In this sermon, Pastor Babij discusses why it is that Christmas should fill people with great wonder at God’s love. Pastor Babij explains that, in Christ coming as a man, mankind sees that: 1.) God took the initiative to secure salvation for sinners, 2.) God’s love held nothing back to bring life to sinners, and 3.) God provided once-and-for-all propitiation for sinners. Such truths are made even more wondrous with the realization that man is utterly sinful and, therefore, is completely undeserving of God’s love.
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alright let’s figure our Bibles this morning and let’s turn to first John first John chapter four and we’re going to look specifically at verses 9 and 10 first John chapter 4 verses 9 and 10 well let me read verse 7 through verse number 14 first John chapter 4 verse 7 beloved let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God the one who does not love does not know God for god is love by this the love of God was manifested in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him in this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins beloved if God so loved us we ought to love one another no one has seen God at any time if we love one another god abides in US and his love is perfected in us by this we know that we abide in him and he in us because he has given us his spirit we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son to be the savior of the world let’s pray father this morning as I come before you in the great name of our Lord Jesus Christ and I depend on the Spirit of God to bring the Word of God forth to your people I pray Lord that you would use this to again bring to our minds the wonder of God’s love help us every day to wake up with that on our minds and I pray Lord that we would live by it also that it would really change us each day as we think about the depth of the love of Christ and I ask you Lord that you would guide us in this way this morning in Christ’s name Amen now this time of years is really a blessed season for many people excitement fills the air while people are talking about meeting with family meeting with friends enjoying their favorite foods people are chattering about giving gifts about time off from work and school but in the midst of all that in the midst of all the commotion we may forget the most important thing a little girl once quoted John 3:16 in this way for God so loved the world that He gave His only forgotten son of course she misquoted the verse but her mistake is worthy of our consideration it is not is it not all too true that Jesus is God’s only forgotten son so at this season of the year the peril is always present that we should forget the primary and proper meaning of Christmas and really overlook the fact that Christmas celebrates the coming of God’s Son into the world and so let’s not make that mistake and let’s never forget that this holiday season is something that we are to remember that so we need to stop we need to worship and we need to celebrate Jesus Christ now I was like that to help you to get focused this morning and get your attention on the wonder of God’s love it was the late D James Kennedy it was famous for his evangelism explosion who said this how wondrous is his love how incredible is it that the creator of the galaxies should come into the world and be murdered by the very creatures he made he gave himself for all those who would come and believe in him what wondrous love is this that came to this earth this season so long ago upon a midnight clear D James Kennedy now in thinking of that there are three things I want to share with you from this passage of Scripture looking at verse number nine the first thing is this that God’s love is filled with wonder because God took the initiative to secure the salvation of sinners in verse number nine it says but this is the love of God but this the love of God was manifest in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world now that’s where he starts off in that passage of Scripture so if you are spiritually alert you must conclude that God is active in salvation in other words God actually goes out after us he actually goes and seeks for us that’s often overlooked that he is not a God who can be persuaded by our lives in our action into forgiving us but he is a God that pursues us goes after us and you know if salvation is just something that we earn which we all thought before we actually became believers there’s no incentive to lift up our voices to praise God for his wonderful love or his this great salvation he’s given us there’s there’s really no reason to do anything however if salvation is entirely the result of something done by God if that’s our understanding and that is the understanding of scripture well then praise and wonder must be a part of the astonishment of saints who lift up their praises to God for the great things that he has done and for so great and magnificent a salvation that he is given to us who do not deserve it in fact when Mary questioned the angel Gabriel Mary was given the announcement by Gabriel that she was going to be the chosen one to bear the seed of God to bring forth the Son of God it was an astonishing thing and her response to the angel great Gabriel in Luke chapter 1 was this how can this be since I’m a virgin now Mary’s question how I’m a virgin I’ve never known a man so her question was not a question of doubt it was a question of wonder it was it was a question of design see Mary is asking about the mechanics of the thing how is it going to work out how is such a thing possible see something like this Mary was thinking has never happened before this is unheard of and not only that historically remember when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to give her that