The Significance and Singularity of Christmas
First B Jackson
2014-12-07

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Good to see you. Good to see you. How about we stand up? We are here to worship Jesus. He is our king.

He is our risen lord. He's our savior. He's the one we're celebrating this season and in every season. So should we give him praise?

Yep. Yeah. All hail the power. All hail the bound of Jesus' name. Let angels cross straight from.

Bring forth the royal, Alright. Give him praise.

That was kind of a train wreck at the end there. Thank you, God, for grace. Can we pray? Thank you, God. We're we're grateful for another morning.

Thank you, God, for loving us in spite of us. And, God, we do want to just set aside the the things, the cares, the worries of the week, and set our sights on you. You're the author and perfecter of our faith, and we wanna give you praise. Amen.

I've got a few announcements this morning as people are arriving. I think Renzi. Hey. There we go. There's a ladies Christmas luncheon that's happening this Friday on the twelfth.

Deborah, do you wanna stand up and say anything about that?

Patrick has offered to cater at cost, so we're gonna have a very nice sit down ladies luncheon served by our very own first speed men. So you don't wanna miss that. And it's going to be an outreach. So, if you know anybody that doesn't really go to church, that's not really comfortable going to church, please invite them. They're going to be very welcomed and they're they'll feel very comfortable.

We're going to have singing and good food and a ladies fireside chat. So, let us know though ASAP because we have to reserve your seat. Thank you. Alright.

So that is December 12, twelve to two right here in this room. Double take Christmas pageant is next Sunday. So that's both the nine and eleven. There's gonna be a children's program with music and drama and it'll be fun. So December 12, both services.

Double take, a Christmas pageant. It's funny too, by the way. And I forgot to announce this last week. The fourth annual Buzzard Breath, Chili Cook Off, and Caroling, and I think that's probably like more than that. There's more than four of these, but fourth annual Buzzard Breath, Chili Cook Off, and Caroling, December 14.

That'll be in the evening. We'll start up at 05:00 here. And we have two flatbed trailers. We need three or four. What are you saying?

04:30.

04:30. Okay. Sounds good. 04:30. The sign says five, but that's alright.

04:30. 04:30 it is. Come early and stay late. It's fun. The first b angel tree.

Look at that slide, Renzi. That tree right out there in the foyer has a bunch of ornaments about prime time right here about this level. They're angel ornaments and they have a tag on them, and on that tag has a list of items. Some of them are for a family. It's families that First Bee has identified as people being in some kind of need during this season, and if it it's for a family, it'll be listed.

Family number so and so, without a name but it that's probably gonna be the Christmas presents that they get on on on that list. If you would, you can take one of those and go out and go shopping for those folks, and then bring them back here. Bring your gifts back here, and we will deliver those to those families. If you find a tag that just has some individual items but does not list a family name, those are for community resource center who also are involved in helping families this season. So, if you would and you want to, grab one of those angel ornaments off of the tree.

This has been something in the past where the blessing has been great for both the gift and the for the giver and the givey. So, if you would, they're they're out there. That's what that whole first beat angel tree is about. And Dan and Dancey and the rest of the Tolson brood are gonna be doing the Advent reading this morning.

Good morning. This Sunday the second in Advent, we light the candle of peace as we look forward to and celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace. We're reminded that God's timing is always perfect and his provision is always sufficient.

Now, may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. Second Thessalonians three sixteen.

Don't y'all why don't y'all get up and greet one another and we'll bring it back together with a song.

Found, far ahead the as far as the curse is found. He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations brew. The glories of his righteousness,

Amen.

I'll with you. I'll be with you, and my soul sings out as your word grows out far away.

I'll wait on you. I'll wait

on you.

You are my refuge.

I'll wait on you,

God, again, we wanna just say to you that, our hope is in you. God, you are the God who has and is and is to come. And, we just say that right out of the gate here because in this advent, we look back, but we are also looking forward. We're looking forward to the advent when you come back for us. So I thank you, God, for that hope, for that promise, for that assurance.

Amen.

