Name Above All Names "Son Of David" | Advent Series Part 2

Good morning to you. Why don't you turning your

Bibles with me to Matthew, Gospel according to Matthew.

If you're not familiar with where that is about 3/4 the way

through your Bible. Right here is the same book we

were in last week. This is where we're going to

start again this week. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are

the first four books of the New Testament and we're we're

starting with the first verse for the first book of the New

Testament this morning. We are we're in the middle of a

series we started last week. Of course, it's the second

Sunday of Advent called name above all names.

We're looking at the names of Jesus and there are there's

close to 200 of them in the New Testament.

But we're looking particularly during this Advent season is the

ones that that that that are used are referred to during the

Christmas in the Christmas account or the narratives in the

Gospels. So last week we started with the

first name. Anybody remember what that was?

It's a textbook Sunday school answer.

Jesus. There we go, Jesus.

We just started with his name and remember the 2 words

associated with his name. Lord saves.

That's it. At its core, the Lord saves.

Jesus is Yahweh's come in the flesh to rescue us, to save us

from trouble, to get us out of every hardship, primarily

ultimately our sin, which is the source of every trouble that we

have. But the Lord, he's caring for us

in every absolutely every part of our lives, rescuing us.

Many of us are experiencing trouble in this particular

season of time. The physical illness, maybe

there's relational discord, maybe feeling a strange from

those that we love, financial difficulties, maybe child

rearing challenges. Some of us are jobless, looking

for work. Some of us are dissatisfied in

the work that we're in and hoping and longing for something

new. There are people that are part

of our congregation that are feeling very down.

You know, as soon as the sun sort of disappears, we can get

discouraged, even depressed, and it feels like an eternity.

We're waiting for the clouds to lift, but they haven't lifted

quite yet. We're in trouble.

Psalm 34, beautiful promise. It says that the Lord is close

to the broken hearted, and he saves those who are crushed in

spirit. That's the kind of God we have.

He draws very near to us in our trouble and he rescues us.

He delivers us. The circumstances may not

actually change, but there is a sense of His presence and hope

in the midst of it. He gives us the capacity to be

able to walk through some very challenging times.

When we know our need and we turn to Him, He comes through.

That's what he does. The opposite happens very often

in in the in James, the in James, Larry talks about the

fact that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Those when we're proud, when we think, hey, we can do this, we

we've got this. We deceive ourselves when we

humble ourselves and look to God to meet us in the midst of our

challenges. He's the one that comes through.

This is the source of what Jesus name is all about and really

what his all of his names are are are connected to when we

acknowledge our need, he comes, he saves, he heals, he restores

fully the name of Jesus. This is really the point is

powerful. There is nothing like the name

of Jesus Christ. I read recently the testimony

this is from a a member of the church in in the in the Bronx,

so Brooklyn Brooklyn Tabernacle. So Jim Symbola tells this story.

It's actually on their website as well, but tells the story of

a man by the name of Danny Valesco.

And Danny, he was actually quite a successful hairdresser, but he

got involved in drugs, he became a heroin addict.

He became homeless, contracted like hepatitis ABC and kind of

just wait to drop down to like 106 or 180 lbs full of sores

people, you know. So it was homeless.

As people walk by him, they could, they could hear him sort

of fighting with the voices that were in his head.

He was in really, really rough shape.

He ended up landing into a hospital in the Bronx, seemingly

on his deathbed. Now he had he had a friend by

the name of Wanda who threw this challenging time.

His life was sharing the hope that she had found in Jesus

Christ. And Danny who just continued to

push her off to just resist it. I got I got no, I got no use for

that. But anybody lands in the

hospital. And this is, this is, this is

his testimony, He says. When I woke up, I found myself

in a bed covered in my own vomit.

Not a very nice scene. I wanted to die, but I couldn't

jump out of the window because they were barred.

Then, in the midst of all my pain, something or someone

whispered words I had heard before.

The day you call on the Lord, He will set you free.

In absolute desperation I scream from my bed.

Jesus help me. Oh God, help me with everything.

You're my only hope. So please help Jesus.

And he says yes. I didn't understand anything

about prayer, so I even used personal references as I cried

out. Jesus Wanda said that when I

called on your name you would deliver me.

So help me now, oh God. And at that moment, Almighty God

swept over me and around me. I know He was real because all

the voices in my head suddenly stopped their hellish screaming,

and the ball of fear that had been weighing on me was lifted.

