Amen. Yes, it is all about the cross of Jesus Christ. Well, Christmas is right around the corner, and I'm gonna remind you of that. I'm trying to help the men out, all right? I remind you of that every week, all right? But it's right around the corner. And how many of you are super excited about that? Yeah, several of you are, and I am as well. My family's always excited around Christmas time. I know my kids are pumped about it, and everything comes along with Christmas. But as we talk with folks, as we try to minister to people and encourage people, I know that not everybody is as excited. Whether that be because of recent loss of loved ones, maybe they've endured a bad experience or whatever it may be during this time of year in the past and so it kind of Puts them in a not so exciting mood this time of year. Or it could be, even with the recent hurricane we've all gone through, it's put a damper on things. And things have changed a little bit. And so may not be as thrilled about this time of year. Whatever the situation may be, there are some folks, just know, be aware of it. Just know not everyone gets thrilled and excited about this time of the year. And if you're here this morning and that may be you that struggles with this time of year, I just want you to know that you have a church family that loves you. And you have a church family that wants to help you. You have a pastor that loves you. You have a church family that loves you and wants to help you as much as we possibly, possibly can. But know this truth even greater still, that you have a God in heaven that loves you. He loves you more than your church family could, loves you more than his pastor could. God in heaven loves you more that he sent his only son to you. You see, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, left the splendors of heaven to come to this sin-cursed earth to willingly take upon himself the form of a servant to be made in the likeness of men, live a perfect and sinless life. And as the Bible says, when his hour had come, It was then he allowed himself to be falsely arrested and falsely tried by wicked men. Beaten so severely that he was not even recognizable as a man. Endure such affliction and hardship and then be led up the road to Golgotha there, the cross of Calvary. Be nailed to the cross and suffer for hours upon that cross. ultimately laid down his life there as a substitutionary death for all mankind to satisfy the wrath of the Father that you and I deserve. He took it. He died for you and died for me. The Bible is plain about that kind of love when it says in John 15, 13, greater love hath no man than this, that a man laid down his life for his friends. So please know you have a God in heaven who loves you more than you can ever imagine and has proven over and over and over as you read the gospel records how He laid down His life for you. So though you may struggle a little bit through this time of the year, please know there's a God in heaven who loves you. He came to us when we couldn't come to Him all because He loves you and He loves me. I'm thankful that He came to us. And really that's what I want to look at this morning in Matthew chapter number 2 of this title, if you're taking notes, of when Christ came. When Christ came in Matthew chapter 2. As you're finding your place in Matthew 2, I would like for you to take note who the human author, at least, the human penman of this book was, and that was who? Starts with an M, ends with an athu, that is. All right, good job class. It's Matthew, all right? But as you do a little bit more study on this individual, Matthew, You'll find out that Matthew was a Jewish man, maybe from the tribe of Levi, seeing that was his name before the Lord changed it to Matthew. But regardless, he was a Jewish man and had been very familiar with the Jewish traditions and Jewish customs, no doubt familiar even with the Torah and other things. He was very familiar with the Jewish people of the day. Also, we know Matthew was a tax collector by trade. That meant that as a Jew, he would collect taxes from the Jews for the Roman Empire. These individuals during this time, as you read your Bible, you'll find that they were called publicans. Today we call them crooks. They probably caught on that too then, anyway. But this means he would have been an IRS kind of guy, all right? That's what he would have done. That would have been his work, his job. But what he would have done, these publicans, as they collect taxes, as they were hated, of course, by everybody, especially the Jewish individuals, they would take more, when they collect taxes, they would take more than what was necessary. They would legally steal the hard-earned money of others. They would skim off the top, if you will, to pad their own pockets. And they were hated by the Jewish community. But Matthew was one of those guys. He was a publican. But also Matthew, he was one of the original 12 disciples. He walked with the Lord. He served alongside the Lord. He saw many miracles at the very hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. He heard the teaching and preaching of the Lord for at least three years that we know. But in the process of time, Matthew was chosen of the Lord to