A King Like No Other

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

I just want to say welcome to Eastside. I’m glad that you’re here this morning. If you’re new around here, my name is Virgil Grant. I’m the senior pastor and also one of the leaders around here. And we’ve been in a sermon series called The Gift. And we’ve been looking at three different gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. Now, you may not know the story. You may not know the context. But the problem with the story is, is that because of the grandma’s nativity scene that’s on the top of her mantle or kitchen table or wherever there’s always how many wise men present it in Nativity? There are always three. And, you know, there’s the crib with baby Jesus in it. There’s the stable with the star above it. There are farm animals. And then there are three wise men. But the truth of the matter is, no one knows how many wise men there really were. And what we do know, they were very rich, and they were very knowledgeable and very intelligent people. And they were seeking Jesus. And we don’t know. There could have been 30 or 40 of them. And in fact, if you don’t know the story, here’s how Matthew recorded it for us. And Matthew 2:10-11. 

“When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense. and myrrh.”

Matthew 2:10-11 (NLT)

Now, here’s what we know about these gifts that they brought to King Jesus. These gifts were, number one, highly valuable. Number two, they were very practical gifts. And number three, those spiritual connotations. They foreshadow the ministry that Jesus would have. So let’s go back to week number one. And let me just catch you up real quick. We look at frankincense. It was the oil that the high priests would use in the holy of holies when they would make the sacrifice for the sins of the nation and for the people. And when we see that being used in the holy of holies, we understand that the Ministry of Jesus is being our high priest, who was once and for all the ultimate sacrifice for all of humanity, sin. And then last week, we looked at myrrh, this gum-based substance that is very valuable, that is used 17 times in scripture, most commonly used when you embalm someone. And so what we see is that the Ministry of Jesus, that he would be the suffering servant, the lamb of God that was slain from the foundation of the earth. Well, today, we’re going to look at gold, and gold is limited in quantity. It has a scarcity to it. It’s very valuable. And gold is fit for a king. And today, we’re going to talk about the kingship of Jesus. Could you say that to me? In the kingship of Jesus, Jesus is the King of all kings. 

Now, to help you to get set up for this, who is ready to play a game? I have. I got one person. Got two of you ready to play a game. Yeah, but when we play a game, audience participation is required, or it’s not a game, right? So let me ask you again. Who’s ready to play a game? Oh, I’m praying for you in the back, is all I got to say. Now, you might be wondering, what is the name of this game? It’s named that King game show. Okay. And what I’m doing is I’m going to say a few words, and you tell me the King that I’m describing. Okay, You catch on because you’re really smart. All right, So here we go. When you think of Simba, what King comes to mind? One thing to look at. You give yourself a pat on the back. Yeah, You’ve got this right. You’ve got this. Now just stick with me. When you think of a big gorilla, who do you think of? King Kong, right? Yeah. Now, some of you may be a little young and may not know who that is, but you should if you think of a whopper. Hamburger. Who do you think of? Burger King? Yeah. See, you’re catching on here. Okay, this is really simple, okay? If you think of a very scary novel, who comes to your mind? Stephen King. Right. And they know he looked like that. But anyway, if you think of the interviews on television, who comes to your mind? Larry King. Yeah. Who’s passed away. This is a little bit tricky. Okay. And some of you are going to get upset, but stick with the metaphor, okay? If you think of basketball, who do you think of the NBA? Who? Michael Jordan. Who’s LeBron King James. Okay. I just go with the. Go with it, though. With it. Yes. All right. Stick with the sports metaphor. Stay with me. Everybody knows what the boomer generation is. It’s like 54, 55, and older. Okay. This is a question for you, sticking with the sports metaphor. When you think about tennis, who are you talking about? Billie Jean King. Right. So some of you may go, Well, who’s that? It’s okay. She was a legend from another day. Now I’m staying old school but switching a little bit over to music. When you think of blues music. Who comes to your mind? B.B. King. Right? Exactly. Now, sticking with music. When you think of jazz, who comes to your mind? Nat? Yep. And then when you hear the speech, I have a dream. What do you think? Martin Luther King. Good. 

I’m not going to talk about any of those kings. I’m going to talk about the King of Kings. I’m here to talk about King Jesus this morning. And I want us to look at how Paul describes Jesus as being King to his protege, Timothy. And I want you to look at this. 

