The Joy of Family
December 7, 2020
27:29
Leon Fontaine is showing people across the earth how to unleash the miraculous in their everyday lives and take Jesus to their families; friends; and communities.
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The Joy of Family
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- -ANNOUNCER: What would youchange in your life?
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- - What if you could unleash themiraculous in your
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- everyday life?
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- - Experience freedom, live inpeace, change the world. Become
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- Spirit Contemporary. Join LeonFontaine, world renowned
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- conference speaker, seniorpastor of Canada's fastest
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- growing church, and CEO ofCanada's only Christian TV
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- station. Today, on THE SPIRITCONTEMPORARY LIFE.
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- -LEON FONTAINE: I want to bringyou the hope of the Christmas
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- story. It's the story of Godrestoring His family. It's the
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- story of Jesus coming to theplanet, God with us, Emmanuel.
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- -ANNOUNCER: In John 10:10, itsays that Jesus came to give us
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- life, and life more abundantly.So, why is there such a
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- disconnect between this biblicalpromise, and how most Christians
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- live today? Why have so manybelievers become spiritually
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- weak, and ineffective at sharingJesus' message of love? THE
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- SPIRIT CONTEMPORARY LIFE is theanswer. It's being led by Holy
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- Spirit, but in a contemporaryway. It's being Jesus and
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- demonstrating His love in wayspeople can understand and
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- appreciate. Spirit Contemporaryis unique for everyone. It never
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- compromises the truth, and itnever makes others feel
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- uncomfortable. It's freeingyourself from religious
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- constraints, and walking freelyin God's amazing grace, for His
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- purpose. THE SPIRIT CONTEMPORARYLIFE is absolutely crucial if
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- the global church and her peopleare going to change the world.
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- - Later in the show, we'll tellyou how you can reserve your
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- copy of today's resource. Enrichyour soul and renew your mind
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- with this timely series.
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- - And now, from Calgary,Canada, pastor Leon Fontaine.
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- -LEON: Hey everybody, welcome.It's good to have you with me
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- today. And, I love the Christmasstory. I love the Christmas
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- season. And I believe that as wego into our message today, it's
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- going to help all of us. Yousee, nobody has a perfect
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- family. I did an entire seriesto our church called, "No
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- perfect families." It was one ofthe most sought after series we
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- did because everybody thinkssomebody must have the perfect
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- family. Or you'll hear peoplesay well, we have one boy and
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- one girl. That's the perfectfamily. There are no perfect
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- families. And even if you seeeverything together on the
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- exterior, you know, because weall work so hard when we get out
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- to church or shopping or withfriends. Your kids are on y our
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- best behaviour, they're dressedthe best, you know, you're
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- setting the table for guests,you want the kids to know hey,
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- we have guests coming over,let's be on our best behaviour,
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- and then we've got all thesocial media that's going on
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- today. And, you see thesefamilies on social media and, I
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- mean, she's got her makeup on,all her clothes are perfect, her
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- kids are so amazingly obedient.Listen to me. Those are edited
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- segments. Nobody has the perfectfamily. And so, it's almost like
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- all the social media has gottenus all depressed like, who can
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- compete with that family, thatministry, that person? Social
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- media makes us look our best andin fact and in many cases just
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- outright lies. It just saysthings about people that they're
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- not even like that, they don'teven have a life like that. It's
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- their portrayal of their life infront of a camera, or their
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- phone, as they try to get it topeople. But I find everywhere I
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- go as a pastor, as a leader,that people just feel like my
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- family is so messed up, soflawed, no where near how I'd
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- want it or how I like it, andthey're just discouraged. I had
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- one person talk to me and sayyou know, our daughter grew up
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- and just made a horrible turndoing things we never trained
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- her to do. We are such badparents, because if we would
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- have trained her right, she'd beserving God today and so, I've
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- often told people this. Thereare no perfect families. And,
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- God who had a family, because Hehad Adam and Eve, He made them
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- in His likeness and in Hisimage. And that literally means
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- an exact duplicate in kind. Ofall the things God created, only
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- Adam and Eve did He breathe Hispresence into. Which means, it's
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- God's DNA, spiritual DNA,breathed into Adam and Eve.
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- Growing up in the garden withHim, laughing, talking. Can you
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- imagine God coming down to walkin the garden with Adam and Eve?
