we got out at 12.30 but that was because of all the extra stuff. This week we're getting out earlier than that. I won't tell you how much earlier. John chapter 3. If you would please take your Bibles and turn with me to there. John chapter 3. What a tremendous passage of scripture John 3 is. John is one of my most favorite books in the Bible and what a great amount of information we gain from reading the book of John. The deity of Christ is explained and given very clearly and plainly in the book of John. And here in Chapter 3, it is actually addressing the position of a person's need, the greatest need that a person has. Today, we're dealing with the new year that is approaching. Today is the 31st, tomorrow the 1st. We enter into a new year. This is a tradition that has been held for thousands of years, actually, which I'm about to explain to you, but that tradition of the new year. Now, I want you to be aware of the fact that people have chosen different times to celebrate that new year. And so it's not what we would understand to be January 1st, okay? There's a lot of cultures all over the world, different nationalities. They have celebrated them at different times of the year. It has been kind of brought to a head around the world in our day and time to be January the 1st, but that has to do with the calendar that we all adhere to. So, with that though, I would ask you if you would follow along with me as I begin reading in John 3, starting in verse 1, ending in verse 8. Now, there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher. For no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, how can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? And Jesus said, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, He kind of entered the kingdom of God. That which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit. Let's pray. Our Father, as we come before you this morning, We thank you for your word that you give us. Father, how wonderful it is, how it gives us correction, how it gives us encouragement, how it counsels us. Father, how it instructs us and how you, by your spirit, remind us of its truth. Even, Father, from age to age, it is true. It speaks to your people. for they are the ones who have ears to hear it. They acknowledge it and understand it. Maybe not in its totality, but, Father, it speaks to us as you would be speaking to us individually and also corporately. So, Father, we ask your blessing upon it today, upon the message that starts this new year tomorrow, that we acknowledge that there are times of beginnings, times in which we start, times in which we move forward in that newness. And so, Father, we pray a blessing upon this time as a church body as we move forward into the year ahead, anticipating, Father, your work that has been preordained, that which is ordained for us to walk in. These, Father, are the works, the good works that you have chosen, that you have planned, that you have set forth. So, Father, I pray that it begins today. It begins with the acknowledgment of our salvation in Christ Jesus, in whom we pray. Amen. As has already been stated, we find that there's a lot of, as actually Brother Clint stated, New Year's resolutions that nobody's going to keep. Right? You know where that comes from. That comes from the desire of wanting to make change, to have change in your life. That change usually is brought about from the fact that you know there needs to be change. There is something that's reminding you. Usually, in fact, in today's world, what we find most of the time is that if it's in the area of commercials, you're seeing right now all of the advertisement for everything that is physical, like the walking machines, all of the things that are out there, which, by the way, will be in yard sales in June. just so that you know, right? So what ends up happening, though, is what do we do? We look at our waistline or you step on your scale in the bathroom there and you go, oh, goodness, looks like time for a New Year's resolution, right? And so what we find, this is the normal aspect of New Year's. This is where we see this, we've heard it many times before, we understand this. And it is, it's a custom. It's a custom that we have. There's nothing wrong with it. In fact, I think that it actually is good. Things that happen that are like that remind us of the need that we have to make changes in our life. How many of us need to make changes in our life? You don't need to raise your hand, but I'm just saying. Need to make changes in our life, right? Well, who's the one who reminds you of that? Who's the one, ultimately I'm speaking, not about your spouses, your husbands, not that, or even your kids for that matter. I'm speaking of the inward voice here, that of God, the Holy Spirit. And by the way, He doesn't do this only on New Year's Eve, right? Or even the days leading up to New Year's, right? When's He doing this? He's doing this on a continual basis. There is a regular basis of the change that needs to transpire in a person's life. And this is the work of the Holy Spirit. And this work of the Holy Spirit, by the way, where it's going to be actually effective. And the effectiveness that we're looking at, many times in our world, what we're looking for is something that is going to change our physical