If you’re our guest I need to let you know something that everyone else here PROBABLY knows: I just returned from a two-month Sabbatical. Redland is a church that loves its pastoral staff so much that every five years it gives them a two-month break for study and personal renewal. This was my second sabbatical and I want to begin my message today by THANKING YOU REDLAND for providing this blessing—and it was a blessing indeed in several ways:
- During these eight weeks I was able to do some much-needed sermon planning.
- Sue and I enjoyed a retreat up at the Black Rock Conference Center, which is near Lancaster. It was led by Randy and Adel Millwood.
- We were able to spend several days at THE COVE in Asheville, NC—the training center set up by Billy Graham. In fact, we were there for Dr. Graham’s 95th birthday. Our conference at THE COVE was led by Henry Blackaby, his son, Richard, and his grandson, Mike. It was awesome!
- And speaking of AWESOME—-God ended my sabbatical with the arrival of my second grandchild: JOEL DAVID ADAMS.
Suffice it to say these two months have been amazing—and it all BEGAN with two weeks in the Holy Land. It is an understatement for me to say that trip was a wonderful experience. Words don’t suffice—and I hope each of you get to make that life-changing journey someday. Anyway, there were twenty-one people in our group and we tromped all over Israel—including of course a visit to BETHLEHEM.
I say “of course” because no pilgrimage to Israel would be complete without this stop. I mean, Bethlehem is a very important town for our faith as Christians. Think of it.
- Jacob’s beloved wife, Rachel, is buried there.
- It’s the hometown of Naomi, Ruth, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and King David,
- But of course Bethlehem’s main claim to fame is the fact that it is the birthplace of Jesus!
So on the fifth day of our trip we left Jerusalem and drove five miles south to the checkpoint that leads into the town where our Lord was born. As we approached I could see—on the left—the hills where the shepherds would have been watching their flocks on that night of nights. On the other side of the bus I looked out and caught a glimpse of the Herodium where wicked King Herod is buried—that evil ruler who had all the babies in Bethlehem butchered in a futile attempt to kill the King of Kings. When we arrived at the outskirts of the town we could see that today Bethlehem is surrounded by high concrete walls—not unlike those in the film World War Z that came out recently. Our tour guide while we travelled throughout Israel was a Jewish man named Danny but he did not accompany us through those walls into that Palestinian stronghold. Instead Danny left us in the care of our Palestinian bus driver—Ronnie—and once we got through the checkpoint we picked up our guide for our Bethlehem visit, a Christian young man named Laberhoff. Laberhoff told us about 60,000 people live in Bethlehem these days and only 19% of them are Christians. He told us this percentage has declined a great deal—mainly because of all the unrest that occurred in Israel from 2000-2008. You see, tourism is the main employer of Christians in Bethlehem and during those eight years there was none because no one felt safe coming to the Holy Land. This forced Christians in Bethlehem to move elsewhere to find jobs.
After a short drive we parked our bus and Laberhoff led us through the streets of modern Bethlehem on our way to The Church of the Nativity—the oldest church in the world. It was built in the early 4th century—seventeen CENTURIES ago! Before going into that ancient house of worship we enjoyed lunch at a café off Manger Square—the same Manger Square you can see on TV every Christmas Eve. As we ate Laberhoff told us that Manger Square and the church of the Nativity comprise the size of the entire first century village of Bethlehem. This means that, just as the lyrics of the Christmas carol say, when Jesus was born it was literally a “LITTLE” town.