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- We all think that He's a greatbig forty-story tall guy and
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- that if He'd show up on theplanet, there'd be a great big
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- explosion of fire and Adam couldmaybe reach His ankle, and, "Hey
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- God way up there! How are you?"No. He walked and talked with
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- them in the cool of the day. Ibelieve, just like Jesus when He
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- came to the planet, Emmanuel,God with us. He looked like a
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- human, talked like a human, wasthe same size as a human. I know
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- that when God came to talk withAdam and Eve in the garden, He
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- was their size, communicatedwith them. He created their
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- faces to smile and to needlaughter, which means it comes
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- from Him. He loves laughter, Heloves joy. He loves adventure.
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- He loved doing things. It wouldbe an amazing thing if someone
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- could portray what God was likein the garden of Eden, with Adam
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- and Eve before the fall. It musthave been the most astounding,
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- stunning, incredible thing youcould ever see. But, Adam and
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- Eve. They disobeyed God, andthey left Him. They broke the
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- principles that kept theirrelationship strong, went out on
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- their own, and God Himself had abroken family. And when you
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- recognize that the entire OldTestament is the human race
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- pursuing its own goals, pursuingthe things that it wants. You
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- know, the tree in the garden ofEden was the tree of the
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- knowledge of good and evil.Basically, they wanted to make
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- their own decisions as to whatwas bad and what was good. And
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- that's the way everybody istoday. That's why people like
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- atheists and agnostics. Youknow, they probably could
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- believe, but they don't want tobecause they inside kind of know
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- if I believe there is a God,there's a lot of things I better
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- probably change in my life. Sothe Christmas story, the
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- Christmas story, is beautiful.Because it's about God restoring
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- His family. Just like you wantto restore your family. Maybe
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- it's in the marriage area thatyou think you know, we've been
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- married for this many years andit's not growing. Our marriage
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- is not becoming better. We'rekind of battening down the
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- hatches. We're seeing how longthat we can manage our home, our
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- family. Or maybe as the kids aregrowing up, they're leaving and
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- they'd rather be with theirteenage friends than with you.
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- Or now they're married andthey're with the other family
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- more than they're with ourfamily. I don't know where
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- you're at, or maybe there's oneof the spouses is struggling
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- with an addiction or the kids.Like, there are so many
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- different scenarios, that peopleare listening to this message
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- with me right now. And so I wantto bring you the hope of the
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- Christmas story. It's the storyof God, restoring His family.
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- It's the story of Jesus comingto the planet, God with us,
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- Emmanuel. And the reason He hadto come as a baby, was because
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- He had to come and He couldn'tjust kind of, horn in to the
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- human race as God, because Hehad given the planet to human
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- beings. And so, the human raceis in control and in authority
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- on the planet. And you'll finddifferent verses in the Bible
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- that say that. That the heavensare the Lord's, but the earth He
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- has given to the sons of man.So, I mean, I could go through a
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- ton of scripture but let me justrepeat some of them. For
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- example, when it talks abouthuman beings and authority, that
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- is why the world's so messed up.Not that God has messed it up,
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- but that the human race has madedecisions and the decisions that
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- we make affect generations aheadof us. You know, this is another
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- topic. I don't believe ingenerational curses. Okay,
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- actually when you get into theWord, it's not really, it's not
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- there at all. And God's not likethat, to say whatever I do, my
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- poor kids are going to be cursedwith. No. But, the things that I
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- believe and the actions that Ido, the behaviour that I have in
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- raising my kids, is definitelygoing to affect them. It's
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- definitely going to affect theirlives. It's going to affect how
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- they handle marriages and money,etc. So there is an effect that
