And so I want to give you the guidance on how to do it. It's really part of the sermon, of the message itself. First, let me read two verses of scripture, and then we'll do that. The verses are found in John chapter 1, verses 1 and verse 14, which reads, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the one and only, that's the translation for the word begotten, or unique is really the meaning of it, His one and only or His unique, the unique Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Father we're going to look into the word that you gave us by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit through the Holy Apostles and we pray now that you would guide our thoughts that we might follow along with your revelation that we might believe it with all of our hearts confess it with our mouths and live in light of its truth for this we ask in the name of Jesus Christ your Son and our Lord and Savior Now, while you're standing, I'd like for you to drop your hands down by your side. So it means you need to put the book away. Drop your hands by your side. And I want you to take your right hand, if you're right-handed or left-handed, and I want you to raise it up, and I want you to bring it toward the center of your body, and I want you to find what we call the belly button. The belly button. Your navel, okay? Now, this is a scripture, I mean, not the scripture, but it's a scriptural truth I want you to remember today, okay? Jesus, the Word made flesh, had a navel. You may be seated. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, who for us people and for our salvation came down from heaven he became incarnate that is he took on flesh by the Holy Spirit through the portal of the Virgin Mary and was made man this is the great truth that we are considering today the word made flesh. The word becoming flesh. There are certain questions I want to ask and then I want us to see if we can find the answer in certain portions of the Word of God. And those questions are what is the incarnation? What do we mean by the term incarnation? Definition is extremely important. We are loose sometimes with our language. We're loose with our definitions, but the Word of God is not loose. Therefore, we need to consider what does the Word of God mean in the term that we use, incarnation. Then I want us to look at, the second question is how is the incarnation. That is, how is this possible? How is it that the Word became flesh? Next question is, I want us to answer the question, why? Why did the Word become flesh? So we need to look at definition of incarnation the how of the incarnation. So we're looking at the what and the how and the why. And hopefully we'll conclude with so what. So what does all this mean for us? So let's begin with John chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 and verse 14. Chapter 1, 1 through 3, and verse 14. Because here is the declaration of the faith. John chapter 1, 1 through 3. And I want us to look at all of these particular verses because each aspect of it is important as we consider the incarnation. John chapter 1, the first three verses and then we'll skip down, okay? In the beginning was the Word. I had to learn this in Greek. You know, this is the one thing I had to learn in Greek. In Archaic, analogous. And the Word was God. And the Word, I'm sorry, I got it out of order. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. Three statements. Whenever the beginning began, the Word already was. Which means the Word had no beginning. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the I Am that I Am. in the beginning was the Word. Whenever the beginning began, God was already there and the Word was there. Second, and the Word was with God. Prostanteon, face to face with God, is the literal meaning. So you have two. You have the Word face-to-face with God. Now the Word was in the beginning, God's in the beginning, and the Word was face-to-face with God. That speaks about fellowship, communion, a relationship. Thirdly, and the Word was God. The word was God. This is at the heart of the Christian faith. We skip down and it says, He was in the beginning with God. We're back to the concept of the two. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. How many things were made through Him? All things. Would you say it with me? All things. There is a false doctrine that goes around that says that, first of all, God created the Word. That God created the Word as the first of all creatures and that creature, the Word, which is almost like God, but not quite God, He then made everything else. Well, what does the Word of God say? It says, all things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that was made. Alright, so if the Word was with God in the beginning and if the Word is the agent of all creation so that apart from Him nothing has been made, that means He could not have been made. He is the author and the agent of creation. The Word was with God and the Word is the agent of creation. The Father's will is for the creation to come to pass and the Word is the agent that brings about this creation. Now we're informed in Genesis that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water so the Spirit of God becomes the one through whom the Word is moving in action upon the matter of our universe. In Him, that's in the Word, was life. Men often spend Much time trying to discover