life in some form or fashion, whether it be in an area of wisdom, or whether it be in an area of physicalness, or even in the area of the mental condition of our minds, or these kind of things. But you realize that every one of those are temporary. Every one of those, are temporary, at least to the point in which you're gonna die one day and none of that's even gonna matter anymore. But what about the eternal? What about the area of change that is to affect your eternal person, the personhood in which you are? And what I'm speaking of is that which you really, you may not be able to put your finger on it, but in reality what it is is something that you know. Your personhood. That which is eternal within you. By the way, animals don't have this. But humanity does. Humanity knows that it exists. You have an awareness of time. You have an awareness of your own reality. And you also have an awareness of your eternality. Let me explain very quickly. All I want you to do is just think of yourself, try anyways, to think of yourself as non-existent. Try it. You can do it right now. Try to think of yourself as not existing. Did you know that that's an impossibility? A proof factor of the very fact that you are an eternal being. You exist. You cannot imagine yourself or even think of yourself as not existing. It cannot be. In fact, in reality, that is what God has given to you in eternality. Now the question is, what are you going to do with that eternality? Is that going to be spent in the struggle of sin? Or is it going to be spent in the area in which sin has now been taken care of through Christ, by the way, and your relationship with God now takes up residence in your life and you live what Jesus actually refers to here as eternal life. Eternal life meaning present, the present reality of that eternal life, the present existence in that eternal life. This is not a concept in which I'm trying to be righteous so I can gain it. It's actually an existence that you now live in at this moment in time. Hence, New Year's resolutions are very temporary. Now, in the world, what we find in history anyways is that New Year's has always been around for thousands of years. In Egypt, back 5,000 years ago. Did you know that they had a New Year's Day? They celebrated it this way. In Egypt the statue of the god Horus was brought forth from his temple in order that exposure to the sun's rays that he might reunite his soul and his body. I think it's a very interesting concept there as far as Egyptians are concerned back in that day. soul and body being reunited. Personality and flesh in that sense. Babylon. Babylon is an ancient society as well and also similarly in Assyria. Assyria actually was the kingdom before Babylon but they also celebrated a New Year's festival. It was actually held in the spring of the year. And during this, there was actually an 11-day event in which their god, the supreme Mardok, is his name, I guess, was celebrated. The temple was purified. The king's authority was renewed. That was advantageous for him. The Babylonian creation epic was recited before this god, Mardok. and the events of the coming year were foretold. In other words, like prophecy. What's going to be happening in the future. That's how they celebrated in the Babylonian Empire and also in the Assyrian Empire and they did this yearly in the spring. The Canaanites. Those were the ones who were in possession of the Promised Land before the Israelites came from Egypt. The Canaanites actually They celebrated this as found in their texts of the death and resurrection of the fertility god Baal. The one that you read about in the Bible, by the way. It has been linked, actually, by some scholars to the autumn celebration. of the new year. So you have spring, you have autumn, you have all these different times of the year, but in yet these cultures or nations, they chose to celebrate them for whatever their reasons were as a new year, to start anew. So everyone understood that there is this cyclical part of existence There is this which always comes back around, whether it's spring, summer, fall, winter, what does it always do? It comes right, unless you live in Hawaii, I guess, right? Hawaii seems to always be a perpetual what, summer? I don't know. But there's this cyclical understanding. It's actually governed by the stars and the planets. That's how they actually govern it. by the moon and all the celestial, we would understand, planets. But it is something that the world has always done. Now, Israel has a New Year. Did you know that? Actually, they have two that they celebrate. The first one is actually given as the New Year for the nation's beginnings. It actually happened when the people were led out of Egypt. God gave this at the time of the Passover. This is the new or first month of your months. The very first, the one that begins it. It is actually to be celebrated in the spring, the month of Nisan. It's usually the March or April is where it falls. This is where we understand it's around our part of Easter is where we celebrate Passover in that area. It is actually literally stated this way, the beginning of months. It's found in the book of Exodus chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 23, chapter 34, Deuteronomy 16, also Exodus 40 and verses 2 and 17. 