Christmas - The Manger, The Light, & The Throne

Can you guys, can you guys still take me seriously if I have this

Teagle Tumblr up here? All the men are like, all right,

pastor, that's a with the lipstick on it.

I can't respect myself so bad body.

Turn in your Bible to Isaiah Chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Everybody's Bible is well trained in Matthew at this

point, but the title of the sermon for my note takers, The

Manger, the Light and the throne, Isaiah, Chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

So Isaiah is, I mean, all the prophets are awesome.

Isaiah is an awesome prophet to read.

Isaiah gives you glimpses of here's the devastation and the

judgment that is well deserved. But here's the prophecy of the

hope and the promise. Here's the judgment and here's

the promise. Here's the judgment and here's

the promise. That really is what we see

throughout Scripture. Is there anything to be afraid

of? Yeah, there's a lot to be afraid

of. Unless.

Except that he would come under the blood and be freed and be

saved. So Isaiah has been prophesying

the the judgment of the Lord that's coming, not because the

Lord is is just grumpy, but because the people are receiving

what they have sown. They have been sowing a

particular seed and now you have to reap that harvest.

This is the Lord's design and this is the Lord's way.

And yet hope comes, the prophecy comes.

This is a prophecy of the Messiah.

So the ancient Jews would have understood this passage to mean

there's good news coming, there's hope coming.

You and I, we've got hindsight 2020.

We get to look all the way back and go, of course, of course

that was Jesus. Of course that was Jesus.

We're going to do that here in Isaiah 9, in verse 2, the people

who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwell in a land of deep darkness, on them has light

shone. You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with

joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil

For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the

rod of his oppressor you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, and

every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the

fire. For unto us a child is born, to

us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his

shoulder, and his name shall be called.

Wonderful Counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince

of Peace, of the increase of his government and of peace.

There will be no end on the throne of David and over his

Kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with

righteousness. From this time forth and

forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts

will do this. God, thank you for your

prophecy. Thank you for your word that

came to Isaiah that day, wherever he was, as the Holy

Spirit spoke to him, told him to write it down, so that for

thousands of years we would still be able to look back and

rejoice at the God who keeps his word, at the God who is gracious

when he doesn't have to be, at the God who is kind when we

don't deserve kindness. Thank you for the light.

Thank you for the hope. Refresh us again today with

hope, with peace on earth, with peace in our hearts, because

you're the one who has made peace and reconciled us to

yourself. We thank you in Jesus name,

Amen. So you might have noticed what I

skipped was verse one. Look at verse one now.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish in the

former time he brought her in contempt, in contempt in the

land of Zebulun and the land of Neftali.

But in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the

sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee, O of the nations.

So it is prophesied that the Messiah will come out of and or

he will be in Galilee, which is interesting if you want to just

take a quick remembrance to Nicodemus.

Whenever Jesus is getting the sham trial in the middle of the

night, Nicodemus speaks up. He's one of the Pharisees.

He's one of the main guys. That's our same Nicodemus from

John chapter 3, who came to meet with Jesus privately.

John 3 · chapter mention

So he's, he's stirred, he's moved, he's close.

Is he all the way in? He's going, guys, should we

really, should we really bother with this Jesus?

Maybe, you know, he'll just be like everybody else and he'll

vanish away. And the Pharisees who have much

of the Scriptures memorized, they know the Bible.

They say Nicodemus, what are you talking about?

Go see for yourself if a prophet comes out of Galilee.

Well, Isaiah Chapter 9 makes very plain that a prophet comes

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

out of Galilee. They knew what the Bible said,

but they still were blind. This is the problem with

spiritual blindness. This is the problem with hard

heartedness. You can know things but still

not know things. You can believe things but still

not believe things. You can acknowledge things but

still not acknowledge things. And this is what people who walk

in darkness need. They need light to come.

So Galilee of the nations, the people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light. This is the prophecy.

This is the moment of breakthrough where all the

readers of Isaiah are going, all right, this is good news.

Where are we without Jesus? So in context, yes, this is

talking to Israel, and in context, yes, this is also

preaching something for you and your heart and for me and my

heart. Without Jesus, we walk in

darkness. This is the issue that Jesus

comes to resolve. This set him apart and still

sets him apart from every philosophy or religious leader

that ever has been. He didn't just come to teach us,

He came personally to rescue us. That's different and that's

distinct. Hey everybody, follow me.

I'll teach you some good stuff, all right?

Maybe they will. Hey everybody, I'll teach you

some good stuff, all right? Maybe they will.