announcement people were unfamiliar with God’s speaking to individuals it was not we had to go back 400 years the Prophet Malachi was the last time God spoke through a prophet so it was quite unusual that God would speak to people so she was and every yell everyone else was not accustom to the supernatural appearances and the miraculous promises that were coming to her from the angel Gabriel the wonder of was absent from the general population in that day however it did point to God doing something entirely new and Mary and everyone else was sensing that because of what the events that were happening in that day so her question was really stuck in the realm of human reasoning how did God how did Gabriel answer her in Luke well he said this to her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God now that was what he told her that was not easy to understand see the point being that God initiated Jesus virgin birth Mary will conceive without an earthly father that the Holy Spirit will overshadow you in other words the Holy Spirit will surround an influence Mary’s womb with the creative power of God and it will produce a special child the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ as a man is entirely the work of God he had no earthly father he was born of the will not of the will of man not of the energy of the flesh the male human being did not enter into the question of conception whatsoever so see that the man is put on the side he has nothing to do with it this just emphasizes the total inability of man to provide salvation at all for himself the initiative was totally of God it was the plan of God for the very sake of delivering people from their sin from the condemnation of their sin so G Jesus will be conceived without sin unlike any other child Jesus was Jesus was holy and separated from any sin and by nature the Son of God so Jesus is God in human flesh the operation of the Holy Spirit was done in such a way that this human nature that the son took unto himself was sinless it was free from pollution it was entirely free from the effects and the result of man’s fall into sin Jesus was perfect it was the perfect son of man so Jesus incarnation was so unusual so exceptional so miraculous so mysterious that it was Lunt unlike anything ever heard of and ever not only in this time but ever in all of human history where John said and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth it was truly a miracle everything about Jesus was mysterious his coming into the world was mysterious is going out of the world when he was scented heaven was mysterious he entered like no one else he exited like no one else the resurrection was unique the virgin birth was unique see everything about him was exceptional from beginning to the end it was exceptional what was the what was impossible became possible only with God and that’s exactly what happened in the conversation between Gabriel and Mary where it finally says there for nothing will be impossible with God that had to be enforced in the mind of Mary about what was going to take in her body and in that day so see Mary’s answer was an answer of design there was a design problem but remember God is the designer because he is the limit he has limitless power and of course can’t accomplish whatever he pleases to whatever extent he wants to do it everything is possible with God everything in the past everything in the present everything in the future so we have to realize and remember that it all happened so that we may be saved that our sins might be forgiven that the Son of God became man and the Son of God became man that the children of men might become the children of God that’s the reverse order there in fact it was in the very Gospel of John that if you remember from the Word of God that it says in the Gospel of John for as many as received him to them he gave the right to become the children of God even those who believed in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God in other words it was completely God’s initiative we had nothing to do with it did you have anything to do with you being born physically no you have nothing to do with you being born spiritually actually see it’s all the initiative of God all of it so see God was pleased to send his son to assume our nature and died for our many sins the giving of a redeemer was the work of God’s free mercy and instead of God giving the sinner what he deserves he gives Jesus what he doesn’t deserve and that is the punishment of our sin for scripture tells us for he for it says for he made himself who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf for what reasons so that we may become the righteousness of God in him see nothing moved God to do this but his own love nothing moved God but his own love so the point being that the story of salvation is not a story of God waiting for us to do something it’s not a story of waiting for us to repent and to turn to Him and to do good works it is a story of God being active who actually goes out after us who makes the first move it was God who sent his son to work out such a great salvation it was God the Father that sent his willing son to the cross it was God who raised him from the dead it was God who does everything all of it is of God and at the bottom of it all is God’s love that’s what moves it but if I were to ask and if you were to ask why why does he love us what of it why does God love his children we would have to answer like this because because he loves you because he loves you period he loves you it’s the same reason given to Moses concerning God’s choice of Israel if you remember when God chose Israel what did he say to Israel this is what he said to Israel in Deuteronomy chapter 7 he says the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples for you were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you and kept in oath which he swore to your father’s the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery slavery from the house of king of egypt so the answer is this why does god love his children because because of who he is because in scripture here says that he is a god of love that’s the very nature of god so when we think about it like that if you are believer in Christ Jesus today the answer to the question is in short he loved you because he loved you because he is loved and such undeserved love should cause believers to worship and praise God with their mouths and then ultimately thank him for every single thing there must be wonder in our heart about what Jesus did because he took the initiative he took the first step that’s the first thing that God’s love is filled with wonder because God’s love is took the initiative to secure our salvation the second thing is this in verse number nine first John chapter four that God’s love is filled with wonder because it held back nothing it held nothing back to bring life to dead sinners it held nothing back to bring life to us four it says in Scripture but this by in verse number nine by this the love of God was manifest in us that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through him see this love shows up in all those who respond positively to the demonstration of God’s love by believing in the son so through faith in Christ life comes to us through Jesus Christ and then the love of God is manifested in us in fact in verse number seven of the passage that we read it says beloved let us love one another for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God so the real reason why we can act actually love in a genuine ways because God loved us in fact it says this in John 17 this is eternal life that we may know you the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent so life involves knowing and having Jesus Christ himself for life is tied up in him if it wasn’t for him we would have no life so in giving his son God gave the best there was to give there was no nothing better the father could have given us than Jesus Christ Romans tells us he who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all how will he not also with him freely give us all things so because of Jesus Christ brethren all things are possible for his children but rather remember that it had to be more than God sending his son to this earth into this world it had to be more than that see God God’s loving nature knew that he had to be there had to be a far greater demonstration of love one that would tower above all human examples it was not just God sending his son that was just the beginning that was just the start of it but we have to ask ourselves the question how spiritually dead are human beings well look at verse number 10 of our text it says this and this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us so in other words the answer the question is so so dead spiritually that our text tells us that you are not suited naturally to love God in fact the notion to think that you and I have the ability to love God on our own is a flat-out lie we can’t even do it we wouldn’t know where to start because it does start with knowledge and understanding that comes from God’s Word it could not have entered your heart or your mind on its own to love God or or cause your desires to understand and seek after God that we would want God to come into the world to be a remedy for our sin and it’s condemnation that we wouldn’t come up with that only by God’s grace could you and I have imagined to ask that the eternal son of God should assume our flesh and be made sin and occurs for us and died on a tree and everyone who dies and lifted up in a tree is cursed we just would have never conceived it in our spiritually dead Minds it could have never been orchestrated by a human being you’re just not that smart but now with that we’re dead we can’t even think that way so then when a person is made spiritually alive they quickly come to know maybe the first thing you come to know is Wow God loves me right and you know what a good friend once said to me about the simple song jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so he said to me that’s not the shallow end of the pool that’s the deep end of the pool it is true because the rest of your Christian life one of the key things to keep you from sin and to keep your desires and flamed is the love of God if it’s thinking about it and meditating on it and getting it in your heart and mind that whatever to the extent would what God did for you you never would have deserved it you could have never accomplished it so the first and the greatest way the love of God becomes wonderfully known to a redeemed sinner is the cross they can’t talk about the birth of Christ without talking about the death of Christ actually if you talk about the birth without the death you don’t have the gospel you only have one part of it and so it was not just God sending his son it was God sending his son to die that’s why he really came now take your Bibles and turn quickly over to the book of Romans chapter 5 this is a perfume angel’ ISM this is a passage of Scripture you definitely want to use alright because it just shown you on there in this passage of Scripture the wonder of God’s love from this verse in verse number chapter 5 verse number 8 it says but God demonstrates his own love toward us this is Romans 5:8 in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us but look at verse number 6 of that same chapter it says for while we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly now that is a passage of Scripture that tells us listen what God did what was way beyond anything ever anyone could have