Assalamu alaikum brothers and sisters, I've been closely following the disturbing incidents of the Koran burning with the approval and protection of the Swedish government. According to a statement from authorities, Morocco condemned the act which coincided with the start of the Muslim festival of Idil. The reaction from the Muslim Ummah has been quite intense. Initially, I thought that Muslim countries would simply express their disapproval through diplomatic means, but as more and more incidents of Koran burning emerged, the cause for stricter measures and harsh penalties have been growing. It's part of that perpetual Islamophobia that just keeps growing and growing and growing and I'm terrified to think where this is going to end. Freedom of speech is very important, but I think burning a religious book, it's not freedom of speech. It's another thing, it's a provocation. I got really excited when I heard that the Iraqi government is seriously considering requesting the extradition of the person responsible for banning the Koran. We heard that he's an Iraqi citizen, so they can face legal consequences in the home country. Is he uncertain whether this proposal would succeed? But if it does, it would be a significant development in the ongoing trend of Koran burning in Sweden. I understand that some people might argue that the accused individual may not receive a fair trial in Iraq. However, let not forget that even Saddam Hussein himself was judged and sentenced to death by an Iraqi judge. So a fair trial monitored by the European Union and conducted in accordance with the existing laws of the Iraqi government or constitution is definitely possible. I urge the Iraqi government to stand firm on their path and continue to pursue the extradition of the perpetrator so that justice can be served. By extraditing that Iraqi guard responsible for banning the Koran, it sends a powerful message that we won't tolerate religious intolerance and hate speech. It shows that the authorities are taking this offense seriously and are dedicated to upholding values like respect, diversity and religious freedom. Think about it guys, when people see that there are real consequences for Koran burning and similar acts, it can really make them think twice before doing something similar. The extradition and the subsequent legal proceedings will make it crystal clear that those who engage in such offensive behavior will face severe repercussions. These alone can deter others who might be considering committing similar acts of religious provocation and sacrilege. Plus, the whole process of extradition and the coverage of the legal proceedings would draw a lot of attention to the issue of Koran burning. It's not something that should be or that can be brushed aside or ignored. It will raise public awareness about just how serious this offense is and spark important discussions and debates about the significance of religious tolerance and freedom of expression. So, extraditing the individual responsible is unjust about hiding them accountable. It's about making a statement and bringing about a change in society. It's about ensuring that everyone understand the gravity of these actions and work towards fostering an environment of respect and acceptance for all religious beliefs in the West and around the world. The exciting news is that following an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the Saudi-based organization called for member states to take quote-unquote unified and collective measures to stop countries burning copies of Islam's holy book. The Secretary General Hussain Ibrahim Taha said the burning of the Koran were not mere ordinary Islamophobia incident and urged countries worldwide to adhere to international law which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred. Now, here is something important I want to share. As Muslims, it's crucial for us to remain composed and show restraint whenever such unfortunate event occur. We need to approach these situations with maturity and avoid engaging in extreme actions that people behind these acts of hatred are intentionally trying to provoke us and paint a negative image of Islam to the world. But let's not fall into the trap. Instead, let's respond with wisdom and adhere to the established rules of engagement. Sometimes the best way to respond is not by directly confronting the people who are doing this. Sometimes you have to use more subtle means of getting your message across and bringing about change in society. If an incident like that happens, if you handle it the wrong way, it just blows out of proportion and the conversation changes. People become now more interested in the reaction than the original action itself. Because that's why they do it, right? That's why they burn the Koran. It's usually far right groups or individuals who are doing it and they have an agenda. They want you to react in a certain way. Yes. Then Muslims comply. Whatever message they were trying to draw attention to just becomes more overblown and their goals are met. They achieve their purpose that way. We have to be wise as Muslims and recognize this to be happening. One thing that will help us to be wise is to recognize that it is the way of God that he has created such a world in which there will be positive messages and there will be its contrary. The Koran says, for example, in the sixth chapter referring to what was happening with the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, the opposition that he was facing and so on. The Koran says, We have placed for every prophet an enemy that comes in the form of satans from among humans and jinn kind. They will inspire each other with speeches, like decorated speeches. The Koran is already acknowledging that God knows this is happening and he's allowing it to happen this way.


What's going on guys got Kyle here with Layton sports cards, and we are ripping one box of 2023 revolution WWE this one is for David C. Good luck David. Let's see if we can get you a little kaboom here Good luck. Good luck revolution. WWE Many topies right empty box good luck good luck both the Autos we've seen this have been redemption so far a Roman Reigns base We've got Astro Rookie Taya Hale Elton Prince Butch Mustafa Ali We have a groove of Sami Zayn stargazing and a groove undertaker nice one there Not numbered on the groove nice undertaker Let's see a kaboom here See a kaboom There is a Seth freakin Rollins on the fractal not numbered Wait sorry that is the cosmic to 149 Cosmic to 149 nice Seth freakin Rollins whoo nice one here. We've got a cubic stargazing numbered to 49 Roman Reigns Nice one there David on the insert numbered to 49 Great one there head of the table got an astro of Big E and the almighty Bobby Lashley This is Steiner and Steiner the Steiner brothers We've got a Rey Mysterio fractal not numbered Jey Uso McIntyre this is liftoff die cut gonna be Eddie Guerrero nice Eddie there and This is a bam bam Bigelow on the uh and it's also cubic numbered to 49 Do not know this one Wahoo's not gonna lie on that one bam bam Bigelow on the cubic numbered to 49 Rey Mysterio Yeah, right Boy looking good There's a Andre the giant we've got an astro Natalia not numbered in last pack here There is Bianca Belair shockwave and a groove top dollar rookie and Seth freakin Rollins base on the back Alrighty David that'll do it for your WWE revolution nice hit on the two Cubics there numbered to 49 get those right out to you, sir


