1 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:08,800 Let me just say thank you for all of you who are still saying 2 00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:11,880 Merry Christmas, and I'm grateful that we're still 3 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,440 singing Christmas songs. I don't know if you can relate 4 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,680 to this, but it just feels like it comes and goes so quickly. 5 00:00:19,120 --> 00:00:21,400 Maybe it's because I'm getting older, but there's something 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:26,480 about just staying in this season of remembering Jesus 7 00:00:26,480 --> 00:00:29,120 coming into the world that in fact, on Christmas Day, my 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,880 daughter came up to me and just probably representing all 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,840 children in the, the families of our church just came up to me 10 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:37,720 and said, I don't ever want this to end. 11 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:41,840 I said to her, I don't either, but you know, it does and we 12 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:44,640 have to move on. And it reminded me of, I think I 13 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:46,440 was in 8th grade. I got a calendar and I still 14 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,600 remember to this day around this time every year. 15 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,640 It was the new year calendar, but it had the, you know, the, 16 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,520 the last month of the old year and it said December 26th, the 17 00:00:55,520 --> 00:01:00,920 worst day of the year, 364 days until Christmas comes again. 18 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,920 And that, that is the, the, you know, the feeling of our 19 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:06,800 culture. Our culture moves so fast. 20 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:10,200 It's the feeling of our hearts. We move so fast from thing to 21 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:13,600 thing. But the good news is that the 22 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:16,160 message of Christ coming into the world, the message of 23 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:21,440 Christmas is not meant to give you just a warm feeling. 24 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,000 Contrary to all of the good feelings we have around this 25 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:28,800 year because of the message of Christmas, it is not akin to a 26 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:31,120 Hallmark movie. It's like, oh, I like that so 27 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:33,040 much. And now it's over, back to real 28 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,040 life. The message of Christmas is 29 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,520 meant to change the way you live. 30 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,960 And so we're going to look at another passage of Scripture 31 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:47,120 today as really an in between the advent in the new year. 32 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:50,840 We have another week in the word before the end of the year to 33 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,400 look at what this message means. And it is meant to change the 34 00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:57,800 way you live. And before we look at the 35 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:00,280 passage, I'll just say a simple truth that will come up in the 36 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:01,800 first verse that we read this morning. 37 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,920 To change the way you live, you must change the way you think 38 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,720 that that will be tested and tried and true for anyone who 39 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:14,280 attempts to try to change anything about the new year. 40 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,760 Whether you try to get into shape or get out of debt or get 41 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:22,360 through something difficult, goals, anything you set before 42 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:25,600 you to to change anything starts in your mind. 43 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:30,520 It says in Proverbs, for as he thinks in his heart, so he is. 44 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:36,880 And this brings us to one of the most profound passages of 45 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,400 Scripture, maybe in all of the Bible. 46 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:44,200 It it is a message of Jesus coming into the world that gives 47 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:48,040 us a model not just how we should feel, but how we should 48 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,600 think. So may this word stay with us 49 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,560 long after the lights come down. May we receive the message once 50 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,640 again that Christ has come to change the way we live. 51 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:03,280 And it starts. If you have your Bible, we're 52 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,040 going to look at one of the Mount Everest passage of 53 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:08,880 Scripture today. Philippians chapter 2, 54 00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:14,160 Philippians chapter 2. I'm going to start our reading 55 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:21,440 in verse 5 where Paul is writing to believers encouraging them on 56 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:23,760 how they should treat one another, how they should love 57 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:26,480 one other, how they should look at the person of Christ as an 58 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:31,040 example for their lives. He says in verse 5, let this 59 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:34,480 mind be in you, which was also in Christ. 60 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:39,400 Look at Christ, look at his life, look at what he did to 61 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:42,120 enter the world and think like that. 62 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:47,200 And as he says, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ. 63 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:52,320 He then goes on to not give us the history of Christmas. 64 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,840 He's now going to give us the theology of it. 65 00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,400 And you have to have both. It is a historical event. 