Well, even though their numbers are shrinking Bethlehem contains the OLDEST Christian community in the world…one that existed prior to this ancient church. I say this because in the 4th Century Queen Helena, the mother of Constantine, came to Israel in her search for the Holy sites—the places where Jesus taught and did His miracles. While she was in Jerusalem Helena got a letter from a group of Christians in Bethlehem asking her to build a church over the cave where Jesus was born. She agreed and a church in the shape of a cross was constructed over that cave in 329A.D. It stood for 200 years before it was pretty much destroyed by an earthquake in 530AD. The Emperor Justinian rebuilt it on the original foundations ten years later. You can still see the mosaic floor of the original structure. Then 75 years after that the Persians came and when they did they destroyed all the churches in Israel that Helena had built—except for the one in Bethlehem because they saw a mosaic in the building—a mosaic depicting the magi, who brought gifts for Jesus—and of course these “kings” or “magi” were Persians. So, in respect to their countrymen the Muslim invaders left this church standing. As you can see, this ancient and HUGE church has a small door. You actually have to bow to enter, which of course makes all people equal—a reminder that no matter what our earthly station is—we are all sinners equally dependent on God’s grace. But the little door was not original to the building and was not intended to teach this lesson in humility. No—it was built that way for a more practical reason: to keep horses out.
Once we entered we stood in line amidst huge ancient columns and waited our turn to visit the cave where Jesus was born. It’s under the altar at the front of the church and when it was finally my turn to go in I was able to see more clearly the humility of Jesus’ birth. I say this because it is a tiny cave indeed. Only a few can squeeze in at a time. Yet people from all over the world come here and stand in line for hours to see the place God entered our world. The spot where our Lord was born is marked with this 14 pointed star. These points represent the three sets of fourteen generations from Abraham to Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. You can bend down and put your hand through the hole in the middle of the star and touch the floor of the original cave, which I did.
As we left the church and walked back to our bus, we saw a huge Jerusalem cross and Laberhoff told us about it. He said it symbolizes Christians from all over the world gathering at Jerusalem and then he reminded us that the shepherds believed the angels and gathered at Bethlehem to see Jesus. When they left they told everyone what they saw and like the shepherds we came to Israel to see and then leave to go and tell others of our experience—as I am doing now. Laberhoff put it like this: there are five gospels: the four in the New Testament and the Holy Land itself. In other words, Israel—and all that happened there is a “gospel” of sorts—it’s an account of the story of God’s great love—a love that prompted Him to send His Son to save sinners like you and me.
By the way, speaking of sermon planning, after the first of the year, I’d like to take a couple months to use my experience in Israel as a jumping off point to study the Gospel—the story of Jesus’ life and ministry. I feel compelled to do this because studying Jesus’ life—walking in His steps through the Gospel accounts will not only help us be better prepared to share the good news of God’s love. It will also help us become more like Jesus, which will help us develop our second nature of service.
With that in mind, I want us to use Advent this year to BEGIN our study by focusing on Bethlehem—and what happened there in that tiny cave on that first Christmas night. I want to do this in an attempt to answer what I think is a very important question: What are the implications of the Christmas Story? How does Jesus’ birth twenty centuries ago impact our lives today? What does it all mean to us? Here’s a quick preview of the sermons that I will use to try and answer that question.
Next week, on December 8 we’ll talk about the fact that because of Christmas, we can experience God’s presence all the time—no matter where we are. This kept coming to the forefront of my thoughts as we traced Jesus’ footsteps through Israel those first two weeks of my sabbatical. You see—because of Christmas I don’t have to go to Israel to feel God with me. He’s with me everywhere. He’s not THERE. He’s HERE—with me—with us. As the old hymn goes, “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart!”
Then on December 15th we’ll talk about the joyous truth that because of Christmas our lives can have eternal significance. Our days on this earth can be abundantly fulfilling. We can literally have an eternal impact.
The Sunday before Christmas we’ll look at the fact that, thanks to Jesus’ birth, we can have true friends—friends that stick closer than a brother. I felt a kinship with Laberhoff as soon as I met him because He has Jesus in his heart—just as I do. We may live thousands of miles apart but we are brothers and I sensed that as he talked.
Christmas Eve we’ll focus on the comforting truth that because of Christmas our sins can be forgiven. We can be pure and righteous in the eyes of God. I’m reminded of something I saw while we were at the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove. It was this Chinese symbol explained by Ruth Graham, whose parents were missionaries in China. Ruth said, “The top is the symbol of a lamb. The bottom symbol means me. When God looks down from Heaven He does not see me. God sees His Son: The Lamb of God Who died for me.”