write this gospel record of Matthew. And as he writes this gospel record under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, please know he writes it from a Jewish perspective. He writes it with the Jewish mind in mind. Some would say that this gospel record here was geared really toward the Jewish people and I say that because how Matthew starts out with this gospel record in Matthew 1 and verse 1 when it says, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, here it is, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So right as soon as Matthew starts this gospel record, he highlights two of the most important people in all of Jewish history. That is David, Then he continues on in Matthew chapter 1 to give the genealogy of the Lord Jesus Christ through these two men. Matthew is connecting the family tree of Jesus all the way back to Abraham and David, which is incredibly important, which we'll see in a minute, but it's incredibly important for Matthew to do that, to prove who Jesus It really is. But as you look at the genealogy in chapter one of Matthew, many people, including myself, struggle to pronounce some of these names. I get a little cross-eyed. Anybody else like that? You get a little cross-eyed when you read these begats and genealogies and whatnot? Yeah, me too. Just so you know, when you try to pronounce those names, you're probably pronouncing them wrong. But it's okay, because nobody else knows how to pronounce them either, all right? And that's why I love living in the South, where you have Jim and Bob. And Tim, these names are easy, Bubba, Bubba Jr., Bubba Jr. Jr. These are great. I love living in the South where everything's a lot easier, names at least, to pronounce. But anyway, Matthew, as he's giving this genealogy and he's pointing to these people, the family tree, if you will, human family tree here of the Lord, it's absolutely amazing to take note of that. Because Matthew, as a Jewish man writing to the Jewish mind, in mind, he is proving certain facts. He is proving a certain tribal membership, a certain right of inheritances that he has. Because listen, to any Jewish male, if you could prove your lineage, if you could prove where you came from, then that would grant you certain rights and grant you the rightful inheritances due your name. So it's incredibly, incredibly important as a Jewish individual to prove your lineage. heritage, where you came from. And so Matthew, he plainly writes out the lineage of Jesus Christ to prove this wonderful truth, this wonderful fact, an exciting fact, and that is this, that this man Jesus, he's not just any man. No, no, no. He is the king. The long-awaited king that all of the Jewish individuals throughout history have been waiting for. The king who has all the rights to the throne of David. Now, if you were to make that kind of declaration, especially again for the Jewish mind, that their long-awaited king is finally here, then listen, you had better back this up because people are going to have all kinds of questions. Where is he from? What's his background? What's his credentials? Where is the proof that he's actually who you say he is? Where is the proof of all of that. And so Matthew, he makes this declaration and he gives the factual genealogy proof that Jesus is the rightful king when he states in verse one, Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And he goes on to give the rest of the genealogy there. So please understand something this morning. When we speak of the birth of Jesus, when we talk about Christ coming, his first coming, when we talk about that, especially around this time of year, Christmas time of year, we celebrate the birth of our Savior. Please know, we're not just talking about a little baby. All right? Not just talking about a manger, not just talking about some manger scene, not just talking about a Christmas story. No, we are talking about the King of Glory. We are talking about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the true King and the record, this lineage of Jesus that Matthew gives in chapter 1 is just proof that He is the only one who has the rights to the throne of David. He is the only one to have the right to be the King. So please know, your King, King Jesus has come. The Lord Jesus Christ has come. And I hope this morning, I'll say it again, I hope you know Him. I hope you know Him as your, not only King, but your Savior, as your Lord. But as they announced that the King has come, There are three responses I'd like to see from chapter 2 of Matthew that many people, even today, have the same kind of responses to the fact that Jesus has come. Let's look at those, all right? The first response I wanna see is this one. Number one, I wanna see it from these individuals, see it from the wise men. Look at verse number one of chapter two, all right? Verse number one of chapter two, and the Bible says, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is he that is born, here it is, king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. Again, jump down to verse number 9. Verse number 9. When they had heard the king They departed, and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him When they opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. So