The Consequence of the Incarnation

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Well, even though you were newborn, you were the king.

You came into this world as the king, reigning and ruling over all of creation, sovereign before time, always going to be sovereign.

There's never going to be a moment in our life or an inch of the universe that's not under your control because you were born the newborn king.

Your birth was new, but your reign and rule over creation has been from of old.

And so we've gathered today on this Christmas morning to bow down in adoration of that beautiful fact that somebody bigger and better than us is in charge of the universe.

And I get to live in freedom in the world that you've created.

That is the best gift of all.

We're humbled by the gift of your coming.

Teach us now from your word and by your spirit about the consequences of that incarnation, of your coming.

Or as we said last night, your willingness just to get involved.

We're not here by ourselves.

We're not prisoners of our own devices.

And if we are, let us be set free by the truth this morning.

This is our prayer.

We prayed in Christ's name, and everyone said, Amen, amen.

You can have a seat.

You can have a seat.

And I want to read this one.

I want to talk to you about the consequences of the incarnation.

The consequences, we talked last night, we defined the word incarnation.

Incarnation basically means Lenny Skutnik.

Amen.

Did you go home and Google his name?

You should have Lenny Skutnik.

What does that mean?

The incarnation means that God is willing just to get involved.

And now today, I would be remiss because you see, you gotta, if you're not careful, uh Christmas, especially it happens once every seven years.

Christmas on a Sunday could be kind of sentimental and warm, awash with ambient light, like a Thomas Kincaid painting, and more sentiment than principle.

And yet the incarnation is very principled.

And so I want to read from Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

I'll start reading verse 25.

Verse 25 says this.

And now there was in Jerusalem, uh there was a man named Simeon, whose name was Simeon.

Uh yes, start over.

Verse 25.

Now there was a man, my contact moved.

Uh uh, now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

And this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it was, somebody doesn't like Simeon's name.

Uh waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, and it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death, but for he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought him in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and he blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts will be revealed.

The consequences of the incarnation, there's three of them in the text that I want to point to.

And the first one is divine choreography.

Divine choreography.

Notice how the text describes Simeon.

It says that he's righteous, he's devout, but he's waiting.

He's righteous and he's devout, but he's also waiting.

What does that mean for us?

It means that doing the right thing, obeying the gospel, submitting to what God says, doesn't always get you to the front of the line.

You're still going to wait.

It doesn't get it doesn't speed up the process that you and I hope to control.

He's righteous, he's devout, and waiting.

Maybe here at the end of the year you should ask, maybe today at your lunch or tonight at your dinner, hey, what are three words that describe your year or describe yourself here at the end of the year?

For Simeon, he was righteous, he was devout, and he was waiting.

He and this lady Anna, this picked up in the next little section of scripture.

They they they they live under Roman occupation, but they are preoccupied with the coming of Christ.

A matter of fact, if you Google the phrase this afternoon, things to see before you die, you would get a myriad of lists.

You would get a list.

Some lists are seven things long, some are 28 uh things long, some are a hundred uh uh the list is a hundred things you got to see before you die.

There's a book written called A Thousand Things to See Before You Die.

Don't give me that because I don't have that much free time, okay?

A thousand things to see before you die.

But if if you Googled Simeon, there was one thing on his list.

I want to see the Messiah before I die.

And I'm going to.

Why?

Because the Holy Spirit had promised it to him.

And so he's living in light of that moment.

He's not trying to manufacture moments, he's living in light of that moment.

In our Instagram Pinterest culture, we gotta we gotta repent of trying to manufacture moments and simply just be led by the Spirit and obey, leaving the outcomes to God, believing this that God is choreographing everything according to his will.

Let me say that again.

Just simply obey.

Stop trying to manufacture and create something.

No, just just obey.

Just just trust God, do the right thing and trust God and leave the results to him because that's when this divine choreography takes place.

Let me give you a couple examples from scripture.

You're all familiar with the story of David and Goliath.

If so, say amen.

The story of David and Goliath did not start off on a heroic note.