Light of the world. And here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to sing that, oh, my God. You're all together of me, all

God, we can get going on a really fast pace and and leave you behind. And I pray that it would be this time of season, we would just take those moments to really get in your presence, hang out with you. You are with us. You are Emmanuel, God with us, have been, always will be, but we would truly see that you are the light of the world. You have come down.

You've lived life among us. You died in our place for our sin. You've given us new life. You've given us hope. You keep your promises, and so we rest in that this morning and give our our heart to you.

God, in in these I send this worship of giving too. It's just a it's a little thing, but I pray there'd be more than just, some money in a plate. It would be us saying, God, I wanna serve you. I wanna love you. Wanna love other people because that's what you've called me to do.

Wanna take the attention off myself and place it on you and continue to do that. So, God, would you take these gifts? Would you bless them, but also bless the people that are giving? Use it, God, to to glorify yourself and build up your kingdom. This is what you said.

Build your kingdom on earth. So we pray that you would do that, not only here in Jackson, but to the ends of the earth. We pray this in the mighty, precious, and powerful name of Christ. Amen.

So, they're going. Y'all heard that. The children's are dismissed to go down to children's church and we've got one. Y'all know how much I like to just keep on going forward in scripture. Y'all gotten that over the last three years that I just like to keep moving forward in whatever book.

One of the things it does is takes the agenda out of my hands and I just kinda try to give an even smattering but hey, it's Christmas. You know what I'm saying? It's Christmas and this is something to celebrate. So, this Sunday, we're gonna considering the significance and the singularity of Christmas. I couldn't come with the title but that's it right there.

It is very significant. Think about this. I looked up yesterday on a, you know, famous people's birthdays website and I looked it up by year. I said, how many? And there were 13 people BC before Christ that they put their birthdays up there and there were, you know, hundreds.

It's pop stars. Closer you get to our age, you get more and more people. But how many people have ever had their birth celebrated like Jesus? None. There is no other.

Nobody else has ever had this. It is a singular thing. Christ mass, Christmas is just about Jesus. And that seems, well, duh. I mean, big deal.

But the significance of it, I I want to go through this. This Eric Wakab, who is one of the elders right now read this the other night at an elders meeting and I was already considering it but I asked him if he wanted to preach after it was over because it was so succinct. Just the green part down there but I'm gonna read it all. This is Matthew one eighteen through 25 from the New Living Translation of the Bible. So, it may put a more modern spin on what you've heard your whole life.

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance, was a good man and he did not want to disgrace her publicly. So, he decided to break the engagement quietly.

Literally, in the Greek, it says, he did decided to divorce her because of betrothal at that time was tantamount to marriage. He decided to break the engagement quietly. As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, Joseph, son of David, the angel said, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she will have a son and you are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Jesus means the Lord saves. Jehovah saves.

You are to name him Jesus. Four, because he will save his people from their sins. And all this occurred to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet, which is Isaiah. Look, behold, the virgin will conceive a child and she will give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. When and by the way, Carl preached last Monday night on God with us and it was so good.

He used a clip from Charles Spurgeon going on and on about that. I'd recommend you look up that clip. I almost used it again this morning. Charles Spurgeon on Emmanuel, God with us. It's fantastic.

When Jesus, when Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife but he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born and Joseph named him Jesus. You could stop right there and preach all day. He had a direct command from God. Fear not, do this. When he woke up, it says he did it.

Period. Just like that but I'm not gonna go into that. You are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. This prompts the question, what does it take to be a savior? What does it take to be a savior?

And as I was considering that, I was reading a book a while back by Erwin Lutzer, and he was mentioning an analogy that I thought was really, really good. If well, it actually came from a story. This thing is ringing in my ears like crazy. Is it doing that to you all? Can we change that?

Renzi says, no. Thank you. So this story was of a child that a grandmother was keeping. She was taking care of the child, fell into a swimming pool, child could not swim, and was drowning. The grandmother wanted to save the child, jumped in.