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- goes down generationally. It'snot a curse that you have to
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- kind of break, it's a way ofthinking. It's a way of
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- believing about money, marriage,sex, God. All of these things,
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- that gets passed on fromgeneration to generation. And
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- so, God wanted to change that.And it was, Jesus, was the
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- miracle that restored God'sfamily. I believe today, that
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- there can be a miracle thatrestores your family. And His
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- name is Jesus. And not only isknowing Jesus restores marriages
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- and families and homes, but italso gives us the power to begin
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- to change our world in ourlives. You see, giving your life
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- to this Jesus, who was born as ababy, who died on the cross for
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- you and I. It's not enough tojust say okay now Jesus do all
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- the miracles and fix everything.No, what He's going to do, is
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- He's going to live His lifethrough you. And when Jesus
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- lives His life through you, youbecome this attractive force
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- that restores and brings helpand health. You have a patience
- 00:10:07.622 --> 00:10:12.293
- beyond anything imaginable. Awisdom on what to say in
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- situations, and how to evenbegin to plan and see your home
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- begin to move in rightdirections. And, so there's some
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- pretty incredible things. InGalatians 4, the Bible says in
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- verse 4, but when the propertime had fully come, God sent
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- His son, born of a woman, bornsubject to the regulations of
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- the law. To purchase the freedomof. To ransom, to redeem, to
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- atone for, those who weresubject to the law. That we
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- might be adopted and havesonship conferred upon us. And
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- be recognized as God's sons.Now, this is talking about
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- Jesus. And how that when acertain time came, Jesus came
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- and He died. Now, mankindincluding Adam and Eve, couldn't
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- live good enough to really stayin God's family. To be in God's
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- family. So it says that sonship,or to be in the family, was
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- going to be conferred uponpeople. It was going to be
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- gifted to people. It was goingto be given to people. And when
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- you study this Jesus that cameand lived on the planet for 33
- 00:11:27.969 --> 00:11:32.207
- years. He was a baby, a toddler,a teenager. He began to do what
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- His father wanted Him to do. Henever sinned. He lived a
- 00:11:36.745 --> 00:11:41.349
- righteous life. Never gave in tothe temptations that all the
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- rest of us might have given into in so many areas. And then
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- when He died on the cross at 33years of age. He died for you.
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- And He died for me. And He tookour place on the cross. The
- 00:11:54.796 --> 00:11:58.333
- Christmas story, is one of Godsending His son, born of a
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- woman. So that as a human being,He could represent the human
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- race. You know, if Canada wantsto send someone to represent us
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- to the United Nations, we don'tsend a dog or a cow, we send a
- 00:12:14.449 --> 00:12:18.486
- human being. And when the humanrace needed to have a
- 00:12:18.520 --> 00:12:22.524
- representative in God's kingdomand go before. It was Jesus that
- 00:12:22.557 --> 00:12:27.996
- came, because no one else couldrepresent the human race. So
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- when Jesus died on the cross, Hedied for everybody's sins. He
- 00:12:31.633 --> 00:12:35.904
- became sin. He took the cursethat was out there, and it said
- 00:12:35.937 --> 00:12:39.774
- you are free from the curse,you're free from your sins. All
- 00:12:39.808 --> 00:12:42.644
- that requires, is that youaccept now this free gift. I
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- think, people often ask me,don't you think Christmas is too
- 00:12:46.915 --> 00:12:49.117
- commercialized? Yeah, I do.Don't you think, yeah, it's not
- 00:12:49.150 --> 00:12:51.419
- even the right date, that's notthe date he died. I don't care
- 00:12:51.452 --> 00:12:53.588
- about any of those things. I'mjust glad that we have a time
- 00:12:53.621 --> 00:12:56.124
- that celebrates Jesus. And Iknow that we buy presents and
- 00:12:56.157 --> 00:12:59.394
- people go into debt and we'vegot Santa Claus and elves and
- 00:12:59.427 --> 00:13:01.663
- the Grinch. I love it all, Ijust see it all as beautiful fun
- 00:13:01.696 --> 00:13:04.999
- stories. To bring familiestogether, kids and their
- 00:13:05.033 --> 00:13:07.869
- parents, and get out and dothings. And it's not my
- 00:13:07.902 --> 00:13:10.638
- religious experience, it's justculturally families coming
- 00:13:10.672 --> 00:13:14.642
- together. But when the Bibletalks about Jesus, I always
- 00:13:14.676 --> 00:13:19.280
- bring our family and our churchservices. You know, we do a ton
- 00:13:19.314 --> 00:13:23.451
- of fun things in our churchservices in the entire Christmas
- 00:13:23.484 --> 00:13:26.487
- season. But we always come to aplace of showing people it's
- 00:13:26.521 --> 00:13:30.458
- about Jesus. And Jesus is hereto restore you to His family and
- 00:13:30.491 --> 00:13:35.830
- to help you restore your family.And so I want you to get faith
- 00:13:35.864 --> 00:13:40.869
- about that. Now, when you lookat this verse in Galatians 4, it
- 00:13:40.902 --> 00:13:44.539
- says and because you really areHis sons, God has sent the Holy
- 00:13:44.572 --> 00:13:49.777
- Spirit of His Son into ourhearts, crying Abba Father.