It started with a man saying to his son, Take these Jesus to your brothers who are out at war and bring me back a report.

Pretty simple, pretty innocuous, and yet it's one of the most recognizable stories in all the Bible.

And secondly, Moses in the burning bush.

It starts off in Exodus chapter 3 with this really sexy sounding phrase.

Exodus 3 · chapter mention

Now, Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro.

Moses was on the run.

He had killed a man and buried him in the sand.

He was working for his father-in-law.

How'd you like to have that gig?

And yet, out of that moment, God delivers.

He raises up a man who's going to deliver the Israelites out of a bondage in Egypt.

Acts 3 in the New Testament.

Starts off then this is where it ends is Peter and John.

They they heal a blind man and then they get in trouble with the royal authorities.

They get flogged and beaten, and then they meet with the other believers and they pray, and the house they're shaking in, they're praying in is shaken like an earthquake.

Okay.

The prayers were that powerful.

All that.

They're not trying to manufacture that moment.

They didn't have flyers.

They didn't have social media campaign.

No, it started like this at Acts chapter 3, verse 1.

Acts 3:1

One day Peter and John were going to the temple.

It's like you driving to church this morning.

Again, we have to repent of trying to manufacture moments and simply let the spirit lead and obey what we know God is calling us to do.

Divine choreography happens here in verse 27.

Simeon comes led by the Spirit.

See, the Holy Spirit doesn't wait till the book of Acts to come on the scene.

The Holy Spirit has always been at work from the very beginning.

The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters, just waiting for God to say, this is what we're going to do.

And so Simeon comes because he's led by the Spirit.

Here's divine choreography.

Mary and Joseph come to fulfill the law.

And so the law and obedience and freedom are not enemies, they're friends.

And because of the incarnation, you can submit to the law and be set free by the spirit and just let God kind of choreograph everything else.

So the first consequence of the incarnation is what I would call divine choreography.

The second thing is that just the universal reach of the gospel.

The universal reach of the gospel.

Now I'm not saying universalism like everybody gets in, but here's what I'm saying: the gospel is for everyone.

Okay?

You say, I what do you mean?

The universal looking verse uh 30.

He says, For my eyes have seen your salvation.

I can die in peace now.

I can die a happy man, God, because my eyes have seen your salvation.

Now then he goes on to talk about the salvation.

He said, You prepared it in the presence of all the peoples.

Verse 32.

A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

A light for revelation to the Gentiles.

That's Gentiles is a reference to people that were not believers.

So, like what we call nowadays lost people or non-Christians.

A light for revelation to the Gentiles, not heat, but light.

God always brings more light than heat to a circumstance and situation because he wants people to see him clearly and see themselves clearly.

And then, secondly, glory to your people, Israel.

One of the bad habits of the Israelites was to think of God as their God only, like he was a good luck charm, a divine rabbit's foot, that we got God, you've got Baal, whoever you have faith in, our God's bigger than your God.

And it's one of the things that God did, that Jesus makes uh uh He kind of introduces, and then the Apostle Paul takes it and says, I'm gonna take the gospel to the Gentiles, because the Jews, he came to his own, and his own received him not, the Bible says.

But all along, God's been kind of saying to his people, I'm not just your God, I want to be the God of everybody and everything I've created.

I want to, I am Lord of all of that.

Way back in the Old Testament, in the book of Isaiah, chapter 49, God says this.

Isaiah 49 · chapter mention

This is Israel trying to say, Hey, God, you're our God, you're on our side, and they're the bad people.

And God says, No, no, no, that's too light of a thing.

He says it like this in Isaiah 49, 5.

And now the Lord says, He who formed me from the womb to be a servant, to bring back, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength.

He says, It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel.

I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

The ESV says it is too light a thing.

The NIV says it's too small a thing.

In other words, God says, My plans for the world are bigger than just Israel.

My plans for the world are for the world.

So if you're here today and you're like, man, I just came to church because my family said we're going to church, and I was like, God, gee, seriously, it's Christmas Day.