I knew everything had changed, even though nothing outwardly

had. I was still lying in my vomit in

a hospital bed in the Bronx, but I was 1,000,000 miles from where

I had been before. I said that prayer to love that

nothing really had changed in his outward circumstances, but

he knew that he was 1,000,000 miles away from the place he was

before. He prayed that prayer calling

out to Jesus Christ out of the hospital.

He went directly into Christian rehab started devouring the word

of God became a Christian was literally delivered from his

addiction and that testimony is in is on the website of Brooklyn

Tabernacle talk about the power of the name of Jesus Christ.

When we called to him. He does not fail to hear and

respond and and answer us. Romans chapter 10 verse 13 says

Romans 10:13

for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

That's pretty significant promise.

And in the context, it's the name of Jesus.

Everyone who calls in the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved.

So when we pray and we pray, we're taught to pray in the name

of Jesus. It's not just sort of a tagline

on the end of our prayers. There is power in the name of

Jesus Christ. You know, Jesus in, in Matthew

or sorry, in, in John 14 says that whatever you ask in my

name, I will do it when we're praying according to his will

in, in, in accordance what he desires.

He's the one who has all authority in heaven and on

earth. Things begin to happen.

And we need to be praying those prayers for ourselves, but not

just for ourselves, for our friends, for our family, for our

community, for our nation. And God does incredible things

through the name of Jesus Christ.

Well, I want to go a little bit deeper this morning and I want

to look at a name that we often overlook in all of these

passages. One that I think is, well, I, I

know that is one that Jesus is revealing more of his character

to us through this name, but also is going to equip us to be

strong soldiers for him. So let's pray before we read

this text. Father in Heaven, thank you for

the gift of today and the gift of your word.

That is for us today. And we pray that you would open

our eyes to see wonderful things from your law.

Send your Holy Spirit upon us. Illuminate this word.

Make us alive in you. We ask in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen. Matthew chapter 1, first one.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

This is the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David,

the son of Abraham. We're just gonna stop right

there. Powerful verse.

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David,

the son of Abraham. And then he launches into that

particular genealogy. The the name that I want to look

at today is the son of David, the son of David.

You ever done any study on the son of David?

Fascinating. It's been it's it's a title

that's used of Jesus 15 times in the Gospels and it actually

begins the New Testament. This is verse one of the New

Testament and it ends at the end of the New Testament in

Revelation speaks about the son of David, the offspring of

David. This is a very, very significant

name. Um, and here we have Matthew

highlighting how important this is.

Now, we don't always see this, but it's important for us to

take a look at this in this genealogy.

So it's just he's the, he's the Messiah, the son of David, the

son of Abraham. Now, the way that we use son of

is a little different than the way the ancients used son of,

right? So for example, Jacob, you're

the son of Randy, but we don't say Jacob you're the son of, you

know, Randy's dad or or great grandfather.

No, it's right. It's just your actual father,

right? Well, in the Old Testament they

didn't do that. You would consider the son of

David that meaning that you're in the same family line even all

the way back to the son of Abraham.

In fact, Joseph himself is referred in verse 20 of chapter

1 as the son of David says here Joseph said this is when the

Angel speaks speaks to him in a dream.

Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your

wife because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

So we're talking about the family line to we're related,

we're related. Jesus is somehow related to

David. Now Matthew could have just

simply said that he could have started his gospel and said, you

know what, Jesus is a descendant of David and Abraham done and

move on. But he doesn't do that.

He stretches out this genealogy. Now, I don't know about you, but

genealogy is often those things in the Bible that we kind of

skip over. But there's something very, very

significant. We're not going to read the

whole thing today, but he and rather than just having a

summary statement, he has these three groups of generations laid

out here. Three groups of 14 generations

spanning so the first group from Abraham to David and the second

group from David to the exile and the last group from the

exile to Christ coming 2000 years just crammed into this

genealogy. But it's not the whole

genealogy. We know that from other places

in the Bible when where where different aspects of the

genealogy are described. There are more than 42

generations between Abraham and Christ.

So in other words, Matthew did some condensing.

He did some abbreviation in order to make a point.

What would his point actually be?

Why would he say there's three sets of 14 Now?

We're not 100% sure because Matthew doesn't explicitly say

it in the text, but the number 14 is a very significant number

for the Jewish people. Just like 007 for us today means

only one thing, friend James Bond, right?