Jesus comes saying I am the light of the world.

I am the resurrection in the life.

I am the bread of heaven. I am the Word made flesh.

So Jesus makes exclusive claims about himself.

But his coming proves automatically that we were lost.

If we weren't lost, Jesus wouldn't have come.

But God loves the people that he created, so he's come to rescue

us all. The people who walked in

darkness, that was me, and that's you.

They've seen a great light, those who dwelt in the land of

deep darkness on them light has shown.

I want to read to you this passage from John chapter 3, the

John 3 · chapter mention

famous conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, where Jesus

again, in true Jesus fashion says complicated and difficult

things. And in order to push you away.

No, in order to try and draw you in.

But your own pride or humility will determine what you do with

that. And Jesus tells a grown man,

it's a phrase you and I might be familiar with now, but it had

never been spoken before. You must be born again.

You and I are so familiar with that phrase at this point.

Really. Yeah.

Yeah. We know what he meant.

He meant like, born of that which is one of the flesh is one

of the flesh. But that which is one of the

spirit, it's one of the spirit. You were born once out of your

mom, but now you need to be born out of the Spirit of God.

We get it now. Well, yeah, congratulations.

You and I get it. But that made no sense to

Nicodemus. You must be born again.

Jesus, with his divisive content comment.

What does Nicodemus do? Remember, asks a wise and humble

and respectful question. How can this be?

Could you please explain? Do I go into my mother's womb

again? He submits himself to the

Master's teaching. I don't get it.

But you're the Master and I'm not.

So lead the way. And of course Jesus leads the

way. But we keep going into the most,

probably the most famous passage in all of Scripture, John 316.

But we won't make the mistake of stopping only there.

Thank you, brother. We're going to go all the way

through verse 21, John 316 through 21.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that

whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal

life. For God did not send His Son

into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the

world might be saved through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not

believe is condemned already because he has not believed in

the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement.

So you go, everybody's already condemned.

Yes, What's the judgement? This is the judgement.

I'll tell you. Jesus is explaining.

The light has come into the world, and people love the

darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does

not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed, but

whoever does what is true comes to the light so that it may be

clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

Jesus says we are condemned already.

That's the people walking in the great darkness.

That's you and I. We need light.

We're condemned already. This is our default setting from

birth. I think I was a pretty decent

person, except that your father, Adam, his sin travelled all the

way through all of the fathers until it came to you and to me.

So our default setting is sinful.

This is why Isaiah says we walk in darkness, and Jesus says more

plainly, people love the darkness rather than the light

because their works are evil. Why don't I want the light on

when I'm walking in evil? Well, because it's exposing me.

Now, if I, if there's humility there, I'll see the whole truth.

I'll see all of God's grace. We'll talk more about that in a

second. The people have seen a great

light. In Isaiah 9.

Jesus is the great light. He says so about himself when he

declares I am the light of the world.

That's good news. That could be bad news.

It depends on what you do with the news.

The light is on. It's going to expose everything.

Do you have something that you don't want to expose?

Yeah, I do too. We got a lot of things.

It's all of our sin. You go, I don't want anybody to

see that. Well, the Lord already sees it.

The Lord already knows about it. But the light does another

thing. The light also reveals the

fullness of God's grace. If you only see the sin, then

you're only hearing the voice of the accuser.

You only hear Satan say, look at that, look at this, look at the

sin, look at all the sin, and you go and you're crushed by it,

as we should be. And that leads us to the

humility, to the greatness of God's grace, the great light

that shines in the darkness. It reveals how dark and bad

things are. But that's what light does.

Light reveals everything. It reveals the true state of

things. Jesus in his light, he reveals

the true condition of the world. The light of Jesus reveals the

true condition of your heart. The light of Jesus reveals the

true condition of your marriage. The light of Jesus reveals the

true condition of your relationship with your children.

But thankfully, the light does not stop there.

It shows you the true depth of the love of God.

It shows you the true length of His forgiveness.

It shows you the true width of His grace for the humble.

That leads to true joy. And you haven't known true joy

until you've seen both of those two things, the true nature of

your sin and the true nature of God's grace.

God's grace by itself will be meaningless to you if you don't

know how devastated you already are.

God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life.

I know I'm great. I'm super lovable.

Of course he does. You've missed the gospel.