Hello, everyone, and welcome. This is Melissa Arma with the Stockswasher. I'm doing a quarantine special. And I've been doing this since pretty much I've been in this quarantine. So initially, they said 15 days. I don't know how long this quarantine is going to go on. It's hard to believe that it would be done in a week, less than a week now. But we'll see. But I decided to extend the quarantine special through March 27th to help everyone because the reality is that I know that people are home. I know that people want to actively trade. I know that people have lost money in their 401k and long-term investments. But if you want to learn how to actively trade, you can trade this market and make money. And especially if you're home, now's the time to learn it. Now's the time to do it. So if you have questions, email me at Melissa at thestockswasher.com. If you want to call me, call me at 929-3200 Gap. Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or Skype. So the quarantine specials are going to run through Friday, March 27th. The class is this weekend. It's 9 to 5, March 28th and 29th, Saturday and Sunday. It includes the Golden Gap course. The stocks will show live trading room through 1231, the trends course, and the wealth manifestation class, all for the same price as the normal class. This is a good deal. It's $69.99. I think this will help people get up and running and that all the classes are in the next two weeks so you get to do all the classes and then you get to be in the room and get all my live train calls. Now, if you're interested in the options newsletter, I have two specials for this. It's a Gap Options course, which is April 2nd. Savings for this is 20% off, normally $2,500. The price with the sale is $2,000. This is normally $2,500. It includes one month free of the Gap Options newsletter. So you save $500. For the Gap Options newsletter package, it's $59.99. For one year of the Gap Options newsletter, normally that's $69.99. It's a big savings. You get the Gap Options course and the wealth manifestation course free. So this is some nice offerings for people. You save getting the classes for the support, the learning, the education and the trades. So for everybody, I hope everybody's stocked up, got their supplies, got their paper products, got their food, light bulbs, batteries, everything you need to be indoors. Hope everyone's listening to everything, getting what everyone's saying, watching the White House press conference briefings and following what everyone's saying about the guidelines to protect themselves and their family. I truly believe everything's gonna be okay. It's kind of strange going out in New York. The last time I was out was Friday after Governor Cuomo said there was a lockdown and I decided to go out for one more trip to get stuff. It is definitely, I mean, people, it's just one of these weird times.  But I mean, going out in the city or looking out the streets, I tell you it's strange. The streets are empty, the parks are empty and the people that are out are running around kind of frantically and food is getting sold out, things are getting sold out. I know the trucks are coming, they're delivering, toilet paper, everything, but it is definitely in an odd time right now. And I know it is for everybody no matter where you live. So this was one of the nice trades. Actually, we did the spy today. We shorted the spy today, but this was Boeing. Boeing has been a huge, huge sell-off. Boeing got haunted today on news, apparently they're shutting down some of their production in the Puget Sound. For two weeks, again, due to the coronavirus, somebody had a case and more news out on that later, but this has been an incredible short. We've gotten this almost the whole way down. In fact, I think we have gotten it the whole way down. Every place there was a short, we did it. Day trade put everything. And she was 228.25, we add in. Then at 229.65, okay. I always call the stops in the room too. You size yourself according to your risk. 500 chairs in this case here would have been a risk of 23.25 with the add. Then there was 1,000 chairs. A beautiful move though. I mean, an absolutely huge move. And this is what you're gonna learn from me how to do. How to pick Boeing. How did I know in December this was gonna drop? How did I call this trade here? Over 12,000 profit. This was a day trade, a one-day and equity trade, but I have been calling many puts in this as well. Having a teacher, a mentor, someone to follow makes a huge difference. Not only in any market condition, particularly right now in this market condition because people are scared. They are worried. They don't wanna lose money. They want to know that they take a trade and put the risk on that it's gonna turn out right for them. And for what I do, I'm very detailed with what I do. For those of you that know me, you know that. I mean, I look at 26 things in a chart. That's a lot of things. That's what you're gonna learn in the class. That's a heck of a lot of things. I'm on top of everything, I'm focused. I'm hyper focused right now, which is one of the reasons that all the trades I've been calling have been working. So it's a really a good time to join. Now this was, gosh, this seems like forever ago. This was back in January. This was Facebook I called a put in this. This fell January 30th, dropped like a brick. This was a put. This is before we really started to tank. 12,600 profit, 180% return on investment with an advanced risk. You could have taken one contract. You would have paid a dollar. Just a hundred bucks, okay. You could have taken 10, paid a thousand. The profit depends the amount, depends on your risk, but the rate of the percentage of return on investment, really you have to look at what you can afford, okay. You can make 180% return on investment with one contract. So it has to do with what you can afford for your size of your account. And if you have questions in that, email me too. Right now is one of the best times ever to work from home. I mean, I like working from home all the time, but right now, gosh, I'm so grateful that I can work from home. I'm so happy and thrilled because everyone's forced to stay inside. Some people lost their jobs. Some people aren't employed. Some people can't do their job from home. Some people can, but they don't like it. For me, I enjoy my home. I have a beautiful, beautiful home and I feel happy and safe here and I like working from home. And I tell you, I feel very lucky that I can do it. Very lucky that I can do it. So if you're interested in learning how to trade as a career and working from home, email me. You can learn how to do this in the Golden Gap course. So far, 2020 is really off to a great start. No one could have predicted that this was gonna go down this year in January. I mean, who would have thought it? But here we are today and I believe we're gonna get through it and I believe we're gonna get through it stronger than ever. Trading for yourself and having financial freedom. I mean, that is where it's at people and people are realizing that now more than ever. Trading is one of the greatest jobs in the world and doing it from home is super convenient and right now just a blessing. If you're interested in the class, the class is called the Golden Gap course. Again, it's this weekend, March 28th and 29th, nine to five Eastern time. Class tuition is $69.99. Deadline to sign up is March 27th and that is a deadline for all the specials too. So here they are again. You sign up for the class, you're gonna get the trading room free to the end of 2020. Trends course and wealth class free, okay? Email me for sign up forums. And then here's the options specials. It depends what you wanna do. It depends if you wanna do options or you wanna be in the day trade room. The options, trades are separate. I don't call them in the room. The day trades are in the room. They're different things, different types of trading. One uses margin, one does not. You can have a cash account for options. And again, if you don't understand these things, call me. I will answer your questions for you. But you definitely can make money in this type of market if you know what to do. We've been doing very well this year. Again, I'm very focused. Email me if you have questions. 2020 could be your big year. It has been a big year so far for the stocks, whoosh, and many of my traders. And we're not even three months into it. We did anticipate this would happen, but we're definitely gonna take advantage of the volatility and the money and the opportunities that are there. That is your job. That is my job. Find the opportunity, spot the opportunity, and take action. If you're interested in learning what I know, email me at melissa at the stocks, whoosh.com. Here's my information. Here's the class dates. Don't miss it.