the meaning of life or the origin of life and where did life come from? Here's what the Word of God says, in him in the Word was life. Where did life come from? Life comes from the Word. Life comes from God, the Word. And the life was the life of man. Now then we're informed that this word is the one whom John the Baptist preached about. So if we turn to Mark or Luke, we find that John the Baptist speaks about Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth. Now we go on, I want you to skip down to verse 14. And the word became flesh. Now, again, I want you to take your hand and I want you to reach over to your arm or any part of your body thereof, your face, any part. I want you to squeeze it, to squeeze that little part of your body, okay? That's flesh. Feel it? If you squeeze hard enough, you can say, ouch, ouch. Okay, it's flesh. The word became flesh. That means he took on body. flesh and blood and bone and hair. Everything that makes you a physical body human is what the Word became. And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. Now that word dwelt is the concept of tabernacle. Now to understand this you must go back to the Old Testament. to God, leading the people of Israel from Egyptian bondage, and then at the foot of Mount Sinai, he enters into covenant with the Hebrews. He constitutes them the holy nation in which his presence will be. And he commands them to build a tabernacle, which is their house of worship, even the wilderness, composed of two compartments, the holy place and the most holy place. There's a courtyard around it for the ministration of the priest, for their washing and for the killing of the animals, and then the presenting of the blood that they will do inside, some of it inside the tabernacle. Inside the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle there is the Ark of the Covenant. And there in the Ark of the Covenant are the symbols of God's presence. And not only was it the symbols of God's presence, but the very presence of God in the glory crowd that had led them from Egypt is now residing. We can read about that in the book of Exodus. This is the imagery that John is using. the word became flesh and he tabernacled he took up his residence among us now the Apostle John is writing and he says that we have seen his glory the glory as of the only son that is unique son from the father full of grace and truth. Now how important this is, he spells out for us in verses 17 and 18. For the law was given through Moses. If you want to know how you should live, look to the law. The law tells you, especially its moral principles enshrined in the Ten Commandments. except for the symbol that's also present in the Ten Commandments of the Sabbath, but from his fullness we've all received grace upon grace, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth, that is the unmerited favor, the gracious loving kindness of God came through Jesus Christ, the truth and grace came through Jesus Christ. Now John gives the clincher. For you see, God in his essence of being is invisible. He is spirit. So he says, no one has ever seen God. People have seen the glory of God, they've seen some manifestation of his essence or presence, but no one has seen the invisible God. But The only God, the only God, the unique one, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known. Now, if you want to know God, then you must know Jesus, the Messiah. This is the foundation of the Christian faith and you see here there are two twin truths about Jesus that we need to get a hold of. Last week Pastor Jeff talked about the full deity of Jesus. When we speak about Jesus the Messiah we are speaking about God. in human flesh. I'm to take up the human flesh. That is, the trend truth about Jesus is he has full deity. All that God the Father is, so is God the Son. Whatever makes God, God. The Godness of God belongs to both the Father and the Word. full deity and true genuine complete humanity not in a nebulous sense but in a concrete male sense the word became a Jewish male of the first century born of a human mother called Mary He has a pedigree. He has a heritage. He was born of a family line. Jesus of Nazareth had DNA that goes all the way back to Adam in the garden. And from Adam we can trace it through Noah and through Shem And we can trace it from there to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We can trace it then to Judah and the son Perez. We can trace it all the way up to David, the king of Israel, and through his son Nathan, according to Mary, the mother of Jesus, all the way to Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, and supposed to be the son of Joseph. by them coming together before the final consummation of marriage. This is why Jesus was sometimes accused of being born of fornication. His contemporaries thought they couldn't wait. Joseph was a spouse engaged to be married to Joseph. Now in the Hebrew society marriage was not this affair that we have today. It took a long year. You were engaged and it was a formal process in which now you were legally married in a sense but you could not yet have sexual union. At the time of the sexual union, there would be this great ceremony that involved not just you and your engaged party, but your family, your extended family, and the neighborhood, the community, and everybody. And it would go on for a week. It wasn't this go