- 00:13:49.811 --> 00:13:56.317
- Therefore, you are no longer aslave, but a son. And if a son,
- 00:13:56.351 --> 00:14:01.990
- then it follows that you are anheir. You are, you can inherit
- 00:14:02.023 --> 00:14:06.895
- by the aid of God throughChrist. One of the things that
- 00:14:06.928 --> 00:14:12.033
- I've noticed about myself, andthe humans that walk on this
- 00:14:12.066 --> 00:14:15.370
- planet, are these times that Ican have, and maybe you do the
- 00:14:15.403 --> 00:14:20.308
- same thing. You know, whetherit's certain music or certain
- 00:14:20.341 --> 00:14:22.877
- things going on, or maybe I'mtired, or maybe I'm alone
- 00:14:22.911 --> 00:14:25.346
- somewhere. And I begin to feelalmost like haunted. Almost
- 00:14:25.380 --> 00:14:29.284
- like, what's life doing? Do Ifit in here? I think everybody
- 00:14:29.317 --> 00:14:32.620
- goes through that. There's apart of human existence that,
- 00:14:32.654 --> 00:14:36.024
- the Bible says that it feelslike, you feel like an orphan.
- 00:14:36.057 --> 00:14:40.662
- Jesus said, I'm going to sendthe Holy Spirit when I die, and
- 00:14:40.695 --> 00:14:43.932
- that He will come in. Says I'mnot going to leave you as
- 00:14:43.965 --> 00:14:48.303
- orphans. I have found that ifI'm not spending time with God,
- 00:14:48.336 --> 00:14:52.440
- you know, and even when I'm justtired, maybe got a crazy weekend
- 00:14:52.473 --> 00:14:56.244
- as a pastor, as a leader. And,you know, Mondays or Tuesdays
- 00:14:56.277 --> 00:14:59.514
- I'm just kind of relaxing andresting up from the crazy
- 00:14:59.547 --> 00:15:02.016
- weekends. If you're tired, or ifyou're just kind of mentally
- 00:15:02.050 --> 00:15:04.953
- exhausted. If you're notcareful, you can go back as a
- 00:15:04.986 --> 00:15:08.423
- Christian to these feelings offeeling alone. Feeling lonely.
- 00:15:08.456 --> 00:15:12.860
- Feeling orphaned. Where do I fitin? I'm married, I have kids, I
- 00:15:12.894 --> 00:15:17.398
- have parents, but I just feelleft out. Does anybody love me?
- 00:15:17.432 --> 00:15:20.702
- And you can say well Leon,you're just feeling sorry for
- 00:15:20.735 --> 00:15:22.704
- yourself. I understand that, butjust stop. The entire human race
- 00:15:22.737 --> 00:15:26.874
- has a sense of, orphans. Of notfitting in. And that's why Jesus
- 00:15:26.908 --> 00:15:34.015
- came. And when you go throughthe beautiful story of like, you
- 00:15:34.048 --> 00:15:37.485
- know, the angel singing peace onearth, good will towards men.
- 00:15:37.518 --> 00:15:43.391
- It's talking about this Jesuscoming. And instead of having
- 00:15:43.424 --> 00:15:46.494
- this orphaned feeling, thisdepressed feeling. This thing's
- 00:15:46.527 --> 00:15:49.530
- never going right. Jesus came torestore God's family, and when
- 00:15:49.564 --> 00:15:54.702
- you get into God's family, as aperson that is born again.