And then, today, as we BEGIN our study of the implications of Christmas, I want us to focus on the fact that, thanks to Jesus’ coming, we know God can be TRUSTED. You see, Christmas affirms the truth that God will do what He says He will do. It tells us that we can build our lives on His promises because He is 100% reliable 100% of the time. For our text I want to look at Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. I’ll be reading verses 18-22 of chapter 1. If you have your Bibles turn there with me and follow along.
18 – But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”
19 – for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was preached among you by us—by me and Silasand Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.”
20 – For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
21 – Now it is God Who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,
22 – set His seal of ownership on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
Before we go any further, let’s take a quick look at the BACKGROUND of our text. Paul had founded the church in Corinth and had apparently promised this group of believers that he would come back to visit them, but things happened and he had to change his plans. When the church heard this Paul’s enemies promptly accused him of being the kind of man who said “yes” and “no” at the same time. They said that Paul made frivolous promises with a fickle intention, and that he could not be pinned down to a definite “yes” or “no.” That was bad enough but they went on to argue, “If we cannot trust Paul’s everyday promises…if we cannot depend on him to do what he said he would do, how can we trust the things he told us about God? How can we believe that all the good news he told us about the promises of God are definitely and finally true?”
Paul’s answer is in our text. He says we CAN rely on God. Then he goes on to emphasize this truth with a wonderful phrase in verse 20. He says, “Jesus is the YES to every promise of God.” Paul was saying that Jesus is the fulfillment of every promise of God. Everything God says in His Word—everything He had done—it all pointed to Jesus. You may remember that this is a truth we saw as we studied THE STORY last year. More than that, Paul was saying that if Jesus had never come, we might have doubted the tremendous and precious promises of God. We might have argued that they were too good to be true. But a God Who loves us so much that He gave us His only Son is quite certain to fulfill every promise that He ever made—which of course He has. So the coming of Jesus, the fact of Jesus, Jesus Himself—writes after every promise of God “Yes! This is true!” Jesus is the personal guarantee that the greatest and the least of God’s promises all must be true. Any man or woman can trust implicitly, can believe without question, can depend utterly on the love which would do that.
In short, Paul is saying that Christmas proves to us that God is trustworthy. God is 100% reliable, 100% of the time. He does not fail, forget, falter, or disappoint. God says what He means and means what He says and therefore does everything He says He will do. He keeps His promises! As Jeremiah puts it in Lamentations, “GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS.” This is a powerful implication indeed because it reminds us that the trustworthiness of God is an ANCHOR for us. It is something we can hold on to amidst the storms of life.
I visited with Warren Ranck a few days before His passing and as I stood to leave he asked that we sing that great hymn together: “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” I learned later that He apparently had every minister who visited him sing that same song. This tells us that while lying on his death bed Warren and his amazing family anchored themselves to this truth that God can be trusted. We can build our lives on His promises—and we can trust Him to keep His promise to take us to Heaven when this life ends.
This particular implication of Christmas is an important one for us to claim because trustworthiness is a rare thing in our fallen world. It’s hard to know who you can believe these days. I mean, it is unfortunately very common for people NOT to keep their promises. I’m reminded of the story of a college student who walked into a camera shop with a framed picture of his girlfriend. He wanted the picture duplicated, which of course necessitated removing it from its frame. In doing this owner of the camera shop noticed the inscription on the back of the photo. It said: “My dearest Tom. I love you with all my heart. I love you more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I am yours for all eternity.” It was signed, “Diane.” But it contained a P.S. “If we ever break up, I want this picture back.” We chuckle but we all know what it’s like to have our trust betrayed. In fact, let’s have a show of hands.
- How many of you have ever experienced a heart broken by someone who said they would love you forever?
- How many of you shared a secret with a friend who promised not to tell but they did?
- How many of you put your faith in a doctor, financial advisor, or counselor or some other kind only to have their “wisdom” prove disastrous?
- How many believed in some authority figure and later learned that your faith in him or her was misplaced?
Sure—we’ve all had experiences like that…and they are painful indeed. Few things are more sacred than trust between people, and few things are more ravaging than to have that trust fail.