“For, at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords.”

1 Timothy 6:15 (NLT)

Now, when Paul was writing to Timothy, he was limited in his words. And when we translated, we were limited in our words. And if we could put this in modern-day translation, it would be that Jesus is the supreme authority over all the kingdoms in the world and that He controls the entire universe. The cosmos is in the hands of King Jesus. He is a king like no other now. But there’s a problem with Jesus being King Jesus. Let me tell you the problem. Let me tell you the tension is that when Jesus was born, the Jews were expecting a different type of King. They were expecting a king that would be born of royalty. They were expecting a king to be born in a palace. They were expecting a king that would have a silver spoon in his mouth. If we were to put it in contemporary terminology, is that he would be born in a royal crib, in a royal palace, with his Louis Vuitton onesies and shoes on in his first appearance in a photoshoot, Right. I mean, that’s what they’re talking about. But here’s the problem. That’s not how God introduced King Jesus. And he turned the entire system upside down from what people were expecting. Upside down. And he gave us a baby in unexpecting terms and circumstances. Let me see if I can help you to understand this. No one expected King Jesus to be born in poverty in a cave next to farm animals. They didn’t expect the savior to be the son of who was born of a carpenter in Nazareth. Remember what Nathaniel said? Nathaniel asked the question, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? No one predicted that the King of Glory would be Freeing prostitutes. Touch leopards and love those that the religious institutions rejected. They never imagined a king who would choose. Uneducated fishermen despised tax collectors and rebellious troublemakers to be his own disciples. No one would ever imagine that the King of all kings would forgive a woman who is caught in the middle of adultery. No one ever expected that when the law said that she should be what? Stoned, yet he would confront the hypocrisy of the Pharisees again and again. He would overturn tables when people misused the temple for their own personal profit. They never imagined the King of the Jews who would ride into town on a donkey of all animals. Those who would be cheering for his arrival on Palm Sunday would be the outcasts, the Overlook, and even those who were full of immortality. 

No one expected a king to stand trial for crimes that he did not commit. No one could ever fathom or imagine that an innocent king would be beaten, whipped, scourged, stripped naked to hang on an instrument of torture known as a cross dying, a death that a criminal deserved to die. No one would ever imagine this King hanging on a cross as the creator of the world, as the creation. The people mocked him and spat on him. No one would ever think while this King was suffering on the cross, he would look up to Heaven and pray for mercy and intercede for those who. You were beating him. He looked up to the father. He says, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Do not hold this against them. And when they offer him the wine mixed with myrrh to dull the pain, remember what he did? He rejected it. And then he cried out It is Finish into your hands. I commit my spirit. No one ever expected the King of kings to die a shameful death in front of people mocking him when he breathed his last breath. There was no one that could predict that the sky would go dark, the earth would shake, and the world would lose hope. And as they buried a dead king in a borrowed grave, no one expected that. Three days later, when the women went to the tomb to check on the body, they found the stone rolled away and the angels declaring that the King was not there. The King has risen from the dead, and now he sits at the right hand of the father. I wish I could describe to you this King that is known as King Jesus. But before I go on and describe for you this King that is known as King Jesus, you have to understand something. Listen to me this morning. Everybody in this room you have a response to King Jesus. Everybody throughout all the centuries, from the time of Jesus’ birth until today. 

There are three responses that each and every one of us can respond to the kingship of Jesus. And everybody in this room falls into one of those three categories. It’s been true from the very beginning, and it’s true even today. And I just want you to do an honest evaluation of your own walk as your own relationship with King Jesus. And I want you to be honest because you’re not going to report it. You’re not going to test it. You’re not going to share it with anyone. I just want you to be honest with yourself. Where are you with your response to Jesus being King of the Kings? And if you know the historical setting, you understand the three responses to Jesus as King. Number one.  

Herod OPPOSED Jesus as king.