- 00:15:54.736 --> 00:15:59.540
- Forgiven for your sin. The curseno longer can touch you. This
- 00:15:59.574 --> 00:16:04.479
- new life that Jesus has becauseof His resurrection. This
- 00:16:04.512 --> 00:16:08.282
- resurrection Zoe life, is now inyou. It restores your family. To
- 00:16:08.316 --> 00:16:14.889
- you singles that are listeningto me, come on. Do not build
- 00:16:14.922 --> 00:16:18.159
- your family like everybody elsearound you. Make Jesus the
- 00:16:18.192 --> 00:16:22.430
- centre of your life, of yourdating, of who you're hanging
- 00:16:22.463 --> 00:16:25.967
- out with. Because you need tobuild your dating, build your
- 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:30.338
- marriage, on Jesus. The only onewho brings peace and joy, and a
- 00:16:30.371 --> 00:16:36.677
- hope that as you get married andyou have children, that there's
- 00:16:36.711 --> 00:16:40.782
- going to be generations. One daywhen you're old and at a hundred
- 00:16:40.815 --> 00:16:44.018
- years old, and you look back atyour great grandkids, and your
- 00:16:44.052 --> 00:16:47.388
- great great grandkids, you cansee the blessing of the Lord in
- 00:16:47.422 --> 00:16:51.025
- the land of the living. And thisis what God needs from
- 00:16:51.059 --> 00:16:54.028
- Christians. He needs generationsfrom you, strong, rising up,
- 00:16:54.062 --> 00:16:59.467
- succeeding in life and marriageand career, impacting the
- 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:03.004
- planet, influencing the planet.He needs every believer to
- 00:17:03.037 --> 00:17:06.374
- restore their relationship as amember of God's family, and then
- 00:17:06.407 --> 00:17:11.145
- take these principles, His Word,His spirit, His peace, His joy,
- 00:17:11.179 --> 00:17:15.016
- and let your family be filledwith this peace, this joy. You
- 00:17:15.049 --> 00:17:21.022
- know, this Christmas as you getaround the tree or whatever you
- 00:17:21.055 --> 00:17:23.558
- do for Christmas time, let thepeace of God within you
- 00:17:23.591 --> 00:17:28.763
- dominate. There's sometimes,that families will get together
- 00:17:28.796 --> 00:17:32.667
- and my brothers know how just topush my buttons and I know how
- 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:35.636
- to push their buttons. And maybethere's one person in the family
- 00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:38.506
- that's always going to be,trying to control the mood of
- 00:17:38.539 --> 00:17:41.709
- family get-togethers. You haveto make a decision. The Bible
- 00:17:41.742 --> 00:17:45.780
- says, you can say peace be onthis house. And it says, your
- 00:17:45.813 --> 00:17:50.585
- peace, controls that house.Wherever I go, I believe the
- 00:17:50.618 --> 00:17:55.957
- presence of God upon me, cancontrol the atmosphere that I
- 00:17:55.990 --> 00:17:59.994
- must work in. That I must havefun times in, that I must have
- 00:18:00.027 --> 00:18:03.931
- lunches and family times. I'mnot letting another spirit rise
- 00:18:03.965 --> 00:18:07.301
- up. I'm not letting some othertransference of spirits come in,
- 00:18:07.335 --> 00:18:10.838
- that I'm, someone else is goingto transfer in anger,
- 00:18:10.872 --> 00:18:13.274
- unforgiveness. Transfer in, justthe stuff the enemy uses to
- 00:18:13.307 --> 00:18:17.245
- break down homes and families.Even in the midst of people
- 00:18:17.278 --> 00:18:20.248
- squawking and saying things. Imust control myself and just say
- 00:18:20.281 --> 00:18:23.618
- hey, you guys, we're family. Andthen I, I want to be the
- 00:18:23.651 --> 00:18:27.655
- peace-maker. Not thepeace-keeper. Oh please guys,
- 00:18:27.688 --> 00:18:31.125
- let's get along, let's just getalong. No, peace-makers, they
- 00:18:31.159 --> 00:18:34.262
- bring resolution to situationsand they believe that their
- 00:18:34.295 --> 00:18:38.099
- marriage, their family, maybeyou're a grandparent now and
- 00:18:38.132 --> 00:18:41.169
- you've got grandkids and greatgrandkids, and you get them all
- 00:18:41.202 --> 00:18:43.604
- together and it's a zoo. Yourise up and declare this is my
- 00:18:43.638 --> 00:18:47.108
- home, today, we are going torepresent Jesus Christ. All of
- 00:18:47.141 --> 00:18:51.379
- us aren't the same, we don'thave a perfect family, but while
- 00:18:51.412 --> 00:18:54.382
- we're in my home, we're going toallow joy. And you just speak to
- 00:18:54.415 --> 00:18:57.418
- them. And then you just believe,and don't let anybody kind of
- 00:18:57.451 --> 00:19:00.021
- get your goat. We had thatsaying here in Canada, where all
- 00:19:00.054 --> 00:19:02.990
- of a sudden you're getting angrybecause someone said something
- 00:19:03.024 --> 00:19:05.026
- pointed at you. And there itgoes, the whole Christmas party,
- 00:19:05.059 --> 00:19:08.396
- the whole family get togetherjust goes down the tubes. Why?
