[0:00] Well, take your Bibles, if you would, and turn with me to the book of Matthew. Before we start on the book of Matthew, I'd like to just have a pastoral moment with you, if I can.
[0:14] They're working hard. Greg has headed up a strong outreach. A lot of people have been helping to have people here Tuesday night.
[0:25] Over 200 people have committed to be here. And that's a lot of people that will be visiting our church. And so I need to ask some things from you.
[0:39] Number one, we need to pray. First of all, I hope you'll pray for me. I have no idea. 220, Greg? 222 people have said they're coming so far.
[0:51] You know, probably all of them won't keep their word. But if half of them keep their word, that'd be a lot of visitors. And so we need to be ready. Number one, we need to be prayed up.
[1:02] We need to beg God that they are not saved and not going to a church that here they would find a place to serve God and know about him. So we need to be praying. Number two, you need to do what you do all the time, which you're kind of famous for.
[1:18] And that's be really friendly. I've never had anybody here that hadn't told me about the friendliest church they've been to. And that's what we've got to keep up. So when they come in, you've got to be ready. Shake hands.
[1:29] Make people welcome. Get names and addresses of anybody you can. Do whatever you can to spend some time with some people. That's vitally important.
[1:40] Please come. We're doing it on Tuesday night so it doesn't interfere with family stuff. And I know if you've got to be out of town, I fully understand that. But this is like bringing the fish right in the aquarium where we can get a good shot at them.
[1:56] And so if they come, and it's a lot like what would happen in South America. They would come because it's Christmas. And so we'll meet here at 7 o'clock. And they've got all the things worked out.
[2:07] And you've been hearing announcements. Trent's been telling you about it. And so Trent and Greg have done a tremendous amount of work to get ready for this. I would really pray that God would do something. If 200 people showed up, I think it would be the largest evangelistic outreach we've ever done.
[2:23] We had the whole church here working together. So please be in prayer. And let's work towards seeing some people get saved. That would be great. I want to just read one verse with you before we jump into this.
[2:35] I want you to go with me to Matthew chapter 1 and verse 23. We will read again verse 23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son.
[2:47] They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Father, teach us Bible truth. Grow us and mature us and help us to understand.
[3:00] And I will give you great honor and glory and praise for all that you do tonight. In Jesus' name, amen. Part of what I'm going to talk to you about just a little bit is the virgin birth of Christ.
[3:11] I just checked just before getting up here. I think I preached five messages are in this iPad. And it's relatively new that we've had five messages on the virgin birth.
[3:21] This is a vitally important thing going on here. If you look at verse 23, it says God with us. You know, if you look at the Christmas as an isolated incident, it's cute.
[3:36] I think the cutest one I've seen. Somebody sent me on Facebook the little one that said Mary was tired of trying to get Jesus to go to sleep. And some kid knocked on the door and said, would you like to have a drum solo?
[3:50] And my wife thought that was really funny. I told my daughter and she's like, I don't get it. She's too Peruvian to get it. Amen. But you know, when you, if you, I know, you know, I mean, I am talking to people that love Jesus.
[4:07] I'm talking to people that sell their Bibles. I don't have any question or any doubt about that. You know, when you realize, when you go back and if you read the Bible like a book, which I hope you do.
[4:17] And, you know, you read it. And by the way, I'm listening to it right now. It's the first time I've ever listened to it so much. I can't wait to get in my car. I don't listen to books anymore. I'm listening to the Bible.
[4:28] I'm doing it in a, I'm doing it in a, what do you call it, chronological style. And so all of a sudden you're in Samuel and then 10 Psalms pop up. I've enjoyed that. Anyway, I'm having a good time listening to it and hearing the Bible.
[4:42] But when you know the story, we know way back there at the beginning, way back there at the beginning, God was with us. God was with us, you know, in the garden, Adam and Eve walking with them.