To a Jew, 14 meant one thing. That meant David, um, in Hebrew,

the there are no vowels in the Hebrew language, OK, it's all

consonants. And so David is actually David

and it's like DVD's. So we we see that as a DVD, but

it's it's Dallas valve Dallas and each letter.

So for the ancients, letters and numbers correspond with one

another. So Dallas is the first as sorry

as the 4th letter in the Hebrew alphabet and vov is is the 6th

letter. And then and then of course, Bob

and then the dollars four. So 4 + 6 + 4.

What does that up to 14, right? This was David's number, no?

It's interesting that if you walk down the genealogy, David

shows up in the 14th spot. Now if, if we have missed it by

this time, look at verse 17. It's a summary of the whole

thing. It says thus there were 14

generations in all from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the

exile of Babylon, and 14 from the exile to the Messiah.

In other words, if you were doing you're reading this, it's

like all you're hearing is David, David, David, David,

David. He's everywhere.

Actually, that was more than three, but three times David.

Boom boom boom boom boom. David's a big deal.

Super big deal. Why was it so important?

Why was he so important? I wanna take a look at this now.

Joseph himself obviously referred to as the son of David

as well, Joseph in the line. But we know that Joseph isn't

the blood father of Jesus. He actually adopts Jesus into

his family, right? He actually is the one that

gives Jesus his name. Angel gives him the name, just

call him Jesus. And Joseph does so.

Jesus is adopted into this family.

So Jesus is the Son of David by adoption, but he is the Son of

God by conception. And all the Gospels are

commuting, communicating this one truth, that Jesus is human,

fully human, but also fully divine.

There's no partiality in each one of those things.

Fully human, fully divine. Now what's the connection with

David? Why is he so significant?

He's the, he's a big deal in Israel, right?

He became the most the most prized and, and and celebrated

king, a man after God's own heart.

The Scripture says in Luke chapter 1, we see the connection

Luke 1 · chapter mention

and we'll put it up on the screen.

So you'll have to turn there, but I will turn there.

Luke chapter one, verse 30. And this is when the Angel is

speaking to Mary. But the Angel said to her, Do

not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.

You will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you were to call

him Jesus. He will be great and will be

called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the

throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's

descendants forever. His Kingdom will never end.

McCullough read that text for us.

Powerful this is. This is the connection we have

Jesus taking over the throne of David and he is ruling and

reigning over all things and he's establishing a Kingdom that

will that will never end. It will be forever.

In other words, Jesus came. Long wait for it according to a

promise to fulfill a promise that was given.

And that promise goes way back to Second Samuel Chapter 7.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

We'll put that up on the screen as well.

This is the Lord speaking to David.

When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will

raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and

blood, and I will establish his Kingdom.

He is the one who will build a house for my name, and I will

establish the throne of his Kingdom forever.

I will be his father and he will be my son.

Now a little bit of context. David wanted, wanted to build a

temple for God, to build a house for him.

And God said, no, it's not going to be you, it's going to be your

son. So the immediate context that's

referring to who's David son? You guys remember Solomon

Solomon and Solomon did build a temple, but Solomon actually

didn't fulfill the promise fully.

It was looking forward to another day when another son

would come, and that is referring to Jesus right here.

He is the one that's gonna build the house, so he's not just a

son. Jesus is the Son, He is the Son,

and that's why he can be referred to as the Messiah, the

Christ, which means literally the Anointed 1.

The anointed One now, who was anointed in the Old Testament

prophets, priests and kings. Jesus was all free.

He was a king, he was a prophet, and he was a priest.

But here primarily the context is, is a king.

He is the King, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, and he

is the one that fulfills this prophecy.

So now we get to Isaiah Chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

And this is the text that Jacob used for the call to worship.

Isaiah 9 verse six to seven says this for, and this is text that

we often hear during the Christmas season.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the

government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called

wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace, of the greatness of his government and peace there will

be no end. He will reign on David's throne

and over his Kingdom, establishing and upholding it

with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The implications of this text are just mind blowing.

Jesus is taking over the throne of David and he's established.

The government is fully on his shoulders and he will be called

wonderful counselor. Mighty God, Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace is realized. They don't know what to do with

the text like this, but it can only be through the Son of the

living God, who took on flesh and dwelt among us.

And became literally the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords on

our behalf. Jesus Christ our Savior.

And Jesus explains this to the Israelites.

It's, it's an interesting conversation.