- 00:19:08.429 --> 00:19:11.432
- Because you've relinquished,that the spirit of peace and the
- 00:19:11.465 --> 00:19:15.870
- spirit of joy, that you can haveon that family. And so I want to
- 00:19:15.903 --> 00:19:20.208
- challenge you. Jesus wants tobless, restore your marriage,
- 00:19:20.241 --> 00:19:26.047
- your family, your kids, and itstarts with you being restored
- 00:19:26.080 --> 00:19:31.219
- to Christ. Meaning, that inGalatians 5, the fruit of the
- 00:19:31.252 --> 00:19:35.423
- spirit, or the attributes ofJesus. His spirit, can be in,
- 00:19:35.456 --> 00:19:41.095
- you can have Jesus' joy. Jesus'love. You can have literally the
- 00:19:41.128 --> 00:19:45.366
- patience of Jesus. Someone sayswell, you need to have the
- 00:19:45.399 --> 00:19:48.269
- patience of Job. If you know thestory, he wasn't that patient.
- 00:19:48.302 --> 00:19:51.405
- He was a whiner and a complainerbut people don't take the time
- 00:19:51.439 --> 00:19:53.774
- to read the books. I want thepatience of Jesus, and He's
- 00:19:53.808 --> 00:19:56.377
- given it to me because Hisspirit within me causes patience
- 00:19:56.410 --> 00:20:00.214
- to rise up in me. It causesgoodness to rise up in me. All
- 00:20:00.248 --> 00:20:04.885
- the beautiful nine strengths, orthe King James calls them the
- 00:20:04.919 --> 00:20:09.090
- fruits of the spirit. They arethe strengths of the spirit, the
- 00:20:09.123 --> 00:20:12.126
- attributes of the spirit. Thecharacteristics of having Christ
- 00:20:12.159 --> 00:20:16.030
- alive on the inside of you. Andyou can raise up great
- 00:20:16.063 --> 00:20:18.966
- marriages, great families. Youcan go into business parties. If
- 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.903
- you're working at a company, andjust you being there, you're not
- 00:20:22.937 --> 00:20:26.107
- a wet blanket. Well he's walkingaround and he's not drinking or
- 00:20:26.140 --> 00:20:28.776
- partying. No, if I have to go toplaces where I'm invited, and I
- 00:20:28.809 --> 00:20:32.513
- feel I should go, and there'sall sorts of things happening at
- 00:20:32.546 --> 00:20:35.283
- that party. And there's certainthings I won't go to, but I am
- 00:20:35.316 --> 00:20:38.519
- just the life of the partywithout alcohol, without smoking
- 00:20:38.552 --> 00:20:41.355
- drugs. Without, I'm justlaughing, loving, enjoying
- 00:20:41.389 --> 00:20:44.358
- people, I'm not condemningpeople because they're doing
- 00:20:44.392 --> 00:20:46.694
- things I won't do. Wherever wego and live, we're not the wet
- 00:20:46.727 --> 00:20:50.398
- blanket. We ought to be the joy,the peace. In fact, when we get
- 00:20:50.431 --> 00:20:54.201
- together as a family, and we'llgo to a restaurant, and they'll
- 00:20:54.235 --> 00:20:57.838
- see us together. Waitresses willjust pop by and say this is so
- 00:20:57.872 --> 00:21:01.242
- beautiful, this is awesome. Youguys aren't even drinking,
- 00:21:01.275 --> 00:21:03.244
- you're having so much fun. Etcetera. And I want you to know
- 00:21:03.277 --> 00:21:07.481
- the peace that Jesus brings.That someone will have to stand
- 00:21:07.515 --> 00:21:11.452
- up for peace. That's you.Someone will have to stand up
- 00:21:11.485 --> 00:21:15.323
- for joy. That's you. And, it'sso easy to go negative. It's so
- 00:21:15.356 --> 00:21:19.860
- easy to be unhappy, it's so easyto find something wrong and get
- 00:21:19.894 --> 00:21:23.497
- your nose out of joint, we usethe term. But instead, you can
- 00:21:23.531 --> 00:21:27.435
- walk in this concept that Godgives us, of being unoffendable.