[4:56] It was a special thing, sweet thing. It was wonderful. Then man sinned and God wasn't with them. And your whole Bible is a story about God wanting to be with you.
[5:07] What a God. I mean, you're back in the Old Testament and Adam messes up and any normal idea of a God, he would have said, I'll just make another Adam.
[5:18] It ain't that hard to make one. I'll just make another one. I know what he did. Adam messed up. Eve messed up. Adam knew he was dead. Eve knew she was dead. It's all over. They're scared to death.
[5:29] They're hiding. They got, they're covered up with skins and, and God comes up there and says, I'm not letting you go that easy. I'll fix your mess ups. What a God. Say, man. What a God.
[5:41] Then you go all the way through it and he's teaching them about sacrifices because they got to learn that. And then you finally get the book of Exodus and he said, I'm going to build a tabernacle.
[5:52] Y'all going to build a tabernacle. I built you a model one up here in heaven. You can look at it. So you go down there and get it all built for me. And he says, cause I want a tabernacle with you. I just want to spend time with you.
[6:04] I'll just move into your presence. What a God. Right. Man kept sinning and kept sinning and kept living wicked and kept doing wrong. And, uh, it's been 400 years of silence since about Malachi.
[6:21] Malachi got through preaching. The last part of the last of the prophets have finished and God goes dead silent for 400 years. And all they had left was what was written in the word.
[6:32] 29 books in the old Testament. That's all they had. No, no, no one's used to God speaking anymore. Then you get the book of Matthew and God goes to speaking again. It's a whole, it's, it's kind of crazy.
[6:44] And so this girl gets pregnant and God tells her what happened and her husband gets told what happened. And then, then, uh, wise men get told what happened. And then, and, and not in order here.
[6:55] And shepherds get told what happened. And God's all of a sudden on the move talking. And then like this morning, you see, God just showed up and said, Hey, I'm here to talk to you.
[7:06] And he told him. So I want to just walk you through this passage of scripture and some things that you can think about with me. If you would, uh, I want you to go first to Matthew chapter one in verse 21.
[7:21] I want you to notice this. His birth wasn't about him. His birth wasn't about him. Now, if you know the Bible and you do, you know, he was alive before he was born.
[7:38] He was alive before he was born. The big word for that is he's a preexistent Christ. Uh, he, he is not the child of God.
[7:49] Like God, uh, did something with a woman or some other way. And God, he's always been God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy ghost. That's a little bit deep right there because he's called the son of God, but he's not the son of God.
[8:04] Like I'm the, like David Gardner is the son of Austin. It's not that kind of son of God. He is God. He is God. And he is three persons in one person. And that's not for this message, but he's in heaven.
[8:16] And from the very beginning, he and God, the father, God, the son, and God, the Holy spirit, they made this creation. And if you say the Bible, all three of them did it.
[8:28] That's what makes it really hard to figure out who did it. Cause you know, the father did it in another passage, you know, Jesus did it or the, or Christ did it in another passage, you know, Holy spirit did it. And you figure that out when you figure out they're all one in the same.
[8:39] It's God, the father, God, the son, God, the Holy ghost. That's part of the proof that there's a Trinity and that God exists. And so one day in our little speck of history, which is nothing to God, because God existed as far back as you can go.
[8:56] And you can go as far back as you can go, which you, that ain't very far for you. Even the smart scientists only go back a few billion or trillion years. And God was way before that because he didn't have a beginning and he doesn't have an end.
[9:08] And so God goes as far that way as you can go, which is a lot further than you can go. And he goes as far as you can go that way because he is God. And then they make man and, and, and man messes up and I don't know how it worked.
[9:22] But one day in heaven, God says time for you to go. And Jesus stepped out of glory, laid down his robes, stepped out of a, off of a throne, out of a place where he's being praised every day.
[9:36] He stepped out of, of, of a golden street to look what it says in Matthew 21, to save his people from their sins. He stepped out to fulfill everything that the father had promised all the way since the beginning.