We can't look at the whole thing, but just a little bit of

it. Jesus is talking with a crowd

and he's talking about the Messiah who was to come.

And this is Mark chapter 12. And he says this David calls

Mark 12 · chapter mention

himself Sorry. David himself calls him Lord,

referring to the Messiah. How then can he be his son?

Cause a son of someone would never call someone else a Lord.

The Son the the the the the father of is gonna be greater

than so he says. OK, David calls the Messiah

Lord. Then how can that Messiah be his

son? Say Jesus isn't just a son, he

is the Son, he is the son. He is David's Lord and God.

He's just playing with it. And, and, and in the, in the

text, we don't have it up there, but it says the crowds were

delighting listening to him say these things, kinds of things.

So it was just slowly he's warming the people up to the

reality of who he is, who he himself actually is.

So all this to say, we'll talk about the significance of David.

All that that David is powerful and is a greater figure.

He was in the in the Old Testament, he points to Jesus.

Everything that about his life just continues to point to

Jesus, direct people to Jesus. You think about So Jesus or or

sorry, David, we often look at David as an example for our

lives, but he's more than an example.

He's kind of like a, a forerunner, like a, a, like a

theologically, it's like a type of Jesus.

David's probably most well known for his achievement in slaying

Goliath. There's any story that probably

everybody knows slaying Goliath. Well, we can look at that story

and say, OK, what's the application for us?

Well, the application would be, you know, take up some courage

and go slay your giants kind of thing, right?

Well, that might be a secondary issue, but that's not really the

primary point of of sharing a story like that.

See, what David did was something that no one else could

do. Like if you think you have to

step into David's shoes and do what he did, it's like, I don't

know about that, right? The whole Israelite army were

trembling and fear in front of Goliath.

But David goes in and does what no one else can do.

He ends up slaying the giant, cutting off his head.

And then what happens? Then the whole army rushes out

against the Philistines, right? In other words, by doing what no

one else could do, He also provided a way for everybody,

everybody, all of God's people, to share in his victory.

And that's what Jesus has done for us.

He's the forerunner of faith. He did.

He lived the perfect life that we could not live, and he died

that sacrificial death that we deserve to die in order that we

could share in his victory. Now that we can reproduce what

he was he was doing, although we try to follow him, but through

him we have the victory already. And so we rejoice and we live in

freedom as a result of it. You see, in other words, we

don't need another David. And this is what this is what

the Israelites were looking for in a Messiah.

We want another person like David in order to come in and

use his political savvy and his military might and to crush the

Romans. That that's what people are

expecting at the time that Jesus came.

But Jesus was, he was a different kind of king

altogether. He was establishing a different

kind of Kingdom altogether, and here's the description of it in

Isaiah 11. A shoot will come up from the

stump of Jesse. Anybody know who Jesse is?

David's dad, right? A shoot will come up from the

stump of Jesse. From his roots, a branch will

bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest

on him. He will not judge by what he

sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.

But with righteousness he will judge the needy.

With justice, he will give decisions for the poor of the

earth. This was a king who was going to

come on behalf of the needy and the poor, the helpless, those

who know their need and need rescue.

This is who he was for. This is what the the the term

son of David is associated with someone who is setting things

right in the world on behalf of the oppressed, bringing healing

to those who need it. It's not bringing a bringing in

the Kingdom through violence or oppression.

That's just not, it's not even just Jesus style.

This is not the way God does things.

Through humility, through kindness, through sacrificial

service, He brings about His Kingdom.

This is a beautiful thing. I I just want to leave you with

something to ponder for a minute.

Matthew or sorry, Marks in Marks Gospel, we have to get the

mascots. We've been in the other ones

already. But in Marks Gospel on chapter

10, in the transition between 10:00 and 11:00, if you want to

turn there, you can. But there's this, this beautiful

progression that takes place. He begins speaking to, you know,

let the little children come to me.

You know that passage, right? Because the Kingdom belongs to

such as these, the weak ones, the small ones, the

insignificant ones, the dependent ones.

And then he moves on and he's, he's basically teaching that

it's hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.

The rich and the powerful, they're gonna have trouble

getting in to the Kingdom. There's there's, there's

resistance there. And then he moves on and he

predicts his death, that he's going to be arrested like this.

The king himself, the Messiah, he's going to be arrested and

he's going to be tried and he's gonna be convicted and he's

gonna be crucified. He's gonna die.

