The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 5: A Savior // CHRISTMAS EVE

Episode Date: December 23, 2018

We are not merely mistakers and bad decision makers that need to try harder to be better. We are sinful rebels that need salvation.

Merry Christmas, everyone. My name is Michael Olson, and I'm one of the pastors here at 1122. We're so glad you're listening to this sermon podcast today, and we're going to do something that we don't normally do, so we wanted to make sure you knew before the message plays. During our Christmas Eve Eve services, we played a video that sets up Pastor Jobi's message and that he references multiple times throughout his sermon.

We're including this video in the video version of the sermon this week, so please take a minute and watch the video before continuing to listen. to the sermon. Thanks. Amen and amen. Merry Christmas Church. How's everybody doing? If you got your Bibles, go to Matthew chapter one. I'll meet you there in about six minutes. Hey, the reason we show that video to you, by the way, Henry Mullis is now on staff here at the Church of 1122, and he runs all the video ministry stuff. And he's not used to being on that end of the camera, but we made him. And by we, it means I. And I don't really care what our staff likes. We just make them do stuff. And so, and here's why, man, because.

that is the Christmas story. That yet Jesus was born in a manger, but that boy, that baby grows up to be a man and hangs on a tree to forgive us of our sin. And that is the gospel. In fact, John says it this way in 1 John chapter 4. He says, in this is love. In this, the love of God was made manifest among us,

that God sent his son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent him. his son to be the propitiation for our sin. If you're a regular here, you know what that word means. If you're new here, that word may be new to you. Propitiation means this, a payment that satisfies.

And much like Henry Mullis in that video, every single one of us have done things and have accusers, and yet God Almighty sends his son, Jesus, to be the propitiation, the payment that satisfies. And he doesn't stop there. Then he invites us and adopts us to be a part. of his family. That is what we celebrate at Christmas. C.S. Lewis said it this way. He said, once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than the whole world. See this, the last four weeks here at our church,

the 1122, we've been in this series called Messengers. And the reason is because the word angel in English just means messenger. And in Luke chapter two, that messengers are the angels that show up to the shepherds in the fields and they give them this message. And so for four weeks we've been unpacking the message that the messengers gave. Here's what they said. They said, Fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David. Here's what we're talking about today on Christmas Eve Eve, a savior who is Christ the Lord. Now, one of the things I like to do when I teach the Bible is always used the Bible as commentary unto itself. And so if you go to Matthew

chapter one there are some angels that show up to joseph a bunch of different messengers or angels were showing up all throughout the christmas narrative and in matthew chapter one the angels described for us or explained to us what a savior is and why we need a savior it goes this way matthew chapter one beginning in verse 18 it says now the birth of jesus christ took place in this way when his mother mary had been betrothed to joseph before they came together so feel free to explain that to the kids if you're said next to him. Before they came, you're welcome, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord

appeared to him in a dream, saying Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife. For that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sin all of this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet behold the virgin shall conceive

and bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel which means God with us now here's the danger of a text like this okay if you grew up around church if you've been to Bible study a bunch then then sometimes texts like this are just familiar

and we can sort of think of them just as like cute Bible passages, cute Christmas passages, because this is kind of the only time that we read this passages. In fact, some of you, you're just kind of Christmas and Easter only folks. I would say, welcome. Literally, I'm so glad you're here. And I do have a warning for you. When I grew up, we only went on Christmas and Easter too. And now look what I do. So you have no idea what might God and what God might do to you. And so here's the thing, though, this isn't just a cute Christmas passage to kind of explain the situation. Because for a long time, that's sort of what I thought.

I mean, think about this. This is a real couple betrothed to be married. It's almost like being engaged, except in the first century you would have to have a divorce to separate. And one day, Mary sends Joseph a text and says, hey, I got good news, bad news. Good news, I'm pregnant. Bad news? Not yours. To which he goes, I know this full well because we have not come together yet.

Again, explain that to the kids. So here's what he's going to do. First of all, he's a good dude, man. And Joseph is a good dude. And so in order not to shame her, he's going to divorce her quietly. By the way, they're still under the Levitical law, which means if it's found out that she has been unfaithful to him, then they could stone her to death. And he doesn't want that for her. Or at best, she would live in shame for the rest of her days.