66 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,440 It's also a theological event. He says this in verse six. 67 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,000 Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to 68 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:12,160 be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking 69 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:18,240 the form of a bondservant first taking the form of a babe and a 70 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,360 Manger to take on the form of a bond servant. 71 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:27,000 And coming in the likeness of men, He dwells among us in 72 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:31,880 flesh, And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled 73 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:37,080 himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death 74 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,200 of the cross. We'll stop there before we 75 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:45,960 continue. As we look at this, we now have 76 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:53,360 the Think Like Christ extension of the Christmas message that it 77 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:58,120 would define your very life. That as you hear this Jesus 78 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:02,400 entering in the world, it is supposed to now give you a model 79 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:07,480 for everything you do and how you think about how you live. 80 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:13,000 And very simply, this is the Christmas message we left off in 81 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:15,360 the Gospel of Matthew. And then we looked at Luke. 82 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:17,960 But both times we referenced that one of the names he was 83 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:20,840 supposed to be called was Emmanuel. 84 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,120 God is with us. And what we just read 85 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,920 essentially breaks down into two theological points of Jesus 86 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:37,040 coming that Jesus is God and that Jesus is with us to 87 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:41,440 understand. Those two indisputable and non 88 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:45,920 compromisable points of theology will change the way you think 89 00:05:45,920 --> 00:05:48,160 about everything else. So that's what we will look at 90 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:50,600 today. Jesus is God. 91 00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:56,640 That is what this is saying. Jesus is God Incarnate. 92 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,640 It says in verse 6 of what we just read who being in the form 93 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:07,080 of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God. 94 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,840 This is the theology of Christmas. 95 00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:14,920 Jesus is all together different than anyone who was ever born. 96 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:19,440 It says being in the form of God. 97 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,080 Now, that word form can be misleading as though it's just, 98 00:06:23,440 --> 00:06:27,600 you know, a likeness to God, but it what it at its core is saying 99 00:06:27,920 --> 00:06:34,840 is being the very nature of God. This is a very important 100 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:37,480 question that all of us must answer. 101 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:44,880 Who is Jesus of Nazareth? How you answer that question 102 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,360 will determine how you respond to the message of Christmas. 103 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:53,000 And regardless of where you come from, it seems as though 104 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,880 everyone around the world has an answer to the question, who is 105 00:06:56,920 --> 00:07:01,360 Jesus? Most religions acknowledge Jesus 106 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:06,320 as someone to be admired, from Mormons to Jehovah's Witness to 107 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,440 Muslims to even New Age spirituality. 108 00:07:09,640 --> 00:07:12,840 And some atheists will even acknowledge it's undeniable that 109 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:16,840 he came historically, made an impact that was undeniably a 110 00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,240 good, a net positive for humanity. 111 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:25,520 But what sets the believer in Jesus apart from all of those 112 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:29,000 religions is every religion mentioned does something to 113 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:33,080 diminish the deity of God. They all have one thing in 114 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,680 common in their answer to Jesus. He wasn't God. 115 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:42,520 What we believe as believers of the creeds and orthodoxy and the 116 00:07:42,600 --> 00:07:46,720 the historical Christian believer believe that Jesus was 117 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:52,480 God Incarnate. Emmanuel means God is with us 118 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:56,920 and it's important for us to stand on that doctrine as a non 119 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:59,800 negotiable doctrine. It's important for you as a 120 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:04,720 believer to know that you are in the household of faith that 121 00:08:04,720 --> 00:08:06,960 acknowledges the deity of Christ. 122 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:12,160 It is a a question that no doubt people may ask you. 123 00:08:12,440 --> 00:08:15,040 If anyone ever knocks at your door, it's most likely that they 124 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,600 will come with a message about Jesus that is going to lower or 125 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,040 diminish his deity. And it would be good for you to 126 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:24,960 know that there are all sorts of ways that we see this with 127 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:30,400 reason and Scripture that Jesus is in fact undeniably Jesus or 128 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:34,320 or God. It's we looked at the prophecy 129 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:38,440 given to Matthew in a dream from Isaiah and we can start there. 130 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:40,919 The Christian message says you will call him Emmanuel. 