And then after he teaches that his disciples, this John and

James come up to him with a request.

Hey, we wanna sit in the highest seats of power with you in your

glory right there. Just totally missed the point.

And she just saying, you know what?

The the Gentiles lorded over them.

You know the you know, the way the world does leadership.

It's all about power. That's not so with you said.

Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and

give his life as a ransom for many.

And then there's this sweet, sweet thing that takes place.

A man by the name of Bartimaeus starts calling out for Jesus.

And this is it. So Bartimaeus is blind.

He's sitting on the side of the street in Jesus, and disciples

are walking through town. And everybody hears this man

yelling at the top of his lungs, Jesus.

But he doesn't say Jesus. He says, Son of David, have

mercy on me. Again, son of David, have mercy

on me. And the crowds are saying like,

shut up, like this, stop this, you know, whatever.

And Jesus says, you know, bring him over here.

And he brings them over. And Jesus asks, what do you want

me to do for you? Says Lord, I wanna see.

And Jesus heals him on the spot, opens his eyes.

This is the way the Son of David operates.

You know, we think the Son of David is kind of powerful king.

No, He's one who's coming to set things right, but he's gonna do

it through sacrifice, service, love and kindness is gonna bring

us healing into the world. Such a beautiful, beautiful

picture. And then Chapter 11 begins in

Mark, and it's the triumphal entry.

And he comes riding on a donkey. The king in humble estate.

It's just anyway, you know, if I was God, I would not be doing it

this way. All right, praise the Lord.

I'm not. He is good.

So let's just kind of wrap it up.

Son of David, what are we talking about?

We're talking about a a human and a divine king all in one on

his throne right now, setting things right in the world

currently at work, one person at a time.

Jesus has come and has begun something.

He is establishing this Kingdom that's going to last forever and

he's calling people in he, he's bringing his Kingdom into the

lives of people, establishing his rule in the world.

But first of all, first and foremost, in our in our hearts,

that's where it all begins. I'm gonna topple the proud

hearts of individuals 1 by 1, and when they're when my rule,

when I when I begin to rule their life, that will bring my

rule on Earth. It's pretty sweet.

He's gonna bring healing. Why don't, why doesn't everybody

get healed physically that we pray for?

I don't know. It should never stop us from

praying for healing for anybody in the name of Jesus Christ,

because his heart is for our healing.

But we need to also realize that the healing that Jesus is doing

goes far beyond the physical. I mean, Paul says outwardly

we're wasting away, but inwardly we're being renewed day by day.

It's all about the soul, right? He's healing us from our, our,

our brokenness. He, he is bringing us more

deeply into fellowship with him. You know, every wrestle point

that every trouble that we're into is, is really designed to

get us closer to him. We get ourselves into the

trouble, but he uses the trouble we get ourselves into in order

to bring healing about in our lives.

He's so good, he's so good. So we're, we're called to be to

be those who receive it. You know, we're recipients, but

we're also called to be instruments, Instruments in the

Redeemer's hand. You know that that original

prophecy in in Second Samuel Chapter 7 talks about the fact

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

that, you know, my son, you know, David, you're not gonna

build the house. Your son's gonna build a house.

He's ultimately so Solomon built the temple, the House of worship

for God where his name would dwell.

But Jesus is building a much more significant house, a much

more significant temple. And you know who that temple is?

It's us. It's the Church, the temple in

which the Holy Spirit would dwell.

He is building the Church, and you and I are called into it and

to be that Church, to be instruments in His hand, to

bring His Kingdom to the world. So with that in mind, I just

want to leave you with two todos, OK?

And it for two doos, not 22, does it?

How many of you got to do lists going multiple to do lists going

as Christmas approaches? These are two dues that you can

add to your To Do List, but put them at the very top.

OK, number one is this pray in Jesus name.

Pray for sure. Like just pour out your heart to

God, but be sure to pray in Jesus name, not as A tag that

you put at the end of a prayer that you want.

You know God give me whatever I want.

But when we say in Jesus name, it shapes our prayers.

It helps us to realize, no, I'm praying in His name, the One who

has all authority and the One who is bringing about His will,

His good, pleasing and perfect will.

I want to pray according to that will.

You know Jesus says whatever you ask for in my name that is in

accordance with my will, I will do it.

This is where prayer becomes powerful.

When we start praying the will of God into the lives of other

people, our prayers should not be well, I mean, I guess we

could pray this, but Lord, just make my life smooth.