1 Kings 6.1 speaks of it as well. It's reiterated throughout Scripture. So you have actually within Scripture, which by the way is the only authoritative word there is, is Scripture. Everybody else can have their opinions about what is a new year, but if you really want to understand what a new year is, you need to go to Scripture. Because Scripture is what tells us what is true and what is not. If it's not in Scripture, then it's something that man has created. If it's in Scripture, then God has stated it, and whether it be positive or negative, He's got an opinion on it. And that opinion, by the way, is not up for your debate. It is what God says, and it stands and holds throughout time. So, New Years. Is there a New Year understanding when it comes to Christianity? Obviously, yes, because God says it is a new beginning. Here, the context that is given in the book of Exodus has to do with His people being brought out of Egypt to live a new life under God. A new life governed by God. A new life lived within the requirements of God and the blessings that He will give out. Is that not a good reason for a new year? Celebration. That's found in Exodus. It is that of Passover. But God has also given A second time, as would be indicated, New Year observation, observing of. It's found in the autumn. It's found in the first of Tishri, the month Tishri, which is our September-October. It usually falls somewhere around the 15th. Same as that of the month of Nissan, which is our March, April that falls around the 15th as well. Six months later, interestingly enough, it's halfway through the year. From their first year, from the fact of where they begin in March and then you end up in September, you end up six months almost to the day later celebrating another new year in the Israelite camp. By the way, the name of that is Rosh Hashanah. You've probably heard that term. The first one is Passover, the second one is Rosh Hashanah. This one here is found in Ezekiel 40. It literally means the head of the year, the head of the year, the beginning of the year as it would be, but found there. Interestingly enough, what we find is the fact that it is observed, commanded here, I'm sorry, Numbers chapter 29, actually it's the whole chapter 29, the blowing of trumpets. So it's an announcement. It is that announcement where they take the trumpets and they blow that on that first day and they announce, this is the beginning of the year. The interesting thing is that there's a celebration that occurs. And then right after that celebration, eight days after that celebration, do you know what comes? Another celebration called the Day of Atonement. Oh, that's interesting. The Day of Atonement. Now here what we're doing is we're referring to Scripture to find out what's the need of a new year? What's the point of a new year? What is the idea, scripturally speaking, of a new year? It has to do with new beginnings. The beginning of new months. The beginning of the head of the year. It has to do with us having our mind right with God. at the head of the year, and then from the position of what we would understand to be the Passover. It starts with what's called the Day of Atonement. Celebration of that new year, but then right after that is where we have that understanding of the Day of Atonement. The term that is used that we are probably familiar with is Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur, the Hebrew term. This year, in 2024, no, I was referring to 2023, which would be last year, actually. It's September 25th, eight days after Rosh Hashanah. The Day of Atonement is very specific for the nation. And the Day of Atonement is a big day. In the times of the sacrificial system and the Old Testament, there were many sacrifices that were given, made, actually God commanded. We had the sin offering, the guilt offering, the peace offering, the thank offering. We have all these things that are all centered around the sacrificial system. But all of them point to one day within the year and that is the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement is the biggest day. That day, and by the way, it's just one day. The Day of Atonement, it is in the year when the High Priest enters into the temple, into the Holy of Holies. The temple has three main compartments to it, but the inner compartment is the Holy of Holies. No one, no one, from the time that it was built, In the time that it was consecrated or dedicated, no one was allowed into the Holy of Holies except for the high priest and not only once a year. What day? Once a year, the Day of Atonement. It is, it signifies this, it signifies the ability for the high priest, the representative of man, by the way, to be able to enter into the place in which God resides. That Holy of Holies was the place in which the Ark of the Covenant was placed, where the mercy seat was, where the blood of the atonement was then to be sprinkled upon that Ark of the Covenant in the mercy seat that was over the top of that Ark. The instructions are very, very carefully followed. very carefully followed. We find the very fact that the high priest had to be dressed in a special white linen arraignment as a sign of his humility and his penitence. He could not go in arrogantly at all, ever. He was to be humble before his God. He himself had to slaughter a bull