The worst thing of it all is that when you’ve had your trust broken numerous times, it is easy to start SEEING GOD through the lens of these experiences. People who’ve been betrayed in life wonder like the Corinthians, “Can God really be trusted? If He is so sufficient and good, then why did He let me lose that baby, or my job, or my spouse or my health?” Well, in our text Paul is saying, “Don’t let yourself begin to think that way because God is absolutely trustworthy! And Christmas proves it!”
I like how James MacDonald puts it. He’s written a book on God’s promises entitled, ALWAYS TRUE and in it he says, “A promise is the assurance that God gives to His people so they can walk by faith while they wait for Him to work.” George Parsons from Middletown Bible Church weighs in on the difference between God’s COMMANDS and God’s PROMISES. He says, “A command from God is something we should do; a promise from God is something God will do. A command must be obeyed; a promise must be believed. When God gives a command He says, “YOU WILL;” when God gives a promise He says, “I WILL.” Evangelist D.L. Moody once said: “God never made a promise that was too good to be true.” And here’s an anonymous statement I came across in my study that I like: “God never over-promises and He never under-delivers.” Listen! God will always do what He says He will do! We can count on that!
In 1994, a 67-year-old carpenter named Russell Herman died in Marion, Illinois. In his last will and testament he bequeathed the following:
- $2.4 billion to the town of Cave-In-Rock
- $2.4 billion to the city of East St. Louis
- $1.5 billion for projects in southeastern Illinois
And in a final act of unprecedented generosity, he left $6 trillion to the Federal Reserve to pay off what was then the national debt. There was only one problem. At the time of his death in 1994, the only thing Mr. Herman actually owned was an old beat up 1983 Olds Toranado. Well, Russell Herman may not have left behind anything of monetary value, but he did leave us all with a good reminder: you can’t give away what you don’t possess. The bottom line is that Mr. Herman did not have the resources to make any of his commitments a reality. Not so with God. He has all the means to make good on all His promises. In a world of broken promises, God can be counted on. He is absolutely trustworthy.
Okay—what must we know to benefit from this particular implication of Christmas? How can we learn to internalize this comforting, anchoring truth?
(1) First we must embrace the truth that God’s trustworthiness is at the CORE of Who He is.
God’s ESSENCE is His trustworthiness—His absolute faithfulness to do what He says He will do. I mean, we’re not talking about some minor or secondary part of God’s character here—one that we can chose to ignore—because if God wasn’t absolutely trustworthy, He wouldn’t be God.
The late Bill Bright, President of Campus Crusade for Christ, once compared the attributes of God to an automobile engine. An engine is of course made up of pistons, fan belts, water pumps, fuel injectors, and thousands of moving parts that all whirl around within a small space, making power for us to drive our car. These various engine parts all work together harmoniously to make your care move when you need it to. Each part is vital. Well, that’s the way God’s attributes function. Each one is a necessary part of God. For example, if you were to take away LOVE, God’s character would be incomplete. God’s love works with all the other attributes, like justice, to produce the right kind of results.
Tozer puts it this way, “All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. No attribute contradicts any other, but all harmonize and blend into each other in the infinite abyss of the Godhead.” So each or God’s characteristics or attributes is an essential part of Who He is.
Using this word picture, we could compare God’s absolute trustworthiness to the OIL in the engine that keeps each of the internal parts running smoothly because God’s trustworthiness is what allows each attribute in His character to work at full capacity at all times. For example: When does God’s love fail? When does He stop loving? NEVER, because He is trustworthy. We can always count on Him to LOVE us with an everlasting love. When is God less than holy? Never—because His character is pure which means He is always faithful to keep His promises. We can always trust Him to be Who He is and to do what He says.
I’m saying God’s trustworthiness is not something to take lightly—it is foundational to His nature. God is knowable, holy, the Creator, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, just, sovereign, and loving precisely BECAUSE He is trustworthy. To put it another way—He’s all these things because He is faithful to His own character.
