reached his incredible Hulk arms down into the rapid and lifted me to life out of that thing.

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And he threw me onto the front of his kayak.

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And I just remember I was seeing stars.

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I was like, I could barely breathe, you know, but I just remember he kept going, I got you, I got you, I got you, I got you.

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And I was like, oh, the voice of my savior.

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And so he gets me over to the bank and he's still going, I got you, I got you.

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He throws me on the ground.

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He goes, I got you, I got you.

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Goes to give me CPR.

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I got you, I got you.

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And I start fighting him off.

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I'm like, no, I don't want that.

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And so I started coughing up water and I was fine.

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And he left.

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I never got his name.

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Don't even remember what he looks like, really.

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I remember he was very strong.

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But my best friend comes over to me.

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He's like, dude, you just almost died.

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And I was like, it felt like it.

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Yeah.

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And he was like, here, hands me a bottle of water.

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And I was like, I don't want that.

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That's what almost killed me just now.

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What are you doing?

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But that day, man, I had a rescuer who stepped into my mess and reached down and pulled me

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back up to life.

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I had someone that came and did something that I couldn't do.

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And as we get into the book of Micah, that's what's going on in Micah.

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Micah is in a situation where he needs to be rescued.

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He needs somebody to step in and do what he can't do on his own.

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Look at chapter five, verse one.

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Now, daughter who is under attack, you slash yourself in grief.

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A siege is set against us.

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They are striking the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod.

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As Micah wrote, God's people were under fierce attack from the Assyrians and the Assyrian army

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who had already destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel.

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And now Micah is in Jerusalem in the southern kingdom, hunkered down with just a remnant,

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a few who are left and the Assyrians are on their doorstep coming to surround them and ready to

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invade and destroy them also. And I think that this is the like absolute perfect picture of the holiday

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season. This is what the holidays feel like to me. Like I hope for you, the holidays are just joy and

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candy canes every day. But for so many people, the holidays present unique life challenges.

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During the holidays, we can feel surrounded by financial struggle.

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During the holidays, we can feel the loneliness of not being around someone who we desperately

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want to be around.

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During the holidays, we can feel the futility of wanting everything to go perfectly just

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for a day or two, only to get the unexpected bad news.

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You've been laid off.

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The whole house flooded.

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We've got to take the kid to the ER.

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The test came back positive.

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the brokenness of this world seems to be uniquely present and felt during the holidays for years and

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years the numbers show this crazy spike in people having strokes and heart attacks during the

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holiday season between thanksgiving and christmas during the holidays it can feel like nothing's

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going our way like everything's way more difficult than it should be like the world is out to get us

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And then, then we've got our own mess to deal with, like our own guilt and shame and struggle with sin, the brokenness inside of us, the guilt and shame of ignoring God during a season that's supposed to be all about him.

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And all that is before we turn on the news and see the brokenness in the world all around us or even far from us that we feel totally helpless to do anything about.

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And so, Merry Christmas.

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Like, man, we need some good news, don't we?

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We need some good news of some joy.

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We need some good news.

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And church, God has good news for us.

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God has a solution for our problem.

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You see, God knew that Micah and the remnant of Judah

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couldn't rescue themselves against the Assyrians.

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He knows that we can't rescue ourselves

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from the brokenness in this world or the brokenness within ourselves.

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He knows we need someone to come and reach down into our mess

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and lift us up and rescue us out of all this.

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And so look at verse two.

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Bethlehem Ephatha, you are small among the clans of Judah.

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One will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me.

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Even as Micah's hunkered down, surrounded, seemingly hopeless,

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God has told him that a rescuer will come.

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One from Bethlehem who will rule over Israel,

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will sit on the throne over God's people,

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the kind of rule and reign that will make all things right.

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And if you're sitting in a bunker surrounded by the enemy

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and you hear that a rescuer is coming,

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you're going to want to know some details, right?

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Who is it?

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When's he coming?

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And here's what I want us to see this morning.

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That dark as the night may get, tough as this season of life may be,

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whatever you're going through, however much you are struggling,

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God has sent someone to rescue you.

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You have a rescuer this Christmas.

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And Micah tells us some amazing things about him.

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And so look at verse two again.