the first ones we see here, hear that the king has been born, are the wise men. But how do they respond to the announcement that the king has come? Well, two times here it says they've come to worship Him. They have come to worship the King. Now this is very, very significant. Why? We need to understand something this morning and take note of who these wise men were. And as we do, there's not a ton that we know about these men, but we know a few facts about them. We know that these men were from the east, meaning east of Israel. And if you were to take a modern day map and look at what is east to Israel, you'll find the modern day countries of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and of course, others. And I find it very interesting that when you consider this, it very well could be these men from the east, they could have been descendants of Ishmael. And who do you know are the descendants of Ishmael? We know them today as the Muslims, all right? Descendants of Ishmael. And if you know your Bible, then you know that the descendants of Ishmael and descendants of Isaac, the Jews and the Muslims, you know they've not always gotten along, right? Always at war, still even today. Always fighting one another. But these individuals, these wise men, came from the East, could have been. what we would call Muslim individuals. But why'd they come? They came to worship Him. So these men, they were Gentiles, could have been Ishmaelites coming to Israel to seek the King for to worship. There's something else interesting about these guys. is they're commonly referred to as the Magi. Now this word Magi, it would refer to a group of scholars who studied the stars. So that means that these guys in their own right were very learned individuals. They were scientists, if you will, in their own right. And so it could be that these wise men here came to worship him because of things they knew to be true. Listen, could have been they were Ishmaelites. Definitely they were intelligent. There's something else we know about these wise men. We know these men were insanely rich. They were insanely rich. You say, preacher, how do you know that? Well, we get a sense of their wealth when we see the gifts that they bring to the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, who wouldn't want their rich uncle coming to the Christmas party bringing you gold? You know what I mean? All right, if your uncle's bringing you gold at Christmas, you got a rich uncle, all right, and tell him he can adopt me, amen. But anyway, but we know they're insanely, insanely rich because they brought, well, gold, frankincense, essential oils, all right, and myrrh. Now, just on a side note, some think when they bring these gifts, there's three gifts represented here, some think that that means that there was only three wise men that came, but I believe, personally believe, There is much, much, much more, many more wise men than only three. I believe there was a caravan of wise men that came from the east to Jerusalem this day. You say, preacher, come on. Everybody knows there's only three wise men. It's in every nativity scene in the church Christmas plays. We know there's only three. We'll understand. Those three volunteers that volunteered to be in the Christmas play, we didn't know where to put them, so we put them in as wise men, all right? So anyway, that's what happened with just three. But anyway. But it's not just three. I believe there was a bunch of them. I believe there was a multitude of men from the east that came to seek the king and to worship him. You say, why do you think that? Look at your Bible in verse number three of chapter two. After the wise men came and said, where is he that is born king of the Jews? They've come to worship him. Herod, verse three, when Herod the king had heard these things, he was, what's the next word? He was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. This word troubled here simply means they were scared to death. Now would you be scared to death of only three guys? Nah, just three guys. I've got a good army behind me. We can take them out, no problem. However, when you have a host of men, caravan of folks from the east, dozens if not hundreds, of Ishmaelites coming to your town, they say we're here for the king. Would that be a little troublesome? Maybe put you on edge a little bit. And so I think there was at least dozens, potentially hundreds of wise men from the East coming to Jerusalem and no doubt that scene probably looked like an invasion. So that's why they were all trouble. But I picture this this morning. I picture a caravan of Middle Eastern Gentile men Extremely intelligent, extremely powerful, extremely wealthy, and they have come to Jerusalem. Why? To make war? No. No, they've come to worship the King of the Jews. No, that's not Herod. No, that's King Jesus. They've come to worship Him. You know, over the years, as I've thought on these wise men, thought on the Magi, and how they were making such a journey from the East to bring such gifts and bring such wealth and things with them, I had this question. How did they know? How did these men know that the King of the Jews would be born there? How would they know to follow