Who does that?

I just want to say this to you: God is not playing keep away.

God is, I'm not just coming for religious people, I'm coming for people.

That's why in the book of Acts, they preach the gospel.

They say the gospel is for you, God's people, people that are already Christians, and for those who are far off.

So if you're sitting out here today thinking, listen, I got free coffee and I had a cute kid story, and we got some red flowers.

By the way, boys and girls, if you listen very closely, Pastor Neil has a gift for you in churches over here in just a few minutes.

You can come have one of these red flowers.

I grew them in my backyard all year, and they're my gift to you.

I'm a farmer on the side.

And so keep paying good attention, like you're doing, like my man right here in the second row.

Pay good attention, and then you can come and pick out one of these and take it home.

You're welcome.

Yes, thumbs up.

Exactly.

Exactly.

See, God says, hey, I'm not just I'm not just God of the people who already believe.

I want to be God of the people who don't believe.

I want to be God of the jaded cynic.

The person that's kind of like, hey, if God's real, why is there so much pain and injustice in the world?

Why is Russia occupying Ukraine?

Because people are insecure.

Sin makes you insecure.

You can't you can't look around the world and blame God for what people do with their free will.

The universal reach of the gospel, what does that mean?

He says, a light for revelation to the Gentiles.

Now, I understand as a pastor that sometimes the Bible has things in it, and you're like, I got nothing, man.

A light for revelation.

What?

Here's what that looks like.

God says it's kind of like the people that don't know Jesus are in a dark room, and all of a sudden somebody lights a candle, uh, strikes a match and lights a candle, and all of a sudden you're like, wait a minute, there's this table, it's a long table covered with all your favorite food.

And all of a sudden the room gets illuminated, and you're like familiar smells start to go like, oh my gosh.

And God looks at you and just says one thing, Are you hungry?

This is how gracious God is.

This is what it means: a light for revelation to the Gentiles.

You can't get there on your own.

God has to reveal it to you.

And look at me, He's glad to reveal it to you.

He says, I didn't just come for people who have it all together, I come for everyone.

Anybody can have a relationship with this God.

The universal reach of the gospel is a light for revelation for the Gentiles.

And secondly, glory to your people, Israel.

In other words, through Jesus, they're gonna fulfill their ministry of service to the world.

He he comes, he's the magnet that makes his people great.

Okay?

Think about it like that.

Here's the third consequence of the incarnation, the fact that that Christ was that God was willing to get involved to come into this world through the womb of a virgin.

Yes, we believe that because the Bible teaches that.

And this is where it gets a little more uh uh, shall I say, personal.

Uh, this is what rescues us from sentiment today, and like, hey, we went to church on Christmas morning.

Extra bonus points for us.

You may not be glad you came after you hear this, but it's my responsibility as your pastor to say, hey, this is kind of the consequence of uh of the incarnation.

And it's simply this that it's consequences for everyone.

It's consequences for everyone.

Verse 33.

And his father and his mother marveled what was said about him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, the child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed, and a sword that will pierce through your own soul also, so your thoughts, so so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

Now, you may read that and kind of go, I don't know what that means.

It's not good.

So let me just kind of point uh uh see here's my concern to some let me point some of the consequences.

There's four of them lifted in listed in the text, but let me just say this before we do that.

We so fear negative consequences today that we start with the consequences and we try to work back to the gospel.

And most people don't make it back to the gospel.

We start with the consequences, like she may break up with me, he may not want to uh keep the in stay in this relationship, my boss, I may lose my job, blah, blah, blah.

Whatever the consequences may be.

And by the way, the culture, I don't know if you turned on your TV this year, the culture is becoming increasingly hostile to the gospel.

And I think that's a great thing.

Let's just get it on, let's just let's just figure out who really believes the gospel.

Now, I'm not saying let's go out here like some mindless people and say we want hardship.

No, what I want to say is let's be people who say we believe the gospel, and there's nothing you can do to us that's gonna change our mind about that.