[9:53] Look at Matthew one 22. It says all this was done that it might be fulfilled. I just need you to, I know you understand. Sometimes what I find it a little bit difficult to preach to you because improve.
[10:06] And I said it, they'd be like, wow. And y'all are like, yeah, we know. But you can say amen because it's God's word. And our kids need to be reminded of this truth. But you know, all the way back in the back, back in Genesis 3 15s are the first written promise that I know about that we have.
[10:23] He's coming and all the way through the Bible, he's just dropping hints. There's a guy coming. There's a guy coming. The Christ is coming. The Messiah is coming. He's coming. And so it wasn't like this evening that we call Christmas surprised God.
[10:40] Nor did it surprise anybody else. It was a Bible reader. If you recall, the wise men showed up, the kings, whatever you want to call them, they showed up. And they said to Herod, we've come to find that king.
[10:54] And he said, I don't know anything about that. And he turns over to his side and says to these Bible scholars, he said, you guys know anything about it? And they said, yeah, we know about it.
[11:05] And is that the height of ridiculous or not? If you've got a Bible and you know about it, why aren't you in Bethlehem? Say amen. If you've got a Bible and you know about it, why don't you go to Bethlehem? But they didn't go to Bethlehem.
[11:18] His coming was more than that of a baby. It's the incarnation. Look, if you would, in Matthew 1.23. And you can write John 1.14 beside this verse.
[11:30] Because God was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as that of the only begotten. But in Matthew 1.23, the Bible says, behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son.
[11:45] And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is God, interpreted God with us. When Jesus was born, it was God coming down.
[11:58] I don't understand that. But then if you're God, you can create a world in six days. And the only miracle about God creating a world in six days is why he took that long.
[12:08] Because he could have done it in six seconds if he wanted to. He's God. But he said, he said, I'll go down and be in a woman's womb. You're born a baby.
[12:21] But you need to know what's happening. When I tell you the story, it's God with us. Because Jesus is the only way to God. The only way to God was for God to come to us.
[12:33] And in John 14, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. In Acts 4.12, he said, there is no other name, none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
[12:45] So I just want you first to realize his birth wasn't about him. And I want you to just meditate on that a second. It's good for us to meditate. It's good for us to think about it. When that little baby is being born, and it's so cute, you know.
[13:00] We don't do it here. But, man, almost every little country church you'd go to anywhere in the country right now. Well, not this year, but every normal year. All the little kids are dressed up like sheep or shepherds or camels.
[13:12] And there's wise men, and there's Mary, and there's a baby, and all that's going on. It's just so cute. But that's not what's happening here. It is God leaving heaven to come to earth, to put on a human body, to be with us, to save us, to rescue us, and to take us to heaven.
[13:35] Go to Matthew 1.18. His birth was super miraculous. His birth was super miraculous. And we need to focus on that and understand a little bit of that.
[13:48] My wife had four children. It's kind of a normal way of happening. This woman's pregnant. But it was a miracle.
[13:59] The Bible says in Matthew 1.18 that she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit of God made her pregnant.
[14:11] How? I don't know. It's his business. But I know this. What we're clearly taught is that Adam didn't do it. No other man did it.
[14:23] Only done by God. Now, when I was in college in a denominational school, they mocked this big time.
[14:34] And they said, if any girl came to you as a youth director and said to you, I'm pregnant and I didn't do anything with a boy, you'd laugh at her. So when the Bible doesn't make sense, it's nonsense.
[14:46] But I'd say when you think the Bible's nonsense, you're the idiot, not the Bible. Say amen. I mean, you're a blooming idiot. You can be doctorate if you want to be. You can be doctorate with PhD behind your name and PhD, but you're still an idiot.
[14:58] You can't deny the word of God. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost in Matthew 1.20. That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
[15:09] Now, that's important. Now, I'm not going to preach on this virgin birth. Just done that. But you realize what happened. The first Adam messed everything up.