If the gospel does not crush your ego, then you don't have

the gospel. If Jesus doesn't crush your ego,

then you don't have Jesus. Jesus gets to be the hero

because you needed to be saved. And to all the Christians who

go, Yep, I remember it well, good news, our lives are to be

marked by repentance. So unfortunately, although we

thankfully, although we are no longer sinners in our identity,

we still have the capacity and the capability for sin.

So the Christian life will not be marked by perfection,

unfortunately, but it will be marked by repentance where I

continually come to the Lord and go, Lord, change me, change me.

Don't just take out this bad fruit.

It came from somewhere. Continue to work on me, continue

to renew my mind. Keep me close to you.

That brings true joy, seeing the nature of my sin, and then

therefore the true nature of God's grace, because I actually

will be drawn to worship. What kind of God is this that

can forgive me? What kind of God is this that

would love me? You don't know who I am.

God says I do. Now it's time to believe the

gospel. Now it's time to believe the

love of God. Now it's time to believe in the

grace of God. Have you seen your despair?

Were you crushed by it? Only for a moment.

And you go running to the cross, and now you get elevated and

raised up with Him. Isaiah's walking us through all

of it. Verse 3.

This is the response for people who love the light.

You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy.

They rejoiced before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are

glad when they divide the spoil. What happens?

Our works are exposed, but we're thankful to see the infection

because we're thankful for the good physician.

The baby in the Manger increases our joy because he delivers us

from evil, and we're made wealthy because we get to share

in his inheritance. He divides his spoil with us.

We didn't work for the harvest, He did.

It's his harvest. He's the Lord of the harvest and

He lets us share in it. Verse four in Isaiah 9 for the

yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his

oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

So to clarify that the his in this passage would be the

people. So the people have been

oppressed, the people have been burdened.

So the yoke of their burden, the staff that's on their shoulder,

the rod of their oppressor, they're being beaten by the rod

of their oppressor. You have broken that as on the

day of Midian. So remember Midian, Remember

Gideon, Gideon and the 300 men who defeated the Midianites,

Really, they just surrounded them.

They obeyed the Lord, and then the Lord made the Midianites

defeat the Midianites. That was a great deliverance.

God used his judge, Gideon to set the people free and to

deliver his people. This Is Us.

We've been carrying heavy burdens, our sin and its

effects. They're a yoke, a heavy yoke, a

poor fitting yoke and we're working for our master, the

devil. We have an oppressor, we have an

accuser, but our God comes in. He breaks the yoke that weighs

us down. He breaks the rod that's beaten

us as on the day of Midian. He delivers us in verse 5

continues to tell us what happens more detail when the

baby in the Manger comes and this prophecy keeps building

momentum. Every boot for the tramping

warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

So he's talking about the oppression, the warfare.

He's saying I'm bringing an end to all the warfare in the

eternal Kingdom. All these things will be made

perfectly finished right now they're perfectly finished for

those who believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now this thing swells to its most famous culmination, verse 6

for to us a child is born. So as the original readers are

going through this passage, they're going, what's changing?

What's changing, what's changing?

Verse 6, finally, this is the hook.

This is why all these things are going to happen.

This is the deliverance to us. A child is born.

Ah, this is it, the Messiah to us.

A son is given, and the government shall be upon his

shoulder, and his name shall be called.

Wonderful counsellor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince

of Peace. Who's he born to?

He's born specifically to a virgin.

Why is it so important that Jesus was born to a virgin?

It's easy to miss this. I think a lot of believers do.

They go because God's awesome. He just does awesome miracles,

right? No.

Well, yes, God is awesome. Let me say yes to that part.

Does he just do awesome miracles?

Also yes. But does he do random miracles?

No. God doesn't just go on Christmas

magic. She'll be a virgin just because

I can. He can.

But it's not just that he, it's not just that he could, it's

that he had to. Jesus had to be born from a

virgin. It goes back to the point that I

made to you earlier, because sin travels through the Father.

So how was Jesus able to be born without a sinful nature?

He was born to humankind. Well, because he wasn't born of

an earthly father. His mother was a sinful person

just like everybody else who's ever lived.

But Jesus wasn't because sin did not travel through the Father.

Why does sin travel through the Father?

It comes from our Father, Adam. When we look back in Genesis, we

are not plunged Into Darkness as humanity.

When Eve sins, Eve sins, and it's still, what are you going

to do, Adam? You're going to step in and go

to God and say, God, kill me and I'll spare Eve.

That would have been ideal sacrifice.

I'll be the sacrifice so she can live.

And instead Adam plunges all of us Into Darkness.