ever done is that he demonstrated a sinless man demonstrates his love towards sinful ungodly humanity by what by dying now think for a moment the God you and I defied the God you and I ignored and disah paid not only has not dammed us and destroyed us but he actually sent His only begotten Son to die for us and to redeem us we have to think about that more often we can’t just say we understand things and that I’ve heard it before see the way of salvation the way to heaven is open and it is a wonder that it’s open to sinners it is a wonder the Lord had has visited this earth and has provided everything needed to redeem his people the Lord has visited this this earth and those all those who would come and believe in him the love of God has made conspicuous as the light that we see in our day today the light that’s beaming through that window right now because of the cross it makes his love very conspicuous you can’t miss it when you look at the cross for John first John 3 verse 16 says we know love by this that he laid down his life for us that’s how we know the love of God that he laid down his life for us so there’s something else that we become very aware of when we are aware of the love of God we’re aware of at the same time we begin to discover wow I cannot believe God loves me I can’t believe how God demonstrated his love for me on the cross I can’t believe what happened there on the cross that he took my sin he died in my place when I should have been there I should have been there see there’s something else that happens and it’s this that we begin to Dan now sense our unworthiness our unworthiness that the Son of God should become human and died for our sakes we become aware of that in fact you’re still right there in Romans chapter 5 look at verse number 7 Romans 5 7 for one would hardly die for a righteous man though perhaps for a good man some would dare even to die now let me just stop right there now this passage of Scripture is an incredible passage of Scripture that highlights the extent to which Jesus died for sinners I have read many books on Special Forces both in the US and around the world in the past several years and I have noticed a common thread that runs through these books it is the camaraderie the loyalty and and the Brotherhood that exists amongst these men they develop a deep respect and a love for one another in fact several of the books some of the men quote this passage greater love has no one than this that one laid down his life for his friends some of them have that tattooed on their arm they’re not necessarily believers but this this verse resonates with them all of them have answered the questions would I give my life would I make the ultimate sacrifice if it came right down to it would I take the bullet for my brother who’s standing next to me they all answer in the book they all answer in the affirmative all of them yes I would without question without doubt without hesitation they answer yes I would now many who have gone downrange have paid the ultimate price for their brother in arms and their country they took the bullet and they gave their life but if we were to ask those same soldiers would you lay your down your life for your enemy would you lay down your life of the Taliban for al-qaeda for an Isis soldier would you lay down your life for the organization called the GI a which is the Islamic army group that is a terrorist organization that has the authority ability to train soldiers and send out groups of men that are skilled in beheading people would you die for them well the answer would be no way my life is not worth giving for them they are my enemy it is really something we have to think about but relating that to this passage the point being that the case is rare that one should die for another even if he or she was a good and righteous person because life is precious and we don’t want to lose it unnecessarily do we or for flippant reasons or reasons that don’t have certain weight to it so it is for the most part non-existent that one would be willing to give their life for an enemy you don’t find that anywhere I haven’t read it in any of the books it’s just not there it’s not gonna happen now here is where the love of God takes on wonder of its own that’s compared you cannot compare it to anything else it is unequaled by any other thing any other person the demonstration of God’s mercy towered above the proportion that any friendly person could ever display for someone else God his son to die in the place not of those who were good and just but those who were not good those who were unjust those who were wicked those who were ungodly for those who were all in a damnable State he sent his son to die for the ungodly for sinners and to rescue and free us from eternal death and make us partakers of eternal life in other words in verse number eight of Romans chapter five this is where this comes in but God demonstrates his own love toward us and while we were yet sinners that’s when Christ died for us God the Father because of Christ calls us friends who were once enemies of God he calls us friends he died for his enemies people who would never love him who worshipped other things in other gods and then he reconciles them to himself and anybody who is reconciled to God is a friend you don’t have to reconcile enemies or reconciled to God and become friends of God tell me that doesn’t say something about the wonder of God that if God were to stand right here in this place this morning and you having trusted and believed him in as your Lord and Savior he would come up to you as a friend not as a judge as a friend think of that for a minute when we come to the Lord’s table we come to the Lord’s table because we are at peace with God and he’s our friend not in in a human way but in a way a