Herod was threatened when he heard that there a new king had been born is that Herod was upset. He became guarded. He wanted to protect his kingship. So how did Herod oppose Jesus? What did he do? He issued a decree. And what was the decree? That every boy under the age of two would be What would be killed will be murdered. It’s right there in the Bible. And he was trying to eliminate the competition altogether. Now, I don’t know who this would be this morning in the worship service, but there are some people here today. Who is in attendance? Who would say I don’t need a religion. I don’t need God? I don’t need Jesus. I’m doing fine on my own. In addition, I don’t want anyone telling me what to do or what not to do. I’m not going to let some outdated book called the Bible and some Religious principles or Stupid Church tell me how to live my life. And friends, whether you realize it or not, your response to Jesus is that you’re opposing Jesus because you’re hell-bent on living your life on your own terms. Just call it what it is. It’s okay. You did oppose Jesus, Herod did, and people have been doing it for centuries. But most of you are probably not opposing Jesus. The second response that we see from the Jewish priests. 

Jewish priests DISMISSED Jesus as king.

They dismiss him. They just kind of blew him off, which is mind-boggling for me because you understand that a priest was required to know the Bible, the Old Testament at that time, inside and out, and they knew that the coming King was going to be born in Bethlehem. There’s a prophecy about it in Micah chapter five, verse two. 

“But you, O Bethlehem, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”

 Micah 5:2 (NLT)

It talks about how the coming King is going to be from Bethlehem. These priests were five miles away from where Jesus was born, but they dismissed the birth of Jesus altogether. Mind-boggling because they knew the prophecy. They knew the Bible inside and out. And they knew where Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Now, folks, there are people who dismiss Jesus all the time because when you go and invite people to come to church, what do they say? No, I got something else to do. I don’t want to do that. Or you invite them to. Hey, would you just come and study the Bible? Come to my home group or whatever it may be. And they go, No, I don’t want to study the Bible. You don’t want to experience God. You don’t want to learn about who King Jesus is and the God of the universe. I’m good. Don’t worry about that. Hey, why don’t you come and do some mission work? Why don’t you come and help me to serve at Winter Wonderland? Why don’t you come in and help me to make the food? You know? I got more important things to do. I got to go to Grandma’s house for Christmas Eve and your grandmother’s house, and you get a popcorn tent, and you take a selfie of the popcorn tin. Well, that’s a big deal, right? You know you get it every year from grandma. You know what you’re getting, right? And, but this is just people. They just dismiss Jesus. They’re too busy. They don’t want to rearrange their schedule. They just got into a groove. They got distracted. They’ve drifted. And folks, there’s a lot of people that you know and that I know they just completely blow Jesus off. See, the problem with Jesus being King is that some people oppose him. Some people would dismiss him. But the wise men notice what they did. 

The wise men BOWED DOWN to Jesus as king.

Let me just ask you a question this morning. What’s your response? I mean, this response, what is your response to Jesus? Are you here? I got this. I don’t need a crutch. I think people. Cell time. You’d have a crutch if you needed it. I can get through life on my own. Is that where you are? Are you posing? Jesus. Well, just ask you a question. Have you just dismissed Jesus? Because, you know, maybe you tried Jesus as a child or as a youth, and then you got busy, and you are back around to that eventually, you know, and you just keep on saying you’re going to get back around to it eventually, but you just keep dismissing Jesus or is he the King of your heart? What is your response to Jesus’ phrase? Here’s the thing I really want you to know. King Jesus. See, I grew up in a Baptist church. But all you need to know about me and you can understand a lot about me. I grew up in a Baptist church, and I grew up knowing about Jesus, but I didn’t know Jesus. You hear What I’m saying. I grew up knowing about him and had a bunch of head knowledge, but I didn’t know Jesus in a 1 to 1 relationship because why? Every time I went to church, I got the history lesson. Every time I went to church, it was about rules and about rituals and regulations and about Didn’t do this and ain’t that awful because those Christians aren’t doing what they should be doing. Ain’t it awful preaching about those unchurched people who never come to church? It was. Ain’t it awful preaching? It’s what I receive every weekend. And folks, here’s the thing that I want you to understand is that I drifted away from the Lord in my late teens, in my early twenties, and I went off and I was trying to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction. But there was something that kept drawing me back to Jesus. And it wasn’t the Jesus in the crib. It wasn’t the Jesus in the manger. It wasn’t the baby Jesus who seemed weak and had no fear about him. It was King Jesus that drew me back to Jesus. It was him being the all-loving King, the one who would forgive me and who would accept me if he was putting it in modern-day terminology. We would say this is that for those who just can’t get it right, Jesus is all about them. For those who are financially a mess, for those whose first marriage didn’t work out and their current relationship is heading south pretty quickly, for those who use substances or drugs or alcohol to get high or to get down to try to find meaning in the wrong places and going to bed longing for a relationship, longing for something more, but feeling hurt and feeling empty. Jesus came for people like that, and he came for me, and he forgave me, not based on my goodness, but he forgave me because he’s a good, good savior. 