So he has resolved quietly to just kind of let this thing work itself out, but he's going to let her go. And then the angel's going to show up. See, I thought the angel was there just to kind of smooth things over. Because, again, Joseph is like, hey, listen, man, this ain't going to work out, Mary. I mean, you've got a baby, and it's not mine. And she goes, no, no, no, no, no. No, it's the Holy Spirit. Oh, okay.

Well, of course it is. Now we have the royal flush for reasons to break up, all right? Not only are you unfaithful, but you're crazy. So it's fourth and long time to punt, all right? For some of you, that's your Christmas Eve message. All right, never mind. That's a different sermon. Don't marry crazy.

But anyway. So I thought the angel shows up to be like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, she's telling the truth. But it's more than that. It's more than that. In the message that the angel gives to Joseph, there are at least four doctrinal truths that help us understand not only how Jesus is the Savior, but how he saves us and why we need a Savior. You see, one of the things that the angel says is this, for that which is, is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. If you're a note-taking kind of person, maybe

you want to write down the word sinless, that Jesus is sinless. You see, every single one of us, every single one of us are born sinners, born, little wretched, selfish, ego maniacal, got to have it our way, sinners. And if that offends you, it's because you're a sinner. That's why offend you because you're like how dare you think about this just exhibit a if you've ever been around a one year old have you ever made it met a precious they're precious a patient generous one year old no no because we're all born like the seagulls out of nemo just going mine mine mine mine that's that's how we are just created that's it's how we're born with a sin nature now we find out in romans chapter five that the reason that every single

of one of us are born with that sin nature is because we are sons of disobedience or we are in the lineage of Adam. When Adam sin, when Adam rejected God, then sin is passed on from generation to generation to generation. And that's how you and I are born with that kind of sin nature, except Jesus, because Adam ain't his daddy. The almighty God is that he is of the same essence of the triune God because he is the second person of the Trinity. This is why when we sing silent night, we can sing Jesus Lord at his birth because he is born sinless. Then he goes on to say, and she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. If you're writing things down, you might want to write down this word, Savior, Savior,

that Jesus is the Christ. Christ. Christ. is not like his last name. It is his title, that he is the Savior, and he's come to save us from our sin. That's why the angel tells Joseph to name him Jesus. The name Jesus literally means one who will save them from their sins. That's what his name means. By the way, in the first century, it would have been pronounced this way, Yeshua. In the Old Testament, there was a Yeshua.

We call him Joshua. And basically, the angel is saying, hey, this Jesus, the Joshua that you read about back in Israeli Sunday school, than he was like a lesser Yeshua. But the greater Yeshua, the Savior, is on his way. You see, the Joshua in the Old Testament, he was anointed and appointed by God to gather to gather God's people and bring them out of the wilderness, cross over the Jordan, and into the promised land.

And the angels are saying, this Jesus, this Savior, he's going to show up, gather together the children of God. And you're not just going to make a geographical switch, but an eternal switch. And he is going to escort us into the eternal promised land. You see, Jesus did not primarily come to be a teacher. He did not primarily come to be a rabbi to tell cool stories, to do miracles, to walk on water, to make more wine at the party when it ran out. That is not why he came.

He came for the glory of God to seek and save those who were lost. That's what his name means, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sin. And then you may ask, well, how in the world is going to do this? He said, so he quotes the prophet Isaiah. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Isaiah was a prophet in the Old Testament, about 700 years before Jesus. Some theologians call the book of Isaiah the fifth gospel. See, there's four gospels in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And yet this prophet Isaiah, 700 years before the first Christmas ever happens, he says, there will come a servant of God. And if you keep reading and keep reading and keep reading and you get to chapters 52 and 53, then Isaiah says, and the way that he will be our Savior is through suffering. Isaiah says it this way in Isaiah 53, talking about Jesus, for he grew up before him like a young plant, like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. and now he's going to talk about the cross and he was despised and rejected by men,

a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions.