131 00:08:40,919 --> 00:08:46,120 God is with us. You can go on with the the the 132 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,720 Christmas message that is seen in the Gospel of John, John 133 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,040 chapter one. In the beginning was the Word 134 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:57,000 and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 135 00:08:57,960 --> 00:08:59,320 He was in the beginning with God. 136 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:03,960 All things were made through him and without him nothing was made 137 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,480 that was made. This is the introduction in the 138 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:12,200 Gospel of John to Jesus the Christ in Titus, which we looked 139 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,640 at early in the year. There was a moment with that 140 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:18,360 exalted Jesus in the grace of God and said, looking for the 141 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:21,440 blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and 142 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:26,960 Savior Jesus. John chapter 8, where Jesus 143 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:32,720 himself declares, without a doubt to the listeners of the 144 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:37,520 scene described in John chapter 8, that He himself was the great 145 00:09:37,520 --> 00:09:42,760 I am, He says most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was I 146 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:50,640 am the name that Yahweh gave to Moses, and they picked up stones 147 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:55,240 to stone him for blasphemy. They understood what was at 148 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:59,920 stake. Jesus also indirectly teaches of 149 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:03,240 his deity. You'll remember when he was 150 00:10:03,240 --> 00:10:06,880 teaching in a house that was so full that the only way to reach 151 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:09,560 him was to lower a man through the roof. 152 00:10:09,560 --> 00:10:11,960 And the friends of a paralytic took the paralytic and they 153 00:10:12,160 --> 00:10:15,160 removed tiles from the roof and they lowered him into the house 154 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,680 that Jesus was teaching. And he looked at the man and 155 00:10:17,680 --> 00:10:21,360 what did he say? Your sins are forgiven. 156 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,960 To which his the hearers, the the critics, the skeptics said 157 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:28,920 who can forgive sins but God alone? 158 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:33,280 Exactly that they knew exactly what was at stake when he said 159 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,640 your sins are forgiven. I I know what is at stake when 160 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:40,040 my kids come to me. And they are they're they're 161 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:42,520 kind of reporters of sin at their ages right now. 162 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:44,840 It's what they do. They're basically like they 163 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:46,200 sinned. She sinned. 164 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:49,640 A lot of it has to do with hitting and, you know, fighting. 165 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:53,560 They're in that stage. And, and what they want is for 166 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:57,320 me to make a judgement against them that would declare them 167 00:10:57,320 --> 00:11:00,120 guilty and then they would have to, you know, make retribution. 168 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:03,760 What they don't want is for me to hear that they've been sinned 169 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,440 against and me to say, well, I forgive them. 170 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:08,920 They don't want that. They know I don't have the power 171 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,920 to forgive on the other person's behalf. 172 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:16,080 What what Jesus is saying is I do have the power to forgive 173 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,320 sins because ultimately when you sin, you are violating God's 174 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,720 design for humanity to live in perfect love and you're sinning 175 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:28,400 against God himself. And when you sin, Jesus has the 176 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,920 power to forgive you because he is himself the creator of all 177 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,080 things. He has the power to forgive 178 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,640 sins. There's also in the text we read 179 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:43,720 a the the the Mount Everest of theology given to us in 180 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:47,960 Philippians 2. This is also a historical 181 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:51,160 account that this is not a new teaching that developed down the 182 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:54,960 line as as the myth of Jesus grew that the deity of Jesus 183 00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:58,480 grew. Scholars believe that Paul is 184 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:04,960 actually quoting some sort of early Christian creed that as he 185 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:07,280 quotes the verses that we just read. 186 00:12:07,560 --> 00:12:10,880 Most people think that that was a shared confession amongst the 187 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,920 earliest Christians that's central to their faith was that 188 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:21,240 Jesus was declared the Son of God, the power to raise himself 189 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:26,600 from the grave and the earliest of the believers staked their 190 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:33,160 life on Jesus being the Incarnate Word become flesh. 191 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,760 And so hopefully those of you who have been journeying with 192 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:41,640 our church and our part of the faith or celebrating or just 193 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:45,960 taking a moment to exalt Jesus higher and higher, we cannot 194 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,800 exalt him high enough. But this is also a question 195 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:54,360 about the fleeting emotions surrounding the Christmas story. 196 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:56,320 What does this do to change your mind? 197 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:01,160 How does this mind of knowing the the story of Christ? 198 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:02,520 Paul says, I want you to think like Christ. 199 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:08,880 You got to know Christ. To understand His deity is to 200 00:13:08,880 --> 00:13:16,080 ultimately understand His authority, and by nature of the 201 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:21,760 converse, to deny His deity is in fact to deny His authority in 202 00:13:21,760 --> 00:13:23,800 your life. That is essentially what happens 203 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:26,440 with all of the cults and all of the people that are presenting 204 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:30,400 some false way to God that is always based off you doing good 205 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:34,040 works to lower the deity of Christ and to exalt yourself. 