But we as a culture start with the consequences and we work back to the gospel and we rarely get back to the gospel, and so we what we get to is a gospel of accommodation that's no gospel at all, or a gospel of tolerance that says, Who am I to judge you?

Contending for the truth is not judgment, it's love.

Because the Bible says love rejoices in the truth, and so if we're not careful, we end up with a gospel, quote unquote, that's no gospel at all.

Let me point to four consequences from the text.

Number one, he says the fall and the rising of many in Israel.

The fall.

Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel.

Ask yourself the simple question.

When you look back over this past year, what can you blame Jesus for?

That's a weird sounding question, isn't it?

It's kind of like that's a sin.

You shouldn't say that.

No, you ought to be able to look back on your year and kind of go, you know what, I there's no excuse for that.

That's Jesus' fault.

Still not accessible, is it?

How about this?

There's a guy named Walker Hayes.

If you've ever, if you know, if you like country music, you know who Walker Hayes is, say amen.

How about the song Fancy Like That?

Remember that?

Fancy like Applebee's on a date night?

Remember that?

Oh yeah.

Some of you even filmed yourself dancing and put it on TikTok.

I can't forget that.

I don't want to remember that.

Yes, that Walker Hayes was a functioning alcoholic.

And his wife used to have to drag him to church.

And she'd get the kids ready.

The kids were looking at Dad.

By the way, Dad, you set the spiritual temperature in your home, whether you realize it or not.

You know, the kids were like, Dad's not going.

Why do we got to go?

And the mom's the bad guy because she said, We're going to church.

And he said, My wife drove me to church all the time.

And then God lit a match.

And all of a sudden, this beautiful spread of everything Walker Hazel loves was sitting on the table, and God said, Are you hungry?

And he said, I'm starving, man.

I got this country music career and I'm starving.

He comes to faith, becomes a Christian, and he writes a song to explain to all his buddies what happened.

Here's the chorus.

It sounds like this.

I guess that's what happened when he chases you down.

Everything is different.

There's a new me in town.

I don't wake up angry at the mirror on the wall.

So if you miss the old me, that's Jesus' fault.

Yes.

You ought to have some things that you look at.

Because he said to his drinking buddies, hey, I'm not about that anymore.

Why?

It's Jesus' fault.

He said, I get up and say to my kids, we're going to church.

And they don't, rah rah, they're like, I want to be like my dad.

And they go.

The fall and the rising of many.

Jesus is blamed for that.

Second, second consequence is a sign that is opposed.

Right there in the text.

And for a sign that is opposed.

Translation People are going to be against your son.

He's a baby.

They come to the temple to observe the law of purification.

And there's a man hanging out in there that people are like, yeah, he's just a crazy old guy.

He's just homeless.

He just hangs out in here and mumbles all the time.

And yet when he sees them walking in the Spirit says, Here comes salvation.

And he loves God enough to tell the truth and says, Oh, by the way, people are going to hate your son.

How would you like the nurse to tell you that when they give you your kid back and say you can leave the hospital?

And by the way, this kid's not going to have any friends and sit by himself in the school cafeteria.

Brace yourself.

I know a good counselor.

Yeah.

Yeah.

See what I mean by consequence?

You say, I don't know what you mean.

Jim Elliott was a missionary to the Akha Indians who was martyred by them, people he was trying to take the gospel to.

And before he was martyred, he wrote this in his journals.

This is a prayer he wrote.

He's talking about a sign that is opposed.

He said, Father, make of me a crisis man.

Bring those I contact to decision.

Let me not be a milepost on a single road.

Make me a fork that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.

That's a sign that is opposed.

Third consequence of the text, it gets real personal for Mary.

He says, A sword also, a sword will pierce through your own soul.

Nobody has the capacity to hurt you like your children.

Have you noticed that, Mom and Dad?

Yeah, they just do.

Strangers can't hurt you that way.

You don't feel that way about them.

By the way, when it says a sword will pierce through your own soul, this is a reference to the cross.