Now, just a historical note here. Isaiah writes this in about 700 BC. Crucifixion has not even been invented as a form of torture until about 300 years before Christ is born. So about 400 years before any person has ever been pierced for anybody's transgression. And about 700 years before Jesus actually does it, then the prophet Isaiah says, this sinless Savior is going to show up and he's going to suffer. but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with his wounds, we are healed. He says, we are all, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that was led to slaughter. like sheep that were before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

By oppression and judgment, he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked and with the rich man in his death, this was to foretell the kind of tomb that Jesus would be buried in. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth, yet it was the the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief. When his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring.

He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many, talking about us, make many to be accounted righteous. and he shall bear their iniquities. What Isaiah is prophesying is what the shepherds went to see in this manger. That in this manger lay the suffering servant.

For sure a baby, but that baby would grow up to be a man. He would live a perfect life. He would live a holy life, and he would die a sinner's death. Later, Paul in 2nd Corinthians 521, would say it this way, that God would make him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God, that Isaiah would say that our sin, our transgressions, our mistakes, our problems, our rejection, our rebellion, the punishment for that would be heaped upon him and his perfection and his sonship and his righteousness would somehow be counted and accredited to us.

This is called double imputation. that what we deserve was imputed or counted to Jesus, and what he earned a right standing before God would be accredited or counted to us for anyone, this is crazy, for anyone who would believe, for anyone who would trust, for anyone who would think when Jesus on that cross says, it is finished that somehow you believe,

you know what, I think that counts for me. Martin Luther, John Calvin, these theologians, they called it the great exchange. that Jesus would take our place. You see, the angels want us to know that he is sinless, he is Savior, and that he would suffer. And then finally, they go on to say,

Behold the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. If you're taking notes, write down the word sent, that he was sent. I cannot, I cannot over-emphasize how important this is that God came to be with us, that God was sent to us, that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. See, when I was in college, I used to work out way more than I do now,

and I trained these three dental students, and they were from Kuwait, and they were all Muslim, and they had a ton of money. And they wanted to meet American girls, and they thought bigger biceps equals American girls, which is true. It's just not. the right ones but that was a different conversation too so so they pay me to work them out all right and so i would and and then basically they were they were kind of like marginal Muslims and and we were trying to like convert each other that's what we were trying to do you know i gave them a bible they gave me a Quran we'd read it we'd talk about it and eventually at one point they were like hold on listen man and then again they were sort of like marginal Muslims like when it when it worked for them they

were into it and they celebrated some of the holidays and you know whatever and so and they were like hey listen joe we appreciate the passion that you're have for your deal, but this is pretty much what we think it is. I mean, everybody's got a way, like everybody's got a path, you know? I mean, imagine this world, it's just like a big mountain, and the Almighty or Allah or God, he's up here on top of the mountain, and everybody's at the bottom of the mountain, and we're all just making our way up. And you've got Jesus, and we're cool with, they said, we're cool with Jesus. He was a prophet. But other people have their way, you know, Buddhists have their way, and everybody's got a way. Oprah's got, she got about six ways,

you know, everybody's got ways. And as long as you're just kind of faithful and do your thing. I'm sure he looks over it all and just, you know, if you're a good person, then you make your way to the top. What's wrong with that? And I go, well, you know, I think that's a great philosophy. The problem is, what if it's an impassable pass? What if people have been trying to make their way to the top of the mountain, top of the mountain, top of the mountain? The problem is get to the top of the mountain. You've got to be perfect and nobody can make it. Now, some people make it higher than others, but eventually you get to this impassable thing. What would you do then? What if I told you that the book I gave you doesn't fall into your category because what the story of