The Scripture tells us through one man's sin we all were

plunged Into Darkness, and through one man's righteousness

we're all brought out. Jesus had to be born of a

virgin. If Jesus was not born from a

virgin, then you and I are doomed and there is no hope for

anyone ever. Jesus was born of a virgin, and

this is important because the stain of sin travels through the

Father. But thankfully Jesus is born

sinless and thank God, just as importantly, he stays sinless

all the way through the cross. He is faithful and he stays

faithful, tempted, tried, tested in every way as we were.

But when he got to the cross, he was just as innocent on the

cross as he was that night in the Manger.

It's a graphic thing. We're so used to images of

Christ on the cross, we familiarized ourselves with it.

We go, that's a man, that's a 30 something year old man that is

an excruciating death, literally excruciating from the cross.

And yet he was as innocent as a baby, more so than any other

baby you and I have ever held or loved.

He was just as innocent on the cross as he was in the Manger.

What else is happening here when the Scriptures describing the

shoulder in verse 6? For unto us a child is born, to

us, a son is given, and the government shall be upon his

shoulder. We've gone from our shoulder

that was being oppressed a couple verses earlier.

We're being oppressed with burdens, and now we've gone to

his shoulder, but he's not oppressed.

He's walking in dominion. Dominion is what he carries on

his shoulder. That's where you carry things

that are really heavy. You throw it up there.

Bradley and Adam and Chris, they're laughing at me like this

guy hasn't worked in years. He doesn't know anything about

putting burdens on his shoulders.

I remember here when I was a young man, when I worked hard

and it wasn't just the keyboard and the strain that comes from

the wrists. After a while, when you carry

something heavy, it goes on your shoulder.

This is where the Lord's authority is.

All authority belongs to Jesus, all authority in heaven and on

earth. The burden of command, as it's

often called, belongs to the Lord.

It's what he carries. Everything belongs to him.

So this is the good news. Not only does he come in and

breaks the thing that was beating us, he's angry when he

does this. As the end of the passage tells

us, the zeal of the Lord will accomplish all of this.

So he comes in as a father. I could only imagine if if

someone was harming or oppressing my children, with

which we'll just call it zeal, that I would show up to, to

correct that situation. Every, every father could

imagine. Everybody who loves anybody can

imagine if a loved one was being oppressed.

How much more does God love you and how much more zeal does he

have than you do for your loved ones?

He comes in with anger. He comes in to crush our

enemies, to glorify His name and to love you.

And who is he? What is his name?

This perfect God, the Mighty 1? He is called the wonderful

counselor. Have you ever needed counsel?

Have you ever needed wisdom? Have you ever needed help?

Jesus is the wisdom of God. He's the king, wiser than

Solomon, and He has come to counsel you.

That's who the Savior is. That's who the baby in the

Manger is. So much so that remember when

the guards were sent to arrest him, they said go get him and

bring him to us and they come back and they say, where is he?

Why didn't you bring him with us?

He said, never has a man spoken like this.

You were given a direct order. Go get Jesus and bring him back

like there's there's something different.

The wonderful counselor, what else?

Who else is he? He is the mighty God In Jesus

all the fullness of the deity dwells bodily.

Jesus has a body. When we get to heaven, we will

still see Jesus in the body that He walked in on earth, His

glorified body. That is the form that He has

taken. That is the form that He has

chosen to dwell in, and His in His mighty humility.

The mighty God is still fully man.

Who else is He? He is the everlasting Father.

This Son given to us fathers His people in that He protects them

and He provides for them by laying down His life.

He is the Prince of Peace. He brings us to peace with God.

He brings permanent peace ultimately and eventually to the

world. He brings us personal peace

through the presence of the Holy Spirit who He sent to fill us.

Verse seven of the increase of his government and of peace.

There will be no end on the throne of David and over His

Kingdom to establish it, to uphold it with justice and with

righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

The Lord of hosts will do this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts

will do this. His Kingdom is perfect.

He will establish it fully forever for His glory and for

His people. That means endless abundance.

That means endless excellence, endless joy, endless peace.

He will reign and His reign will have no end.

He will maintain justice. He will maintain righteousness

forevermore. And look at how God did it with

humility. God did not just come in and

flex. God came in and went small.

The zeal of the Lord will do this.

This word for zeal is the word jealousy.

So another translation could say the jealousy of the Lord will do

this. The Lord is jealous.

What does that mean? What's the jealousy of a good

husband? Our God will not share His

bride, and He will not share His glory with another.

The Lord is passionate about His plan and His people, and this

passion drives him to accomplish everything that He's promised.

