chapter number one, we'll begin our reading in verse one. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. and they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and they were now, they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. " And this morning we're going to be considering this subject as we've already declared, a family that God used. Let's bow for prayer. Father in heaven, we come into your presence this morning and we ask for your help as we preach your word. I pray, Lord, that you might open up the understanding of our minds and our hearts, and that, Lord, we'd also consider what you would have for our families as we end this year and come upon a new year. Lord, we pray that your blessing would be upon our church, and I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Now, the book of Luke begins in a very interesting way. If you try to follow the language and the verbiage of verses number one through four, it's clear to me, and it's apparent that our brother Luke had taken account of others who had set things in order. Notice in verse number one, it says, for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order, a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us. He was talking about other people who had taken it into their hand to write about the things that had taken place in and around the time of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again in verse number 4, in verse 4 he says again, Excuse me in verse number three It says it seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first To write unto thee in order what what Luke is trying to do is set the gospel story in order and it's important that you get a the Gospel story in order. Now some would have questions about this person who is only mentioned twice in the Bible, and his name is Theophilus. In verse number 3 at the end of the verse, Theophilus' name is mentioned in Acts chapter 1, and verse number 1, it's also mentioned. So the name Theophilus literally means loved by God or friend of God. Some believe this is just a generic title. I don't believe that. I believe that Theophilus was actually a literal person that Luke had witnessed to, that he was trying to influence. And just maybe last year or a year and a half ago, I preached, who is your Theophilus? Who are you trying to reach? for the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke was writing this as a letter to Theophilus to let him know what was surely believed among them. And so he stated his reason for writing to him that he could know the certainty of these things. Listen, the Bible account of Jesus Christ is certain. It's not filled with fables. It's not a fairy tale. The story of Jesus Christ is true. Now, we live in a day and age where people make a lot about movies, and they make a lot about fictional characters, and superheroes, and people like Superman, and Batman, and Captain America, and all different kinds of made-up fictional characters. And there's people that are so drawn into these stories, this is where they find their own identity, in comic books. Now, come on now. The Apostle Paul said, when I was a child, I spake as a child, he acted as a child, and he behaved as a child, but when he became a man, he put away childish things. Now what things go along with childhood? You know, as I look in my collection of things that I count dear to me, Now, I don't know how many things from childhood remain outside of some pictures. There's photographs from my childhood that remain. But I don't have a comic book collection that I go back to. Some of you, if you do, I'm not throwing stones, but what I am saying is that there is a time in life when you put away childish things and you do more manly things. You do more adult things. Same thing for ladies. Mean most of our ladies. They're crocheters. I mean they love to knit and sew I Gotta It's time to wake up from that turkey What I'm saying is is that There were some things that need to be said in order, and what took place here in the life of Zacharias and Elizabeth was very important. God brought great change to the nation of Israel and to the world through ordinary and faithful families. The person that the Gospel account in Luke, as he recorded it, that he started with was the birth of John the Baptist and his parents. God would take these parents of John the Baptist and bring change. to the world. The Bible tells us who they are in verse number five, and at what time period they were serving. These were two older servants of the Lord Jesus, and they were older people who were worshiping around the temple. And the Bible says in verse number six that they were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. So both of them were being obedient to God at this area of their life. And by the way, this was a historical thing with them. This is who they were. They were true servants of the Lord, and I thank the Lord for those who are pillars around the church house, those who are true servants of the Lord. They were in their place, they were taking their responsibilities before God seriously, and it was during a time like that that the Lord used them. God brings great change through faithful families. Faithful families that God uses are those who are faithful when no one else is watching. There's a faithfulness. You know, sometimes people are serving the Lord in solitude. They don't have anybody else watching what they're doing. And there's a many time that you, that you know, over my time