The language used to describe how Simeon in the Bible is so exacting in its detail.

When it says that Simeon, it doesn't say he just picked the kid up, it's say took him up in his arms.

That language in the Greek is the same language, it's the same word picture of a priest receiving an offering from somebody and taking it up in his arms to lay it on the altar.

So from the moment he was born, this king came to sacrifice himself for the people that he loves.

And so the Bible's kind of winking at us here and kind of saying, Hey, by the way, this is not just a uh a story about consequence.

This is a reference to the cross.

The Bible says it like this what do you mean, a sword will pierce through your own soul?

That's kind of uh nuanced there, isn't it?

Not really, it's it's very clear.

This is from John's gospel, John chapter 19.

John 19 · chapter mention

This is because the Bible fits together, it tells one story from beginning to the very end.

Simeon, the old man, tells her this when the baby's like eight days old, and then towards the end of his life.

The Bible says, When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic.

But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.

This was to fulfill the scripture which says they divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopus and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son.

Now get this for just a minute.

We're done in two minutes, okay?

But just picture this for a minute.

It's bad enough that your son just gets crucified before your very eyes.

Talking about a sword piercing your own heart.

Then you got these knucklehead Roman soldiers that are casting lots, like shooting dice for his clothes, because hey, this garment's single, it's seamless.

This thing's worth something.

I can sell this on Craigslist.

If you're always driven by a prophet, you don't understand when a prophet is in your midst.

You miss the truth.

More to life than making money, my man.

And I know you're probably thinking, yes, as the guy that wears the same clothes two days in a row.

I'm not listening to you.

And I don't care.

It's a great place to be.

Highly recommended.

Get there as quick as you can.

Kids get there quick.

If you're in the sixth grade, get there quick.

People want to marry you in the ninth grade.

I texted my friend Rick Brown this morning.

And I said, hey, pray.

Here's why I texted and said, Hey, Merry Christmas, love you guys, praying for you.

I said, pray for me.

And I said, I'm preaching on the consequence of the incarnation, and it's not sentimental.

And he texted back.

I wrote it down the cradle without the cross is empty sentiment.

And I was just like, Yes.

Yes, Rick Brown, you're exactly right.

Rick Brown's not a pastor.

He's not a theologian.

He's a financial planner.

He manages private assets.

The cradle without the cross is empty sentiment.

Here's the last consequence from the text we'll be done today.

The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

This is the one that ought to drive you crazy.

The thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

What does that mean?

If you want to see what he's referring to, just read the rest of the Gospel of Luke, and it recurs over and over.

It happens in chapter 5, chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 11, other places in there, you hear some version of this phrase, and Jesus knowing what they were thinking.

And Jesus knowing their thoughts, and Jesus knowing what was in their heart.

Now, by the way, this Jesus has not stopped knowing what you're thinking, knowing your thoughts, not stopped knowing what's in your heart.

Now, if he already knows that, the psalmist bears it out, the psalmist said, Hey, before a word is on my tongue, God, you know it.

Before I have a thought, you know it.

If God already knows all the thoughts that you think, the good, the bad, the light, the dark, what does that say to you about this God?

People don't like having their hearts put on display.

That's why in John's gospel in chapter three he says, men will, you know, light is coming to the world, but men love darkness.

They will not come into the light.

That's why people responded the way they did.

And so it's my responsibility as your pastor.

It's really my privilege as your pastor.

And I know this about you as my people that you want me to tell you the truth is that there's a consequence to the incarnation.

And some of it's good, and some of it's going to be difficult.

And this next year, we're going to have to stand up for the gospel.

We're going to have to look people in the eye and say, no, I'm not willing to sign that.

I'm not willing to agree to that.

I don't hate you just because of your lifestyle.

I just love the truth, okay?

I'm not hating on anybody, but I don't have to compromise to fit in with you.

Do with me and to me what you may, but I am not going to agree with this.

The consequence is coming, beloved.

And we have to embrace the consequences of the incarnation.