[15:21] And Jesus will be called in 1 Corinthians 15, the second Adam, the latter Adam. The first Adam was a living soul. And Jesus, the spirit, living spirit, he makes life.
[15:35] And so he didn't come to this earth like you did. He didn't come to this earth like I did. You know, I carry the characteristics of my dad and my mom.
[15:48] But a lot of my dad, I carry a lot of his characteristics. You can't help it. You're born with all that DNA in you. You're going to turn out looking like your dad.
[15:58] Jesus didn't come from Joseph. And Jesus didn't come from a man. And Jesus didn't come out of the human line or the human race in any way. Jesus got his from the Father in heaven.
[16:12] His birth was miraculous. Now, again, let me remind you. By the way, Joseph and Jesus will suffer for this the rest of their lives.
[16:28] You know, when they want to make fun of Jesus, they'll actually look at him in public and say, We got a daddy. We have a daddy.
[16:39] You don't. That was a way of calling him an illegitimate son. Because they knew he didn't have a normal way of being born. Whether they would accept that it was God or not wasn't the question.
[16:51] But it's important for you to know God stepped into history. God interrupted normal stuff. And God said, I'm doing something extremely unusual. I'm doing something very unusual.
[17:03] I'm doing something to get my son there, Jesus. His birth caused miraculous announcements. It was a super miraculous birth. You know, when a normal young lady gets pregnant.
[17:20] I mean, here in America, we do all kind of. They didn't do it when I was a kid. They didn't do it when I was a young dad. You know, y'all do all kind of, you know, dumb things. I mean, you go on Facebook and your kid's the size of a walnut this week.
[17:33] And a lemon next week. And a banana next week. And you're going around showing us all that. We never knew any of that stuff. We just knew she was getting bigger. She wasn't getting bigger. All you old people could say amen right there.
[17:46] And we had a gender reveal when they came out. That's another amen. I prayed for a boy and got a boy. Prayed for a boy and got a girl. Prayed for a boy and got a girl.
[17:57] Prayed for a boy and got a boy. I was 50% right there. It was pretty close to normal odds. Amen. But this guy, when she's pregnant, God steps in and goes and talks to Joseph and Mary.
[18:13] In a miraculous way. God goes and talks to some wise men and throws a star up in the sky that they will follow for two years to get to him. It's a big deal.
[18:26] Shepherds heard the announcement. I'm just telling you his birth was super miraculous. His birth caused worship. His birth caused worship.
[18:38] Matthew chapter 2 and verse 1. The wise men have come to King Herod. In verse 2 they say, where's the guy who was born King of the Jews? How'd they know that?
[18:49] There's a lot of questions there, didn't it? How'd they know that? How'd they know that the guy that was come was to be the King of the Jews? But they said this, we have come to worship Him.
[19:04] Now these are wise men. These are called magos or kings. And they've come from a long distance. They've obviously got an entourage with them.
[19:15] They're riding with their caravan. And they've got their camels. And they've brought a lot of gifts. They're evidently wealthy men. Most men can't take two years off to chase a star.
[19:26] I doubt most of y'all could do that. Three months will about drain a man. If he can go that long. These guys have gotten up. They've been going for two years. And in verse 11 it says, They see the baby, the young child, with Mary his mother.
[19:38] And they fall down and they worship him. And they open their treasures. And they gave him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They fell down and worshiped. They knew something about the baby.
[19:50] I left out of this message, but I'll just throw it in. Simeon and Anna knew about the baby. People that read the Bible knew about the baby. This isn't part of the message, but here goes you one.
[20:04] If some of us ought to know about him coming again. And since we know about him coming again, I hope we're not as dumb as all the other Jews. Say amen. Yeah, I've heard he was coming, but I hadn't thought about it much.
[20:17] I hope we do think about it. His birth had been foretold. In Matthew chapter 2 and verse 5, the Bible wise men said, Yeah, the Bible says in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it's written by the prophet.