The grandmother could not swim, the child could not swim, and both drowned. And that prompts this, what what does it take to be a savior or a lifesaver for someone who is drowning? It takes someone who's willing to save, first of all, and the grandmother was in that particular story, but she was incapable. It takes someone who is able to save and as I was considering that this morning and considering the singularity of Christmas, it it makes me think of what is different about Christ and what is different about Christianity than any of the other world religions. All of the world religions basically will admit that there is something wrong with us.

That we are drowning and last week, we we had a request hour during the 11:00 service last week and we sang, love lifted me and it starts off like this. I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more and honestly, all world religions would say, yeah, we get that. Hinduism says there is such a thing as sin. Buddhism says there is such a thing as sin. Islam says there is such a thing as sin.

Everybody recognizes that we as humans are drowning in it, and we need to be saved from it. We need to be pulled out of it. We need to be pulled out of its consequence. You are to name him Jesus for he will save his people from their sins. Matthew one twenty one.

Now, this is before Jesus was born. The short prophetic word from an angel. We have the one from Isaiah that's quoted also in Matthew from seven fifty years before. We have multiple ones telling every city that he was gonna be a part of, the countries that he would see. Later on in life, Jesus said this about himself.

Words of Christ in red up here. For the son of man, that's his favorite self designation, came to seek and to save those who are lost. So, he's saying that there is a problem, there is sin, and there's a solution and Jesus is it. He will save his people from their sins and the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost, drowning. Do Hindu Swamis claim to be sinless?

I've talked to a Hindu Swami before. No. He did not. Neither does anybody that I've read around, read about. The Hindu religion normally will take on new gods.

There were there pantheon of gods are kind of like the Roman gods. In that, some of em are tricksters. They are known the gods themselves, the small G gods are known to have sin. They're capricious and they monkey around with one another. Quite honestly, some of them are monkey gods by the way.

Some of them are elephant gods. Hindu swamis would never claim for themselves or even for most of their 800,000 gods, sinlessness. It does not really exist. The concept is foreign because everybody sins. Everybody has sin.

So, that Romans three twenty three right there. You know, we all have sinned. There's no one righteous. No, not one. We see it over and over in scripture and that just affirms what we already know.

Did Buddha claim to be sinless? No. In his search for enlightenment, he did find some things, and you know what? If you read some of the things that Buddha said, oh, they're great. If words are both kind and true, they will change the world.

That's beautiful. Sounds like like Jesus but anyway, he's four fifty years BC but his teachings did not claim that he was sinless. In fact, the 14 manifestations of the Buddha's reincarnation, the Dalai Lama today is supposed to be the fourteenth reincarnation of the Buddha. He doesn't claim sinlessness. He can't claim sinlessness because he's a man.

He doesn't is not a sinless one. All of his good teaching and he has some also some good teachings. He does not claim sinlessness. The prophets of Islam, this is a this is a kind of hard one to discuss especially if you're speaking to someone who is Muslim. Because if you mention the name of the prophet, rest his may he rest in peace.

That's what you're supposed to do after every prophet. And Adam is considered a prophet. Did he sin? Oh, yeah. Abraham?

Yep. Every prophet down the line, including Mohammed, sinned. Now, were were they made perfect in the Koran? It says that Mohammed was paying attention to a rich group of guys in Mecca, and a blind man came in, a blind beggar, and he ignored him. And God corrected him on it and said, these guys that you were talking to, you were doing it for advantage.

And when this guy came in, you ignored him. And he corrected him. Is that sin? Oh, yeah. There's an ongoing debate in Islam whether he has sin or not.

But there's no doubt that he did sin. So, Buddha, Muhammad, Adam, Abraham, all of the prophets of Islam. They were prophets and they were given swimming lessons in some way. They were calling people to the edge but they themselves were incapable of actually jumping in the pool and saving people, dragging them out. The Baha'u'llah.