Get us ready for the consequences that are come to come from the culture.

So here's what I'm asking today.

Can we just embrace that the incarnation came with consequences?

Jesus couldn't escape that, and neither can we.

What we can do is get the order right.

Get the order right.

What do you mean?

Don't start with the consequences.

Instead, start with the gospel and let the consequences come what may.

Because God's word and God's spirit has prepared God's people for the consequence.

Let's pray together.

If you're our guest today, just relax.

Not going to do any shenanigans.

We like to teach the Bible, even the thorny parts.

You got to engage your gray matter and think about that.

And then we like to say, hey, we're going to give you some space to think.

Some questions come up on the screen.

You can just read over them, take a picture with your phone, whatever.

You can just pick one out and say, I want to think about that one.

But I'm going to voice a prayer and we're going to spend just one minute just thinking about what God said to you today.

Let me pray.

God, thanks that the Bible is consequential.

Thanks that it's for head and heart and hand, what we think, what we feel, and what we do.

It's over all of that.

And thank you, God, that you so work in our lives that there's things that we just say, oh, it's Jesus' fault.

I'm not the person I used to be.

And because of what God's done in me.

The gospel makes us capable of doing things.

And it also makes us capable of not doing things anymore.

And we want to live in that deliberate tension between both of us, God.

That's freedom.

The Holy Spirit brood over your people.

Oh God, the great thing about you is that you have the grace to accept who we are and the power to change us into who the Bible says we can be.

We're humbled by that.

We love that about you.

So we love you, we love your law, we love your word.

Pray for anybody here today that says I relate to that Walker Hayes song.

I don't like who I see in the mirror.

Holy Spirit, reveal the truth to them today.

Set them free from self-hatred and open them up to the wonder and the wideness of the love of God.

Thanks for today.

We're humbled and we're grateful that we get to be here.

It only happens once every seven years.

We get to gather on a Sunday and worship on Christmas Day, the day we acknowledge your birth.

So thanks for this gift today.

And all the gifts that have come this morning and all the gifts that are to come later on today.

We receive it all as gifts from you in Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.

Amen.

Hey, if you're a guest today, you live here in our city.

I miss people from San Antonio or actually Pearl, which is kind of the hipster part of San Antonio.

It's been redone.

But anyway, uh if you're a guest, you live in the area, and we would just love, if you're if you're meaningfully connected to a church, look at me.

If you're meaningfully connected to a church, stay connected to your church.

We're not trying to get all that, but if you're not connected to a church, we'd love you to become a part of what God's doing here.

Just text welcome to that number you see on the screen.

If you have any questions about anything you saw or you heard this morning, our pastors will be available down front.

Uh, we'd love to pray with you.

Uh help you take your next step in your spiritual journey.

Or just, hey, that guy said this.

And what do you mean by that?

Okay.

We would love that.

All questions are welcome and all people are welcome, okay?

Uh we got a couple things coming up in the life of our church.

We'll make you aware of by by way of our video announcements.

So direct your attention to the screen for just one minute.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

If you're new, text welcome to 281-626-5707.

This way we can know you're here and get you connected with the church.

Starting point is our class for those interested in joining our church as members.

Our next gathering is January 15th.

Register at grandparkway.org.

Midweeks begin on January 10th and 11th.

To find your class, sign up at grandparkway.org.

Mark your calendars for January 8th as Great Ortland will be joining us to teach about learning your true identity in Christ.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the front of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Merry Christmas.

Again, boys and girls, because you were so well behaved, as soon as I speak a blessing over everybody, I want you to come and get one of these red flowers and take them home, okay?

It's my special gift to you, and you're welcome.

Yes.

Hold your hands out.

The consequences are coming.

But your God has already come.

He's here, he's been building his kingdom in you, he's been preparing you, equipping you, getting you ready for what is to come.

So in that moment you respond in such a way that he gets glory and you get satisfaction.

This is the beauty of the gospel.

And it's who you are and it's what's yours in Christ.

Depart now.

In the Spirit and in peace.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.