that certain star? How would they know? Well, here's what I believe. I'll keep it short and we'll move on. Do you remember the ancient city in the Old Testament that was located in the east? And that city now would be modern day Iraq and Iran. But the ancient city in the Old Testament was this. It started with a B, ended with an abalone. It was? That's right, Babylon. And Babylon, of course, they were enemies to the Israelites. But do you remember who was taken when they were invaded by Babylon back to Babylon to learn the ways of the Chaldeans? Several were taken, but there's three names. One in particular we know very well, has a book after his name. His name was Daniel. Daniel. The one who could interpret dreams, the one who God gave favor to and used mightily while he was there in Babylon, especially under those kings and one particular, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that no one could interpret for him and it troubled him greatly, but someone remembered Daniel that can interpret them. And so Daniel did. And after Daniel interpreted that dream from Nebuchadnezzar, here's what the Bible says in Daniel chapter 2 verse 48. Then the king made Daniel a great man, gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. And here it is, listen. And Daniel made him chief of the governors over all the wise men in Babylon. So it could be that Daniel, being the ruler over all the wise men, that is the Magi, all of Babylon, that is east of Israel, no doubt Daniel being a godly man knew to teach these men of the one true God. And no doubt he told them of his prophetic visions, no doubt told them the dreams that even he himself had and he would have told them that one day there's coming a Messiah and here is where he will be born. It would be past my time, but pass on this truth to the next generation so that when it happens, they know to go and worship Him. I believe that Daniel would have taught them of the God that he knew. And he passed down this to each wise man after generation after generation, no doubt written in their books generation after generation. So here is what these wise men did really in a nutshell after they've been taught for so many years and pass it on to the next generation. They simply did this. They responded to the truth that they knew. They responded to the light that was given to them that one day a king would be born. And here's how you will know. These wise men followed the truth and it led them to Jesus. Jesus is the truth, the way and the life. He is, and these men knew it because the light they had been given. And so because of that, they came to Jerusalem to do this. Here's their response. We've come to worship Him. I hope that's what you've come to do. And not just on a Sunday morning, really every day. And not just during a season such as Christmas time, but you do it every season. You worship the King. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. So what did the wise men do? They came to worship. What did this person do? Number two, we see Herod the Great. What did he do? Now, understand Herod was quite different from these wise men. Herod was a paranoid, immoral, evil, and murderous individual. History says that he was married at least nine times, and of course this would have been done to strengthen his political ties, but also to fulfill his own sinful lusts. It's even said, history says, that he had one of his wives and two of her own brothers killed because he suspected them of treason and conspiring against him. You think your in-laws are bad. Should have been married to the Herod's, all right? But anyway. But he was a horrible individual. But he did all these things, had these people killed, had these people murdered. Why? Because he didn't want anybody to interfere with his rule, with his power, or with his life. He didn't want anybody to interfere. And so since he was a murderous, paranoid, corrupt tyrant, it's no surprise that Herod himself responded the way that he did when he heard the news that the king is here. How did he respond? Verse number three. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Verse 13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and be there thou, until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. Verse 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and all the coast thereof from two years old, and under according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men." There are three phrases here, really words that are said about Herod from these verses, and they show his response to the announcement of the king. Of course, the first one is in verse number three when it says, he, yes Herod, was troubled. Now, again, what does this word mean? Well, in the context, it means to cause a person inward commotion. It means to take away his calmness of mind, to strike in one's spirit with fear and great dread. Again, in short, he was absolutely scared to death. Now, was he scared to death of a little baby? No. No, you're not intimidated by a little baby. You're a grown man, you can punt that thing across the room, alright? You ain't scared of a baby. By the way, don't do that, okay? That's bad, you go to jail. Anyway, he was not afraid of a little baby. No, he was