See, folks, I wish I could explain to you who King Jesus really is. See, when I was in seminary, it was a long time ago, but I was a seminary, and I heard about a professor at the seminary that talked about Christmas service. And he made the case that the Christmas service is the hardest service for a preacher to preach. You know why, Drew? Because he said that it was the pass-through service. And then I go, what does it mean by pass-through service? And my buddy said, well, the seminary professor said, well, everybody’s just passing through to get to grandma’s house. You know, it’s an obligation. It’s a duty because you’re in town. You’re, you know, out of town. You’ve come to visit. Well, it’s what the family does, but it’s not part of your routine. It’s a pass-through service to get to the next dinner. It’s a pass-through service to get to open some more presents. It’s a pass-through service to get to the mall because Amazon can no longer make the deadline to get you the gifts. You understand there’s a pass-through. And it’s my prayer today that you don’t see this as a pass-through service. But I hope that you come to see this as an encounter with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I hope that you’ve come to see that this is not a pass-through service. This is an opportunity for you to bow down and worship Jesus as the King of Kings. And I just pray that today, if there’s someone here today that’s been opposing or dismissing Jesus, you’ll come to the place to embrace him as your King. 

Now, I’m going to continue to describe for you. The King of kings. Is it okay if I describe to you who Jesus is? Is it okay for me to do it? I’m going to do it with or without your permission. It would just feel better for me if you give me permission to describe to you who the King of Kings really is. It’s okay for me to do that, but thank you. Thank you for the encouragement. I mean, a little encouragement goes a long way, I’m telling you. But anyway, let me just tell you about Jesus. He’s not some distant, angry, uninvolved judge waiting for you to mess up and to zap you and to make you feel full of shame and guilt. He’s not the man upstairs, my friends. He’s not the big guy in the sky. He’s not your homeboy. He’s not an 8-pound, six-ounce baby Jesus. He’s the righteous King of kings. He’s the Lord of all Lords. In fact, I would love it today if you wouldn’t mind. Out of reverence for the King who became one of us and gave his life. If you would stand to your feet. And take a moment to prepare your hearts to worship this King, to give him honor, to give him reverence for who he is. Who is this King that gave his life for you and for me? Well, my King, according to scripture, is the King of glory. He’s the King of righteousness. He’s the King of all ages. He’s the King of all kings. I wish I could explain them. And I hope you will get excited. But Jesus is the King who heals the sick and opens blind eyes. He strengthens the weak. He delivers the captive. He restores those who are broken and hurting. In fact, the scripture says that Jesus is close to the brokenhearted. He saves those who were crushed in the spirit. He’s a shelter in your time of trouble. He’s a lot when your world is dark. He’s the prince of Peace. The LAMB of God, the Alpha, and the Omega. He’s the resurrection. He’s the way, the way, the truth, and the life. He’s a good Shepherd. He’s the bread of life. He’s the anchor of our soul. So his goodness is indescribable. His power is incomprehensible. His grace is irresistible, and his love is unconditional. I wish I could describe him. For you as his name. Darkness for him in his presence. Demons flee. The devil could not defeat Jesus. Death could not defeat Jesus. The grave could not hold him. That’s my dream, my friend. That. King Jesus. Right there. That’s who he is.     

I’ll give it up for King Jesus this morning. I’ll give you a praise offering. Let them know how much we love them. Yeah. Yeah. I ask you to be seated. Would you pray with me, please? Our father. We worship you as the true King. Supreme ruler over the universe. Not just a king who reigns, but a king full of love and grace. Not just one who came to rule, but one who came to die so that we can live in a relationship with you. Now, as we continue in prayer, every head is bowed. I just want to talk just for a moment to those of you that are in the room today who are Christians. In a moment, we’ll talk to those who oppose and dismiss God. But I want to talk to Christians today. And you’re here this morning, and you recognize through the service. That life has happened in life has caused you to drift because you don’t live intentionally. What do you end up doing? You end up drifting, and you get distracted. It happens to me. It happens to you. It happens to us all. But you’ve realized right now that you want to be more cross-centered, not only this Christmas but in all of your life, every single day. You want to be christ-centered, not cross-distracted. And this morning, if you realize as a Christian that you’ve gotten distracted, that you’ve drifted, that you’re not Christ-centered, but you have the desire to be Christ-centered during this holiday season in 2023. 