Jesus says is that the almighty God at the top of the mountain did not stand up there and wait and say, come on, good luck. But he became one of us. And he came on a rescue mission to the bottom of the mountain to come and to seek and save that which is lost. You see, that's why we celebrate Christmas. Not so much because of the manger, because the manger led to the danger. Led to the cross. C.S. Lewis says it this way. The son of God became a man to enable men and women to become

sons of God. This is what the angels are saying. That Jesus is sinless and he is Savior and he would suffer and that he was sent to rescue his people. Here's the point that you and I, we are not merely

mistakers and bad decision makers that need to try harder to be better. That we are sinful, rebels that need salvation and make no mistake about it, this is why Jesus came. This is the message of Christmas. Listen, man, I love Christmas, and I have had some really good Christmases in my day, okay? I mean, my family, we were all into Christmas. We'd watch the movies. We'd, you know, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer before anyway I thought it was too mean. That's what's the problem with our world now. We decorated, you know, went to see Santa. In fact, I remember the

after the day after Thanksgiving we knew it was Christmas time because we would we would pull out the Christmas tree some of you put up the Christmas tree we would just pull it out because we we love Christmas so much we never even took it down we had a fake tree and we just slid it into what became known as the Christmas closet and then we just opened the door and just slide that mug out man just crossed the floors and and then we put it in the corner and you it was really easy to figure out which side went to corner it was the part with no no decorations

Why would you decorate something on the back side of the corner? That just don't make sense. And then you'd plug it in and just see what you're working with this year, you know? And about half the lights would turn on. And so the ones that didn't turn on, though, we didn't take them off. We just added more. That mug weighed about 800 pounds by the time I was in the seventh grade. But whatever.

Throw them little tensils on there. In fact, my family was into Christmas so much. We had family members and they would keep up their Christmas lights year round. Yeah, for sure. I remember going my Uncle Phillips one time, and it was like June. we were going fishing and on his chain link fence out in front of his house, the Christmas lights were on. I was like, Daddy, why does Uncle Philip got on his Christmas lights?

You know what he said? Boy, you can't hide money. That's what he said. We were into it, man. And I mean, Santa Claus was good to us. Good to us. I got a car one year. That was cool.

I got a motorcycle. I've told you about that one a bunch. But probably one of my favorites, man. One of my tops. I think I was, I think it was first grade or something. wake up early in the morning and come tiptoeing into the living room about quarter to four, something like that.

Look around the corner and boom, and I don't know how Santa works at your house. He kind of has different modes depending on whose house he had. At our house, the wrapped presents were from people and then the unwrapped, he just chunked them down the chimney or however he did it. They were just out.

And I turned the corner and there's some stuff. So I go and I wake up my brother and get everybody up and we come to the bottom of the tree and now we're starting to open presents. and there's this one little box, and it literally is like shaking and moving. And I begin to think, oh, my goodness, maybe I've gotten a gremlin. If you don't know what a gremlin in, it was this demonic activity in the 80s. And so finally we get to that box, and I popped the top off of it, and there's a beagle puppy.

Oh, yeah. I mean, she's just looking at me. The box didn't smell that good, but it was so cute. And then my brother, he had a little wiggly box, too, and so he popped the top off of it, and there's another beagle puppy. We had a male, he got the boy, and I got the girl. And Daddy said, all right, what do you want to name them? So I looked at her for a little while, and I thought, I got it.

I named her Daisy Duke. Now, if you don't know who Daisy Duke is, she was Ken to the Duke boys. They were traveling evangelists in the 80s back in the... So anyway, what really happened, man, I thought if she ever finds out that I got a puppy named after her, she's going to fall madly in love with me and we're going to be together forever. That was my plan, so it didn't work out. So I had Daisy Duke. My brother, he got his dog.

He named him the Incredible Hulk. So that's what we had. We had the Incredible Hulk. Had Daisy Duke. And these were hunting dogs. And, in fact, they didn't even spend that night in our home. Daddy also got us some two-by-fours in plywood, and we built them dog houses that day. That's what we did Christmas afternoon.

And so anyway, they were hunting dogs. And so we go hunting with them, and we hunted rabbits. And I know some of you aren't into this, but get over. It's not Easter. I wouldn't tell it on Easter. So anyway. We hit the woods. At this point, I'm probably, I'm guessing second grade, something like that, maybe third.