206 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,280 And we would never do that as orthodox believers on purpose. 207 00:13:38,360 --> 00:13:43,720 We would only do it in practice. We would only fail to exalt 208 00:13:43,720 --> 00:13:48,120 Christ in the shadows of our heart, in the shadows of our 209 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,720 mind, not verbally, but we would do it to exalt ourselves. 210 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:57,480 And that is why Paul is reminding these believers, if 211 00:13:57,480 --> 00:13:59,760 you really want to love one another and serve one another 212 00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,640 and be like Jesus, exalt him so that you no longer exalt 213 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,560 yourselves. Jesus says I am. 214 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:14,440 The way to understand his deity is to accept the authority of 215 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:17,640 him being the way to live in your life. 216 00:14:19,800 --> 00:14:22,280 John Stott says you can't like Jesus. 217 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,160 You can only love him or loathe him. 218 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,000 And we have a lot of people in our day and age that like Jesus, 219 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,880 like the idea of him as a teacher, like the idea of him as 220 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:39,640 a good moral compass. But you can't like him if he is 221 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:43,000 God. You must love him. 222 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:46,280 You must make a serious decision about who he actually is in your 223 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:49,000 life. And that is the beauty of the 224 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:52,000 Christmas story, the Christmas history is that people who 225 00:14:52,000 --> 00:14:57,840 encountered Jesus made a serious decision about who he was. 226 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,040 We looked at some of those decisions in our lead up to our 227 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:05,600 celebration of the Christmas message and the Christmas 228 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:08,880 message on Christmas Eve itself. There is no one who heard the 229 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:11,200 message and then just kind of went back to life as normal. 230 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:18,080 The shepherds heard on high the message of heaven that Emmanuel 231 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:22,080 has arrived. And it says they they left, they 232 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:24,600 went and found him and then they just told everybody all about 233 00:15:24,600 --> 00:15:29,800 it. The the chosen father and mother 234 00:15:29,800 --> 00:15:32,720 of the Lord would would have to make all sorts of serious 235 00:15:32,720 --> 00:15:35,800 decisions about what it meant for their lives. 236 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:41,120 They would eventually flee to Egypt to care for him. 237 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:45,640 They made a serious decision about how to follow the will of 238 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,040 God in the relationship they had to this newborn baby. 239 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:50,760 And you know who else made a serious decision? 240 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:54,800 Herod the king. He did not take this as a 241 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,520 neutral point. He seriously hated him. 242 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:03,640 Which is where anyone who actually considers the claims 243 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:06,640 that are being made this morning, this is where it has to 244 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,720 take you. It cannot take you to a place 245 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,640 where you come to a Christmas Eve service and you once a year 246 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,600 you get warm fuzzy feelings about Jesus in your life and 247 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:18,440 then you go back to being the Lord of your own life. 248 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,240 To understand the deity of Christ is to understand the 249 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,440 authority that he demands in your life. 250 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:33,160 Have his mind in you have his life, his example as the 251 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:39,240 definition of your life. So Emmanuel, God with us. 252 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:42,640 The first point of this theological Mount Everest is 253 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:49,120 Jesus is God is Jesus God in your mind, in your heart, in the 254 00:16:49,120 --> 00:16:51,200 way that you respond to the living word of God in the 255 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,560 message of Christ. The second part that we read is 256 00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:01,960 that Jesus is with us. This is why we celebrated with 257 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:05,760 song and message. And I hope just the joy of your 258 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:11,200 heart that this is good news, that he is not God come to 259 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:16,760 condemn, He is God come to save. And Philippians chapter 2, verse 260 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:22,640 7 gives us just the beauty of that theology of what it means 261 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,520 that Jesus is with us. It says he made himself of no 262 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:32,960 reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the 263 00:17:32,960 --> 00:17:38,000 likeness of men. Other translations say he 264 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:42,200 emptied himself. Now He didn't empty himself of 265 00:17:42,200 --> 00:17:44,960 his deity. He is fully God. 266 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,120 He added to himself humanity and fully man. 267 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:54,240 He emptied himself of His glory, of his divine position in 268 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:56,680 heaven. He emptied himself of the 269 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:03,280 eternal praise that is due His name, and he came into a world 270 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,640 of shame and ridicule. He poured himself out. 271 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:13,960 He gave up his divine privilege prerogative and He came in the 272 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:17,760 likeness of men. I love what it says. 273 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:22,120 Hark the herald angels sing. I think it's growing in my list 274 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:25,360 of favorite Christmas songs. The the the the the words just 275 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,600 just meditate on the words even without singing them. 276 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,840 It says Christ by highest heaven adored Christ, the everlasting 277 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,560 Lord. Late in time, behold Him come 278 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:41,440 offsprings of the Virgin's womb, veiled in flesh, the Godhead. 