[20:31] All you got to do is go read the Old Testament. And it says, Thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah. For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.
[20:45] I hope you and I don't need a wicked king. To tell us to go read our Bibles and find out what's going on. I hope we're deciding to study the Bible and know what the Word of God says.
[21:00] No matter what our king, our president, or our congress, or our governor has to say about it. You and I ought to be up on it. But these guys, just funny to me. I mean, everything to me is always like a play or a drama or a movie.
[21:14] And I can just see it happening. I got this wildest imagination. And these kings come in. These wise men come in. And they fall down in front of Herod.
[21:26] And they say, hey, man, we came to find out about it. And Herod's like, no one said a word to me about this. I hadn't gotten a birth announcement, you know. And he turns and he says, fellas, y'all know anything about it?
[21:36] And it doesn't really indicate whether or not they had to go study or one of them just piped up and said, oh, yeah, I read that in the Bible all day. Not real clear. I just question how many of us might be like that.
[21:50] Ignoring what we read. Not feeling like it has anything to do with our lives. What a terrible way. Go with me to Matthew 1, 21. His birth was about sinners.
[22:03] His birth was about sinners. I love this because I am or I was a sinner. I can't in any way boast of anything above any of you because as much as any of you, I'm a sinner and I deserve to go to hell.
[22:18] Not a good thing about me. The Bible says all have sinned. That means me. The Bible says there's none righteous. And that means me. The Bible says the wage of sin is death. And that means me.
[22:29] And that's what ought to happen to me. But Matthew 1, 21. She shall bring forth a son and you'll call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from his sins.
[22:41] And I know you know all of this, but maybe I could give you some fodder to have a discussion with. Maybe you could even tell some of your family members, you're not going to believe what our crazy preacher preached. And then just preach it to them.
[22:52] That'd be a good excuse. I don't mind you calling me a crazy preacher. Especially if you preach to them a little bit. Isaiah 59, 2 said, your iniquities, your sins have separated between you and your God.
[23:03] Your sins have had his face from you and he will not hear. You know, our sin has separated us from God. You know why God, you know why Adam and Eve aren't in the garden? At the end of the story, they're not in the garden because they sinned. And their sin got them kicked out of the garden.
[23:16] And their sin brought death and punishment on them. And you and I know from John 3, 36 that the wrath of God abides on lost people. Well, that's probably one of those very negative verses.
[23:28] But I believe with all my heart, if you and I don't smell hell a little bit, we won't do our job. If we don't realize where people are going, the wrath of God abode on them.
[23:42] And Jesus said in Luke 5, 31 and 32, I'll just run real quickly to verse 32. I came not to call righteous, but sinners to repentance. You know, Jesus came to earth for sinners.
[23:59] I really, I know you know this verse, but I want to call your attention to it again. Go to John 3, 18. If it's not marked in your Bible, you should mark it. You should use this verse.
[24:09] It should weigh heavy on you. You should memorize this verse. John 3, 18. Every Christian ought to have it memorized. Look at what the Bible says. He that believes on him is not condemned.
[24:21] How many of you believe on him? Hold your hand up if you believe on him. Now, you know what that means? You just raise your hand and say, I'm not condemned. You are not ever going to hear the judge say, condemned to hell.
[24:34] You're never going to hear the judge say, you're going to the lake of fire. You're never going to hear the judge pull out any of your sin because it's all been paid for and you will not be condemned. Jesus paid for it and stands up there as your lawyer and he intercedes for you.
[24:50] What a wonderful thing. But look what the Bible goes on to say. But he that believeth not is condemned already. I want you to circle the word already in your Bible.
[25:04] Understand something. When you hold your little baby in your arms, condemned already. When you look at your mother who doesn't know Jesus, destined to hell.
[25:22] Condemned already. That's what that verse is saying. That's why he came to earth. In the day you eat thereof, in that day you shall surely die.