in ministry where we showed up to a ministry day and we were all alone. And thank the Lord for a lot of servants here at Metropolitan Baptist, but we still need more servants. Every church needs more servants. We need more volunteers. We need more people to be involved. Maybe this year you're going to make a commitment and say, hey, as for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. We're going to do more for the Lord this coming year, not less, not less. They were faithful when no one was watching. They were steadfast when prayers went, as far as they knew, unanswered. They served God even during seasons of disappointment. You know, we all ought to be the same way. We ought to serve God, we ought to serve Him faithfully, and do our best for Him even when things in our life are perhaps not the way we want it. All of us in our lives are going to face seasons of disappointment. God used this family in spite of the fact that they had unfulfilled dreams. Elizabeth entered her marriage and she wanted a child. She probably wanted multiple children. She was barren her entire adult life. Zachariah served the Lord faithfully for decades with no child. Their ministry, however, was not built on their feelings, but it was built on their commitment to God. Will you be committed to God even if God doesn't answer your prayers the way that you want or when you want? Will you be faithful to God? This is what Zachariah and Elizabeth did. Many families today will still serve God through unanswered prayers, and remain steady through disappointments. They'll choose faithfulness over being bitter at God. You might remember in the first chapter of Genesis, the first two kids that came from Adam and Eve, they brought an offering to the Lord. The Bible said that in the process of time, Abel brought the firstlings of his flock, he brought a blood sacrifice as an offering to God, and then Cain brought the first fruits of his garden, if you will. And the Bible plainly declares God had respect to the blood offering, and he did not have respect to the offering from Cain's garden. And you know what happened? Cain had a choice. Cain had a choice to get right with God. Cain had a choice to be submissive to God. But because God didn't accept what he brought and he brought something he wasn't required to bring, Cain's countenance fell and God began to reason with Cain. Now what did Cain do? He became bitter at God. I want to tell you this, you will never win a battle to become bitter at God for something that has happened or not happened in your life. I've met a great many people who are, right now, not in church because they are bitter at God about how something happened to them in their lives. Sometimes people have failed to be in church because they have something that we would call church hurt. Somebody at church hurt you. And because of that, well I'm not going back to church. I want to tell you that's not the right answer. Now I do believe that sometimes God moves people to a church that is serving God and doing things properly, but I do not believe that God's plan for anyone's life is to walk out the doors of a church and say, I'm never going back there. As for me and my house, My whole habit of life, first of all, it was started by my parents. I was born and raised into a Christian family, and by the time I came into this world, I was a three-time-a-week Christian. I was three times a week inside my mother's womb going to church. And let me tell you something, my mom believed in bringing me to church. And my parents brought me to church faithfully during my childhood. And that was something that I had to come to years and embrace for myself. Now there are other things to do on Sundays. How many of you know that there are other things to do on Sundays? We have a world out here. Every time I look out this window, there's probably right now in my very eyesight about 20 cars that are moving by over there. And I would hope that every single one of those people in those cars would come to the Metropolitan Baptist Church. I think they'd be better to be in church. Now maybe they went to their own church this morning, maybe they went earlier in the morning or whatever, but I'm here to tell you, nobody will come to church if their prerequisite to coming to church is that no one could have ever offended them. There's nobody who spent any time in church for any length of time who somebody didn't hurt their feelings, or somebody didn't, you know, recognize them for some manner of service. I try my very best to recognize common servants around our church. People who pick up tables and chairs. People who vacuum the floors. people who serve in the kitchen, people who clean up our bathrooms. I mean, our church is cleaned primarily by, well, I inherited a program where the church is cleaned by volunteer staff and thank the Lord for them. But that's not the only thing that we're supposed to be doing for the Lord around the church is to keep it clean. It's a testimony for the Lord if you have a facility that's well kept and updated. It's also a testimony to the Lord to be a part of some kind of a visitation or outreach ministry where you're trying to give other people the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank the Lord for families who are involved in that. And by the way, every church who doesn't get involved in doing these things will, at some point in the future, die. Unless you're actively winning people to the Lord and doing your best to get the gospel