and sprinkle the blood on it in front of the mercy seat of the ark. That bull was for his sins. They would take the animal, this is how it was done. They would take the animal, they would bring it to him. He would confess his own sins. He would place his hands together on the head of the animal and confess it. as that would happen. Then they would take a knife, they would go underneath the neck, they would slice the neck open and capture the blood that now the bull is pumping out into a bowl in which they would then take, he himself, into the Holy of Holies. He would dip his hands into that and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat. Atonement for his sins. Then he would go back out, they would slay another bull, and this one he would confess the sins of the nation. They would kill the bull, collect the blood, take the blood into the Holy of Holies, and sprinkle that. There was atonement made. The word atonement means to be made one with. or to be made as one. The idea is this. The idea is that the animal being sacrificed was a life. that life was given so that the sins of those before God could then be covered so that there would be a clear relationship between the individual and God himself, which could not be attained any other way except by sacrifice. By the way, blood. It had to be blood because it had to represent the life that was in the animal. It was mandatory for the life to be taken for the substitute for the sin. What does sin incur? Death. In order for that to be rectified, a life had to be given. On this Day of Atonement there were other sacrifices that were made, things that were done, but this was the main aspect that was given. What is it? The starting of a new day. the starting of a new year. Life now, as it is cyclical, starts over. This understanding that there is now, even though there has been problem in the past, the future is bright because you have relationship with God because of the very sacrifice that has now been given. Chapter 3, the book of John. With all the information having to do with the new year, there is a man who comes to Jesus. His name is Nicodemus. He is a ruling individual in the nation. He's a Pharisee. He's a very important individual. He's a teacher of the nation. And he comes to Jesus. The first question is we need to ask, why is he coming to Jesus? Why does he come to Jesus? Because he recognizes something about Jesus. He is a religious individual. The Bible here says that he is a man of the Pharisees, a ruler of the Jews. a ruler of the Jews. In other words, he would be considered to be an individual like a member of our Supreme Court. Would you like to see a member of our Supreme Court come to Jesus? How about all of the Supreme Court justices come to Jesus? Would you like that? I would. Why does he come to Jesus? He says it, actually, the scripture tells us. He says, here, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. What Nicodemus has recognized is the fact that no one does what Jesus does. No one does what Jesus does. All of the Old Testament prophets, if you combined all of the miracles that they did, Jesus would probably do them in number in a day of His life. You do realize that the Old Testament miracles that transpired, there was one and then there was like 200 years or 400 years or 600 years and then another one, right? Jesus, when He's walking on the earth, every single thing that He did while He was in His earthly ministry was in this fashion, in obedience to the Father's will. And no obstacle would stop Him. No obstacle that was apparent in Him, nothing could stop Him. It didn't matter if the Sea of Galilee was raging. It didn't matter if there wasn't enough food and there was 5,000 men there that needed to be fed. It didn't matter what it was. When Jesus met that problem, it was no longer a problem and a miracle transpired. There was no need for worry around Jesus at any level. It didn't matter what He faced. It didn't matter what He was going to. It was all going to work out by the power of God because He was being obedient to His Father in how much? In everything. Sound like a new year that you would like to enter into? How about, would you like to enter into that new year? New year with Jesus, right? We say that kind of glibly because often times we talk about that but it's like we don't live it. So is it actually real or not? Question. What we find here is that Nicodemus comes to Jesus because of the very fact of what Nicodemus has seen and Jesus wants to tell him the most important aspect. This is the ruler. You know what the most important thing for our Supreme Court justices to know? Do you know what it is? The most important thing, you can talk about legislation, you can talk about the law, you can talk about the Constitution, you can talk about all those things, and you know what? They don't even matter. Did you know that? They honestly do not matter in comparison to what Jesus is about to say to Nicodemus. Verse three, Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly, in other words, the most important thing, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." Do you know what the most important thing is? To be born again. Let's bring that subject out in our world today. Let's be born again. Let's talk about being born again. You start having a