[25:33] You will go to hell. You will go to this place of eternal torment. You will go to this place that's called the lake of fire. That's your destiny.
[25:44] But Jesus came to make salvation possible. Underline in that verse, he that believeth not is condemned already. Why? Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
[25:58] Jesus was born at this time of the year. We celebrate his birth and he was born for sinners. He was born for me and he was born for you. But he was also born for that Indian in India.
[26:11] Who has 330 million gods. And he believes in them very much. He was born for those people in Taiwan that John and Adam Walls and Mark Tolson and Ken and Bloom are working with who do not believe in Jesus.
[26:30] They're condemned. They had a funeral in Taiwan today. I don't know about it, but I can bet you they did. Too many people live for nobody to have been buried today. And that person who died was condemned already.
[26:46] Condemned already. He that believeth not is condemned already. I think that has to weigh heavy on us. In China. In Indonesia. In Indonesia.
[26:59] In Argentina. And in Africa. In Asia. In Europe. And in Alpharetta. They don't know Jesus. You know, God doesn't say, well, you gave a lot of money to goodwill.
[27:15] He said, no, you didn't believe in Jesus. You're condemned. You said, well, I don't think it's that bad. I don't either. But he does. And what he thinks is what counts. His birth was about sacrifice.
[27:29] Second Corinthians chapter eight and verse nine. The Bible says, though he was rich. Jesus was rich. He was seated on a throne in heaven with servants all around him.
[27:43] And a golden street out in front of him. And the river of life and a tree of life. And all the stuff going on all around him. And he stood up one day. And became poor.
[27:54] Look at verse nine. Second Corinthians eight, nine. Yet for your sakes. For my sake and for your sake. He became poor. That ye through his poverty might be rich.
[28:08] So Jesus said, you know what, Austin? You are so valuable. You know what, Mike Staley? You're so valuable. You know what, Daniel Cooper? You're so valuable. Watch this. I'll stand up and lay down everything I am.
[28:21] And all I have. I'll be born in a stable and raised like a human. I'll confine myself to your little pitiful world. And live among sinners for over 33 years. And I'll die on a cross.
[28:33] I'll become poor. But you know what, I'll do what I'm doing at. I'll make you rich. Because I'm taking you home with me. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God.
[28:43] Believe also in me. For in my father's house are many mansions. That weren't so I'd have told you. Come on. I'm taking you home. I'm leaving. But I'll be back.
[28:54] That where I am, there you may be with me. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9. Philippians chapter 2 and verse 6. He had the form of God. It was no big deal for him to say he was God.
[29:07] But in verse 7. He took upon himself the form of a servant. Just imagine.
[29:22] The president. Or one of these rich, super rich guys. Stepping off their mighty position and throne. And becoming a servant. If they do that for 30 minutes, they're going to write it up and put it on TV.
[29:36] And he did it for 33 years. He became a servant. But not only did he become a servant. He humbled himself to the death of the cross.
[29:47] Which was the most excruciating form of capital punishment they had in that day. Let me explain something to you. It's always so funny. I don't mean that wrong.
[29:58] Flippantly. But when someone dies in the United States of America. They work at making it painless. They see to it that we're going to dope you up.
[30:11] So when we kill you, you don't feel it. You'll just wake up in hell and feel it forever. There was no making it nice on a cross.
[30:25] I felt humiliated in the hospital. Because no one cared for my dignity. And they entered and looked at me anytime they wanted. Any way they wanted.
[30:36] And they hung Jesus naked on a tree. For me. And for you. He came to give his life a ransom.
[30:50] And the key word there is he gave his life. In contrary to what you watch on TV when they show you the crucifixion. They don't grab Jesus and jerk him around so he'll go die.
[31:01] Jesus is like, I'm ready to go die. He spent time in prayer. He told the father, I'd like to not do this. But whatever you want, I'll do it. Then he got up and went out there and let them take him.