quickly before the judges of the peace or the preacher and say, I do. It involved quite a process. During this process, where it had begun with a formal engagement between the families, Mary became pregnant. And we read about that. We read about it in Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. So let's turn there. Now you can read it from Joseph's viewpoint, which is important, from Matthew, but we won't read both. We're just going to look at the Mary's account because, after all, she's the mother. And she's the one who bore the child in her womb. You see, I want us to get away from this whole concept that somehow Jesus as God simply meant that he just made an appearance that seemed like a human, or that God was just borrowing something and filling it up with his presence, but that he wasn't a real human son born of Mary, but Jesus of Nazareth was a human son born of Mary. He was a child born of Mary. He came from her womb. He was made of her DNA. He suckled at her breast. He did the same thing all other children do. He ate and he pooped. He cried when he was hungry and when he was in need and when he wanted attention. He was in every sense a human baby, a human boy, a human young man, a human man in the prime of life when he is put to death on the cross. We are not dealing with a pretend incarnation. We're not dealing with something that seems like it's human. We're dealing with a human man called Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary. So, think for just a moment. In your mind, you can't do this with your body, but in your mind, I want you to think. Just pretend for a moment that you're Mary, let's say like a fourteen, fifteen, and the most 16-year-old Jewish maiden and she's been engaged to this man Joseph who's probably a few years older than her and she's anticipating the day when they shall be man and wife, husband and wife. She's busy about her household tasks and suddenly there appears before her An angelic being, now angels did not come with the white wings looking like some beautiful female. The angels usually appeared, if you read the biblical accounts, as men. Powerful and strong and would frighten you half to death. Just read the accounts of the angelic visits in the Bible. None of them were this sweet little angel that I just saw. When the angel came, you're, whoa, what is this? Suddenly the angel, Gabriel, is standing before her and he says to her, hello, Mary. I bring you some great news. And Mary thinks, whoa, what kind of news is this? He says to her, you are going to be pregnant. And you are going to bring forth the Messiah. You have been chosen by God. You found favor with him. And you will be conceiving in your womb and bear a son and you're to call him by the name Yeshua Jesus Yeshua which means Jehovah or Yahweh saves Yahweh Savior he'll be great he'll be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David now Mary she's heard the news but I want you to think for just a moment She's engaged to be married. She has not yet been married. And now she's being told she's going to be pregnant. Not in the near distant future, but she's going to be pregnant ASAP, immediately. And she is in a state of utter confusion and fright. How? How? How will this be? I'm a virgin. Has to be. This is impossible. But Gabriel answered her. The how, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. Now, I believe that at that word, at that announcement of the angel Gabriel, or almost immediately thereafter, the Holy Spirit did this. He took the word. The Word is the second person of the triune Godhead. That's theological language. But he said, the Word, the one that was with the Father from all eternity, the one in the beginning, and he planted the Word in her womb. He planted it in her seed, in her egg, in her ovum. and at that moment the word joined itself to human flesh and the fetus now began to develop and that fetus would be born nine months later of a natural birth. Now Mary is asked how, the angel is told her, but now he condescends to her weakness. What does he do? He gives her a sign. She didn't ask for a sign, but he gives her a sign. Behold, your relative, we could translate this literally, your old relative, because that's what it was, your old relative, the one who's way past time to have children, your old aunt, in her old age, you're stressed here, has also conceived a son. Whoa! And she is six months pregnant. Your old relative is six months pregnant. The one who is past childbearing age, she and the old man have conceived a child. For nothing is impossible with God. Now you can read in the account that right after this encounter, you know what Mary did? She hitched her dress and rode her donkey down to see Mary. That's what she did, to see Elizabeth. My grandmother's name was Mary Elizabeth, so excuse me. She went down there to see and she stayed with them until after that child was born. What's Mary's response? Oh, that we could have the response of Mary, the blessed mother of our Lord. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Now, handmaiden, that sounds like such a nice term. But look, handmaiden is the one who waited hand and foot on the master. That's a handmaiden. Have you ever seen any of these British shows where they have the one who tends to the lady of the house? She dresses her, she gets everything for her, she does everything for her. That's the handmaiden. Mary says, behold, I'm the handmaiden of the Lord. I'm the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. She gives utter submission of absolute faith and confidence in God and his purpose and will for her life. Oh, that we would do the same. And the angel departed from her. And the text says, in those days Mary rose up and went with haste. You see what I mean? She hitched her skirt up, she got on her donkey and she went down to the hill country to see old Uncle Zachariah and Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Elizabeth. That's the how of the incarnation. It's a supernatural conception leading to a natural childbirth. This is the more biblical way of saying it. Jesus is born of a virgin. and he's born through the natural process. So what have we learned so far? What is the incarnation? Now we are loose sometimes and I understand this but it can lead to misunderstanding. We say that God became a man in Jesus. Now let me ask you if that's your statement. Where is God? I mean if God's on the earth, who's running the universe? You ever thought of this question? Okay. Well, the more accurate biblical way of saying is that the Word, that is the second person of the triune God, became man. Not the Father. The Father did not become man. Not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit did not become man. Only the Word became man. the Word, who was in the beginning with God and was God, he became a human by being united with Mary's body and she produced the child, Jesus. So what am I saying? I'm saying this, there's two truths about Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Messiah. The first truth is that as the Eternal Son, that is the Word, the Eternal Son of the Father, Jesus Christ, the Jesus of Messiah, had no beginning. He was there in the beginning. Deity has always been and always will be. But Jesus was sent, the Word was sent from the Father. We read the Isaiah passage. A son is given. The child is born. Jesus was sent from the Father. The Word became flesh. As a child though, He is born. He is born of Mary. He became a man at a particular point in time through the incarnation now having become a man he did so without ceasing to be God so he is full God and full man at the same time one person two natures we cannot confuse the natures we cannot divide the natures Jesus was not two different people walking around the body. He was one person with two natures. He is the God-man to whom alone we must look for salvation. For there is salvation in no other name than the name of Jesus. Again, let's go again to the how of the incarnation. Turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. We read this as part of our scripture lesson, but let me focus your attention for just a moment on a few phrases. Now these things are very important, what I'm saying to you, because your salvation depends upon who this person is. We're very glib to say We believe in Jesus. We just ask them, do you believe in Jesus? Well, I tell you, most of the people around in India say, yeah, I believe in Jesus. What Jesus? What's the nature of Jesus? Who is Jesus? You know, there's a lot of questions. To say I believe in Jesus really begs for some more questions. What Jesus do you believe in? You know the Jesus of the Mormons and the Jesus of the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Isa of the Muslims, the Jesus of the Christian scientists, all of these are different Jesuses. These are not the Jesus of the Bible. And these are not the Jesus of history. And they're not the Jesus that can save you. What about the Jesus of just folk Christian religion? Because there is such. You know? The sentimental Jesus. Oh, I love Jesus. Everybody says, I love Jesus. Do you know? They love Jesus but it makes no difference in their lives? How can that be? How can you know the God-man? How can you know Jesus of Nazareth, the very Son of God who gave his life for us on the cross and was resurrected from the dead? How can you know him and it not make a difference in your life? That's the impossibility. The how, the incarnation. Philippians has it. I love the way the Bible, you know the Bible gives the deepest theology in answer to the simplest question. The question here is how do these two women in the church get along with each other? They're fussy, they have their own points of view, and they like to express them very strongly. And so the point is that some people in the church are with this one, some people in the church are with that one, and so Paul comes in to sort of solve the problem. And he does so, he says, look, I want you to be like Jesus. And so what does that mean, to be like Jesus? It's not Jesus making money. This is Jesus who gave up his own interests as the God, as the Word. He was not greedy to grasp and hold on to all his privileges, but he gave up the privileges of undiminished deity and became a human being and humbled himself as a servant slave even to the point of being put to death on the cross. Wow! Now, I point you to certain phrases. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Messiah Jesus, who, this is it, who was in the form of God, But did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, held on to. I always have the image here of a monkey with his little hands inside a jar trying to get some candy or whatever. He had a little, you can put your hand in if it's stretched out, but you can't get it out if it's in a fist. If you're grasping that stuff that's in the jar to bring it out, you can't get it out and hold on to what's in your hand. That's the picture here. He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself. He opened up his hand. Now, literally this means he poured out himself. Now, let me tell you what this does not mean. Sometimes we need to know what something does not mean in order to understand what it does mean. It does not mean he ceased to be God. It does not mean that he emptied himself of his divine prerogatives or his divine nature. God cannot cease to be God. That's a total contradiction. God is God and whatever his attributes are, those attributes adhere to the Word. They are never given up. They cannot be given up. And He remained God. He's not a partial God. He's fully God. But He poured Himself out. The Word became flesh by pouring Himself out into what? Into humanity, by becoming human. How did He do it? He was in the form of God. Now, the word form here, again, this can be misunderstanding. Language is capable of proper understanding and improper understanding. When we think about form, mostly we think about outside characteristics, don't we? The form of God. Well, I've already told you, God's invisible, right? Therefore, he doesn't have a form like we're talking about. So what does it mean? The word marthe here in Greek, it means the essence of something. the substance of what makes it what it is. So this is what it's saying. He existed in the form of God. He existed in the full deity of God, in the full attributes of God, in whatever makes God, God. That's how God, the Word, existed. He became a servant. The word here, slave, it's the word slave. I deliberately chose the N-A-T because the word slave, that's what the word is in the Greek. Being born in the likeness of man, that is, by taking the form of a servant. The form is what? Being born a man. Now why did the word have to become a human being? Why did he have to become a man? Well, there's another word in scripture that points us to that. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. I'm not going to be able to give you all I want to give you, but I've given you plenty. Hebrews chapter 2, because the answer is here. Again, we've looked at what is the incarnation, right? And we've looked at the how of the incarnation, and now we're beginning to look at the why of the incarnation. Hebrews chapter 2, beginning at verse 5. It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we're speaking. It's been testified somewhere, somewhere in Psalm 8 that we read. What is man? What is mankind? What is humanity that you are mindful of? We're just a little speck on a planet that's so small in a huge universe. What is humanity that you're mindful of? What's the son of man that you care for him? Can you see what this is saying about humanity? God cares for humanity. He cares for human beings. He cares for you. You made him, that is God, you made man a little lower than the angels. Now in reality, when God first made man, I wouldn't say he's a little lower than angels. Why? Because Hebrews told us a little earlier, when he made man in the beginning, Just like when Jesus was made, he told the angels of God, he told the angels of God to worship Jesus, but the angels were, the Hebrews tells us, they are the servants, ministering spirits sent out for the sake of those who inherit salvation. But man in his fallen state is a little less than the angels. We've descended. Now, okay, you made him a little lower than the angels, You have crowned him with glory and honor and put everything in subjection under his feet." Now, you say, wait a minute. That's true, we have some dominion powers, but you know, a python can still swallow up a human. A lion can outtrace us, right? And overpower us. What do you mean? Power over everything. I have to watch out for the mosquitoes. I don't even have power over them. What do you mean? Power. Over everything is his objection to me. If that was true right now, I would say, chiggers be gone! Mosquitos banish! Snakes cease to be! That's not the way it is. But now he points us to the reality. Here's the reality. Jesus became a human being. He became a man. And as the man who endured temptation and said no, who was sinless, put to death and raised from the dead, and all authority is given to him in heaven and earth. But we see him, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus. He took our state. See, when the Word became flesh, it wasn't a change in his nature, it was an addition to his nature. But for a little while, He was in our state, but He was now raised in power. He's declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, and He's been crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God, He might taste death. It was fitting, it was proper, that He from whom and by whom all things exist, that is the Creator, the Word, the Creator, in bringing many sons to glory. That's His goal, to bring children of men, to bring them to glory. He should make the founder of their salvation perfect or complete, qualified through suffering. For He sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have the same source. That's why he's not ashamed to call them brothers. Do you know that Jesus calls you brother and sister? King Jesus calls us brother and sister. He says, I will tell of