discussion about that. By the way, Scripture is not about discussion. Scripture is about stating facts. The world always wants to have discussions. Let's have a debate. Let's talk about it. We're not talking about it. We're stating it. The statement is, you must be. It's not like, well, you should be born again. Is that what you want to tell the Supreme Court Justice? You should be born again. No, no, no. You must. If you want to see the Kingdom of Heaven, if you want to see the way things are supposed to operate under the Lordship of God, you must be born again. Nicodemus is a little confused. He says in verse 4 here, how can a man be born when he is old? Do you know where Nicodemus' mind is? It's in this world. I'm not saying that the spiritual doesn't affect the world, but your mind cannot be focused on the world. Nicodemus' mind is on the world. This is where the most important aspect of life is, is right here, right? No, it is not. We're living longer and longer all the time. Humanity is, not necessarily myself, but humanity is living longer and longer. Ninety years is not something that's that far out, really. People live into their 90s and not a problem. We call that a long life. If you get to 100, oh. Nobody even really talks about 120. That's where God says, yeah, that's the end of that one. 120, that's the number of years humanity's going to live. And that's about, you don't see that very often. What is 120 years? Let's go to Methuselah. I think it's 969 years he lived, Methuselah. That's a lot of years. I would be considered an infant as far as Methuselah is concerned, right? What is that on the backdrop of eternity? Is that a long time? A thousand years? The Bible says a thousand years is like a day to God. In other words, One day? That's not much time at all. Eternity is hard to grasp. Nicodemus is stuck in this physical world. That's why he says, can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born again. Can he? He's asking Jesus. You do miracles, can that happen? What does Jesus, got him on the right track, but what does He do? He reiterates the same statement that he made before. He reiterates it. Watch. In verse 5 he says, Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. What he just did was he explained what being born again is. He just explained. He said, first you're born from your parents, your mother actually, not your father, but your mother. You're born into this world. You're born of the water. You were born that way. And then, in order to be entering into the Kingdom of God, you must be born of the Spirit, he says. Verse 6, that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. Don't be astonished at the instruction that is given to you. How many times in the year in which we live as Christians, how many times are we astonished at what God tells us? Is it new information? Most of the time it's not new information. Most of the time it's old information that we already know and most of the time we already suspect that it's pertaining to us. We're already aware of it and yet we act as though we're astonished, amazed at it. See this is what happens. The scripture doesn't change. The way scripture teaches it is the way that it will always be. It's not going to change because we don't like it. It doesn't do that. So, he says to Nicodemus, don't be astonished. Don't be amazed that I said to you, you must be born again. Then he tells how it happens, verse 8. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Man loves to control man or control things. Humanity wants control, right? They want control over everything. Usually because of the very fact that if they have control, they're making money. If we can control it, we're making money with it. That's what drives the world. The interesting thing is what God says about being born again. Look at the lack of control here. Look at the lack of control that humanity has. I'm not talking about that God has, I'm talking about what humanity has. What kind of control does humanity have over this? What kind of control does humanity have over those who are being born again? Zero! None! What does that do for us? Well, normally what it does is if you're not in control, you're looking for Prozac. Right? I'm not in control. I don't know how to handle it. I can't let God have control because I don't know what He's going to do. Really? You know what that is? That's an indication of an unbeliever. That's what that is. That is an indication of an unbeliever. Who's in control here? Look at this. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. Wow! Talk about the lack of control. Anybody ever try to control the wind? Right? I'm just trying to figure out where it is. That's why I have an app on my phone. That's what I, because it says, you know, in this city, the wind's going to be blowing at, you know, 16 miles an hour. I don't want to go there. I don't like the wind that much. Summertime is nice because it cools things off a little bit, but wintertime, no. Do you have any control over that? No. The best thing you can do maybe is to figure out where it is. And you usually don't know that because you can't see it. You can only see the effect that it has on everything around it, as it's blowing through the trees or whatever. This has to do with those who are born again, he says. It's the