[31:13] He speaks one time. And they fall over backwards. Another guy runs off naked. Probably John who wrote the gospel of Mark. Excuse me. John Mark who wrote the gospel of Mark.
[31:25] He came to give his life. No one took Jesus' life. He came as a sacrifice. He came to take away the penalty of sin for us.
[31:37] In 1 John chapter 2 and verse 2. He took the payment and the punishment for our sin. He was a propitiation for our sins and not for ours only. But for the sins of the whole world.
[31:50] He came to lay down his life. Last thing. His birth is a cause of hope. We were created to live with God.
[32:02] The human race was made to live with God. That's who we are. We were a special creation. And our daddy and our mama blew it.
[32:13] And then we blew it after them. And we've been blowing it for thousands of years. And God's like, but I want you back. I want you back. And Emmanuel, God with us, came to earth.
[32:27] And death is defeated by the one who overcame death and hell. Two more verses. Three more verses. In Romans 16, 20. The Bible says, The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
[32:41] You know, we're going to have victory. And it's going to be a total victory. What's really, I really like this. In the Old Testament, when they take over some wicked kings, the leaders will say, Put your feet on their head.
[32:55] Put your feet on their neck. In this story, God, the one that's going to stomp his head, but he said, No, y'all just go ahead and put your feet up there. Y'all can do it. That'll be pretty good.
[33:07] Demash's nasty head. But this is what I really like. The hope is peace. Look in Luke 2, 14. On earth, peace.
[33:20] Goodwill toward men. You can't read about everlasting torment and think goodwill toward men. Until you realize Jesus took our punishment.
[33:37] Peace. In Romans 5, 1, you have the peace with God. The Bible says in Romans 5, 1, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[33:49] Did you know that you and I can lay down at night with peace between us and God? You don't have to pray and hope that you live.
[34:00] You got peace. Hey, you got so much peace that in 1 John, you can have boldness in a day of judgment. You got so much peace that when you got a problem, you can enter boldly into his throne room.
[34:11] You got so much peace. Do you know God loves you just like you are right where you are? Peace with God. Not only did he give us peace with him, but he even gave us peace in the middle of all the mess going on here.
[34:23] That's what he came for. The Bible says in Philippians 4, 7, And the peace of God, which passes all understanding. You and I can have that. Amen. Man, COVID's still messing with people.
[34:38] People are still scared. But you can have the peace of God. That doesn't mean it can't hurt us. It just means that in the middle of all the mess, I know who I believe. And I trust him.
[34:49] Doesn't mean I won't have problems. Doesn't mean I won't get sick. Doesn't mean I won't die. It just means, well, I got something that passes all understanding. I have peace with God and have the peace of God.
[35:03] Let's pray his forward prayer. Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to talk to your people tonight. I pray, God, you'd help us as a church this Tuesday night to see people saved as we share this message or something very similar to it.
[35:17] I pray, God, that you'd help us as Christians to enjoy who you made us to be. And I pray, dear God, that you would let this be a very special time in all of our lives.
[35:31] As we think about you loving us. And your birth was all about you loving us. And how much I thank you for that and give you praise.
[35:43] With every head bowed and every eye closed. If you want to pray about what's going to happen Tuesday night, you can come and pray for that. If you have lost family members that are still condemned already, you can come and pray about that.
[35:55] If you've had some doubts and fears, you can come and pray about that. Whatever it is, let's get on our faces before God and ask God to work. Tuesday night, we might see some people saved.
[36:09] Some lives changed and eternity changed. Your friends might hear the gospel and be saved this Tuesday night. We could ask God about that. Would you pray?
[36:20] Would you beg God to work? Look, the cross laid across the cradle. Jesus knew. The minute he was born, he knew where he was headed.
[36:31] To a cross for us. Father God, deal with hearts. Draw us to you. And make much of yourself. And I'll give you praise for all you do.