Alright, thanks for the invitation. I think I've spoken to this group a few months ago. I forgot exactly when, but glad to be back and give one more update. I know the blueberry season is going to fully star or may have already fully star herself out of them. You know, we haven't done the first blueberry picking yet. You know, usually I guess my family will do once or twice a year. So hopefully the information presented today will be helpful from the extension side. Okay, there we go. Alright, so I don't have to do any introduction about the weeds. All of y'all know this. The exact definition of weed is very complex according to the Weed Science Society of America. You know, that's our national professional association. But for farm, pretty much anything you don't really want or you don't want to see among your crop can be defined as a weed. A lot of times these are nuisance. They have to be controlled. They reduce your yield. They cause other type of issues for your crops. And everybody wants to see a clean crop, very nice farms everywhere. So there are many ways to do it.  We're going to spray the hack out of these weeds. Alright, that's usually 90% time what people want to do. However, for specialty crops, for vegetables, or I should say for most of the field crops in general, you really have to think about the long term management, just because most of these weeds are very persistent. This is a major difference between weed science to entomology to plant pathology because a lot of insects and disease are sporadic. The environmental conditions are very important. And also for insects, they are able to migrate, they're able to move from one field to the other. For weeds, that's not really the case. I have never seen any weeds start to grow arms and legs, start running around or flying around. If that's the case, I hope all the weeds in my backyard fly to my neighbor's yard. So I don't have to worry about them anymore. So this is weed management one-on-one. Don't count on your weeds to disappear magically. They will not. They will keep being there for a long time. One farm that I work with in row crops to control tropical spiderwears, this is a very persistent weed in row crops. The farm was purchased back in 1950s in Alberta, Alabama. That's in Baldwin County. 70 years later, that weed is still there. Very, very thick. And we're about to spray some burnt down trials later this week going down to Baldwin County. All right, that's just an example. Very hard to get rid of. Stuff like cuzzoo, nonsage, you name it. They will be there for a long time. So be aware of that and prepare for long term management. I guess what I'm trying to say here is when you don't have a crop on your field, all right, when you rotate certain field out of production as a fallow ground, if you leave the weeds alone and let them do whatever they want, you will lose all the years of effort that you put into that field for the last so many years. Because for these weeds, they don't take long, you know, one year or two year fallow. Sometimes it could be just several months of fallow without a active management program can completely replenish their population. All right, their pressure next year will bloom. Just keep that in mind. So when you don't have a crop there or when your crop is not in the fruiting stage, it's not in the actively grown, you still have to manage weeds if you plan to use the same field for production. Also, if you bring in new ground, new field in production, make sure you use every effort to clean up the weeds before you have a crop. This is not such a huge deal for row crops, but for specialty crops, perennial crops and vegetables, that is very important. Because if you look at the herbicide options for certain specialty crop, you know, for example, kale, collard greens, you know, stuff like that, it is very depressing to look at the list because the list barely contained nothing. You have no options basically as a herbicide, right? So when you grow some stuff like that, you better have any herbicide option, better to make sure your field is clean before you put the seeds in, otherwise it's going to be a struggle. All right, so back to blueberry. There are several ways without using the herbicide to control the weeds and none of these are very hard to understand.  Pine bars, mulch, really thick, cover the base of the tree. Blueberries are crops that love low pH. You know, we all have to use the sulfuric acid to decrease the pH. And in this case, if you use pine straw, pine bark for multiple years, that will reduce the pH as well. You know, not sure if that will drop the pH low enough, but at least that's helping, you know, to reach that goal. And then the other thing I really like in this picture is the Bermuda grass and a perennial, or I should say a perennial grass everywhere around the bushes, all right? I somewhat doubt that you need to have your perennial crop or cover crop grow right next to your plant because crop competition, or I should say competition for nutrients and water can still be a concern. But in this case, they put a thick enough pine bark around the bushes to give those plants three to four feet weed-free or no weed competition zone, all right? And then these perennial grasses will suppress the weeds by themselves because it's pretty thick. You know, no weeds can grow in that situation. And then keep looking at some other options. Weed fabric. This is something I would highly recommend. A lot of nursery use that stuff. Some places we put down twice just don't want to see any weeds in our greenhouse, you know? So this stuff lasts multiple years. They don't break down very easy.  So they're pretty sturdy, all right? And the cause-wise, it's not ridiculously high as well. And consider this as a one-time investment. I would highly recommend we're already using this. You know, if I plant a few blueberry or muscadine, you know, or whatever orchard type of crop in my backyard, I would definitely consider using those for smaller acreage, all right? So these are a few more examples of this weed barrier plus perennial grass system for weed suppression. You know, they all look fairly good, in my opinion. All right? Something to think about. This is what you need to plant out even before you plant your seedling or plant your trees, all right? Looking at the cause of this stuff, I didn't do a thorough analysis, you know, check, like 20 different suppliers for the cost. Forestry supplier is usually what we use a lot to buy supplies from my research and extension program. Four foot wide, 250 foot long weed barrier, heavy-duty professional barrier. This is retail price, you know? So I'm sure it can get cheaper than that. If this thing lasts five years, I think it will pay for itself very fast. It may not even take that long. And if it lasts more than five years, you know, that's all just profit for you, you know? Because the weeds growing in between the crop or right next to the crop, it doesn't matter if this is perennial or any crop or for row crop, that's usually the worst type of weed to control because they grow right next to your crop.  It's almost impossible to control in that case.  All right. Some people use the LDPE mulch, which is the predominate type people use for vegetables to form the bed. It'll be fine. It's better than nothing. But the issue is, you know, if you look at a plasti right there, they get holes very easy.  That is one problem we encountered one year in our vegetable trials.  And we were sitting in the field to patch the damaged LDPE mulch, you know, our plastic bed, because we still have to use the same bed, same, you know, same row for the trial that summer.  