We're trucking it through the woods, and it's cold, cold, cold. And I'm walking through the woods, and I got a shotgun, like a 410, 20 gauge. I don't know what it is. Which I think parents, I think you should all get your kids dogs and guns for Christmas. I think it's the moral of the story. And so we're walking through the woods, and my dogs are doing their thing, and we're doing, like, I don't know if you've hunted much, but you just make these noises when you hunt. I don't even know what it means, but you go, here now, yeah, yeah, meow. I don't know what we're saying.

That's my dad. Just speaking in tongues. I'm not sure what we're doing, but you have to do it. Here you know, him up. So we're doing our thing. Dogs are all sniffing around. And we get up to this creek. In my mind, it's like a huge river,

but probably, you know how your mind works. And so it's probably six or eight feet wide or something. And Daisy goes walking right out on the ice. It's frozen. But again, this isn't like Minnesota, where you can drive on the stuff. you understand, this is South Carolina. It's just kind of barely further.

She comes walking out, and then immediately, my dad goes, get on out of him! Let me translate. Essentially what he's saying is, Daisy, that is dangerous, and you should come over here with us. All right, that's what he said. So the Incredible Hulk finds a little tree, and he kind of goes to the other side of the little creek over the little falling down tree. And Daisy looks at my dad, her master, with this look like, huh, yeah, right. I do what I want. I'm in the woods.

Seconds later, you hear the ice under her feet go, and then boom, she's gone. Gone. Now, it's a little creek, so it's got some flow to it, all right? It's got some current to it, so she can't just pop right back out of the hole. So she goes under, and then the current gets her, and as she's trying to get up, there's just ice. And I'm standing there.

Just freaking out. I don't know what to do. and I see you're scratching and clawed and scratching and clawing. And folks, that is the condition of every single one of us. Every single one of us. Whether you realize it or not, every single one of us have rejected the law, the loving law of our heavenly father who is our master. And we say, forget you, I got this. And when the ice breaks, we ain't got this.

You see, every sin is prepackaged with a gotcha. and when it gets you, you get to the point where you go, uh-oh, I need help. Oh, so there I am frozen. On the other side, by the way, the story, can you imagine if I was like, so let's pray. That'd be the worst Christmas ever, wouldn't it? Not, man. So the Incredible Hulk, he's on the other side of the little creek, and he's just barking. And he's barking.

And I don't know what he's saying. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I don't know what he'd say it. I think it's kind of like, you shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done that. You shouldn't have done that. Which, honestly, for many of us, that was our church experience growing up. Like you get to that place in your life where you think, uh-oh, I'm a sinner in need of a savior, and you show up to church, and you just hear somebody like me stand up in front of you and go,

well, you shouldn't have done that and you shouldn't have done that and you shouldn't have done that. Yeah, but what now? You shouldn't have done that. Yeah, that's not the gospel. The gospel is not. God's good. You're bad. Try a harder to see you next week. That's not. So it's not very helpful to just yell at somebody. You shouldn't have done that. But I wasn't very helpful either. I was on the other side of the creek. And I had this great affection for my dog.

I wanted her to get help. I didn't know what to do. And so I just stood there frozen. And by the way, that's kind of like a lot of churches today, really. People have great affection towards other people. But it takes a lot of love to look at somebody in the face and say, you are not a mistakeer that just needs to do better. You're a sinner that needs a savior.

In fact, Church, if somebody invited you to be here today, the underlying message is, I really love you. Now, I know if you're golfing buddies, that's kind of awkward for you right now, because you look over and Ted's like, you dang right, love you. All right, so I'll say it for him. So the yelling at her didn't do any good, and just the hoping for her didn't do any good. But, thank God, my dad was standing, I don't know, 10 or 20 yards down the creek, downstream from us, and when he saw all the commotion and saw what happened,

And here comes Daisy Duke just scratching and clawed and scratching and clawing, and here's the thing you've got to understand. No matter how hard she tried, she could not break through that thing that was keeping her from air, which equaled life. But my dad, with a 12 gauge in his hand, busted through the ice. And when she comes by it, just the right time, he reaches his hand down into the freezing cold water, gloves, sleeve, and all, grabbed her by the back and the neck, and pulls her out of what certainly would have been her own demise and death.

and sits her down right next to him. And then it got even crazier. We are all like, yay, then it was unbelievable. We get to the truck, and Daddy takes the blanket and wraps it around her. You see, we had a 71 Chevy, and when it got real cold, some of the plether would stab you a little bit, so we laid down a quilt to sit on it. Anybody else have those seat covers growing up?