scared of this. He was scared of losing his power. Scared of losing his position, that he would lose his throne and that somebody would interfere with his life. And so to preserve his power, to preserve his way of living, he came up with a horrendous plan. And again it says in verse 13, when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Be there until I give you word, for Herod, here it is, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. Yet when he saw, Herod that is, when he saw he was mocked, Now his plan didn't work. He went into a rage and did something absolutely horrendous and horrible where he had all of the baby boys, two years old and younger, killed from Bethlehem to all the very edges, the very coast, the very edge of Israel. All of those baby boys slaughtered. This man, I'm telling you, was a horrendous individual, evil, cruel man who cared nothing but himself. But as I understand what this guy did, had this thought come to mind, Herod himself, at this moment, he had an opportunity that billions of folks did not have. You say, well, what is that, preacher? Though he was a horrendous person, he still had an opportunity to respond to the good news of Jesus. He had the opportunity to follow the wise men and he himself physically see Jesus as well. He had the opportunity to respond by faith to the truth he knew and heard TO JESUS. NOT ONLY AS KING, BUT ALSO AS MESSIAH. LOOK AT VERSE NUMBER FOUR, ALRIGHT? AND WHEN HE, THAT'S HEROD, ALRIGHT? WHEN HE HAD GATHERED ALL THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND SCRIBES OF THE PEOPLE TOGETHER, HE DEMANDED OF THEM WHERE CHRIST SHOULD BE BORN. CHRIST, GREEK WORD FOR MESSIAH. HE IS SAYING WHERE IS MESSIAH GOING TO BE BORN? WHERE IS HE AT? How would he know that Messiah, Christ, was coming? How'd he know that? How'd he even know to ask that question? Look at verse number five. And they said unto him, that's the scribes and priests, they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not thou the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people, Israel. I mean, this guy had such an opportunity. He really did. He had plain truth given to him to his face, and he could have responded to the truth by faith, as it's always that way. It's by faith. The Bible says, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, Romans 10, 17. Yet, he didn't respond in faith. Rather, he did this. He pushed it all away and went so far to even destroy. these babies trying to destroy the Lord. Why? He did not want the truth to interfere with his life. That's why. I believe this is where a lot of people are today. A lot of people are in that position, if you will, where folks do not want Jesus as their King or as their Savior. Why? Because they don't want Him to interfere with their life. They don't want Jesus to change their life. They want to be in control. They want to be King and Lord of their life. That's what they want. But please know, Jesus is the King, not you. Jesus is Lord, not us. And since He is the King, then listen, He doesn't just deserve some little corner of our lives and deserve just a little bit of service every now and then. No, He deserves the everything, the entirety of our lives. He deserves all of our service. He deserves everything. A preacher once said, He's either king of all or not king at all in your life. Here's how Paul put it. So he's either king of all or not king at all. So is Jesus king of kings? And Lord of Lords, yes or no? Yes. Let me get a little more personal. Is He king in your life? Is He Lord in your life? Is He in charge of your life or are you? That's a very personal question that you have to ask honestly for yourself. Because listen, Herod in response to Christ has come, said, I don't want him. Because he didn't want him to interfere with his life. And then we see these individuals, all right? Look at verse number four and see again the chief priests and scribes. Verse number four, the Bible says, and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem, of Judea. For thus is written by the prophet. Here's how we know he's going to be born in Bethlehem, because the prophet said so. The truth of the word of God said so. Here's the truth. And thou, Bethlehem, verse 6, in the land of Judah art not thou the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people, Israel. Now, who are the chief priests and scribes? Well, in short, they were the master teachers, if you will, of the Old Testament. They knew the Old Testament from front to back. That's why when he called them in, they could immediately tell them of this long-awaited promise to be fulfilled, because no doubt it was on the tip of their tongue and the back of their mind, anticipating this to be fulfilled eventually. And so they just no doubt blurted it out really quick of here's the truth of how we know Christ and where we know Christ will be born. And they quoted this knowledge and truth to Herod. Maybe it was Micah 5,2. Maybe it was Isaiah 9,6. But regardless of what they quoted, they gave him the truth. And here's what they did when they quoted that to him. They authorized the very claim that these wise men had already made. They authorized the claim that Christ had come. that the king has been born. So if anyone in this meeting right here, in Matthew chapter 2 verse number 4, if anyone in this meeting, wherever this room was, If anyone in this meeting that should have been beside themselves excited, that should have been beside themselves leaping for joy and gladness, and at the very least have a little slimmer of hope spring up in their hearts in this moment during these dark days in which they were living, it should have been these guys to respond with great hope and joy. But how did these guys respond? How did these scribes and these priests respond? Well, here's what they did. Here's what they did to the knowledge that Christ has come. You ready? Here's what they did. Drum roll, please. Thank you. They did this. Nothing. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Not a thing. They were silent. So here's their response. They ignored the wise men. They ignored it. These highly learned, intelligent, powerful, even wealthy men, these wise men who made a huge journey, not because of a hunch, but because of truth and fact, they ignored that. They ignored the wise men. They ignored the truth. They ignored the very promises that they had been taught, memorized, and even could quote verbatim to Herod himself. They ignored it. And so by ignoring truth, ignoring these wise men, ignoring the facts right in front of their face, here's what they were doing. They were ignoring the Lord. They were doing this. They went about their business as if what they said, what they saw, what they knew, what they heard here did not even exist. And just went about their day. Listen, there are many people who live their lives like Herod, not wanting Jesus to interfere in their lives, but I think there's even more. There's even more who live their lives like the scribes and Pharisees of chapter two in verse number four of Matthew, who hear the truth, who know the truth, and yet here's what they do. Nothing. They ignore it. Sadly, many people are living their lives today as if, as if Jesus, the King, does not exist. Many people are living their lives that way. And I'll be honest with you. You want your pastor to be honest, right? Seven of you. Thank you. All right. I'll be honest with you. I fear too many believers live their lives that way too. As if Jesus, the King, the Lord does not exist until we need him to. Like the Laodicean Church of old in Revelation chapter 3. Said they were fine, we're good. I don't need a thing. Had no clue they were wretched, blind, destitute really. Said they didn't need a thing, but what they needed was everything. Because Jesus was not in the midst of their lives. Saved? I think so. But just did not even acknowledge him. Too many people living their lives this way as if Jesus doesn't exist. You see, if the Bible is true, and it is, and if the truth of Jesus' coming was not just a baby, it's not just about a manger scene, But it's about the King has come, the Christ, the Messiah has come. If that's true, and it is, it should absolutely change our lives forever and live like it. So we're not just talking about anybody. No, we're talking about the one true King, King Jesus. These wise men heard that truth, knew of that truth, and they came to worship him. Herod heard the same truth, knew the same truth, but tried to absolutely eliminate him. They didn't want him to interfere with his life. These scribes and priests, they knew the same truth, saw the same truth, and they ignored it. What response will we have this morning? Will it be like the wise men? Will it be like Herod? Will it be like these scribes and priests? How are we going to respond? It's all up to you as an individual to respond to the truth that you know. Here's the truth. Jesus is the King, but is He yours? He is Lord, but is He yours? He is the only Savior, but is He yours? How will you respond to Jesus. He's either who he says he is or he's the greatest fraud in all of human history. Like one preacher said it this way, he's either Lord or he's a liar or he's a lunatic. Because the things he said and the things he claimed, you can't be all three. So my friend, as I see truth, I'm telling you, he's the Lord. He's the King, but is He yours? Our Father, we thank You for Your love. We thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ who came to us, born of a virgin, lived a perfect, sinless life, proved who He was through His ministry and miracles and so many other things. allowed himself to be taken, beaten, brutalized, laid down his life for our sin, and to pay the penalty that we owed. But thank God he did not stay dead, but is alive forevermore. And Lord, if there's one here this morning that does not know does not know you, I pray that you would show them their great need of Christ." And they, in the quietness even of this moment, they would simply call out to the Lord to save them. Maybe there's some here, they know the Lord, but they've just kind of been like one of these chief priests or scribes and just kind of ignoring, going about the motions of Christianity and not truly being Christ's follower. I pray that you would help us, convict us of that and truly acknowledge you for who you are. You are the King. You are the Lord. Be the King of our lives. We love you. Thank you for loving us.