So that is no fun. That's why I recommend that weed barrier, you know, the black fabric thing is much more sturdy. All right. So no doubt this thing covers a lot of weeds underneath it. A lot of things trying to push through it, but they can't, you know, that's, that's the main thing, you know, you have to keep your crop row clean, at least three to four, three to four feet wide where your crop is, you have to make sure your crop row is very clean, and then kill off everything in the row middle. So I said you can plant cover crop, perennial cover crop, or perennial grass, your orchard, and then that will give you a lot of benefits, you know. And also if you run a U-pick operation, you have a lot of cover crop like this in the row middle for people to walk on. You know, that's very nice. And particularly if it rains before they get to the farm, they don't have to walk in the mud, you know. So this will make a big difference. I would rather walk on this compared to walk on mud if I, you know, if I take my family to a U-pick nearby Auburn. So that that's one good thing about having green cover crop in the row middle, or green perennial grasses. But one thing I do feel a little bit concerned about is the cover crop fully covered this orchard, you know, or this area. So there is not a really a weed clean or weed free strip at the crop row. So this will cause some crop and the cover crop competition. And especially in this case, I can tell in this picture that they use white clover, which is a perennial plant that grows all year long. I mean, it does fix nitrogen, which is good. But in a dry year, it also compete water against your crop as well. So keep that in mind. All right, so it does look good. And it's healthy. It's good for the soil health, you know, BWR organic matter, things like that. But also at the same time as the competing for nutrients and water. So go back to the bed preparation or land preparation. You almost have to adopt the mentality or mindset that before you plant any type of crop, make sure you clean up the weeds really, really good, you know, and then at that point, after you plant your new crop into this ground, particularly perennial crop, also remember you don't have a lot of herbicide option when your perennial crop is little, you know, this applied to blueberry, this applied to peach trees, this applied to pecan trees, you know, most of those perennial crops are very easily to be injured by herbicide, soil herbicide or post-emergent herbicide, whatever. All right. So in that first year or two, you don't have many herbicide options.  All right, don't try to rush it or stretch it too much. All right. So for blueberry specifically, the perennial woody plants or perennial woody weeds will be a problem. You know, for example, the briars, we got a lot of briars in Alabama.   You know, those post-emergent herbicides don't possess long or residual activity. All right. Try to do it at least several months before you plant your crop and repeat it several times at least. This kind of reminds me for folks who plant pine trees. Most of the time after they clear cut a field, they would hire a helicopter to spray the whole area with garland or with some forestry herbicide with same purpose.   And also make sure you use a methylated seed oil, base oil, whatever is affecting the heat of the herbicide to get a better control out of those weeds before you plant. Also, hand-remove is an option, mowing is an option, mulch is an option, cover crop, you know, that's an option.  All right. So try to diversify your weed control strategy as best as you can. When we look at a list of herbicides for blueberry, I say this is not a amazing list compared to stuff like soybean or corn, you know, because most of the herbicide molecule, you know, the new active ingredient usually gets labeled in row crop. All the testing is first, you know, is initially done in row crop. And then if something works well and has as potential for specialty crop, then they will think about stuff like vegetable, blueberry, peach and all those crops later on, right. So that's usually the process they'll follow. But if you look at this list, you know, there are a bunch of molecules we also use in row crop as well, but some of those are specific for brand new tree crops. All right. So looking at this list, different herbicides definitely have their own application window, you know. So it's not a clear cut that any herbicides can be sprayed at all same timing. You can spray whenever you want 24-7. No, that is not the case. That is why we have label. That is why we say label is the law. You have to follow the label. You got to read the label. You got to go to the label and read the rates, the application timing, the pre-harvest interval or acronym PHI. So have to follow the PHI restriction. Otherwise the residuals of the herbicide or chemicals that you spray is likely end up on the fruit that you sell, you know. So that will be an issue there. All right. So I found this map from Michigan State Extension. I think it's very helpful to help growers understand what are the herbicide options you have and when you need to apply it. All right. Also if you look at this list, it's anywhere from dormant to green fruit. You know, the timing may be a little bit off because we're about a month ahead of Michigan, you know, but the principle stays the same. You have to keep weeds free when your crop is actively growing and when it's setting fruit, you know, because you have to reduce the competition, but also keep this in mind. After the fruit are set, after people pick your fruit or you pick your fruit, you still have to keep your role middle, keep your field clean because if you think that, oh, I'm not making any money in July, August or September, which means I'm not going to spend any money to manage these weeds to make this crop healthy. Well, that's kind of short sighted because you're only hurting yourself the next year. You know, you give all the weeds a chance to replenish the seed bank, you know, to replenish the population and then next year, you're going to end up with a lot more summer weeds that you have to deal with. Okay. So don't be short sighted. Use those long residual herbicide like chateau or allion, you know, or diorone to keep the weeds free. You know, long-term residual herbicide works the best and then that will help decrease the weed population in the long run. Also keep in mind, we have a long summer. So it's very common for growers to have to spray three times or four times to keep the weeds clean, you know, keep the field clean, in this case. And also don't forget to rotate your chemistry. You don't want to beat a horse to death just because this horse work good for you. You know, for example, chateau or vatter, which depends on the row crop or specialty crop, you know, your row crops call vatter. It is a great herbicide. You know, we spray this thing a lot in Burndale and behind the planter for row crops. And also in specialty crops, chateau is a great product for perennial tree crop like blueberry, almonds, apple trees or pecans. But just because chateau works good doesn't mean you want to spray this thing all by itself, you know, three, four times a year for 10 years in a row. All right, you will create your own problem. For example, weed resistance. Pigweed can evolve resistance to PPO herbicide like chateau and it's already everywhere in the Midwest. And also there are certain weeds you don't kill very well with chateau.  This is another reason why you have to rotate chemistry or sometimes do a tank mixture and, you know, to increase the weed control spectrum. All right, so keep that in mind. Also talk about rates real quick. Most of our growers have sandy soil, sometimes very sandy soil. All right, that is a good and bad thing, you know. For perennial crops, I'll say that's usually a bad thing because it doesn't hold fertilizer real well. It doesn't hold your chemical very well. It leaves really easy. So if you spray high rate of a residual herbicide on those very sandy soil, for example, well par, you know, that's a PS2 photosynthesis two system inhibitor, which has also has a high water solubility. All right, you spray that thing at a very high rate on sandy soil and it rains a lot after you spray, you probably will pick up some injury or damage on your crop.  