That is all of the context that brings us to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Turn there in your Bible with me.

Don't get nervous. That was not just an

introduction. Like, wait a second, what's

that? That was my warm up, but this is

the context. So we often come straight to

Luke chapter 2 at Christmas. Luke chapter 2 is a great place

Luke 2 · chapter mention Luke 2 · chapter mention

to come at Christmas time. You should read it as a family,

meditate on it on your own all through the Christmas passages.

They're going to bless you. They're going to edify you.

But this is the context that we come.

Now we show up chapter 2 and verse one of Luke.

I'm going to read the the whole Christmas passage to you.

So settle in and enjoy. In those days a decree went out

from Caesar Augustus that all in the world should be registered.

This was the first registration when Quinarius was governor of

Syria and all went to be registered, each to his own

town. And Joseph also went up from

Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city

of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the

household of the lineage of David to be registered with

Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth,

and she gave birth to her first born son, and wrapped him in

swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger, because there was

no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there

were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock

by night. And an Angel of the Lord

appeared to them. For the glory of the Lord shone

around them, and they were filled with great fear.

And the Angel said to them, 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, a Savior who

is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.

You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a

Manger. And suddenly there was with the

Angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and

saying glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace

among those with whom he is pleased.

What a joy for the angels. They've been looking forward to

this moment. They remember when God preached

the gospel in the garden for the first time, when he told Adam,

when he told Eve, and when he told the snake.

The seed is coming. He is.

You're going to bruise his heel. You'll bite him.

Jesus gets bit, but he will crush your head.

It's finally happening. The head crusher has come, and

he's in a Manger. Verse 15 When the angels went

away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,

Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has

happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the

baby lying in a Manger. And when they saw it, they made

known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.

And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her

heart, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and

praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been

told them. And at the end of eight days,

when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by

the Angel before he was conceived in the womb.

And when the time came for their purification, according to the

law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him

to the Lord. As it is written in the law of

the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called

holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is

said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, or two

young pigeons. 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 had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would

not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple.

And when the parents brought the child to Jesus to do for him

according to the custom of the law, he, Simeon, took him into

his arms and 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.

This man walks with God. This man has been told

personally by the Lord, you will see the Messiah before you die.

And this man doesn't see the Messiah riding into Jerusalem on

a War Horse. He doesn't see him destroying

the Roman oppressors. He holds a baby.

And the Holy Spirit says this is him.

And the man says, that's all I needed.

Your servant can depart in peace.

I can die. I could die now.

That is that is a moment of deep satisfaction.

You ever felt moments like that in life?

I could die. I'm good.

Maybe it was grandma's cooking over Thanksgiving.

Maybe it's another meal you're looking forward to.

It could be a host of pleasures that the Lord would give, but

this one would certainly be the greatest.

Semi is going. You have satisfied me.

You have kept your word and any of that sound from any of that

sound familiar to you? A light for revelation to the

Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

Interesting. Thankfully you and I the

Gentiles get to receive this promise as well.

Verse 33 And his father and mother marvelled at what was

said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said

to his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall

and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed.

And a sword will Pierce through your own soul also, so that the

thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Verse 36. And there was a prophetess,

Anna, the daughter of Faneuil, the tribe of the tribe of Asher.

She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband

seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow

until she was 84. She did not depart from the

temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer, night and day.

And coming up that very hour, she began to give thanks to God,

to speak to Him, all who were waiting for the redemption of

Israel. So God has blessed his people.

God has kept his promise. It has been confirmed.

Notice what Simeon said. And we're closing.

This child is destined to cause the falling and the rising of

many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so

that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

It's exactly what we're saying. Jesus comes and he reveals it.

Well, is Jesus, is Jesus going to be my uprising or is Jesus

going to be my downfall? That's yours.

That's your decision to make. Well, I have the fear of God.

As you should. As you should.

Man, I just wanted to feel good. Christmas sermon, friend.

There is no better feeling than being right with God.

There is no better feeling than having your sins washed away and

being made a new creation with the entire new life as you enjoy

and know the wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the

Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and I knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into

Him and eat with Him and He with me.

It's been often noted that Bethlehem did not make room for

Him that night and we will have to throw things out of our lives

in order to make room for Him. Jesus laid down his life.

Jesus surrendered to the Father and we must do the same.

Natalie's going to come now and sing and and bless us with

special music. There's a a video prepared to go

along with that as well. I've got the remote Adam if you

need it for any set up stuff.