Christmas Evening Service 2019 By, through, and for Him were all things created
Mike Doyle · Dec 29, 2019
Specials, No. 01
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261917215820

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

you you you you so you Well, welcome to Holly Hills and our Christmas program. As you see on top of it, it's about to end on here. Celebrating the birth of Christ, who is the creator of all things. And the title is, Jesus Christ by, through, and for Him were all things created.

So I'm going to focus on that, not a lot of the messages and verses tonight. But let's open up with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we just thank you. We thank you for this time, especially this time of year where, again, we focus on the birth of the Lord Jesus and what that means. Realize for you that of an eternity of the Lord being beside you and with you and fellowshipping with you and then stepping aside and coming to earth and taking on the form of man and being fully God and fully man and for the sole purpose who has come to ultimately die and pay for our sins. And we just thank you for that greatest gift ever, as we see many times, and how the world has changed that to material things, where the greatest gift of all is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you for His birth, and more importantly, the life that we have through Him. And again, we just pray that all that we say and do tonight will honor and glorify You. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, please stand and we will sing a little town of Bethlehem You can follow along on the overhead or if you want in the red hymnals, it's 145 will sing three stanzas Above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.

Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. For Christ is born of Mary and gathered all above. While mortal sleep the angels keep their watch of wandering love. O morning stars, together proclaim the holy birth And praises sing to God the King, And peace to men on earth. How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is given! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heaven. No ear may hear His coming, but in this world of sin, where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in. All right, you may be seated and we'll have some special music from Marilyn Byrd. you you you so Colossians 1 15 through 17.

He's the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Romans 11, 36. For him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever, amen. For as the woman originates from the man, so also the man has his birth through the woman, and all things originate from God.

1 Corinthians 8.6 Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through him.

John 1.3 All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Hebrews 1.2 In these last days has spoken to us his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world.

John 1.3 It's really quite a big topic in scripture. And certainly so you can know, actually, Courtney is going to go. Here we go.

I'm sorry. So thank you. I only have one slide. So this isn't too bad. OK. OK. So I put the verse of JD Redd up there because it's just, actually it's just jam-packed with really cool nuggets. So let's kind of think through. Now man, I thought about, well, I should really set the stage here. I should talk about the Big Bang Theory. I should talk about the whatever theory, nebulae, I could just go crazy.

But you know really all that is just conjecture, man's conjecture. The only solid information we have is from scripture. So I'm going to stick to that. There's a lot of good conjecture out there, but it's purely that. So let's start off again here. Let's look at verse 15, the first part. It says that he is the image of the invisible God. In other words, he is the exact likeness of the unseen God. Jesus Christ is the representation, the visible representation of the invisible. You know we had a discussion, the Lord Jesus had a discussion with Philip.

And he said in John 14, he said, He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do you say, show us the Father? And they were questioning the Lord Jesus. Show us the Father. Show us the Father. He says, well, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. He is a visible representation we have of the Godhead.

And then the second part is kind of a curious part. It says he's a firstborn of all creation. So some people have taken this and they've run off down a path and said, well, that means that Jesus Christ had a birth. He had creation. Now I'm going to make this go crazy. It doesn't really mean, it means basically that he is the first in rank over all creation. We're going to see, Mike's going to really bring this to focus.

He deserves to be, since he's a creator, he deserves to be a first place when we talk about creation. He has the privilege and the sovereignty to be the first in rank over all creation. So now, if you kind of look carefully through the 16 through 17, there's actually five statements that the Apostle Paul makes about our Savior and his function and his method in creation. So the first statement he makes is in 16, the first part, for by him all things were created. So if you think about it, he is the originator. He had the idea.

You know, I kind of envision an eternity past. You know, we envision an eternity past. I mean, it's impossible for a finite being to do that, but we try to do that. You know, he saw the whole world. He saw mankind. He saw everything that was going to happen. So he saw that an eternity past. And actually, there's a verse that kind of speaks to that. And just the very last part of that says, and all things originated from God. All things came through.

He conceived it in his mind. Think about what the privilege is like we, you know, if you're handy enough, like if you're a Phil and you can think about building something and you can actually build it. That's a huge step from thinking about it to actually building it. And the Lord had no problem with that. So that's going to be the next point here is that. But before I do that, I'm getting ahead of myself here a little bit.