So keep that in mind when you have very sandy soil, low organic matter, your use rate have to be reduced a little bit. The highest level rate intended for heavier soil is not going to be applicable to you. You have to drop the rate back. Otherwise, you will see some injury. So you will need to use lower rates to avoid injury, but also lower rates means they doesn't last very long. That's another reason why you have to spray multiple times or more times compared to if you farm on a very heavy soil, just because just because your soil doesn't hold us, those soil herbicides very long. All right, so reduce the rate, but you have to spray more times, you know, which means just more cost, more labor, more diesel, unfortunately. Post-emergent treatments. All right, herbicide-wise, none of these can be sprayed over the top of the plants. These are all basically like a roll middle spray to the base of the brush type of application. You need to reduce or completely eliminate drift, because if you drift glyphosate to peaches or blueberry or pecan, you know, you will see the damage, particularly young tree seedlings. You know, the only thing you can spray everywhere is probably the grass herbicide like scythoxidine or Ursula max, these types of stuff. All right, so keep that in mind, drift management. So talk about the application equipment that you can use for post-emergent treatments, particularly the stuff you don't want to drift like a Liberty, you know, or Reli herbicide or Cromoxone. All these shield sprayer or hood sprayer come with different designs. You know, I found a few from internet. You want to keep the hood low to the ground, so the droplets, the spray droplets do not drift a lot, but also keep that in mind if your nozzle is really, really close to these weeds or to this stuff that you want to spray. It will not have good coverage either, so you basically are spraying a band. That band is right underneath your nozzle.  So you might want to look into your equipment. Some people may can build some of this stuff at home, you know, certainly I ran into a lot of people with great Southern ingenuity, you know, they may can build a rocket, like redneck version rocket in their backyard. So some people may build their own a shield sprayer or stuff like that to spray the roll middle or underneath the roll very factually. That's all good, but make sure the coverage is good, because if you sacrifice the coverage to prevent drift, eventually you're still leaving a few strips of weeds alive in between the roll middle all the time.  So as long as you get the weeds cleaned up in between the plants in the crop row, keep the crop row clean, you're all good, you know, I don't see too much issue with that. So, you know, not sure, try to diversify your strategies. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. And also to prevent drift, you have to somewhat note this chart. Okay, don't use fine or medium droplet size. These are very tiny, very small spray droplets. They give you a great coverage, but those droplets drift very easy with wind, all right. So at least use a coarse droplet, use a coarse droplet, or maybe very coarse droplet for stuff like glyphosate, you know, to prevent drift. I think the newest 240 called a 240 cooling formulation made by a Corteva, delagra science, may even have a label in perennial crops these days.  But if you spray some stuff like that, make sure you use very coarse droplets. So the droplet will not drift directly on the trees, because you know, drifting those systemic herbicide like 240 or Dicambo is not going to be very fun in sensitive crop. All right, so at the end, just a quick summary of all the things we covered. All right, so try to eliminate or reduce weed problem before you plant a crop or hit them as hard as you can before you plant your new brushes. Use mulch mowing nonchemical options during the establishment year when your trees are very little or when your brush is very little. Consider mulch, whether it is a pine bark, pine trees or leaving mulch like cover crop in between the rows. Cover crop like clover, legumes are really good, they can fix nitrogen, attract pollinator, increase your soil health, increase microbial activity, you know, there's a long list of benefits, but also keep that in mind. You probably still want to keep a weed-free strip on each side of the crop to prevent crop and cover crop competition, because if you have stuff like bermuda grass and white clover that can grow year-long, particularly active in the summer, you don't want to have those things compete against your crop for nutrients and water in the dry year. So that's why keep a weed-free strip on each side of the tree is important. Also consider for you pick, you might want to consider to have something in the row middle for people to walk on, so you know we don't have to walk in the mud in the wet year, we'll pick those blueberry or muscadine or peach, you know, that's generally a good strategy. All right, for herbicides, you want to use at least two applications, I would say maybe three applications to be more realistic for deep cells down here. Use pre-emergence for sure, and you can combine pre-emergence and post-emergence in the same trip if you want to keep the weeds down, but those long-term resources for herbicide is very important. All right, I'll save you a lot of headache later on for mowing the weeds. If you use a hoot spray or a post-direct sprayer, make sure you don't drift, just spray to the target, spray to the base of the plants and don't drift onto the leaves. Rotate chemistry is important, mowing, hand waiting as needed, don't let weeds set seeds in the fall, you know, just go back to the point that even your crop is not making your money in the fall, you don't want to let all the weeds do whatever they want and turn themselves very loose, you know, and just set up a tons of seeds, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands seeds per acre, that'll cause you a lot of trouble next year. So for very sandy soil, very low organic matter, young trees just planted into this type of soil, be careful with herbicide injury. Nobody can tell you whether this is safe or not unless you test on yourself. A good general rule of thumb is go with lower rate on the label, read the label real well, make sure you understand the risk. If it tells you, if the label tells you, hey, you just cannot spray this soil herbicide on sandy soil, follow the label, because if you do, you might like to get hurt and if you get hurt, your injury or crop, you cannot go against the manufacturer because the manufacturer clearly specified, you cannot use this herbicide on very sandy soil, all right, so all the risk is on you or the damage is on you in that case. All right, when you spray Liberty and Gromoxone, these are very effective post-emergent options. Both are contact herbicide, which means you got spray with hood sprayer, don't like to drift on the leaves, but actually if you drift a little bit Gromoxone or Reli or Liberty herbicide on the leaves or any type of green leaves, it will be just a bunch of speckles, it's not going to cause any damage to the tree itself, it only hurts the leaves, but if you drift a systemic herbicide like a Roundup or 240 or Dicamba or Graze on the pasture herbicide onto sensitive broad leaf crops, that will cause potentially long-term effect because the herbicide can move inside the plant and disrupt normal growth at a very low dosage, so keep that in mind. All right, that's pretty much everything I have.