279 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:45,280 See hail the Incarnate deity He is. 280 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:52,120 He's just veiled in his flesh. He came to us in humble human 281 00:18:52,120 --> 00:18:57,160 flesh, a veil that is someday going to be lifted and we will 282 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:01,200 see Him in all His glory. We now see through a mere dimly 283 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:06,560 lit, but then face to face, a veil that we get a preview of in 284 00:19:06,560 --> 00:19:11,600 the Mount of Transfiguration when He shined with a radiance 285 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,640 that was whiter than any launderer could get. 286 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:21,680 But now he comes veiled and he comes to be with us. 287 00:19:22,960 --> 00:19:27,080 And you consider all of the revelations of God leading up to 288 00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:31,240 the babe in the Manger, the God of the Old Testament. 289 00:19:31,360 --> 00:19:36,640 Rightfully, every time he interacted by message, by 290 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,560 messenger, by some sort of encounter, it was a terrifying 291 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,400 experience. Remember in in job we get this 292 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,320 picture of a whirlwind, a tornado. 293 00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:51,920 My my kids wanted to watch Twister and my, my wife said 294 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,080 that movie would be way too scary for you guys because 295 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,240 Twisters are terrifying. They they're just destroying 296 00:19:57,240 --> 00:19:59,560 everything. And so it's considered, at least 297 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:03,720 for kids my age, a horror movie to see a Twister in live in live 298 00:20:03,720 --> 00:20:05,160 action. It's terrifying. 299 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:10,560 He comes to Abraham in a flaming torch that passes through. 300 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,640 Between the the dead carcasses of animals to make a covenant, a 301 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:19,120 flaming torch. He comes to Moses in a burning 302 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:22,560 Bush. This is not something you want 303 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:27,560 to embrace and hold. He comes to the people of Israel 304 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:31,160 in the Tabernacle with the Shekinah glory that will destroy 305 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:35,440 all but the all but the priest. And even he goes in but once a 306 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,640 year. Glorious, magnificent, holy, 307 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:47,320 terrifying. And Moses in just to see his 308 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:52,080 hindsight, whatever that means. He he, he has to wear a veil 309 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,200 over his face because he radiate with the radiance of just 310 00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:02,200 encountering him from afar. And now we have an altogether 311 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:06,920 relationship difference. Paul will notice this in his 312 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,360 letter to the Corinthians. He says Moses put a veil over 313 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:11,880 his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily 314 00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:15,280 at the end of what was passing, but their minds were blinded. 315 00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,320 For until this day, the same veil remains unlifted in the Old 316 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:21,720 Testament because the veil is now taken away in Christ. 317 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:27,720 Now God comes to be with us in a relationship that is like a 318 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:32,040 relationship with someone who wants to live in your world, not 319 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,480 a passing encounter, not a terrifying God that is only 320 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,960 coming to give you a message to give you the law. 321 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:46,280 Now He comes in human flesh. John chapter one, verse 14. 322 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:51,240 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His 323 00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:55,400 glory. We understood the glory of God. 324 00:21:55,560 --> 00:22:00,240 In Christ was the visible image, God's nature on display in human 325 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,400 form so that we could see and hear and have a mind that could 326 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:10,920 be modeled after the mind of God, begotten of the Father, 327 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:15,880 full of grace and truth. He comes with grace. 328 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,520 He comes as a baby. I don't know if there's anything 329 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:28,480 less threatening than a babe swaddled, a babe that can be 330 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:33,440 held and he comes, it says, taking the form. 331 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:39,520 There's that word again, taking the nature of a bondservant says 332 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:41,400 in Mark chapter 10, Jesus in his own words. 