He's going to define the scope. of his creation. Was the scope just limited to certain parts of this world? He tells us in the middle part of verse 16, both in the heavens and on earth, visible, invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers, that's the scope of his creation. And then he goes on to say, and all things have been created through him. So here we have the picture. He has some, he has the idea in his head and he's able to carry it out. He is, he is a builder. He's the architect. He produced what he conceived in his mind.

And that is one of the verses that was read earlier is John 1, 3. all things came into being through him and apart from him nothing came into being has come into being and I was thinking how ludicrous it would be if our Savior said well you know I got about 99% of it created but there's this 1% floating around and there's that 1% and you know I didn't really that kind of came it flew in from here flew in from there no no no no no every single molecule atom as we call it he created incredible incredible so now we go on in the last part of 16 verse 16 it says and and if you repeat the previous part and all things were created for him and this is kind of a huge step here and it's something you can miss if you read through it quickly he created it he thought about it he produced it with his hands godly hands so to speak he spoke it actually But he did it for who? He did it for us? No. He did it for himself.

He created all this for himself, for his own pleasure. And he owns it. He's the owner. He's the creator, the owner. He did it for himself. And that's beautifully talked about in Hebrews. It was read before. Hebrews 1.2 says, In these last days he spoke to us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things. So here's even another cool little part to this. It was for Him, but it's also His inheritance. We're going to be His inheritance for all eternity. He created it for Himself, and He's going to inherit us. Wow, it's just amazing.

So that takes us through the first three points. Then we go to verse 17. It talks about some of the aspects here. He is before all things. He predates. And this kind of ties in well with the firstborn of creation. He precedes. It shows that he's above creation because he's the creator.

And then the last part of 17 says that, and in him all things hold together. He's the atomic force, if you will. You know, man has catalogued, and I've Took science and all and you know, there's all these you know, there are theories and they're proven out there atomic forces They all exist. But if you think about it, that's our Savior. He's holding all things together by his own declaration So and there's some additional verses that were read which kind of are cool. I mean mentioned those as well in Romans 11 36 it says for for For from him, and through him, and to him," kind of a summary of what we just read, are all things, to him be glory forever and ever. He's to receive the glory for all that he's accomplished. And it was for his pleasure that he did it.

And then the last verse that was, not the last in reading, but one of the last verses was Corinthians 8.6. And this kind of defines, this actually is a study unto itself.

It shows the interaction between the Godhead, the Father, and the Son. It says, Yet for us, as believers, there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for him. And then the second part, last part is, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through him.

There's just some really cool stuff and we don't have time today to go through that but it's cool. So I just want to transition. Think back to Genesis. We're studying Genesis on Wednesday night at Mike's place. Think back to Genesis. It talks about creation there. It talks about the all things of creation. It makes some incredible statements in Genesis.

And God said in Genesis 1.26 Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Just an incredible statement. God didn't say, well, let's see, I'm going to make mankind like, I don't know, you know, a tree or whatever it is. He says, I'm going to make it like myself. Isn't that incredible? He's going to make his creation of man like himself and his image.

But as we know, if we read the rest of the story, as some have said, Unfortunately, that gets marred. And Adam comes along and messes the whole thing up, right? And it was that woman you gave him, right? They all messed it up, right? If they hadn't come along, we'd all be good, right? We could have done the same thing, as we all know.

So we see that Adam fell. He fell both spiritually and physically. He was separated from God. So what's the condition we see man in today? It says in 1 Corinthians 15, for in Adam all die. Because we're of Adam's seed, when he died, we died. We are separated from God outside of Jesus Christ. If we don't know Jesus Christ, we're just like Adam. We fell and we're separated from God.

It tells us more there's more of bad news to talk about in that realm Romans has a lot to say about this Romans chapter 3 in verse 23 very familiar verse It says for all his sin and fall short of the glory of God all mankind sinned in Adam and they fell and then in Romans 3 9 it says all If you read it the whole verse is a little bit longer, but it basically says we're all under sin under the sin We're under the the sin nature that we got from Adam We're under it. We're held down by its power So so that's not the whole story. There's There's more to come.

So what did God do about this? Did he say well tough luck tough luck Adam tough luck Eve, you know, they leave it there and we know he didn't we know that actually knew in eternity past and And it says in a wonderful verse that we've all memorized, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life. God has provided eternal life for all those who put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And also he's made it exclusive. He hasn't said, well, there's Jesus Christ and there's Mohammed and there's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I keep going on.