The Baha'i faith, the guy this guy from eighteen sixties, eighteen fifties. He saw that all of the world's religions agreed on the problem of sin and he sought to gather this all into one big umbrella and the faith is growing like crazy by the way because coexist seems so great and the Dalai Lama preaches that we should get along and Jesus says, you should love your enemies and all of these things seem to be saying similar things. So, let's compile them all to one big thing. He did claim that he had a greater revelation and that his was a more complete but he did not claim sinlessness nor did anyone who lived anywhere near him. That he was sinless.

He, nobody has that covered. Are there any other sinless saviors? There are a few people with messiah complexes that have said that they were sinless over the years, but their next door neighbor has said no. No doubt. He's sinful.

So, in all the major religions and even the minor religions, we don't find a sinless one that is a savior and in Christianity, we do and I point to a couple of places. Jesus, what did he say about himself? And this is a random sampling. The other night, Eric Walkup was doing a a for Saeed was doing this a random sampling. He had a a bowl of sprinkles in there and he was saying, how many, how would you find out how many red ones were in here?

He said, well, you could take em out and count every single one of em or you could just take a spoonful and count the ones in that spoonful and multiply it out. Figure that out that way. A random sampling. I'm giving you today just a short random sampling of the verses about Jesus and his sinlessness. Jesus said, which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin?

And since I am telling you the truth, why don't you believe me? Judas, after the betrayal for a small sum, 30 pieces of silver. I have sinned by betraying innocent blood, not an a man innocent of these charges, innocent blood. Pilate at Jesus's kangaroo court trial. I find no guilt in this man.

Oh, really? Because you're the one that sentenced him. I find no guilt in this man whatsoever. He has done nothing wrong. Peter said of Jesus, not in Luke 23, but he said of Jesus in Peter two twenty two, he committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth.

He's quoting Isaiah right there which was seven fifty years before pointing towards Jesus and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death. So, was numbered with the transgressors on the cross between two thieves but with the rich, Joseph of Arimathea loaned him a grave. At his death because he had done no violence, no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth. The no violence kind of bothered me because that's not sin exactly. That's not the same thing as sin.

The Islam would actually say that Muhammad never did any actual big sins. He did some little ones but no big ones. Well, violence sounds like a big one to me but looking back through that, in Isaiah and in Peter, if you look at the Septuagint, the Greek version, there's no doubt about it. It's sin and that was the interpretation that Matthew put on it. He had no, he had done no sin nor was any deceit in his mouth.

Paul says, later on, for he, God, made him who knew no sin, Jesus, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Union with Christ is very very important. Christ union with all of the sin on the cross and having that crucified on the cross is very very important to Christianity because Christ did not owe a sin debt. Since he did not owe a sin debt and yet he chose to die, he has the ability, he has the right standing before God that he can offer his as a sacrifice, a ransom for many, they would say. So, love lifted me.

This is the way that the song goes on. I was sinking deep in sin far from the peaceful shore, very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more. Everybody admits that. If they're serious about it, there are some folks who would say, yeah, I'm good. I'm a good guy.

No big deal. I do more harm than, I mean, I do more good than bad but they all admit that there's bad and if there is a punishment from sin, the wages of sin is death according to the Bible. They can't do anything with it. But the master of the sea heard my despairing cry from the waters lifted me. Now, safe am I.

That's the difference in Christianity right there. Not only is Christ willing to help, he actually can help. He has actually lived a life sinlessly. Now, you might say, as Peter goes on in Peter two twenty two twenty three somewhere in there, he says, he lived as an example for us but it didn't stop there. It didn't stop at him just leaving us an example.

He actually offered the payment for sin. That's why nobody else's birthday is celebrated like this birthday is celebrated. He is a singular guy. He's the only game in town. That makes sense.

The only one that actually works. The only one that actually pays off and it's not just about salvation. That's the primary focus of all these that I'm pointing out because of his sinlessness but it's also about our justification. I mean, our our sanctification, the cleaning up that he does in our life because he did it and he proved that it could be done. Some people would go, well, he was God.

What you going to do? He's able. Well, the Bible says very clearly, he emptied himself. He came and found just in the nature as a man. So, he had the conscious decisions, conscious choices.