You know when that be nice, if there's just smooth, everything

was easy. But no, the prayer is Lord rule,

rule in my life, take over like rule and reign in my life and my

family's life and my friend's life in my in my neighborhood

and my community, my nation. That's what we need to be

praying. Pray for the people.

And what I would say just even in this context when it says

that the government is on his shoulders, Pray for those in

government. Pray for our Prime Minister,

pray for our our MP. We gotta, we got an MP and MPP

who are believers who are having a challenging time living out

their faith and making decisions with integrity in the current

context that they're in. And we can poo poo the

government and all that kind of stuff.

But let's just remember, as believers, we need to pray for

those who are, who have taken the position of leadership, this

incredible amount of weight on these leaders.

And this could be an opportunity for God to do great things

through them and to pray to pray for them and to remember that

we're citizens primarily, not of Canada.

We are but something more significant, that we're citizens

of Heaven and that the citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, that

Kingdom is being perfectly governed right now.

And so we can chill. We can be OK with that.

Yeah, we wanna fight for truth to be sure, but you do not have

to panic. God is establishing His Kingdom

and the government is on his shoulders.

So let's pray in Jesus name. Second thing, and that is to act

in Jesus name. Let's not just pray, not just

leave it at prayer, but we want to act in Jesus name.

Some of us are in a, you know, sometimes when, when, when our

lives are full of trouble and, and we just can't seem to get on

top of things. It's really hard to think beyond

ourselves. But Jesus always is inviting us,

no matter what we're going through, to think beyond

ourselves. Because part of the healing in

our life is to be thinking of others and serving them even

when our lives are hurting. That's a that's a challenge, but

that is that's that's like even a command of Jesus to be

thinking to be serving other people.

But there are others of us who were in a good place and you

know, we're, we're in a good season.

What might God be calling us to do in this good season?

What might He be calling us to do?

We could be the answer to the prayers of those who feel that

their lives are in great trouble.

Jesus commands us to go. How do we do that?

How do we do that? Jonas said that our Christmas

invitations from you could hand a Christmas invitation, an

invitation to the Christmas Eve service.

Gil and I got a a knock on the door earlier this week and it

was a neighbor that came by and she wanted to talk.

And so we invited her in and she just poured out her heart to us,

said that she's been she's looking for peace, she's looking

for joy, she's looking for community in the world is not

providing any of that for her. And she says, you invited me to

the Christmas Eve service last year and I didn't come.

And I'm so sorry I didn't come. Can I come this year?

Like seriously, we don't know who's on the other side of the

doors of the people in our neighborhood.

God, it's doing a a deep work. People are looking for truth and

looking for community and looking for peace and wherever

they're looking, it's not satisfying.

We know that only the son of David can provide that for

people. So let's be bold with that.

Gentle, sensitive. But let's, let's, let's go.

Let's go. Come to Christmas Eve, Sir.

Candlelight service. I find it very moving.

We sing carols here. A brief message, brief message

from Pastor John, not, not today, friends, but on Christmas

Eve, it'll be very brief, brief message on the meaning of

Christmas. And then we, you know, celebrate

with some festive treats, however you wanna invite.

It's it's a, it's a it's a beautiful night.

How could we be helping in other practical people and other

practical ways with this Advent conspiracy, bringing in some of

these tangible items that can stock that blessing box in

Welland when's the last time you've been downtown Welland?

It's not like downtown Grimsby will tell you that that's a

that's a very tangible way that we can love the people of

Welland maybe financially we're in a good financial spot.

Who is it in our congregation that is in need of, in financial

need? Minister that way, how can we

serve sacrificially just to be thinking of that, Not just

praying in Jesus name, which we want to do, but we also want to

act in Jesus name. Frenzies on the throne Right

now, the son of David, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is on

the throne, and God will fulfill his promise and establishing his

Kingdom in our lives and in our world.

So let's live accordingly. Let's pray.

Gracious Father in Heaven, how can we thank you enough for your

saving grace in Jesus Christ, the Son of David?

Thank you, Jesus, that you did come.

Thank you that you you gave of yourself.

Thank you that you even now you're revealing who you are,

how you love, and what your plans are for our life, for our

community and our world. Come and make yourself known, we

ask in our midst, and Lord, we offer ourselves to you as your

instruments to be used to expand your Kingdom.

Come Lord, we pray in Jesus name.

Hey, Ben.