Would you do me a favor? Will you just confess that? Would you acknowledge that? Just raise your hand. I got my hands going up all over the room. Thank you. Thank you. I see hands, nothing to be ashamed of. It all happens. It happens to us all the time. As we continue in prayer this morning. Thank you. Put your hands down as we continue in prayer. I want to pray for those here today. Who has dismissed Jesus? Maybe early on in life, you kind of believed in Jesus. Kind of thought about him and such. But life got busy. Now you’re dealing with grown-up problems and such. And you’ve just dismissed him. Others of you are here, and you’ve come to the realization that you’ve been resisting Jesus. And if you’ve been dismissing him or resisting him. There may be something inside of you today that’s drawing you to King Jesus. Can I tell you what that thing is? This drawing you to King Jesus this morning? It is the love of God through his Holy Spirit. It’s his grace. It’s his goodness that you’re experiencing right now at this moment that’s drawing you. It’s his grace and his goodness. Who says that you need him? That you need forgiveness? It’s his goodness and grace that say to you that you need his presence. You need his promises. See, what you’re sensing is God’s goodness and love. And we call that the gospel. And in simple terms, the gospel is a biblical word that means good news. And what is the good news is that the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, left for Heaven. And came to earth to be born of a virgin, which is very important because it means that Jesus didn’t have a simple nature that you and I had. He lived here on earth for three and a half years. He lived a life without sin. He went to the cross. He died in your place. We called Jesus our substitute. He became our substitute on the cross so we wouldn’t have to be nailed to the cross. And when all the sins of the world were placed on Jesus God, the father turned his back on his only begotten son because he could not see and could not stand evil and vile things. And Jesus absorbed all of that for us. And then he was put in the borrowed tomb. He was there for three days. And on the third day, he rose from the grave. And King Jesus is King because of what he did for you and for me. And this morning, you can experience the forgiveness of God, all of that weight of your sin, of your shame, of your guilt that you’re carrying around this morning. And I’m not here to beat you up. You came in feeling the weight. You came in. Fill in the shame. You came in from the guilt. I’m just trying to tell you how you can leave it all in here this morning and give it to King Jesus and walk out a brand new person this morning. Walk out free. Walk out with a fresh start. Walk out with your name. Written in the Book of Heaven. Wouldn’t that be something? And this morning, if you’re here and you’re resisting and opposing God, and you’ve been dismissing God if you’re willing to call upon the name of Jesus. God’s willing to hear your prayer this morning. God’s willing to reach down and snatch you, snatch you out of hell and transform you and put you into the kingdom of Heaven. So this is not a pass-through service. This is just not an obligation. This is just not something you did not do. This is something that you have to deal with. Are you going to oppose them? Are you going to resist them? Are you going to dismiss them, or do you want to bow down and call them Lord? 

And this morning, I want to give you that opportunity. Ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, to lift the weight of the world up from your shoulders, and to give you a brand new start. To give you a new beginning. To give you a chance to be born again this morning spiritually. Here’s what I know over the last two weekends, we’ve had 20 people. Who said I need a fresh start. I need machines for giving. I need to make things right in my relationship with God. I’m tired of doing it my way. I’m tired of carrying the burden, the weight of shame and guilt. I’m ready to lay it all down. And how do I know that there have been 20 people? Because here’s what’s happened. That I want to include you in the prayer that I’m going to pray. And here’s how I know there have been 20 people because there have been 20 people that’s raised their hands. And what I want to do this morning I want to include you in this prayer. The way they include you in the prayer is I will ask you just a second to raise your hand. And by you raise your hand, you’re saying I’m no longer going to dismiss Jesus. I’m no longer going to oppose him. I’m going to receive salvation. I’m going to receive forgiveness for my sins. I’m going to have my name written in the Book of Heaven. And here’s what I’m going to ask you to do. If that is you this morning, you’re ready to make things right with God. I just want to ask you, just to raise your hand. Leave your hand up. I’m just going to go over the room and just see what hands are of reasons on the account. And so that is you just raise your hand this morning. Really high. Just keep them up so I can see them. I’m looking. Is anyone in the back right there. I see one. Thank you. I see two. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your hands. There may be others. Maybe you don’t have maybe the courage to raise your hand. So I’m not going to ask those two just to read the Born Again prayer and ask everyone. But it’s a good reminder, and it’s on the screen. And I just want us to read it out loud in full voice because this is a good reminder. This is what Jesus did for me because I’m already a Christian. This is what he’s going to do right now for these two people. He’s going to give them a fresh start. Their names are going to be written the in the Book of Heaven. Angels are rejoicing. God, they sit on the edge of his throne right now, ready for them to do it. And here we go. So everybody prays with me. 