He had temptations and he was without sin. Because he has proven that it can be done, that's really kinda encouraging. No, it's not. Because none of us do it. It's not encouraging.

Just because it can be done, that actually can put you into a deeper hole except not only is he capable, he's willing. He wants to help. He wants to help you. Find the second verse of love lifted me. I didn't put it up on this.

Souls in danger. That's everybody. Look above. Jesus completely saves. He will lift you by his love out of the angry waves.

That's great. That's justification. He will make you right before God. If you will just turn to him like he asked and said, please, lord, help me. Yezu Jube from last week.

He's the master of the sea. Billows his will obey. He, your savior, wants to be. He's willing. Be saved today.

Love lifted me. Love lifted me. When nothing else could help, love lifted me. Hey, look at there. Y'all on top of things.

That's cool. Can we go back to the other slides now? A couple of weeks ago had had we had gotten into, y'all remember this? First Corinthians eleven twenty seven. Like I said, I really like to go forward but I skipped a little section so I skipped about four verses in here but we're gonna come back to it because we have communion.

We have the Lord's supper on the table today. Talked about the singularity of it and all that. The new covenant that the prophet spoke about that Jeremiah spoke about. The new covenant in Christ's blood was not a if then about how you acted is what you believe. It is when you have Jesus in your heart, he will be the one who is doing the cleaning up.

He will be the one who is doing the saving. When I looked at this, I preached this in the second service. I made it through with them a couple weeks ago but therefore, whoever eats this bread and it's talking about the Lord's supper, the remembrance. Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. The unworthy manner is the part.

All of us are actually unworthy. All of us have sinned. There's no doubt about it but once you have admitted before God that you have sin in your life and you reach out for him to pull you up out of the angry waves, You need to keep that feeling that you are still a sinful human being and it is by God's grace. And just as God in Christ forgave you or just as God in Christ forgave me, I need to be forgiven others. So, two weeks ago, when I went into this, I talked about, if there's anybody on your radar that you know you haven't forgiven, think about and consider how it is that you are feeling towards them and think about how it is.

Lord, forgive me as the forgive me my trespasses, my debts, my sins, as I forgive those who trespass sin or owe me. In an unworthy manner is not any unworthy person. It's someone who comes in an unworthy manner. Their heart is not right before God. He says, you'd be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

So, this is a very strong warning but let a man examine himself and so, in this manner, let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup. For he who eats and drinks of this cup in an unworthy manner, eats and drinks judgement unto himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick and among you and many sleep. You know, the cancer that grows inside of us of unforgiveness. Have you ever heard it said that unforgiveness is like taking poison and expecting other person to die?

For this reason, many are weak and sick among you. He's talking to a fractured church and he's trying to get them to come together around the Lord's table and say, hey, he lifted me out of the angry waves too. Let's go tell others. He's the only thing that works. For if we would judge ourselves, then we would not be judged.

He's saying self examination is that important and if you do that, then there's not any judgment that comes from God. There's no kinds of lessons that God is gonna teach you through, you know, sickness, weakness, whatever but when we are judged, we're chastened by the Lord and taught that we may not be condemned with the world. He chastens those he loves. That we may not be condemned with the world. Everybody knows that sin is real.

There are those who would give swimming lessons. There are those who would hand you a bar of soap when you're drowning. You're in water. Why not? Clean yourself up.

Go ahead. What Christ does is jump in. He jumped in as a baby in Bethlehem. He grew up. He lived that perfect life and then he offered that perfect death in Jerusalem and then, he was resurrected.

Now, Paul's funny to me. I have to go on here. Therefore, my brother, when you come together, wait for one another. When we do this, I always thought it was kind of weird that we always that we wait. You sit there with that little cup and your hands are shaking.

You're wondering if you're going to spill it on the carpet but we're waiting for one another. I think we're literally taking this. Wait for one another because in the other passage, he said, some of you are drunk, you're getting there early, you're starting to tailgate before anybody else is around. He's saying, when you when you when you come together, wait for one another and care about the other. Look out from yourself.