And so we're gonna be looking today at Luke chapter two. Let me begin reading at verse three. And again, this is a condensed version. I tore out a whole lot of my notes to just try and bring it to the bare bones thing to make sure again that you're able to go and enjoy the rest of the day with your family. And so beginning at verse one, reading to verse three came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Carinias was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. We know that Luke was a historian. He gives to us historic facts that I'm not gonna deal with at this moment, but he's writing this as a factual account. Now as we begin this study for over 400 years, God had been silent towards Israel. You see in the Old Testament, the last book that God inspired to be written was a book of Malachi. And the prophet Malachi had ministered in a very, very evil time. It was a time when Israel had become terribly corrupt. When you read the book of Malachi, the priest became tired of serving God. Corruption had entered into the priestly and religious system of Israel. And so what happened at that time is God inspired a man by the name of Malachi, a prophet to preach to the nation, to call them to repentance, but they refused to do that even though the message was very clear. But they refused and because they refused, God became silent and he stopped speaking to the nation of Israel and that was 400 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Now after 400 years, God has intended now to break his silence. At time is right for him to keep the promise that he had made to the people of his covenant. You see God had prophesied he had promised that a Messiah would be born and that this Messiah was going to be born in a small village, a village called Bethlehem. He had made that known by the prophet Micah over 700 years before Christ. In Micah five verse two, it says, you, Bethlehem, Ephrata, though you are small or insignificant among all the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from of old from ancient times. They're ruling your origins are from eternity past beyond the vanishing point. He's speaking about God coming and taking incarnation and so now the conditions are right and Messiah has come to Israel. Mary and Joseph were residents of Nazareth to the north of Bethlehem. So the question is how could a resident of Nazareth be led to go to Bethlehem? Bethlehem is approximately 90 miles south of Nazareth. We know that that would be a walk that would take several days. And so how are you gonna get two people to go from the north to the south? Well, the answer is that God moved a petty ruler to order a census and that's what it's saying here. It speaks concerning this in verse one, the decree that went out from Caesar Augustus. So God moved the heart of a petty ruler. Proverbs 21 verse one is a beautiful verses as the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. And so that we ought to keep in mind by the way when we're praying for those who govern over us God is able to turn their hearts and that's what God did here. And so Caesar Augustus had issued a decree that all the Roman world would be registered. In other words, that their names would be recorded that their property and their income could be taxed. Well, Joseph according to verse four, Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betrothed wife who was with child. So Mary's espoused husband Joseph is a descendant, a descendant of the king, the great king David. Now, Jews have been in Israel for around 4,000 years from the time of Abraham that ought to keep, that ought to cause us to keep some things in mind because especially what's taking place today when the individuals are saying that the Jews don't belong in the land that they've had for 4,000 years. Well, David was to go to, rather Joseph was to go to Bethlehem because King David was born in Bethlehem 1,000 years before Christ and because the Jews keep track of their genealogies Joseph knew that the city he was to go to was Bethlehem. Well, it says in verse seven, so it was that while they were there the days were completed for her to be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths laid him in a manger because there was no room for them. In the end, now, in spite of the fact that Mary was terribly pregnant, nobody would give her a room. So what they did is they were forced to lodge in an outdoor stable and according to verse seven, she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths. Now notice in verse seven how it says she brought forth her firstborn son. Jesus is the firstborn to Mary. But when you read your Bible, she'll discover that she later would have other children and she had the other children with a man by the name Joseph, her husband, who was a carpenter. And in Matthew 13, 55 and 56, the question is asked, is this not the carpenter's son? It's not his mother called Mary, his brothers, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas and his sisters. Are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? So Jesus is referred to here. She brought forth verse seven, her firstborn. He's spoken of as firstborn because he is preeminent. Jesus Christ has preeminence over all things. So that gives us insight into his glory. According to Colossians 115, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the preeminent one. He is the firstborn over all creation. And so she wrapped him, it says in swaddling cloths and she laid him in a manger. The word manger actually speaks of a trough. It was where animals would feed. Now swaddling cloths were wrapped around the baby and they became its clothes for a year. And they wrapped these cloths around the baby at birth. But you might be interested to know or to remember that they were also used later in burial. And she laid him in a manger where these animals were feeding. Again that reveals the humility of his birth. He was placed in a manger, someone said.  Now there was no room for them in the inn, this enclosure. The inn is an enclosure that was used for caring for animals. It had water supplied, but there was no host, there was no food, there were no ordinary comforts. It was an hotel. A lot of times we look at it when it says there was no room in the inn. We think of a small hotel or a hostel, it wasn't that at all. It was a stable and it was a stable outside. There wasn't even room for Mary in the stable is what he's saying. Mary gave birth to Jesus in the place that was used for the care of sheep. Now as this is taking place here, it says in verse eight, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. These were the shepherds and they were disrespected because the work they had would keep them from observing Jewish law. But what it shows me is that when Jesus was born, not only was he placed in a manger, placed in a trough, but that his birth was one of humility because it's showing us that those who were disrespected in the society for not keeping the religious laws were the ones who were gonna have the opportunity to first encounter him. And it shows us that he's available, that he's available to any who might seek him. Aren't you glad about that? Aren't you glad that he was available to you?  That to me is such a revolutionary thought. I was sharing yesterday in our Sunday morning service about a little bit about that help because in a couple of days we celebrate the 53rd anniversary of coming to faith in Christ.  I did nothing to prepare myself to meet him, but he drew me to where I could. And I did nothing to make myself better so I could be appealing to him. But he saved me in the condition I was in in order to remove me from that condition and put me into the condition he had planned for me. He did the same for you. When I got saved, I was one thing, but now I am something else. And somebody says, well, yeah, after all these years, of course, you're something else. You're too old to party.  