- 00:21:27.468 --> 00:21:33.541
- That people are going to saystuff to me, do stuff to me, and
- 00:21:33.574 --> 00:21:36.477
- they just want me to join themin their anger, irritation. I
- 00:21:36.510 --> 00:21:40.147
- mean, there are people who getaround me and I can tell just me
- 00:21:40.181 --> 00:21:42.550
- being happy irritates them.Years ago when I was newly
- 00:21:42.583 --> 00:21:45.353
- married and Sally and I had acouple of children. I would work
- 00:21:45.386 --> 00:21:49.724
- as a paramedic out of ahospital. And Mondays and other
- 00:21:49.757 --> 00:21:53.094
- days, I would be walking thehallways smiling and laughing. I
- 00:21:53.127 --> 00:21:57.398
- literally would have people saywhat are you so happy about? And
- 00:21:57.431 --> 00:22:00.534
- I said oh you don't want toknow. Or I'd share with them a
- 00:22:00.568 --> 00:22:02.570
- little bit. Other times, oncepeople got to know me, they
- 00:22:02.603 --> 00:22:05.706
- would literally say in such agrumpy mood Leon would you just
- 00:22:05.740 --> 00:22:08.943
- shut up? I don't want someonewhistling or singing around me.
- 00:22:08.976 --> 00:22:11.645
- And, but they knew there was ajoy that I had. And it irritated
- 00:22:11.679 --> 00:22:16.384
- them. I want you to know, thatdon't give in to irritable
- 00:22:16.417 --> 00:22:19.253
- people. Don't give in to peoplewho want to change you because
- 00:22:19.286 --> 00:22:21.622
- it irritates them. You're sohappy, they're jealous of your
- 00:22:21.655 --> 00:22:24.125
- joy, your family, your home. Getup and love people. Get up and
- 00:22:24.158 --> 00:22:27.628
- make a decision that the fruitof the spirit are going to be my
- 00:22:27.661 --> 00:22:30.398
- strengths. I will be joyful, Iwill be peaceful. I'm going to
- 00:22:30.431 --> 00:22:33.768
- be good to people. I'm going tobe patient with them. I'm going
- 00:22:33.801 --> 00:22:36.637
- to be long-suffering. I'm goingto be kind, and gentle, etc. And
- 00:22:36.670 --> 00:22:40.107
- when you do, the presence of Godrises up within you. The
- 00:22:40.141 --> 00:22:45.045
- Christmas story is about Godrestoring His family. And anyone
- 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:50.818
- who wants to be restored to God,can be. And at that point, He'll
- 00:22:50.851 --> 00:22:54.622
- help you restore all of yourrelationships. I pray this
- 00:22:54.655 --> 00:22:58.793
- Christmas season that you'll useevery get-together, business,
- 00:22:58.826 --> 00:23:01.896
- family, friends, home, use it asan opportunity to just love
- 00:23:01.929 --> 00:23:06.700
- people. Value people. Even ifthey've hurt you before. Let
- 00:23:06.734 --> 00:23:11.238
- Jesus heal you. Don't become youknow, PTSD. Post-Traumatic
- 00:23:11.272 --> 00:23:15.242
- Stress Disorder. Let Him healthat broken heart, and go on let
- 00:23:15.276 --> 00:23:18.712
- Him bring His presence intoevery one of your relationships.
- 00:23:18.746 --> 00:23:23.050
- We love you, have a greatChristmas season, and make sure
- 00:23:23.083 --> 00:23:27.021
- that Jesus is the personthat you're having the
- 00:23:27.054 --> 00:23:30.024
- greatest relationship with.
- 00:23:30.057 --> 00:23:31.692
- [Music]
- 00:23:31.725 --> 00:23:33.894
- -ANNOUNCER: Are yourrelationships all you hoped and
- 00:23:42.403 --> 00:23:44.305
- dreamed? For many, that might bea difficult question to answer.
- 00:23:44.338 --> 00:23:48.209
- But the good news is, that Jesusis an expert on relationships.
- 00:23:48.242 --> 00:23:52.680
- -LEON: I have good news. Thegood news is, there is no one
- 00:23:52.713 --> 00:23:55.616
- standing between you and anamazing future. No one.
- 00:23:55.649 --> 00:23:59.253
- -ANNOUNCER: In this series,"Freedom From Judgement", Leon
- 00:23:59.286 --> 00:24:02.056
- leads you through biblicalteachings that will take you to
- 00:24:02.089 --> 00:24:04.458
- greater levels of peace,understanding, and fulfillment
- 00:24:04.492 --> 00:24:07.828
- in every relationship.