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It says, Bethlehem, you are small among the clans of Judah.

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one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient

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times. Here's the first key thing that we need to know about our rescuer. Our rescuer is eternal,

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good God. Our rescuer is eternal, good God. Let's look at each of those words. So first,

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our rescuer is eternal. Did you see there at the end of the verse where it says,

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his origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.

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That's a poetic way in the Hebrew to say he has no beginning or end.

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He existed in ancient times and he's going to come and rescue us now.

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When the prophet Isaiah wrote about the rescuer,

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he wrote about the exact same time as Micah.

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When Isaiah wrote, he said this about the rescuer.

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He said, he will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father.

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You see, God has made it clear through multiple prophets through his word.

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The one coming to rescue us has no beginning.

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He has no end.

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He is eternally existent.

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And that is such great news, right?

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Why is that great news?

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You know why it's great news.

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Like think of the turmoil every four years during election season.

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The turmoil of like, oh man, we're in this again.

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Who's going to get elected?

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Is it going to be someone good in office?

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Is it going to be someone bad?

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And then dealing with the fallout of whoever gets elected

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and knowing that another election season is just right around the corner.

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We're in this vicious, horrible cycle, right?

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But when God's rescuer comes to rule, he can rule forever.

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His kingdom can last forever because he himself is eternal.

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In the history of the world, we've seen 21 great civilizations rise up with their rulers,

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but all of them only for a time, and they've all faded away.

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There is such instability in kingdoms and rulers of this earth.

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But with God's rescuer, we have incredible stability.

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We have complete security.

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He will reign forever and ever.

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And that is such good news.

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but if and only if he's a good ruler.

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Only if he's a good ruler.

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This is actually the worst news possible

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if he's not a good ruler, right?

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That his kingdom will reign forever, but he's no good.

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But look what Micah says down in verse four.

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He will stand and shepherd them.

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He will shepherd them.

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In John 10, when God writes about

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what it means for his ruler to shepherd,

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it says this,

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The good shepherd is the one who lays down his life for his sheep.

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You see, the eternal rescuer who God is going to send to rescue us and rule forever is so good

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that God says he's literally going to give you his whole life.

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He's going to lay down his life for you like a shepherd who fights off the wolves

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and sacrifices his own life so that his sheep can be safe and protect them.

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We have a good shepherd coming who's going to protect us with his entire life.

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Our eternal rescuer is so good that he's going to give us all of himself.

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But the last word here is the most glorious.

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He's eternal, he's good, and he's God.

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The rescuer, he is God himself.

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In John 1, we read this, that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God.

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So that's the eternality of our rescuer.

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He was in the beginning with God, but then it says this, and the word was God.

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See, what the Bible teaches us is, yes, our rescuer is eternally existent, but he is actually

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God himself.

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He both is God and yet still has a unique identity.

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And this is the one who in verse 14 becomes flesh and dwells among us in John 1.

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Our eternal good rescuer who will come to rule is God himself.

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God himself promises to come and rescue us from the mess we've gotten ourselves in.

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And so church, this is the good news of Christmas.

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Our lives could be spiraling in total disarray.

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We could feel completely surrounded by all that's broken.

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But God says, you have a rescuer who is eternal.

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You have a rescuer who is good.

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You have a rescuer who is God.

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Our rescuer is eternal, good God.

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And what's also amazing, look what Micah tells us about him in verse three.

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Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor has given birth.

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Micah says, Israel is going to be without this rescuer until she who is in labor has given birth.

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Micah is saying the rescuer isn't going to be God teleported down to Bethlehem or just merely

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appearing in Bethlehem. This eternal good God is going to be born in Bethlehem. He's eternal good

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God who's going to come into this world the same way that you and I do. Here's what Micah is giving

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us a glimpse of, our rescuer is totally human. Yes, he's eternal good God, but he's also totally

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human. He's the word become flesh. And that is such good news that our rescuer is totally human,

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just like us. Let's just think about two reasons why that's good news. First, it's good news that

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our rescuer is just like us because it allows us to see God. If our rescuer is eternal, good God,

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but we can't see him, we've got to figure out how to ascend to him, that's not good news for us.

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But if he becomes like us so that we can see him and know him, man, that's good news for us.