We just started partying earlier. That's all, you just party at three. No, isn't it good? You know, I don't want to take up all your time, but I am thinking about that. I am thinking about how good the Lord is, how that God would, that he would take upon himself human flesh, that he would be placed in a manger and announcements in all would be made to ordinary people not the religious elite and not the king of the nation, but the announcement would be made to shepherds who were keeping their sheep, watching the flock by night, and that he planned on reaching these who were in society's eyes, not quite as good as the others, that Jesus would be placed in a feeding trough, not even, not a beautiful bed, nothing that was fit for a king, but that he would humble himself for people like us. In 1 Corinthians 1, 26 through 29, Paul said, brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. No one can say because of my goodness, no one can say because of my skills, because of my wealth, because of the nobility of my birth. Nobody can say I deserve the grace that God gives and these shepherds may have been keeping sheep that were being used for the sacrifices. So God now invades and breaks into the ordinary routine of their lives, the way that he does.   Many of us planned out our lives. But God breaks into your plan sometimes and he redirects those plans and he does it in a way that at the moment he's doing it may not make sense. But at the end you turn around and you say, so that's why you had me do this and that's why you directed me here. I didn't know you would do that. So my brother gets saved and I have a heart to go and speak to my brother so I take my sister and every week we go on a Monday night to teach him a Bible study. We start in the Gospel of Mark and he begins to invite friends. I didn't wanna come to Ontario, I lived in Norwalk. I was sharing with the guys the other day, for me, San Bernardino, can anything good come out of San Bernardino County? Are you kidding me? And Chino, Chino? Can anything good outside of flies because at that time there were so many dairies out here. The fly was on the, it was the city mascot. I mean, there were just flies everywhere and it smelled and when it rained it was horrible. Who'd wanna come out here? Are you kidding me? I'm from LA. But God said, no, I'll bring you out there.  My brother gets saved. So he needs a Bible study. My sister and I started driving from Norwalk to Ontario. He starts inviting friends. A young woman comes in one day, he says, David, this is Marine and that was it. Now I love Chino. But I didn't plan that out. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I didn't plan that out. For my life goal, I'll say this quickly, my life goal was to get my degree. I was going to Biola. So I was gonna get my five year degree. Then I was gonna take master's classes. Then I was gonna go out and see if I could be hired as a pastor. That's what I was gonna do because I thought that's what I should do. God had other plans. I went to college, never graduated, started a Bible study while I was going to college, stopped going to college so I could concentrate on the Bible study and here I am today. God has other plans. He has that way of doing it. And I'm sure he's done that with you. What you may have thought was an accident of the moment was in fact the spirit of God guiding your footsteps to a certain place so he could intersect with you and say, you need to turn in this direction so you can have these things that I have planned for you. So these people are going about their ordinary duties. They're out there taking care of sacrificial sheep. They're disregarded by and large by the society surrounding them but God now invades and breaks into the ordinary routine of their life to direct them. Notice verse nine. It says, an angel of the Lord. Behold, that's a surprise. It's a surprise. Behold, surprise. An angel of the Lord stood before them. The glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. And we say, oh God, show me your glory. If you did, we'd all be running out of here wetting ourselves. I mean, it would be scary. If you showed you his glory, no. But that's what happens and the glory of the Lord just becomes visible to them. The way the glory of the Lord had become visible to Moses when God appeared to him in a burning bush. The way that the glory of the Lord shone before the children of Israel when they were in the wilderness and he was going before them in a pillar of fire. The way that he revealed his glory to King Solomon when Solomon dedicated the temple of God to him, the shekinah glory of God, shone around them and their hearts trembled in fear. They knew the stories that were well versed in scripture. They knew that angels had visited men like Abraham and Gideon and Daniel. They knew the stories of God's visitations and how God manifests himself. But now there's an angel standing before them and that book has become alive to them. That's what happens, by the way, when you receive Christ, you know, you may have read this story before you probably did as a non-believer, probably heard this before you came to faith in Christ. And it's just a story. It's just a book. It doesn't mean anything. It's maybe a myth. It may be a fable. But it's a nice thing to believe. You've heard it and you've heard it and you've heard it. But when you came to faith in Christ and the things began to show themselves or what they are and God manifested himself by his word and you awaken to the reality, these things are true. This isn't a myth. This isn't a fable. This isn't a story. This is history. This is what God has done. And he opened your eyes to this. Well, the book came alive. They knew those stories. They knew about Abraham. They knew God had moved and all those old, these men were not ignorant of scripture. They were well versed. They would memorize the first five books of the Bible. These people knew scripture. They may not have been adhering to all the complete law in terms of regulations at least in the side of the people. But they knew these stories. They knew of these heroes of the faith and how God administered to them. But now this book has come alive and that's what happened when I got saved is these words on this page, they took a life and that life was my light. And as this is taking place, verse 10, the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. I'm bringing you great news, great tidings, mega-carous, I'm bringing you things that are beyond your understanding. Now it's natural for you to be afraid. But their fear is now gonna be turned into joy because the hope of the ages has been fulfilled. The Messiah has been born. He says in verse 11, there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. This day in other words is signaling the dawn of a new day. Man has been imprisoned in darkness, spiritual darkness, spiritual blindness, you're groping around hoping you can find something but you can find nothing because you're walking in the dark. And walking in the dark can be dangerous. You're injured as you walk in the dark. Years ago, now a few years ago, we had our stage set up for the VBS and they put all kinds of props up here and I'm not blind, you know, I know what it's like to walk in some kind of darkness. When it's pitch black, I can't see a thing. When it's even, not even pitch black, when it's just dark, I can't see a thing. Marie has many times she'd take me by the hand and she just leads me because I don't know where I'm going. I'm walking in the dark. And I come walking out of this back and I didn't know there was a prop in front and I hit the prop. I hit it with my foot as I was walking and I popped my hamstring. Anybody who's popped a hammy, you know pain. You want to talk about pain? You know pain. I popped two hamstrings, my left and my right. I popped one when I hit in the dark. I popped the other doing a baptism. A good-sized lady took me down. Popped my hammy. That's the truth. So some of you know what it means to walk in the dark. As a matter of fact, we all know what it means to walk in the dark, groping for something. And it may not be because you're physically blind but it was because you were spiritually blind because you were hoping to be able to find your way in a darkened world. And you couldn't. You can't because you're in spiritual darkness and that's why you rejoice that the light has shined. Isaiah 9, 2 says, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death upon them, a light has shined. And John 1, verse 4, it says, in him was life and the life was the light of men. Well, they say in verse 11, there's been born to you this day in the city of David a savior. There's been born to you one confronting all the sin of the world and he is the savior. He is Christ the Lord.   And Messiah will save any and all who believe. Both Jew and Gentile, Isaiah 52, 10 says, the Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. He is Christ, he says. He's the Lord. And he's Jesus. And he's identified for the shepherds. The anointed one, the Messiah, Messiah. And this he says in verse 12 will be the sign. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. So Jesus is in the enclosure that was used to house sacrificial animals. The animals would include the sheep that were to be sacrificed. And the sheep would be used as offerings for sin. And so that's a picture of Jesus who is the sin offering. In John 1.29, the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And this is what you're going to find. You're going to find Christ the Lord. He's lying in a manger. Verse 13, suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. So we've been singing silent night for so long when in fact it wasn't. It was an amazing group of singers who were actually they were making a statement. They were simply out there speaking forth, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men. So this silent night was broken by their statements. In a moment of time we receive understanding and understanding that you change our lives. It says here on earth peace, good will toward men. You see, there's no peace on earth except among those with whom God is well pleased. Men are in a state of hostility with heaven and with one another and God has provided a way of peace and it comes through Jesus Christ. And when men become reconciled to God through the Son then the hostility has changed. They actually begin to love one another. What is it that changes lives? If you're at hostility with somebody else what will change that when you learn to love that person? And when that person learns to love you because love has a way of breaking through barriers that would normally cause hostility between us. God has a way of doing that. Instead of keeping within me the rage and the anger and the hurt and all that I could have towards those who perhaps have wronged me in some way at least I've perceived them to have done so. When I release that into the hand of the Lord and say God in Jesus' name I pray that you'll help me to care about that person to pray for that person and to even love that person. Everything changes. But as long as I keep nursing that, nurturing it, wrapping it up in some kind of miserable cloth and every once in a while unwrapping it to look at it and remind myself of what they did and wrap it back up. As long as I keep doing that kind of thing with my hurts and unforgiveness I'm going to be most miserable. But when God saves a wretch like me and awakens me to the fact that other riches exist and perhaps that person doesn't know you Lord and therefore they're just as rich as I have been God give me the ability to forgive, to let go to release them, to actually care about them. You see peace comes when we're reconciled first to God and then it's spoken to others through us. It's the gospel of peace. 2 Corinthians 5.19 and 20 says God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ not counting men's sins against him and he's committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors as though God were making his appeal through us we implore you on Christ's behalf be reconciled to God. So peace on earth, glory to God and the highest on earth peace, good will toward men. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherd said to one another let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass which Lord has made known to us and they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger and when they had seen him they made widely known the same which was told them concerning this child and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them. Now they weren't told exactly where to find Jesus if they were interested they needed to go they needed to obey the directions and search and find him. Isaiah 556 says that like this, seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he's near and so they went and sought him out and when they had seen him they made widely known the same the shepherds in other words became the first evangelists they began to tell people what had happened you know as we've said recently when Greg Laurie brought out his Jesus Revolution movie people were fascinated by it they looked at it as some kind of historic account of what took place in that revolution the Jesus movement revolution and all and let me tell you one of the things and I'll say it briefly but this is what one of the things was that made it what it was is that we were not silent about what we believed we weren't afraid of offending sensitive hearers because we knew that they needed Jesus Christ we knew it and for us to keep this to ourselves was not loving them it was hating them and somehow this society has made it for us for believers it's made it almost a sin for us to speak about Christ when in fact the fact is it's sinful for us not to God has called us to tell the truth and you know what we're discovering I'll say this again briefly I keep saying that because I'm lying to you because I keep I'm going to keep talking but it's true we're seeing this yesterday when we gave the invitation the majority of the people who came forward were about 20 years old 21 years old because the young people want to hear the truth and we're here closing our mouths when they should be hearing what is true and other people are lying to him in the church is a co-conspirator with the world don't be ashamed of your faith it's the only thing that saves people don't be afraid of Jesus Christ and preaching his name don't be afraid of it what are they going to do are they going to do cancel you so what who cares you know the one that you're going to fear is not the person who says I'm going to you know oh you're no good or whatever it's when God cancels you and so that's what made people don't seem to understand that that's what made the Jesus movement the Jesus movement that's what we're seeing in the book of Acts they got saved and they spoke and the people said you be quiet you shut up we're going to beat you and Paul said I'll die for the name of Jesus Christ I'll go anywhere for Jesus Christ if it's true then we ought to speak it that's why I told my brother that's why I told my sisters that's why I told my dad that's why I told my mom that's why I told everybody that's why I teach Bible studies so people will know Jesus Christ and that's what these shepherds did they went out and they said guess what Messiah has been born and they're the first evangelists they're glorifying they're praising God and God's word is true and they wanted others to know it but in this place Mary kept according to verses 19 and 20 all these things and pondered them in her heart now the people who had heard were marveling the shepherds who were visited were beginning to share they were glorifying they were praising God but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart she thought about what she had been told by the angel at the Annunciation when he told her that you are going to be conceiving of the Holy Spirit and bringing forth God's own Son she remembered how Joseph had shared what he had been told she considered how the shepherds were overwhelmed by the angels pondered the response of the people who only wondered at this strange story and she wondered what will all of this lead to and eight days later the answer was supplied in Luke 2.34 and 35 when she was presenting Jesus Simeon blessed Joseph and Mary the scripture says and said to Mary his mother behold this child is destined for the fallen rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against yes a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed what is this going to lead to what is this beautiful birth what is this going to lead to it is going to lead to your son dying on a cross the manger that held Christ as I shared yesterday became a cross that held Christ and that cross led to a grave a tomb that could not hold Christ we have a living savior Jesus Christ who was born fulfilling hundreds of prophecies and God's word being true and the promises being made to us is that Jesus Christ was born our savior and our king who rules over our hearts now when we yield ourself to him and we celebrate his birth knowing full well that it wouldn't have been December 25th shepherds wouldn't have been in the fields in a very cold night we don't celebrate the date of his birth we celebrate the fact of his birth he was born he is our king and even as the shepherds praised God even so we do we glorify him and we praise God for all the things that we have seen and that we have heard