- 00:24:07.862 --> 00:24:09.063
- -LEON: When you dream aboutwhat you can do with the rest of
- 00:24:12.199 --> 00:24:15.102
- your life, God's going to takeyou further than that. Dream
- 00:24:15.135 --> 00:24:18.506
- big, He's going to take youbigger than that. Think amazing?
- 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:22.176
- He's going to go beyond amazing,beyond what you can think,
- 00:24:22.209 --> 00:24:25.179
- ask, or imagine.
- 00:24:25.212 --> 00:24:26.247
- -ANNOUNCER: Get started on thisjourney today, and set yourself
- 00:24:27.548 --> 00:24:29.483
- free. Call now to request thisseries, and experience a greater
- 00:24:29.517 --> 00:24:33.754
- level of love, trust, and joy inall your relationships.
- 00:24:33.787 --> 00:24:37.591
- [Music]
- 00:24:37.625 --> 00:24:39.727
- [Segment Music]
- 00:24:50.738 --> 00:24:52.640
- -LEON: An interesting part ofthe gospel is how valuable you
- 00:24:58.746 --> 00:25:03.050
- are to God. The enemycontinually will harass your
- 00:25:03.083 --> 00:25:07.288
- thinking and it will always belike you're not enough, or
- 00:25:07.321 --> 00:25:12.159
- you're too bad, or you're toonegative, or you're too flawed,
- 00:25:12.192 --> 00:25:16.664
- or there's something missing inyou, or no one really
- 00:25:16.697 --> 00:25:20.734
- understands at the very corethat you're missing something.
- 00:25:20.768 --> 00:25:25.673
- Whichever way the enemy does it,he will try to tempt you to
- 00:25:25.706 --> 00:25:29.643
- believe that you're not enough.But you've got to understand
- 00:25:29.677 --> 00:25:33.314
- that when you give your life toJesus Christ, and He comes in,
- 00:25:33.347 --> 00:25:37.985
- that He is flowing through you,living through you, and there is
- 00:25:38.018 --> 00:25:42.723
- nothing that you can't do.Recognize how valuable you are
- 00:25:42.756 --> 00:25:48.529
- to God. That you are enoughbecause Jesus is within you and
- 00:25:48.562 --> 00:25:54.568
- you and He can do all things.That's why it says, "You can do
- 00:25:54.602 --> 00:25:58.906
- all things through Christ whostrengthens you." You can't do
- 00:25:58.939 --> 00:26:02.977
- all things on your own but withJesus on the inside of you,
- 00:26:03.010 --> 00:26:06.814
- there is a completeness aboutyou. Rise up, believe, and keep
- 00:26:06.847 --> 00:26:11.418
- going especially in thedirections that have shut you
- 00:26:11.452 --> 00:26:14.321
- down for far too long. Father, Ipray blessing upon them right
- 00:26:14.355 --> 00:26:19.259
- now. Let there be an aha moment,an epiphany. That they will
- 00:26:19.293 --> 00:26:24.098
- understand that with Jesus onthe inside of them. That Father,
- 00:26:24.131 --> 00:26:28.135
- they are valuable, they areenough, and there's nothing that
- 00:26:28.168 --> 00:26:32.072
- will stop them. They are allthey need to be with You.
- 00:26:32.106 --> 00:26:36.977
- I pray this in Your wonderfulname, amen.
- 00:26:37.011 --> 00:26:40.114
- -ANNOUNCER: It's no accidentthat you watched today's show.
- 00:26:41.415 --> 00:26:43.851
- You are special, and you have adestiny to fulfill. Our media
- 00:26:43.884 --> 00:26:48.355
- ministry reaches some of thedarkest corners of the world,
- 00:26:48.389 --> 00:26:51.358
- and your support is what makesthis possible week after week.
- 00:26:51.392 --> 00:26:55.496
- You are vital, you can change alife. Act today. And remember,
- 00:26:55.529 --> 00:27:00.901
- this amazing resource will beyours as our way of
- 00:27:00.934 --> 00:27:03.871
- saying thank you.
- 00:27:03.904 --> 00:27:05.172
- [Closing Theme Music]
- 00:27:05.205 --> 00:27:07.174
- Closed Captioned by SH: TheMiracle Channel Association
- 00:27:22.823 --> 00:27:25.392