very holy way we understand that and if that does not humble you I don’t know what can humble you did the extent he gave his life for us see this is Christmas message this is the message that we we need to hear because God’s love is so wonderful that it has gone to the uttermost to save sinners and it held back nothing to bring dead ungodly sinners to life held back nothing then there’s one last thing first John passage you could turn back there one last thing this morning that God’s love is filled with wonder because it would held no cost to restore lost sinner’s back to the loving heavenly father where it says in verse number 10 of 1st John chapter 4 and this is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins no better word than that word there so if your Bibles changed it to something else get that word back in there because this is a word we just can’t find anywhere else this is a word particular to scripture it’s because it has to be there because it’s related to the death of Jesus Christ see love is always to be understood in terms of God’s love for us never in terms of our love for God that means love does not originate in man it never has and it never will now if you notice how striking God’s action is here not that we loved God but that he loved us that God was initiating the action to send His Son and atoning sacrifice with no immediate returns in other words that God did something for us God’s not saying okay I did something for you you just you do something for me no there’s no reciprocity in in what Christ did on the cross there’s no okay you know I invite Carlos to lunch you know he to lunch I invite him to lunch that’s a reciprocity right or I borrow tools from Joe and so Joe borrows tools from me there’s nothing going on in the gospel like that that’s now God’s not requiring anything from us that’s why it’s free that’s why it’s a gift so the Lord God knew when he said his son it would be an atoning sacrifice for sin that his sacrifice would be would need to go beyond where any other sacrifice had gone before and we don’t we don’t really live in a world that understands the reality of there were significance of animal sacrifice do we yet sacrifice is what the Word of God means that God sent his son to be a propitiation for our sins this means that Jesus is not just acting like the high priest that was authorized to take the blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies he is not just like a high priest to offer up the sacrifice of the animal on the altar before God and behalf of the people actually the Greek word is the word that means mercy seat is connected to that word and can it came to denote not only the mercy seat or the lid of the Ark of the Covenant inside the Holy of Holies if you’ve been coming to son in school you should understand all that but also propitiation or reconciliation by blood on the great day of atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil and sprinkled it on the mercy seat and so made propitiation that there is something much more Jesus Christ is not only the high priest that’s the one making the offering but he is the one who becomes the offering he is the one who sheds his blood he is the one who makes propitiation that means satisfaction he satisfies the father with his sacrifice on the cross there’s nothing else that needs to be done Jesus completely and totally satisfies the father so God the Father sent Jesus to be an atoning sacrifice to remove the guilt that we had incurred because of our sins so that we may have eternal life that Jesus Christ by his death paid for our sins and satisfied God’s judgment on sin in other words what Jesus did on the cross satisfy the father in two respects number one the removal all of all guilt because of sin that by his sacrifice cleansing and forgiveness comes to the sinner and then also this word propitiation has to do it the Lord expiating our guilt or covering our guilt or and then by by taking the punishment in our place and then a second way is the removal of God’s anger towards us the appeasing of God’s wrath that the death of Christ totally satisfied the Justice of God the righteousness of God and the holy hatred God has for sin so again you just can’t talk about the birth of Christ without talking about the death of Christ and without talking about the resurrection of Christ and without talking about the Ascension of Christ and without talking about the second coming of Christ it’s all part of the gospel and it’s all important for us to understand so see in giving his son God paid the greatest debt by paying the ultimate cost he paid a cost we could never afford now I’m how long we could save if you could pay for it we could never afford it but Jesus paid it so brethren I hope and I pray that you never get bored of hearing about the old rugged cross I pray you’d never get bored about hearing about the gospel about Jesus Christ demonstration on Calvary’s Hill his love there for those who have confessed Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior they are the Bible says in Christ and so therefore if they are in Christ then they are their sins are forgiven all offenses have been removed they are reconciled to God they are possessors of eternal life they are partakers of the divine nature they are born of God and have passed out of condemnation to life that’s what Jesus does oh what a blessed state it is to be saved to be delivered from the wrath of God and to know it to know it so may this message never be commonplace but every time you think of how God saves you and the wonder of God’s love you would rejoice you would go off into a praise time wherever you are driving your car it’s laying in your bed in your office behind the desk somebody hear you shout think something’s wrong and say no I’m just praising