But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together just for judgement. And the rest I will set in order when I come. This is what's funny to me. He said, there's other stuff. Don't worry but I want to be there and look you in the eyes before we get up, get into that stuff.

Michael Green says about this passage, this is what he thinks. Look back, look in, look up, look around, look forward, and look outward. Look back to Christ's death. We're looking back today towards Christ's birth because it's Christmas and that's what's coming but the reason his birth is still celebrated is because of his death. He was born to die as Bebo says.

Look in in self examination. Look up towards fellowship with God. Fellowship that is broken by sin. The only one who could did. Look around into fellowship with others.

Look forward to Christ's return, his second advent. You know, joy to the world is not about Christmas. Joy to the world is looking forward to the second advent. It's about Christ's return and look outward to proclaim God's word to others. So, the Lord's supper.

Now, I will invite the elders forward, please and we're gonna go through this. This is actually the passage where we are in Corinthians right now. And I'm just gonna read it straight up like it is. It's amazing to me how many complex things we covered two weeks ago with the the schism and the heresy and all the different words and how you kinda explain Paul because he's thinking theologically and how incredibly simple this remembrance is. So, this is first Corinthians eleven twenty three through 26.

For I receive from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks, Eucharist Dayo, Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving, which is right where we are. He broke it and he said, and I'll go to that next. Lord, would you please bless this body as we walk in their midst, lord, and distribute this bread, lord. We're doing it in remembrance of you. God, would you convict us of our own sin and convince us lord of your righteousness and your ability to save and as we take this lord, may none of us be drinking judgement unto ourselves but looking at you and saying, lord, I surrender.

When someone is drowning, sometimes you have to let them realize it. And stop their struggle. Lord, we stop our struggle before you, cross our hands over our hearts, and say, you save us. Lord, we're putting our faith in you. Bless the spread as a representative of your broken body.

Amen. Lord, may we sing along with that choir of angels. Lord, praises to your name for this. Can I go back to that slide and just see those words in red? Take, eat.

This is my body which is broken for you. Jesus said. Do this in remembrance of me. God, as we pray right now and ask your blessing on this cup, we remember your shed blood, lord. We know that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission, no forgiveness of sin.

But those blood of bulls and goats of Judaism, that the blood of sacrifices everywhere from primitive religions on forward, Lord, says this, blood is what's required, lord, but there is no perfect blood but yours. Lord, we ask your blessing on this as we remember your shed blood on our behalf. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Amen.

I'm gonna invite the the band back up and I wanted to read something and I'll go to the last slide after we finish with the with the song but go tell it on the mountain is the song that we're going to sing and and apparently, people have been telling us on the mountains for a long time. Listen to this. I I thought it was beautiful. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. Until he was 30, he worked as a carpenter, a builder.

Then for three years, he was an itinerant preacher. He wrote no books, held no office, never owned a home. He was never in what we'd call a really big city, never traveled more than 200 miles from the place he was born, never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. The authorities condemned his teachings. At the end, his friends deserted him.

One of them betrayed him to those authorities, his enemies, for a paltry sum. One of his closest denied him. He went through the mockery of a trial, was nailed on a cross between two thieves, and while he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he owned on Earth. When he was dead, he was taken down and placed in a borrowed grave. Over nineteen centuries have come and gone, yet today, he is the crowning glory of the human race, the adored leader of hundreds of millions of the earth's inhabitants.

All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that were ever assembled and all the parliaments or governments that ever sat and all the rulers they ever rent that ever reigned combined have not affected the life of man upon this earth. So, profoundly as that one single solitary life. Would you stand with me and sing about this sinless savior and go tell it on the mountain? Amen. And for the benediction, may we always be continually looking back to Christ's death, looking inward, sensitively, and self examination upward for fellowship with you, almighty God.

May we be looking around us to fellowship with others, maybe looking forward with great anticipation of your glorious return and ever be looking outward for the temporal and eternal benefit of those who do not yet know you. By meeting their needs and boldly proclaiming your word with our surrendered lives. May God bless this week. Amen.