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In John 14, when the rescuer comes, he says this to his friends, the one who has seen me

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has seen the father. You see, the rescuer arrives in the flesh to show us what God is like,

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to be the full display of God's love and glory and care and wisdom, to use his words to teach us

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as a man, which allows us to hear God himself. And so listen, if you're here this morning and

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you want to know who God is and what God is like, you can look at God's rescuer to see.

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If you want to hear what God has to say and receive God's wisdom, you can listen to God's

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rescuer because the rescuer has come to be just like us, to meet us where we're at so

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that we can have access to God himself.

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One of the things that Pastor Mike frequently says in his sermons when he preaches, he consistently

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says this reality of, you know, every other major, every other world religion says that

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we have to ascend to God, that we've got to go up, that we've got to be moral enough, good enough,

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that we've got to get to God through a certain path or way. But Christianity is the only religion

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that says God is going to come down to us. That we don't have to figure out how to go up and figure

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out who he is, but he's going to come and show us. He's going to meet us where we're at. And so the

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fact that our rescuer is 100% human like us tells us this, God has come to us to show us who he is

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and what he's like. But also a massive part of the good news is this. We have a new representative.

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We have a new representative since our rescuer is a hundred percent human.

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Because our first representative blew it, man. Our first representative, Adam, he absolutely

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blew it. He sinned. He rebelled against God. He stood for all humanity and he failed.

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He made a mess of everything, just like we all would have in his nakedness.

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I would say in his shoes, but he didn't wear any back then.

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He was naked.

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But just as a man messed it all up, we need a man to come and make it right.

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We need a man to come and fix it.

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Now, I don't know if there's any more terrifying words that I could hear than my wife saying,

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hey, Justin, can you come here and fix this?

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Those are terrifying words for me because I am not a handy fix it kind of guy.

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I've fooled some of you.

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I'm not a handy fix it kind of guy.

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I rarely fix anything.

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But lately, I feel like I've been killing it.

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Lately, I feel like I've just been nailing it.

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Like everything she's asked me to do, I'm just, man, I fix it.

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It's worked.

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I've even found some things around the house that she didn't ask for.

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I've just been nailing it lately.

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And so I knew I was going to talk about this, about, you know, a man fixing it, coming to fix it.

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And so I asked my wife last night, late last night, I was like, hey, I got to tell the people some stuff.

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done. And so what's something lately that you've asked me to come fix and that I nailed it, that I

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fixed it and now it works well? And she was on her phone and I asked her that question. She looked up

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and she started cracking up. She looked at me and just started laughing and then went right back to

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her phone. And I was like, oh, maybe I haven't been killing it lately. I thought I'd been doing really

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well. I thought I'd been fixing things left and right, you know, but apparently not. I am not a

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handy fix it kind of guy. If our hopes are on some man figuring this out, it's never going to happen.

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Resourceful as even the best of us are, Adam lived in paradise with every advantage possible,

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and he still messed it up. The only way a human is going to be able to make this right

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is if there's a human who is sinless,

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a human who lives a sinless life,

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a life Adam failed at,

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a life Eve failed at,

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a life that all of us have failed at.

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We need a human to be our new representative to God.

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We need a human to live a sinless life

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to be our victorious representative.

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And church, we have this good news this Christmas

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that we have a rescuer who is totally like us

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so that he can show us who God is

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and so that he can be our new representative,

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that he can succeed where Adam failed.

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And so one last glorious truth about our rescuer.

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Look at verse four, what Micah says.

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He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of the Lord,

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in the majestic name of the Lord, his God.

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They will live securely,

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for then his greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

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Here's the last amazing reality Micah teaches us here.

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Our rescuer can rescue anyone.

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Our rescuer can rescue anyone.

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Look at the end of verse four again.

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His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

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See, the rescuer isn't coming just for a few people.

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He's coming to, his rescue is extended to everyone

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who needs to be rescued.

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My favorite line from Joy to the World,

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my favorite thing to sing in that song.

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He comes to make his blessings known

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far as the curse is found.

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Far as the curse is found.

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Far as,

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far as

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the curse is found.

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There's two far as's there at the end, right?

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And I love that.