No, he says in Acts 4.12, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. He is the one and only Savior. There is no other path to God than through our Lord Jesus Christ."

So the question comes, well what, you know, is there more about Jesus I need to know? And actually John the Baptist told us a wonderful truth about our Savior. And it says in 129, John 129, the next day he, John the Baptist, saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So God's provision of belief and the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for our sins on the cross.

So what are the nitty gritties of that? Is it really complicated? Is it really involved? Is it a long trek? to God. No, it's a very simple path to God. It's simple in the fact that it describes His work on the cross. And that is given in 1 Corinthians 15. For I delivered to you of first importance what I also received, that Christ Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures.

He was buried. He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. and he appeared to Cephas and then to the twelve and he appeared to up to 500 more people and 500 included all that so Christ died for our sins he was buried and was raised and appeared to men just a wonderful and that's called the gospel the good news that men and women are to believe and then lastly there's a scriptural example of people that have done that a beautiful verse in Acts again in Acts 16 with Philippian Jailer with Paul and Silas. And after that he, the Philippian jailer, brought them out, Paul and Silas. And he said, sirs, to Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? They said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. So a wonderful picture of the truth of scripture, of what a person needs to know to become saved, to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

So actually, now we're going to have some special music. We're going to have the Laban Matthews family. Laban, Katie, and the kids. He came upon a midnight clear. The angels did to them appear To tell about the coming King And to us all salvation brings The wise men also traveled far They followed God's own very star Upon the stable did it stay Christ the Savior there did lay Come and see what God has done, the story of amazing love.

Let us stand with one accord, sing praises to our heavenly Lord. Love incarnate, love divine, star and angels gave their shine, vowed to bathe on bended knee the Savior of humanity. Come and see what God has done, the story of amazing love. Let us then, with one accord, sing praises to our heavenly Lord. Son of God and Son of Man, There before the world began Born to suffer, born to save Born to raise us from the grave This story of amazing love is given to us from God above. This story of amazing love is given to us from God above. What child is this who lives to rest on memories left asleep? Whom angels greet with anthems sweet, While shepherds watch are keeping. This, this is Christ the King, Shepherds guard and angels sing.

This is Christ, our King, our Babe, the Son of Mary. Why lies He in such mean estate, if our oxen as are feeding? Good Christians, fear for sinners ye, The silent Word is ringing. This, this is Christ the King Whom shepherds guard and angels sing. This, this is Christ the King The Babe, the Son of Mary. So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh, Come present King to own him. The King of Kings salvation brings, Let loving hearts enthrone him. This is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing. This, this is Christ the King, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

Philippians 2, 5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it a robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Thomas Watton, a Puritan, Christ taking our flesh was one of the lowest steps of humility. He humbled himself more by lying in the Virgin's womb than by hanging on the cross. It was not so much for a man to die, all men die, but for God to become man was the wonder of humility for him to be made flesh. Who was equal with God? Oh, what humility! He stood upon even ground with God, yet he stripped himself of the robes of his glory and covered himself with the rags of humanity.

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And what I want us to take a good hard look at is, what is the deal with Christ's mind? For us, it means to think God's thoughts, and not how we think in the world. It's a whole different mindset. We as believers have the very mind of Christ, which means we can communicate with Him. we can receive from Him through His Word and we can pray and we can be on the same level with Him. To think that we as believers have the very mind of Christ is a stupendous thought.

So this passage really covers the entire life where I was sitting here making some notes. It really covers the existence of Jesus the Son. It covers His pre-existence. It covers His incarnation, His humility, His crucifixion. It covers His ascension and exaltation, all in these just few verses. And it's kind of like it gives us a round-trip itinerary of Jesus, the Son of God.

In context, though, in verses 6 through 8, what is the mind of Christ when He came, and how is it displayed here? When you read the gospels, it shows you his life. When you read the epistles, it explains the meaning of Christ's life on earth. And when you get to a book like the book of Philippians, you see through his eyes the cross and Jesus himself and his viewpoint and his attitude about the cross. So what did it mean to him when he came to this earth to be a savior? Philippians doesn't go on and explain any more about his birth, but it does show us what it meant to him to become the Savior.