333 00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,120 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve 334 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,480 and to give his life a ransom for many. 335 00:22:48,760 --> 00:22:52,760 Emmanuel, God is with us in human form. 336 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,480 Come to serve, no longer terrifying, now filled with 337 00:22:57,480 --> 00:23:01,080 grace and truth and the definition of love in human 338 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:05,840 form. What does this mean for your 339 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,320 thoughts? How does this change your mind? 340 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:18,760 If God is willing to come and serve you, who are you to live 341 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:24,080 any other way? This should change your view of 342 00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:31,200 the entire world you live in. You know, one of the reasons 343 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:34,800 that people will give for keeping God at a distance, 344 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:37,920 staying away from church or just holding their heart and not 345 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:41,040 opening up to the reality of God in their life is look around in 346 00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:44,040 this world. Why would a God allow this? 347 00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:50,040 Well, the good news is there's a lot of ways you can answer that. 348 00:23:50,520 --> 00:23:53,400 One is that God is putting all things to write. 349 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,440 There will be a day where God will no longer allow the pain 350 00:23:56,440 --> 00:24:01,200 and the suffering in this world. It is a mystery of sorts as to 351 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,520 when and how exactly that's all going to unfold. 352 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,840 But what is no longer a mystery? What you cannot say of Jesus as 353 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:15,320 God is that he doesn't care. You cannot say I'm not 354 00:24:15,320 --> 00:24:17,680 interested in God because God's not interested in me. 355 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:22,720 God came to serve you, not with an idea, not with good 356 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,040 teachings, not with moral principles, but as a servant in 357 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,440 human form amongst you in this suffering and fallen world. 358 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:36,040 God cares about your life. And for that, this theology 359 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:41,520 says, change the way you think. God didn't stay distant from 360 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:44,320 your pain and suffering. He came and was tempted. 361 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:46,480 He was tried in every way you were tried. 362 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:50,640 And for that reason, that's the God we believe in and that's the 363 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:54,440 mind we are supposed to have. And this is another challenge of 364 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:57,280 our lives. It's, it's sometimes hard to 365 00:24:57,280 --> 00:24:59,680 want to be with people in the mess. 366 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:01,840 Not bad being with people right now. 367 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:04,680 You all look great. You can keep some, you know, 368 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:05,960 seats between you if you need to. 369 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:10,320 But to be people with, with a, with a mess is a challenge. 370 00:25:11,120 --> 00:25:16,640 There is a psychological study that actually gives us the term 371 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:18,440 the bystander effect. I don't know if you've heard of 372 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,920 the bystander effect. It comes from a real life case 373 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:28,400 that happened in the 1960s of a woman in New York City that was 374 00:25:28,400 --> 00:25:31,880 being robbed and eventually beaten. 375 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:36,120 And it was in a public area. There was people all around her. 376 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:37,840 There's people that could see down from their apartments. 377 00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:42,520 They could hear her screaming. And it's a case that is studied 378 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:45,640 as to why no one did anything to help. 379 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,080 And it's called the bystander effect because many people said, 380 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:49,920 I thought somebody else would call the cops. 381 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,640 I thought I thought somebody else was going to jump in. 382 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,760 I, I, I, I, there were so many people, I didn't think I was the 383 00:25:54,760 --> 00:26:00,320 only one that could help. And many people, pastors and 384 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,280 psychologists, have used this as a story to try to figure out, 385 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:07,440 you know, the downfall of, you know, American morality or just 386 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,800 the human heart. But there's one quote that's 387 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:13,440 very interesting. One person actually said, I 388 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:18,040 didn't want to get involved. How often have you felt that 389 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:23,520 when there are the needs of others, when you are called to 390 00:26:23,520 --> 00:26:26,720 esteem others, that means esteeming their problems bigger 391 00:26:26,720 --> 00:26:29,320 than your own. That means to esteem their 392 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,400 heartbreak and their emotion and their challenge. 393 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:34,080 And you look at that the same way you would look at your own. 394 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:36,760 And how many of us say we I didn't want to get involved. 395 00:26:39,200 --> 00:26:46,320 It's messy to get involved. And, and Paul says, but what, 396 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:47,800 what kind of God do you believe in? 397 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,040 Do you believe in a God that gets involved? 398 00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:58,160 I read an article and one of the passage of the quotes in this 399 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:00,120 article stuck with me for this very reason. 400 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:01,800 And it mentions the American church. 401 00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:03,440 So you know, that's us, so we might as well listen. 402 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,440 You're in America. Welcome, says the American. 403 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:09,640 American Christianity is dying a comfortable death. 404 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:12,840 Isn't it interesting? American Christians face almost 405 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,640 0 persecution. Faith costs almost nothing. 406 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,960 Church attendance is safe and optional and comfortable and 407 00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:20,920 socially acceptable. The ease of American 408 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,240 Christianity has weakened the faith of the American Christian, 409 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:27,400 making it optional and ultimately forgettable. 