God because I’ve been thinking about my salvation maybe that’ll give you an opportunity for it I think right do that try that in your office hopefully you’ll keep your job but nonetheless I really pray that for those this day who do not believe that today may become you may come to Jesus and you may you may find an advocate advocate with the father a lawyer with the father Jesus Christ because you always have to ask ourself that question can we honestly say that this Christmas season that you have looked to Jesus alone for eternal life or are you still looking to yourself are you still trying to work it out yourself I looked are you looking to someone else to save you besides Jesus so have you learned the great truth that through Christ a thousand times born in Bethlehem if he’s not born in you if he’s not born in you your soul is still perishing I’d like to ask you again has this wonderful person been born in your heart truly truly Jesus says I say unto you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God see the question is has that happened to you has that happened to you Christ who is the king of the kingdom Christ is the one who says who will go in and who will not go in and Jesus has said in fatica Li you can in no wise enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again born anew born from above see have you ever been born from above one yet what one young man may reply well I don’t know if I have or I haven’t well the next question could be well have you ever been born physically of course he says I’ve been born physically and I know that then it was told a young man my friend if you have been born again you would know that as well it’s not an elusive thing it’s something you understand and you know God made it that way you can’t say I hope I am you have to know you are so I ask you again this Sunday before Christmas Day a day that we are celebrating the birth of the Savior has he been born in your heart I would urge you to humble yourself knowledge your sin and look to Jesus the Savior and invite him to come and be born in you to cleanse you to forgive you to transform you see if you don’t look to Jesus you’re still lost and without him you have no hope and so my friends when you leave this world and you leap into eternity which by the way is a very very long time eons and eons of time without number where will you be with Christ in heaven or consign forever separated from God because of your sin because nobody took care of it you didn’t have a sacrifice everybody needs to sacrifice for sin everybody and that sacrifice is Jesus Christ it is the only sacrifice there’s no other see that’s why all other religions are false because it has no sacrifice and if it has a sacrifice and it’s not Jesus Christ then it’s not rooted in Scripture and rooted in eternity and rooted in God’s initiative and if it’s not rooted there then it’s false and it’s untrustworthy and it cannot save it actually damns a person but when you know the truth we should be so filled with Wonder we should be so filled with praise because of the great things God done for us we should understand that as Peter said for Christ also died for sins once for all the just for the unjust what was his purpose what was his mode motive in order to that he might bring us to God that’s what Jesus does he brings us to a relationship with the father and we become one with him we become to know him and by repentance that’s true repentance means that you turn away and you turn to your the Lord that you turn away from the many individual sins by which we have offered actually offended God’s character and broken his law you turn away from any attempt to try to save yourself and then you turn to God who can pardon your sin who can make you right before him who can bring you into closed flat fellowship with him and then of course repentance and belief belief means to trust only in the person death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that’s what it simply means to trust that G trust Jesus as really God’s appointed provision for the forgiven of sins and of course we trust Jesus for moral power to affect change in our thoughts and our attitudes and our motives and our desires and our affections and our words and our actions and the patterns of how we live our life God gives us a spirit to change all that so we’re different and then of course we trust Jesus to keep us we can’t keep ourselves saved but Jesus who saves will keep you if you’re truly saved he will keep you he keeps us in saving belief on he’ll till he takes us away to heaven whether by death or by his coming either way we’re gonna be in his presence right see that’s how you need to live and that’s what Christmas is about I prayed that we would be a bunch of people that are so filled with the wonder of God’s love we just can’t help ourselves that’s what we ought to be amen let’s pray Lord just this morning I do thank you for the Word of God I thank you Lord for the wonder of God’s love and I know Lord for for believers Lord that means it should lead us to worship you to praise you to be humble under your mighty hand and then desire to serve you and Lord for unbelievers it means it should lead them to yearn to repent of their sin and to believe in Jesus Christ the only substitute and Savior for all those who are ungodly sinners thank you Lord Jesus thank you Father that you took the initiative that you didn’t hold back anything and that you would you did not withhold any cost that it would take to save us sinners I appreciate that Lord and I thank you and I give you praise and glory this morning for it please bring those who don’t know you saving faith strengthen our faith for this new year so we can live with the thought of the wonder of God in our mind every day and I pray this in your name amen