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As far as the curse is found,

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there's no place where the curse exists

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where our rescuer does not extend his greatness to rescue us.

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And it seems like everywhere we look on this earth, there's just more brokenness, right?

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We keep finding it in the global news.

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It's so incredibly discouraging.

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Maybe you felt that this year, just frustrated by the brokenness that's everywhere.

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Maybe you even, I've heard from some people, you get a bit anxious checking the news each day

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because it seems like every time you do, there's just more suffering somewhere.

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He comes to make his blessing known far as the curse is found.

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His blessing, his rescue is for everyone, everywhere.

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But the ends of the earth also include every part of ourselves, every nook and cranny in our own lives.

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Maybe you're experiencing brokenness in some corner of your life.

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Maybe you're suffering because of the brokenness of this world.

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Maybe you're losing the battle against sin and you just feel guilty and dirty all the time.

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And maybe no one knows about it because you've tucked it away and it's in some corner, some nook, some cranny of your heart.

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and you're like, man, if there is a rescuer,

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I don't know if he wants me.

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I don't know if he can save all of me

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because I'm pretty dirty and broken on the inside.

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But Micah's telling us this,

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wherever the curse is found,

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the rescuer extends his greatness to that place.

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Church, we have a rescuer who has come for you,

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for all of you.

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Not one single person here today has run too far away

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sinned too intensely or frequently or waited too long.

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You, all of you, every part of you

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is within the bounds of the ends of the earth.

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God's rescuer is able to rescue you.

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He's able to rescue your family.

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He's able to rescue your friends.

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He's able to rescue whatever person exists in your life

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that you feel is least likely to ever allow God to rescue them.

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We have a rescuer who has come for all who need rescuing.

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And so church, as we enter into this Christmas week,

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I hope it's a week of just joy and candy canes and goodness for you.

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But for many of us, we may feel surrounded this week.

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We may experience loss this week.

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We may go through loneliness or discouragement or depression this week.

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We may lose the battle against sin and fail this week,

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but none of those things will have the final word in our lives.

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None of them will ultimately be victorious.

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We have a rescuer who is eternal, good God,

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who became just like us so that we here at the ends of the earth on this island

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can experience God's rescue.

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God's people were surrounded.

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just like we feel sometimes.

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But look at verse seven.

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It says, then the remnant of Jacob

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will be among many peoples like dew from the Lord,

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like showers on the grass.

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This remnant who needed to be rescued,

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this remaining group of God's people

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who hadn't lost hope and faith

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that the promised rescuer would save them.

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Micah says this, after the rescuer arrives,

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they're gonna be like dew from the Lord,

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like showers on the grass.

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I don't know about you, but before this week, my yard was dead.

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It was just full on dead.

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I didn't get to touch the yard at all from like Thanksgiving till now.

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So it was just dead and hopeless.

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And then the rains came, right?

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And now my yard is just bursting with green life.

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I love it, but I can't wait to mow it.

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It's so overgrown and unwieldy right now.

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I can't wait to get out there and mow my yard.

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I love doing that.

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I love those crisp lines in the yard after you mow it.

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I love the grass on my legs, the smell of it.

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I'll sit at my front door and just look out

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and admire the glory of what I've done.

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My wife walks by every time.

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She's like, what are you doing?

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I'm like, I'm admiring glory.

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And she's like, whatever.

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And she kind of moves on.

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My daughter came up to me once.

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She's like, ooh, dad, the yard looks really good.

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And I was like, oh, thank you, baby.

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Like made my day.

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It's my favorite thing.

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But how did it get life?

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How did it get green life?

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It was rains that came and gave it.

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You see, God will rescue his people

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and then they're gonna be like showers on the grass.

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They will be a blessing to others who need to be rescued.

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Rescued people go out and tell others how to be rescued.

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God wants to rescue you and then empower you

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to be a blessing in his dry, parched world.

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He wants to empower you to be a source of life

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to others who need it, others in your family,

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others among your friend groups,

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others that you are going to spend Christmas with this year. You get to be like the reign of God

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who brings life because you can tell them about the one who has rescued you and the one who can rescue

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them. And so church, let's not miss this incredible good news this Christmas. Micah looked forward to

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a day when the rescuer would arrive. We celebrate Christmas because the rescuer has arrived. He was

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born in Bethlehem. He is eternal God become human just like us. He does offer rescue to all who need

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it. Church, don't miss your rescuer this Christmas and settle for all kinds of cheap substitutes.