410 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:34,360 I sometimes feel that we, we, we make the messages catered to, 411 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,440 you know, all of our busy schedules and they're supposed 412 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:39,880 to be entertaining and funny. I'm sorry about the second part. 413 00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:44,800 We can do better. And, you know, it's we do so 414 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:49,320 many things to reach the Americans altar of 415 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:56,440 entertainment. And it has reduced the actual 416 00:27:56,440 --> 00:28:00,840 call to get involved in the mess of each other's lives. 417 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:05,960 And so we die a comfortable death of faithlessness. 418 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:12,480 And we look now at the the the picture, the mind we're supposed 419 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,120 to have. He comes as a bond servant and 420 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:17,680 look at the death he dies not a comfortable death. 421 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,280 It says in chapter 2 of verse 8 and being found in appearance as 422 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,600 a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of 423 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,800 death, even the death on the cross. 424 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,560 His this message was not that Jesus was born in a Manger. 425 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,720 This message starts in a cradle and ends with the cross. 426 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,960 This message starts with the mind of Christ. 427 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:47,320 And the mind of Christ shows us the ministry of Christ. 428 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:52,800 The ministry of Christ was that he came into the world to die a 429 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:59,880 death on our behalf. That's why he was born to give 430 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:04,320 his life a ransom for many. We think. 431 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,560 And we, you know, we're, we're very educational, we're very 432 00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,720 academic. And so to hear a message about, 433 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:15,480 you know, thinking is probably appealing to, you know, the, the 434 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,240 mood and the moment that we're in. 435 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:19,040 You came here to think in some ways. 436 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:22,080 But the whole point is that when you think, right, you live, 437 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:25,600 right. It is not a message to say, 438 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,520 think about this and come back next week and we'll think about 439 00:29:28,520 --> 00:29:32,120 some other stuff. To think is to live. 440 00:29:33,760 --> 00:29:38,560 Last night we had a family dinner, my, my family and I. 441 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:43,800 And at the end of all family dinners, we pass out little 442 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:45,600 chores. You know, my wife does such a 443 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:48,160 she works so hard to make the dinner special and nice. 444 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,960 And then the end is like, OK, wipe the tables and, you know, 445 00:29:51,960 --> 00:29:56,560 do the dishes, clear the tables. My, my goal is to have her not 446 00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:57,960 have to do any of that because she works so hard. 447 00:29:58,120 --> 00:30:04,560 It doesn't always happen. And as that was happening, I'm 448 00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:07,720 still thinking about this message and and could you 449 00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:10,960 imagine if she said, Hey, are you going to help? 450 00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:12,400 And I said, no, I'm just thinking about it. 451 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,200 I'm just, I'm hold on, baby, I'm meditating about thinking about 452 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,840 helping someday. The whole point is you think so 453 00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:27,480 that you can do you have the mind of Christ, so that you can 454 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:34,360 have a ministry of Christ. This is the whole point of 455 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:37,640 Paul's messages. If you really see what happened 456 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:44,320 when he left heaven and came to earth and lived to die, and you 457 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:49,160 really think about him being God, you will change your life 458 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:53,760 for that. You will, as many people that 459 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:56,720 have gone before you all the way back to the first disciples, you 460 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:04,240 will die the death of obedience. And this is where we end it 461 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:10,360 says, therefore, if there was a third breakdown of the sermon, 462 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:16,040 it would be Jesus is God, Jesus is man, and Jesus is in fact 463 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:19,600 worthy of every way that you can model your life after him 464 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,080 because look what Paul says. Therefore, here's how the story 465 00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:25,120 ends. Verse 9. 466 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,480 Therefore, God also has highly exalted him and given him the 467 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:36,680 name which is above every name. This is a message of extremes, 468 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:42,160 extreme glory. He's God himself, extreme 469 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:46,840 humility, bond, servant, extreme obedience, death and then 470 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,000 extreme glory. The name above every names. 471 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,240 And here's the, the, the, the message that Paul is getting 472 00:31:58,240 --> 00:31:59,560 across to anyone who would listen. 473 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:05,080 If you live this way, contrary to your earthly mind, if you 474 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:12,960 live like this, it will work. And this is this is contrary. 475 00:32:12,960 --> 00:32:16,240 This is why we don't live this way because we we don't 476 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:20,440 necessarily connect the glory to the cross. 