moving of the Spirit of God. Do you realize what that means now? When we're talking about, this is all having to do with the new year. Preparation for the new year. We're getting ready for that new year that's coming, right? Tomorrow it happens and then we're on the horse again. We're running. But this is the thing. We make our plans. There's nothing wrong with making plans, obviously. We're supposed to make plans. But who's in charge of those plans? In truth, God is. Scripturally speaking, God is in control of everything. He's God. That's what the word means. Creator? Go figure, right? He's in control of everything. But being born again means We now have a new way of living. Do you know what that new way of living is? By the spirit. That's what it says here. You don't know where it came from. You don't really know where it's going. You just see the effect of it. This drives us to the point in which what we do as Christians is live one day at a time. How much control do you have over yesterday? It's over. How much control do you have about tomorrow? Minimal at best. What about the present? What about right now? How much control do you have? That's actually probably pretty limited as well. In the area of decisions, maybe that's about all that we have. We can then look to God to find out how we are to make those decisions. All of this transpires in this way. The New Year's resolutions that people make They want to put forth a lot of energy and effort in those for the betterment of their own life, and so be it. But in truth, bless you, in truth, it becomes an act of submission. Now, the act of submission has to do with who am I submitting to? Am I submitting to the scale that I get on in the morning? I get on the scale, oh, I'm a couple pounds heavier, I can't eat that cherry pie tonight. Right? That thing's telling you what you can and cannot eat. Or is it better to just seek the Lord's direction? The Lord's direction. Is He going to tell you, well, you can just eat however much you want, whenever you want? Is that what the Bible says? Did you know that the Bible does deal with gluttony? You do realize that, right? That's what that is. Oh, the Bible speaks of it then. God actually is now telling, talking to us about what we eat. What about what we drink? Does the Bible talk about that? What about how much we work? Does the Bible talk about that? Oh, there's a Sabbath day. Oh, there's a rest day. There's a day of rest. Did you know that the Bible actually gives us instruction for every area of life that is good for humanity? Did you know that? And it's not in the area of restriction. It's actually in the area of blessing. I want you to be healthy. I want you to be full of joy and peace and enjoy life. God says, I've created this. By the way, you know, he blesses the unrighteous. Did you know he blesses the wicked? Did you know that? That he blesses the wicked with joy, with food, with enjoyment. Did you know that? How much more for his people? Oh, well, we, you know, we can't enjoy those things. But when the Bible says you can and actually should, well, I can't enjoy a day off. Really? The Bible says you should. For the new year, what's the very most important thing for the new year? The Bible says for new beginnings, Most important, you must be born again. Must be born again. What does that mean? That you believe that Jesus is the Son of God that was sent for the atonement of mankind. That's the atonement I was speaking of before. No longer of an animal, blood, Jesus was the one that all those sacrifices were pointing to. He is the answer. He is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world, actually. But actually was slain on the cross of Calvary for the sins of mankind. For those in whom they believe. I had Brother Cordell read all of John 3 in that area of Nicodemus. And it states very plainly here, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already. because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God, the one who came from God for the sins of mankind. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." In other words, he's a follower of God. He does the things in which God has ordained for him to walk in, hence the New Year that was in front of us. Being born again is the fact that you accept who Christ is. Bible says He's God in the flesh. Well, that's amazing. I can't believe that. But if you do, the wind has blown in your direction. We're about to take the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is the recognition of that very fact that Christ is the one who has paid the penalty of sin and those who believe it partake of His body and His blood. Let's pray. Our Fathers, we come before You this morning. We do thank You for this opportunity to read Your Word, to see it, to understand it. Father, we ask that the work that you do, the work that only you can do, is manifested in those who are here in such a way in which we then submit to you, to your leading, to your direction, to that which you have ordained for us to walk in. We ask, Father, also, that if there is anyone here today who does not know you, that they then acknowledge their trust in you and take the steps to make it known. We thank you, Father, for this, and we ask it all in the name of Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. Amen.