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This Christmas man, know this, our rescuer is Jesus Christ in whom we must have faith.

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Our rescuer is Jesus Christ in whom we must have faith.

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Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, miraculously conceived by God in a virgin named Mary,

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fulfills all that is written about the rescuer here in Micah.

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Jesus is the eternal word who is there with God in John 1.

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He is the word become flesh who is born to be human like us so that we can know God

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and have a new representative, a second Adam, a better Adam who succeeded where the first Adam

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failed. He's the good shepherd who lays down his life for his friends. He came to seek and rescue

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all who are lost to the ends of the earth. This is why Acts 4 says this, there is salvation,

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there is rescue in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which

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we must be saved. The good news this Christmas is this, Jesus Christ came to rescue you.

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And so church, let's be discontent to give Jesus our low expectations this Christmas.

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Let's have the highest expectations of what he has done and what he is doing. Let's expect rescue.

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Let's expect new life. Let's expect victory over sin and growth in holiness. Let's expect

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joy and peace. Let's expect Jesus to do exactly what Micah said he would do.

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And look at the last thing he said he'd do. Flip over to chapter seven, the last thing that Micah

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writes about the rescuer. Chapter seven, verse 18. Who is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing

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over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because

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He delights in faithful love.

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He will again have compassion on us.

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He will vanquish our sins.

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You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

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Our brokenness, our sin, our rebellion,

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this enemy that we can't vanquish on our own,

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the way that we cannot save ourselves,

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our greatest problem.

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Micah said the rescuer is gonna come and deal with it.

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and that's exactly what Jesus did.

452
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:55,880
Because of God's faithful love and compassion for you,

453
00:29:56,380 --> 00:29:59,040
Jesus loved you to his own death

454
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:01,120
so that your sins can be forgiven.

455
00:30:02,020 --> 00:30:03,780
He vanquishes our sins,

456
00:30:04,500 --> 00:30:06,760
cast them into the depths of the sea

457
00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,560
and you can experience that today.

458
00:30:10,780 --> 00:30:11,900
You have a rescuer.

459
00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:13,920
His name is Jesus.

460
00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,460
He's eternal good God,

461
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,360
become human to save all of you.

462
00:30:22,380 --> 00:30:23,460
You just have to believe it.

463
00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,260
When the angel came to Mary in Matthew chapter one,

464
00:30:29,590 --> 00:30:31,520
he said that she would give birth to a son

465
00:30:31,860 --> 00:30:33,240
and you are to name him Jesus

466
00:30:33,980 --> 00:30:36,920
because he will save his people from their sins.

467
00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:40,360
What I love about the amazing faith of Mary

468
00:30:40,500 --> 00:30:42,080
is this, she just believed it.

469
00:30:42,700 --> 00:30:44,960
She believed that God would do this miraculous thing.

470
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,360
She had faith and she expected that God would do the impossible,

471
00:30:49,010 --> 00:30:50,840
a thing that she couldn't do on her own.

472
00:30:51,310 --> 00:30:53,160
And that faith, it looked like obedience.

473
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:54,520
She obeyed God.

474
00:30:54,700 --> 00:30:55,240
She named him.

475
00:30:56,320 --> 00:31:01,140
She named him Jesus, the only name under heaven by which we can be saved.

476
00:31:03,420 --> 00:31:07,140
So family, let's name him this Christmas.

477
00:31:08,340 --> 00:31:09,040
Let's name him.

478
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:12,920
Let's be a people who name him in our lives.

479
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:18,080
people who have the same faith as Mary and expect God to do the impossible.

480
00:31:18,620 --> 00:31:22,240
Let's believe there's no other name under heaven by which we can be rescued.

481
00:31:23,980 --> 00:31:24,960
Let's have faith today.

482
00:31:26,140 --> 00:31:27,620
Let's experience rescue today.

483
00:31:29,380 --> 00:31:32,120
Name him for yourself today.

484
00:31:34,180 --> 00:31:34,860
Let's pray together.