What does it mean to have this mind? This mind is totally unselfish, and it's a mind of love. It seeks nothing of its own. It seeks the good of others at all costs, no matter what the cost is. This is the mind that was in Christ the whole time He was here, set in front of us as the greatest examples of unselfishness. It's not placed in front of us just so that we can have examples of unselfishness.

It's placed in front of us to be emulated. The verb, have this mind or let this mind, Be in you is what we call in Greek the imperative mood. It's a command. It's an appeal to your will. As a believer, let this mind be what you are. Now when you get to verses 6, 7, and 8, watch how this mind works.

Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God? He didn't have any trouble being God, or he didn't have any trouble explaining, I am God. But made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant and coming in the likeness of men.

So what are we seeing here? We're seeing steps that the Lord Jesus took to accomplish the mission that He came to do. Can you imagine He and the Father determining in heaven, we're going to invade the earth And we're going to go there and we're going to take care of the sin issue. And we're going to proclaim the gospel when we do it. And oh, by the way, Jesus, you're going to be the Redeemer. Okay. I'm in.

And although He existed in the form of God, He didn't regard equality with God as a thing to be grasped or prized. So He relinquishes willfully his place, and though he existed in the form of God. The lofty position he held before, before he came to the earth, he's God. He existed from all eternity. Paul says he's in the form of God, not just how he looked outwardly. It means the very substance of who Christ is, is God. We could say he's the very God of God.

Himself But in order to become our Redeemer Though he had to walk away. He had to walk away from all of that to a place with the father and he had to become a man and You know what? He's the only one who could have done it Only God could hang on a cross and pay the penalty for our sins so being in the form of God and not thinking of robbery to be equal with God. He didn't require the equality of God to be a thing to be grasped.

These verses tell us two things about the Lord Jesus Christ. It talks about his pre-incarnated state, that he's deity. And it talks about in him, in his incarnate state, when he was a man on the earth. He's deity in the fullest sense. of the Word in both conditions, both as God and man. The difference lies in how His deity is expressed.

An example I could find was this one. Let's say the Queen of England dresses up in rags and goes around begging for food from door to door. And she chooses to do that. Guess what? She's still the Queen of England. The Lord Jesus is still God, but He chose to come to the earth. He chose to be the Redeemer. The Queen of England's nature never changed, and it wasn't different. She still was what she was. His pre-incarnate state, Christ's nature, was expressed in adoration and glory. Christ in glory before He came to the earth, He's adored and glorified.

In his incarnate state, it was expressed in graciously lowering himself and suffering. He made himself of no reputation. He took upon him the form of a servant, and he was made in the likeness of a man. Another translation says he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant. Emptying speaks of setting aside all of his prerogatives of deity. He made himself no reputation. No reputation.

And he did it to become the Savior. That's why he did it. He set aside all he could be as God. Didn't change that he wasn't, was God, he is, but he set it aside. and he submitted himself completely to the will of the Father. Are you getting an idea of what this mind is like? Hebrews says, he took upon him the form of a servant. The form of a servant. He was willing to come and be in the womb of a woman and be born as a baby so that he could be our Savior. He was willing to do that. Jesus Christ in a human body. And Laban read that, Thomas Watson, I found that and I thought, gee, some of these older guys can really express things better than we do today.

Christ taking the flesh is one of the lowest steps of humility. He humbled himself more by lying in a virgin's womb than by hanging on the cross. It's not so much for a man to die, all men die, but for God to become a man was a wonder of humility. And for him to be made flesh, who was equal with God, oh what humility. He stood upon every ground with God, yet he stripped himself of the robes of his glory and covered himself with rags in humanity. So being found in the fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Here's the purpose. This is why he did it. From heaven all the way down, down, down, ultimately to outside Jerusalem, to Golgotha, hanging on a cross. And that cross wasn't an accident. The cross was in God's mind before the world began. It's the very purpose for His coming to earth was to cross even the death of the cross. That was all foreordained, every step of it. But it's the last straw of humility.

The death of the cross was reserved in Roman times for basically two groups of people, non-Romans who were convicted of a crime while they were visiting Rome, or criminals of any place, the cross was restricted for their execution. It was a humbling thing to be crucified. But he went from glory all the way down and died like a common criminal. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The extent of the humiliation is expressed in the words, even the death of the cross. The noun cross doesn't have a definite article in front of it, which means it puts the stress on the kind of death that he died. Now, let's talk about death for just a second. It means separation.