This is an important principle for us to grasp—especially as we go through difficult times. You see, when life is tough—when our hearts are breaking—we need to trust that even in that hardship—whatever it is—God is at work for our good. We have to believe that because of His absolute trustworthiness God is behind the difficulty we are enduring…blessing us…caring for us…even we can’t see how from our current perspective. I will never forget something that happened to my son Daniel when he was about 2. Like many toddlers he’d had a problem with recurring ear infections and the doc said he had to have tubes put in his ears to rectify the issue. While he was in there the doc decided to remove his adenoids. Well, on the day of the surgery the anesthesiologist pulled me aside and explained that he would put the mask over my face and then I would have Daniel do the same as sort of a father/son game. When Daniel mimicked me, they’d turn on the gas and Daniel would go to sleep. Daniel and I had a great relationship. We played together all the time so I thought this would work and I did what they said then Daniel took his turn with the mask—but when they turned on the gas he did not go to sleep. He tried to get the mask off and the anesthesiologist held it on. As Daniel struggled he looked me in the face as if to say, “HELP DAD! These people are hurting me. Why are you just standing there?! I thought I could trust you!” Finally, he succumbed to the gas and when he did the doctor could see that I was upset. He said, “Rev. Adams, don’t worry. Your little son won’t remember any of this when he wakes up from surgery. The gas has an amnesia-like affect.” Well, about an hour later I was there at Daniel’s bedside when he came out of the anesthesia and the first thing he did was look at me and shake his finger as he said, “I’m not going to put that mask on again dad!” Apparently there was no amnesia-like affect. He remembered everything and was a very upset 2-year-old.
Well, Daniel was too young to understand but my allowing that suffocating feeling was good for him. It was to keep him from pain. It was to put him to sleep so he would be still enough for doc to fix his ears. Everything I did was prompted by my great love. Have you ever had an experience like that with your Heavenly Father? Have you ever wanted to ask, “Abba, why are you letting this happen to me? I thought I could trust You! Why am I going through this agony?” Maybe you’re going through a painful time like that right now and you wonder, “If I can TRUST God to be good all the time why is He letting this happen?” Well, it may be hard for you to see from your current perspective but God IS always trustworthy even when you are enduring painful times you did nothing to deserve. You can trust God to be trustworthy even then. He can’t be anything else because trustworthiness—faithfulness—is at the core of Who He is.
This means you can anchor yourself to the fact that in some way He is using this difficulty to bless you. As Joseph learned as he looked back on when his brothers sold him into slavery, “What was intended for harm, God intended for good.” (Genesis 50:20) King Hezekiah learned the same lesson and said, “Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish.” (Isaiah 38:17)
Listen. God IS trustworthy. That attribute is an integral part of His nature.
(2) And then second, as I have inferred, we need to understand that THE BIBLE teaches us that God is trustworthy
Way back in Exodus 34:6 God described Himself this way to Moses, saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, is slow to anger, abounding in love and FAITHFULNESS—or TRUSTWORTHINESS.” Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the FAITHFUL God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.” Joshua 21:45 says, “Not ONE of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” I could go on and on quoting Scripture all day long because from beginning to end the Biblical record shows us that God has indeed ALWAYS done what He said He would do. Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Mary, Joseph, Peter, Paul, the disciples—each of these people would testify that God has been absolutely faithful in keeping His promises. In short the Bible teaches that, in a world of broken promises, God can be counted on. You and I can and should live our lives according to the promises in this Book of books. Their guidance is something we can always trust.