Yeah, so that's what he, and so he took that, and he wrapped it around Daisy Duke, and he put her inside the cab of the truck. and turned on the heat. No, I know that's not a big deal for y'all, okay? But at my house, for the hunting dog to ride in the cab of the... I leaned over to Russ. I was like, brother, you better get your heart right.

Jesus is coming back. That's a sign of the end of times. Okay? From that day forward, that became his dog. I mean, she's still like me when I had the treats, but that became his dog. Why? Because I'm telling you somehow intuitively,

she was dead. She was dead. And by his goodness and grace, he broke through the thing that was killing her and rescued her. Ladies and gentlemen, that is the gospel, that every single one of us, every single one of us, by our own rejection of God, have said, I got this. And then, and then by the power of the Holy Spirit, sometimes he lets the scales fall off of our eyes and we realize, uh-oh, I ain't got this. no matter how much I scratch and claw and try, I just can't undo this thing that I have done, even if I was perfect from this day forward and promise I'll never go walk on the ice again.

What are you going to do about that pass? But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love for us, he busts through sin and death, he pays the price. And for anyone, anyone, anyone who would believe, anyone who would just believe, you know what, when he died on the cross and he said, it is finished somehow, I believe that counted for me. For anyone who would believe, he will break through sin and death and rescue you, redeem you, and then wrap you up and take you home as his very own son or daughter of the Mosai King.

So, church, I have a very simple question. And I don't know this is kind of old school language, but have you ever ever, been saved. I don't mean pray to prayer. I don't mean attended church. I don't mean did some good things. I don't mean got your life straightened out. I mean, have you ever been saved? Have you ever got to that part, that place in your life? We're at the soul level. You admit it. Uh-oh. There's a problem that's greater than just my circumstances. There's like a soul-level problem. Have you ever admitted, I don't think I just need to try harder to do better. I need to be saved. I need to be saved. I God to do for me what I can't do for me. And maybe right now for the very first time you would believe.

You don't have to have it all figured out, but just to believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that that that counted for you. And if you're ready to admit it that you need a Savior and that you believe that Christ is that Savior, then you just confess. You say, Father, here I am. Save me. I want to give you that opportunity right now. Would you please bow your head and close your eyes. If you would consider yourself a Christian, would you just remind yourself of the gospel? Would you just remind yourself of that moment when Jesus saved you? Even if you don't remember it in a moment, but you know you're sitting with him in the truck,

would you remind yourself of that gospel and how that should change everything about everything, about everything, about this Christmas and your whole life? But if you're here today, and for the very first time, you would say, you know what, you're right? I admit it. I need God to do for me what I could never. do for me. I believe that somehow when Christ died on the cross that that counted for me. And if you were ready to confess him as your Lord and Savior, when I count to three, I want you to raise your hand. Not because raising your hand saves you, but if in your heart right now that you

believe that Christ died on the cross for you was resurrected and you were ready to confess him as Lord with your mouth, then I want you to raise your hand. And one, two, three, raise them high. Say, Father, here I am. I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. our good and gracious Heavenly Father God, we thank you so much that this is love, not that we loved you, not that we straightened out our lives, not that we came on this pursuit of you, but God, that you loved us and you sent your son to break through sin and death, to break through that thing that was keeping us from you, keeping us from life. And God, we thank you that you have snatched us out of our own sin and death and set us right next to you forever and

and ever and ever. God, I thank you that it is by your grace that we have been saved, not by our works. And for that, God, we praise you when we thank you. We thank you that you sent your son, Jesus, that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We thank you for the baby in the manger that became the Savior on the cross,

and that he resurrected on the third day, and that he is preparing a place for any of us who would believe. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.