When Christ died, what did he separate from? Well, in the context, we could say that he separated from the first creation and the world. We live, you and I, We exist in what Roger talked about as God's creation, but this is the first one. And it was his, he created it, and yet he allowed his created creatures, man, to kill him and remove him from his own creation. Can you get that in your mind? This is His creation. He comes into it as a man, and He allows those that He created to put Him out of it. They put Him out of it. It's His creation.

He separated from sin as the principle, and it's pendly, which was all part of this first creation. All part of it. Now, think about this thought. This is a thought I had about a month ago, and I thought, how am I going to expand on this? His death was the beginning of the end of the first creation. Let me give you an example. You know, when Adam was created by God, and God warned him, He said, in the day that you sin, you will surely die, right? And when he ate of the fruit, what happened? He died. But spiritually, he died instantly.

But physically he didn't die for another 900 years. So what God does is he tells us what's happening, but he may not implement the issue for some time to come in the future. The physical end will not be completed until after the millennium. So I figure as of we stand here today, we are at least a thousand and seven years from the new creation being implemented and the old creation being blipped out.

But it began The annihilation of that creation that we live in today began when Christ was born. 33 years later He died and that began the process. The process of eventually we will have a new creation. So when you remove the Creator from His creation, there isn't any meaning for His creation anymore because He's not in it. He's been kicked out of it.

So in summary, we could say that Jesus the Son came to die, but he also came to be raised out of the now passing away first creation into a brand new creation. And if you show up Sunday, I'll tell you that part. you Down from His glory, ever-living story, my God and Savior came, and Jesus was His name. Born in a manger to His own a stranger, a man of sorrows, tears, and agony, O how I love Him, how I adore Him, my breath, my sunshine, my all in all! The great Creator became my Savior, and all God's fullness dwelleth in Him.

What condescension, bringing us redemption, That in the dead of night, not one faint hope in sight. God gracious, tender, laid aside His splendor, Stooping to woo, to win, to save my soul. O how I love Him, how I adore Him, my breath, my sunshine, my all in all! The great Creator became my Savior, and all God's fullness dwelleth in Him. Without reluctance, flesh and blood his substance, he took the form of man, revealed the hidden plan. O greatest mystery, sacrifice of Calvary, and now I know thou art the great I Am. O how I love Him, how I adore Him, my breath, my sunshine, my all in all! The great Creator became my Savior, and all God's fullness dwelleth in Him. I'm going to be reading from Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 20.

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with a child.

While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. In the same region, there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

And an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has also made known to us. So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger.

When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child. All who And all who had heard it wondered at these things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. you do do I agree with Mike to listen to all the wonderful music tonight. It's fantastic.

I don't know why Mike and I were going to do an a cappella duet and they turned us down for this. I don't know why. There was no room for us in the program. With that, please stand up and we'll all sing Go Tell It on the Mountain. Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.

Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. While shepherds gather watching, or silent flocks by night, Behold, throughout the heavens there shone a holy light. Go down it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere. Go down it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born. The shepherds feared and trembled when law of the earth rang out the angel chorus that hailed our Savior's birth. Go tell it on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere.

Go tell it on the mountains that Jesus Christ is born. Down in a lowly manger the humble Christ was born and brought us God's salvation. That blessed Christmas morn Go tell it on the mountain Over the hills and everywhere Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born That Jesus Christ is born that Jesus Christ is born.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time, again, where we can focus on the Lord Jesus, and again, his birth, and just that he is a creator. He's the one who created all things by him and through him and for him, and what that means. And again, just the thought of him coming, leaving your side, coming here. taking on the form of man only to come to die. And we just thank you for the fellowship that we have knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and again the life that we have in Him. And we just thank you, again, for any time we can gather and just to fellowship around the Lord Jesus. And we thank you this time of the year, again, not to think of the presents and all the different commercial things, but the real gift, the gift of the Lord Jesus to each and every one. And it is a free gift and salvation through grace by faith.

And we just, again, pray as we leave here that we'll just honor and glorify you by all that we say and do. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right. We have snacks in the back. And also, there are some books on the table as you exit. If you'd like to pick one of those up, they're free. Take them and enjoy some fellowship out in the foyer. you