In 2005 a retired merchant seaman named Waldemer Semenov donated a compass to the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. The ordinary and small compass (a mere four and half inches in diameter), doesn’t look impressive, but this device has a fascinating story behind it. You see, during World War II, Semenov was serving as a junior engineer on the American merchant ship named the SS Alcoa Guide. On April 16, 1942, the ship was steaming from New Jersey to the Caribbean when a German submarine surfaced and opened fire with its deck cannons. Semenov recalls, “We didn’t have any guns, and there were no escorts. [The Germans] were apparently using us as target practice.” The SS Alcoa Guide caught fire and started to sink 300 miles off the coast of North Carolina. As he and the rest of the crew scrambled to lower a lifeboat and a raft into the water Semenov snatched three loaves of bread, saying, “I knew we might be in the water for a while.” Fortunately, the lifeboat was equipped with a compass. Semenov and his fellow crew members used the compass to sail west by northwest toward the shipping lanes. After three days, a patrol plane, searching for sailors from any of the three ships that had been sunk that week, spotted Semenov’s lifeboat. The next day the USS Broome rescued them. In contrast, it took three weeks to find the raft, which was drifting aimlessly with only one survivor. It had no compass. In all, thanks to that compass, Semenov and 26 other crew members from the SS Alcoa Guide survived. Well, God’s promised-packed Word is like a compass for us. It guides us toward right decisions and helps us to know God better and therefore trust Him more deeply, even in those times when it doesn’t look like rescue is coming—those times when we don’t understand why we are going through life’s difficulties.
(3) And then finally, as I said earlier, CHRISTMAS is a celebration of God’s trustworthiness. It’s the best proof that God does what He says He will do.
You see, Jesus’ birth in that tiny cave in Bethlehem was not some last minute plan of God to save the human race. No—this was the plan all along. Remember? In the Garden of Eden immediately after sin entered the world, God PROMISED that Satan’s power would be broken by Someone Who would be virgin born—an Individual Who would be the “seed of a woman.” Then over and over the Bible records the fact that God repeated His PROMISE to send us a Redeemer/Messiah…a Savior. Through His prophets God PROMISED where the Child would be born…what He would do…how He would die for our sins…even that He would rise on the third day, conquering death on our behalf.
Christmas reminds us that God has been faithful to keep all these promises. It tells us that from the beginning of time Go has been working to secure our salvation—He’s been working out His plan to rescue us from sin. That’s why Christmas is such a big deal! This is what we celebrate each year at this time. When we put up a tree and decorate our homes and exchange gifts we are celebrating God’s greatest gift—the gift of His fulfilled promise to send a Savior. In short, Christmas is a celebration of the fact that God has been true to His Word. He said He would save us—and He did. In the 2008 film Taken, Liam Neeson plays Bryan Mills, a former CIA operative who determines to track down his teenage daughter after she’s been kidnapped by human sex traffickers. In one gripping scene, Neeson talks to his daughter’s abductor after he’s retrieved a cell phone left behind at the crime scene. Neeson states his clear intent to seek and save his daughter. He tells one of the abductors something like this: “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. I can tell you I don’t have money; but, what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills that I’ve acquired over a very long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I WILL find you…and that won’t be a good thing from your perspective. I will RESCUE my daughter.” The abductor coolly replies: “Good luck.” Neeson’s character knows he only has 96 hours to find his daughter or she’ll be lost forever and for the rest of the movie he skillfully weaves his way through language barriers, governmental red tape, and crime lords’ elaborate hierarchies to find his daughter. After dispatching numerous thugs and villains, he finally finds her on a yacht, sold as a prostitute for a wealthy Arab businessman. When he does she collapses into her father’s arms as she says, “Daddy, you came for me!” Bloody, beaten, but ultimately triumphant, Neeson holds his daughter as he quietly says, “I told you I would.”
I share this story because Christmas is a reminder that when we were taken into captivity by sin, God told us He would come for us—and He did! He kept His promise! In Luke 19:10 Jesus said, “I have come to seek and save the lost.” And that’s what He did.
This morning you may feel lost…lost in life…unsure of where to go or what to do. Even Christians can feel this way. If that applies to you then today I encourage you to commit to live your life according to the promises of God. Decide to use His Word as Your guide. Commit to get to know Him better. If you make that decision I promise God will guide you to a life of meaning and fulfillment. And if you are here and are not a Christ-follower. You’ve never asked God to come to your rescue then you can claim God’s promise today. In Romans 10 it says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.” Decide to ask Jesus to forgive your sin. Commit to follow Him. You may be hear and feel the “lostness” that comes from not having friends that stick closer than a brother. Perhaps God is guiding you to this church family. As we stand and sing, come as God leads.