Good morning, everyone. How are you doing this morning? Everybody good? Excellent. Let's all stand and get started in prayer. Eric's going to do a prayer for us, and then we'll do scripture reading after that. It's great to hear everybody this morning. It sounds like every place is full right now with all the talking, so it's awesome to hear. So, Father God, we just love you and thank you for this time of fellowship, this time of teaching, and I pray that We would just really be drawn close to you. Our hearts would be near you, Lord. Please be with everyone here today. And everyone who's not here, everyone who's traveling or sick, Lord, be with them. Send your healing to those who need it and bring us all together again. And please just bless this season. And may we focus on Jesus Christ during this service. And thank you, God, for your death and your burial and resurrection. And Lord, now we have life in you. So we thank you for that. Please be with Pastor as he presents the message and just bless this time. In Jesus' holy name we pray, amen. Amen. This morning's scripture reading is gonna be Matthew 16, verses 24 to 28. Let's all read these together, please. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Amen. And our first hymn this morning is gonna be Hark the Herald Angels Sing, and that's hymn 88 in your book if you're following along there. And as you can see, Mary's not with us today, so I'd appreciate you guys jumping in and singing a little bit louder for us today. The herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled Joyful all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic hosts proclaim Oh me too Christ, by highest heaven adored Christ, the everlasting Lord Late in time, behold Him come Offspring of a virgin's womb Veiled in flesh, the Godhead seen Hail, the incarnate Deity! hear the angels sing ♪ Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace ♪ Hail the Son of Righteousness ♪ Light and life to all He brings ♪ Music with healing in His wings ♪ May all we praise His glory evermore Amen. Will you please be seated? And our next hymn this morning is gonna be Away in a Manger and that's hymn 103 in your book if you're following along there. The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head The stars in the sky looked down where He lay The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay Admit, O Lord Jesus, no crying He makes. I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky, And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh. ♪ Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay ♪ ♪ Prosper me forever and love me, I pray ♪ ♪ Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care ♪ ♪ And fit us for ever to live with Thee ♪ Amen. Will you please stand? And our next hymn this morning is going to be, O Come All Ye Faithful, and that's hymn 89 in your book, if you're following along there. All ye faithful, joyful and triumphant O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem Come and behold Him, born the King of angels O come, let us adore Him Him Christ the Lord. Sing choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing all ye bright hopes of heaven above. Glory to God, all glory O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him this happy morning Jesus Amen. Will you please be seated? When someone takes an AK-47 and puts it to your chest and cock it, you know that you're only one pull of a trigger away. Some people would say that my parents weren't very responsible parents for taking me to Kuwait. where the Persian Gulf War broke out. Some people would say that's irresponsible, to take your kids with you into your calling where there's so much suffering. But rather than it taking me further from God, it actually helped take me closer to God. Because one of the things I learned in an early age, God actually calls the people of God to move towards the hardest places of this earth. Nobody knew anything about Kuwait, it was just this little dot on this map in the Middle East. But three months later, on August 2nd, 1990, Saddam Hussein and Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait and we were living right downtown. There were four sets of Iraqi troops that broke into our apartment. And as a 10-year-old, I just began, like, crying. And I didn't actually know if I was going to live. I didn't know if we were actually going to even make it through that day. We knew we had to leave quickly. I was held downstairs by gunpoint. But when I came back up the steps, and we all jumped in a car and drove out of downtown, and there were Iraqi soldiers all around us. And we drove right through the middle of them, as if God blinded them. And then we all gather into the American embassy. Within a few days, the embassy got locked down. They eventually turned off the water, the fresh water, and the electricity to get us out. Heat was 120 degrees, no air conditioning. But the hardest part, I think, came six weeks later, when Lori and Peter and Aaron left the embassy. And I turned them over. to Iraqi soldiers to take to the airport. Those are hard moments, even 30 years later. Because I want you to live out God's call. And part of that living out that call is being connected to God's Spirit and what is God asking you to do. And is He big enough to take care of you, or do you think you have to do it all yourself? That is the struggle of following God. And then turn to God, God, if my life is taken, are you going to take care of the boys? Are you going to take care of the wife? Can I trust you? What was going on in the background of the story that I didn't know was thousands and thousands and hundreds of thousands of people were praying for me personally. My mom, my brother, and I now we're back in Nashville living. And it was coming up for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering that the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention puts together a week of prayer leading into this big offering every December. And there were literally millions of Christians all throughout the country that were praying specifically for my dad to be released. And it really wasn't real to me until I got on the plane in Baghdad that I was actually going to leave and survive and be home. It's not about me. It's about the millions of people praying and God doing a miraculous event. I believe that God is looking for people who are willing to move towards the hard places and stay even when it's hard and trust that the Holy Spirit still speaks and confirms His promises in our lives. Amen. Well, Mrs. Peace is going to read a Christmas reading for us. So here she comes. Thank you. Well, that's pretty hard to follow. If you're like most people, and I think I am, you know, when you're getting ready for Christmas, you drag out the box that's got the Christmas cards in it, and all the other paraphernalia that you need. Well, I was going through mine a couple weeks ago, and I found this poem, or whatever you want to call it, And I read it, and I thought, boy, that is so pertinent to what's going on now. So I thought I wanted to share it with you all. So this is called Merry Christmas. "'Twas two months before Christmas, when all through our land, not a Christian was praying or taking a stand. while the PC police had taken away the reason for Christmas no one could say. The children were told by their schools not to sing about shepherds and wise men and angels and things. It might hurt people's feelings that teachers would say, December 25th is just a holiday. Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks, and credit pushing folks down to the floor just to get at it. CDs from Beyonce and Xbox and iPad, something was changing, something quite odd. Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa in hopes to sell books by Franken and Fonda. As targets were hanging their trees upside down, At Lowell's, the word Christmas was nowhere to be found. At Walmart and Staples and Penny's and Kohl's, you won't hear the word Christmas. It won't touch your ears. Inclusive, sensitive, diversity, those were the words that were used to intimidate me. Now Pelosi, now Darden, now Sharpton, now Wolf Blitzen. On Lake, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton. At the top of the Senate there arose such a clatter to eliminate Jesus in all public matter. And we spoke not a word as they took away our faith, forbidden to speak of salvation and grace. The true gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded. The reason for the season stopped before it was started. So as you celebrate winter break under your dream tree, sipping your Starbucks, listen to me. Choose your words carefully. Choose what you say. Shout Merry Christmas, not Happy Holiday. So for a special song today, we're gonna do to God be the glory. And I took the opportunity to sign everybody up for this. So I hope you guys are ready. We're gonna actually have rehearsal and actual singing of real time right now. So we're doing both at once, okay? So here we go. ♪ To God be the glory, great things He hath done ♪ So loved He the world that He gave us His Son ♪ Who yielded His life and atonement for sin ♪ And opened the life gate that all may go in ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the earth hear His voice ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the people rejoice ♪ O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son ♪ And give Him the glory, great things He hath done O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood ♪ Every believer the promise of God ♪ ♪ The vilest offender who truly believes ♪ ♪ That moment from Jesus a pardon receives ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ ♪ Let the earth hear his voice ♪ ♪ Praise the Lord, praise the Lord ♪ Let the people rejoice, O come to the Father, to Jesus the Son, and give Him all glory, great things He hath done. Great things He has taught us, great things He has done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus the Son. But purer, nigher, and greater will be our wonder, praise the Lord praise the Lord let the earth hear his voice praise the Lord Amen. You guys sound great. Thank you. Amen. Thank you all. That was very beautiful.