your name to my brothers and in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise. You know, when we sing together as a congregation, Jesus is singing with us. Now you may not hear Him, but the Father hears Him. So you need to keep that in mind. Sing lustily and powerfully. Sing along with Jesus. And again, I'll put my trust in Him. And again, behold, I and the children God has given me. Now here's the clincher. Since, that is as a consequence, therefore the children share in flesh and blood. Remember the pinch? Shear in flesh and blood. He likewise himself partook of the same things. He partook of flesh and blood. Why? There's a number of reasons why. I can't go into all those today. That's another sermon. So you have to hold it. But this is the major reason so that he could die. God is incapable of dying but the human in his fallen state is mortal. he took to himself flesh and blood that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to life long slavery. Now Jesus does not do this for angels he does this only for humans and specifically it says he helps the offspring of Abraham but he's not just talking about the Jews he's talking about the spiritual offspring of Abraham Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become, he became through the ordeal of his suffering and throwing away the temptation, remaining sinless, he might be qualified qualified to die our death on our behalf, qualified to be our merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Now that's a wonderful word. It means to turn away the anger, the righteous anger and wrath of God against sin and sinners. He turned it away by absorbing it in our behalf in his body on the tree. Now that's the why of the incarnation. There are other whys but that's the major why. There are many results that come from that. He had to become man. Fully God and fully man he emptied himself by adding humanity to his deity. He cannot cease being God, but he added humanity. He condescended and humiliated himself. He emptied himself by pouring out himself on behalf of sinners. And he poured himself out not only in his life, but in his death. And we know he is who he said he is because he is resurrected from the dead. Without the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, there is no gospel and no salvation. The Word of God is so very plain. I believe in Jesus. What Jesus do you believe in? I believe in Jesus who was the Word, who existed with the Father from all eternity, who was God. And in the course of time and history, in a particular place and through a particular portal of his mother Mary, he became a human being, a male of the first century Jew, and he lived our life. He died our death on our behalf to bring us to the glory of God. So that the glory, the word had with the Father for all eternity, we may share with him in the eternal ages to come. when Christ returns to claim us as his own. Now this is a great truth. This is the heart of the Christian faith. You can't get any more core than this. It's this that makes us believe in the Trinity, okay? We didn't have a doctrine of the Trinity and then impose it. The doctrine of God as triune being comes from the historical reality that Jesus of Nazareth was God in human flesh and it was proven by his works and by his resurrection from the dead. His ascension into heaven were God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ lives in heaven in our flesh. and in that same glorified flesh which is real flesh that you could eat with, He will come from the Father to bring about the consummation of all things. Now if you can get a hold of this truth, if you can put this into your life, it will save you from many errors and come our way. And from many careless errors that Christians unknowingly repeat in our loose speech about God and about Christ. Doctrine is important. Now, you're not saved by doctrine alone. But you know, we must believe in the Jesus of the doctrine. Because that's the only Jesus who saves. No other Jesus, except this Jesus, can bring you to the Father. What should you do with this? Well, if you don't know God personally, through union with His Son, Jesus Christ, then you need to run to Him as fast as you can get to Him, saying, I have trusted in myself, I've trusted in my works, I've looked to other things, but now, God, in Your Son, I look to You alone to be my Savior. And if you know God in Christ, what should you do with this? You should marvel. You should be amazed at the glory of God, at the grace of God. It should over flood your heart, your mind with love and affection and a desire to be obedient to Him, to walk in His ways in the glory of His name. And if you know God in Christ, and you know this is the only way that men can be saved, then you need to bear the message with your words of witness to those who know Him not. This is what we do with Him. We believe it. We trust in Him. We love Him. And we share Him to the glory of God the Father. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we give you thanks for your unmerited love that has been poured out upon us through the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. May you burn these truths to our minds, imprint them upon our hearts, and by so doing transform our lives to manifest your glory here as your children, saved by your amazing grace, through Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.