477 00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:28,880 We think if I esteem others better than myself, if I lived a 478 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:33,640 life that got involved and got messy, that would not be good 479 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,760 for me in the end. But the whole point of this 480 00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,200 message is if you look at the life of Christ and you study the 481 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:43,920 mind of Christ, he emptied himself and he became the lowest 482 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:49,360 to be exalted as the highest that truly the the way that up 483 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:53,880 is down and here's how we think this whole message filtered 484 00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:59,120 through the actual human heart is everything opposite as it was 485 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,120 described for Christ as it's actually believed in our hearts. 486 00:33:03,560 --> 00:33:06,520 It says that he did not think equality with God a thing to be 487 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:12,320 grasped or clung to. We do you actually do think that 488 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,560 you are equal to God. You say how every time you 489 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,760 listen to the word preached, every time the Holy Spirit 490 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,000 prompts you to live like Christ, every time you read the 491 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,240 authority of Scripture telling you how to live and you think 492 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:30,240 not today you're you are equal in your mind to God as the 493 00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,840 authoritative voice in your life. 494 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:37,680 It says that he took on the form of a bond servant. 495 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:40,760 He didn't come to be served, but to serve. 496 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,640 We want to be served, of course we do. 497 00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,840 In our world, the, the, the, the, the goal is CEO, not 498 00:33:49,840 --> 00:33:52,600 janitor, and that lives in your human heart. 499 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:56,600 The goal is to get to the place where people are under you and 500 00:33:56,600 --> 00:33:58,640 you are not under them. That's in the human heart 501 00:33:59,080 --> 00:34:02,160 because this is contrary to our mind. 502 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:08,840 And Jesus breaks the human heart and shows you the way of God's 503 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,000 mind. And we think our reputation is 504 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:13,880 something to be clung to, don't we? 505 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:20,040 In the end, if you lived out a humble life and you went low and 506 00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,040 and no one knew the great things you did and you didn't have any 507 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:27,199 followers on Instagram and you have anyone acknowledging your 508 00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:30,679 greatness and your achievements and your award and your work and 509 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:34,600 no one was there in the end to acknowledge you, you have no 510 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,679 reputation that violates everything in you. 511 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:41,639 And yet here's the bad news for you. 512 00:34:43,480 --> 00:34:48,440 You can strive for a reputation on earth and reality that 513 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:49,560 sometimes you don't want to hear. 514 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:54,679 No one will remember you anyway. They say you died twice, the day 515 00:34:54,679 --> 00:34:57,120 you die and then the day the last person whoever knew you 516 00:34:57,120 --> 00:35:00,280 died. It'll be about 40 years and a 517 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:02,160 little test for this. None of you probably know your 518 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,240 great grandma in details of her life. 519 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:08,360 That's only three generations and they're gone. 520 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:15,040 You know who will remember you every detail of your life, the 521 00:35:15,040 --> 00:35:21,080 judge of your life, He will remember every lowly act that 522 00:35:21,080 --> 00:35:25,280 you did for his namesake. And you may never be great on 523 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:29,600 earth, but you can be great in the Kingdom of God that last for 524 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:30,920 eternity. Make a decision. 525 00:35:33,280 --> 00:35:37,280 And this is the picture we have of the Christmas story. 526 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:41,840 The lowest that you could ever go would be God becoming a 527 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:47,480 slave, and he is now exalted as the name above every name. 528 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:53,160 And that mind in you will have the same story. 529 00:35:54,600 --> 00:35:57,400 Paul goes on in Romans chapter 8 to say, For I consider that the 530 00:35:57,400 --> 00:36:01,640 present sufferings of this present time are not even worthy 531 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:05,960 comparing the glory that is to be revealed to us. 532 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,320 This is your story as well. This is the believer's story. 533 00:36:10,520 --> 00:36:14,960 This mind in you will make the sufferings of this present time 534 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:19,560 incomparable to what God has in the revelation of eternity. 535 00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:28,960 For all that He has for you have this mind in you also that was 536 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:33,360 in Christ and whatever you have planned for the upcoming year. 537 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:38,720 If you put this at the very beginning, if you put this 538 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,200 picture and this model of the way to live, at the very 539 00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:44,640 beginning of any goal or expectation or plan, you will 540 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,120 find the blessings of God for your life. 541 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:54,520 Jesus is God, Jesus is with us, and Jesus is worthy. 542 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:58,400 Thanks for joining us today. If you would like to watch the 543 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:00,960 full service, check out the link in the description. 544 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:05,200 For next steps and to learn more, visit calvaryboise.com.