“Dear Lord Jesus, I believe you’re the son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your Father. Today, Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin to be born again. God is my Father, Jesus is my Savior, the Holy Spirit is my Helper, and heaven is now my home. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”

Let’s welcome these two people to the Kingdom of God. Yeah. Yes, sir. Yes. Ma’am, friends, for the two of you that raise your hand and pray that prayer. This is the beginning of a brand-new journey. And the scripture says that not only are the angels rejoicing. Not only was God on the edge of his throne. But here’s the thing. The Bible says the Book of Hebrews. But there’s a cloud of witnesses, my friends, that’s watching, observing, and they’re rejoicing this morning as well. And we, as a body of believers, can we just give it up to the 22 people over two weekends. Please pray that prayer? Yeah. Now, in a moment, I’m going to pray and dismiss you. And I just want to say something to you. We had over 200 people come through the winter wonderland. Yeah, crazy, crazy. That is our gift to the community. It is our way of putting out Christmas in a cross-centered way. And let me just say something to you. Everything was completely free because of your generosity. So let’s give it up for your generosity. Yeah, for your goodness. We’re investing in the kingdom. And because of your investment, 22 people come to know Jesus. Now, also, let’s just give it up for the 500-plus volunteers who did all the work beforehand, during, and after that, made all of it possible. Thank you. Thank you. Volunteers. I mean, people were just blown away when they came on campus, and they couldn’t believe all of this was free. And they’re just like they’re just blown away. And it’s because that, you know, what is at stake. Eternity is hanging in the balance, my friends. And you understand that. 

Now, Winter Wonderland is our outreach event to the community, and it is completely different than Christmas Eve services. And this Saturday, we have three Christmas Eve services, twelve, two, and four. They’re identical. It takes about 45 minutes for me right through Christmas Eve, and I’m in the spirit of Christmas. There’s something. It’s a traditional service. It’s candlelight, silence, not all of those things. And it’s a, you know, 45-minute service, which we encourage you to come to start a new family tradition just to say that we’re going to be here on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning. We do not have services. We’ve already done 15 and 20 days. And so I’m tired. I’m just going, to be honest with you. And so, you know, and if we get it wrong, seven years from now, we’ll do a course correction, do it differently the next time around, you know, because grace abounds. So I just encourage you to come. It’s for the whole family; anybody’s involved. It is completely different than the other ones. So I just want to remind you of that. Okay. And then, on New Year’s Day, we have one service at 11. So just kind of, you know, preload that in your mind. If you don’t mind, would you please stand? I’m going to pray over you. Then you’re dismissed. See, part of my Christmas gift to you is let early. I mean, what a pastor I am. I mean, I’m unbelievable. I’m making up for all the times I kept you on. Okay?

Father, I love this community of faith. I love these people. Overwhelmed to be there. To be their pastor and to get to walk with them through the valley of the shadow of death, to experience the mountaintops with them. The farther that we get a front-row seat to see all the things that you do, all the lives that you change, all the hearts that you touch, all the bodies that you heal. And Father, We don’t take any of this for granted. It’s a gift. And we just want to honor you by starting the gifts that you give to us. Father, I pray that this week the. That when we are experiencing anger, frustration, disappointment, fear, aggravation, that father, those are invitations from you to lean upon you and to hear a fresh word from you. Because, Father, you tell us in scripture that you never leave us or forsake us. So, Father, be with this. Help us to be the salt in a lot of the earth during this holiday season? And we pray all of these things in the mighty name of King Jesus. And everyone agreed and said, Amen. Merry Christmas. You’re dismissed.