out, which is the very reason the church was left here, was to give, to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then that church is not going to survive. God uses families who remain faithful during, through unfulfilled dreams. Maybe today you're someone who's struggling with that bitterness. My life hasn't unfolded the way that I wanted it to. I'm here to tell you this next year could be a year of change for you. You say, how could it be a year of change? Well, if you come and you tell the Lord, Lord, I want you to use me in my life this year, I want you to help me, I want to give my life to you to serve you more than I've served you before, I want to be faithful and obedient to you, Lord, I guarantee you this, you won't be the same at the end of next year as you are now, because God will take you along a journey. And by the way, serving the Lord is very exciting. We need to remain steady to God through disappointments, and we need to choose to be faithful. This is the heart, the kind of heart that God honors. These folks were upright, they were sincere, and they were righteous. God uses families who serves when no one else sees. You know, one of the things that I find amongst people who sometimes serve for a short amount of time, and then quit, is that they were serving to get the attention of men. I should not perform my service to the Lord to be honored by men. I should serve the Lord quietly and to be honored by God. We want the honor of God, we want the blessing of God. If I serve the Lord with a hidden motive to be praised of men, then the rewards I would have received in heaven are going to be taken from me. Jesus said this in the Sermon on the Mount, and he was talking about people who prayed openly so that they could be heard of men. And Jesus said these words. They have their reward. They wanted to be heard of men, and they were. He said, when you do something good for someone else, when you do your alms, don't tell your right hand what your left hand is doing, so that basically you don't sound a trumpet before you when you do your alms or do something kind for other people. Jesus was very plain on these things, that if you do things to be seen of men, you already have your reward here. And I believe what that basically means is when we, as God's people, get to be, to our judgment, the judgment seat of Christ, and God takes our works, those things that were done for Him, and only Him, and He puts them to the test. He's going to put the fire to our works. And whatever comes out of that, if it was wood, hay, or stubble, It's going to burn up and you'll suffer loss. But if it was done with a proper heart and with a proper motive, the Lord is going to add those things to your crown so that you'll have something to cast before the Lord Jesus. All I'm here to tell you is that God honors families who serve when no one sees. Zacharias was all alone serving when the angel appeared to him. You know, God sees every quiet act of faithfulness. I want to encourage you during this time period of your life. Once you take God's word out when you get up in the morning. If you're like me, you like going to the coffee pot. I normally get me one cup of dark roast, black rifle coffee. I got a there you go. I was thinking I was going to get an amen or two. Normally when I preach on food or drink, I get compliments here in this church. But I get a cup of coffee and it's always good to get alone with God when you first get up in the morning. Take time to give God those quiet acts of obedience and of service. If you want God to speak to you this year, won't you open up your Bible when you get up in the morning and give God the first moments of your day? The Lord sees every prayer that's offered in private. Maybe you're somebody who today you've come to the Lord's house and you've not yet prayed since you've come here. The Bible says my house should be called the house of prayer. The Lord wants you to pray when you come to his house and maybe there's a prayer that you need to lift up to the Lord. Zacharias may have thought that he was going unnoticed while he was serving but God had seen all the years of faithfulness and he had determined in Zacharias' life to truly change this man's story during this particular year. You know, probably years that went by when it was his turn to burn the incense, it was just a quiet act of obedient service. But in this particular case, Gabriel, the very angel that stood before God, was dispatched to go and give him a message. And that message changed his life. The labor done without applause is always something that is seen before God. The Bible tells us in the book of 1 Corinthians that we're supposed to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And I do believe that you can be out of balance in your life. I've met servants who were burned out. They ran so hard and so fast and so long that they burned themselves out for running for the Lord. Every good God-honoring Christian needs times of rest and relaxation. Even Jesus had to withdraw himself from the crowd and had to get alone and had to have times of respite. What I'm saying is I've seen a whole lot more people who were stagnant because they were sitting on the sidelines than I have for those who ran so hard for the Lord. In fact, I've met a great many people who were, while they were sitting on the sidelines, they were either throwing stones or criticizing those who were running for the Lord. And I'll tell you, if I had to choose what kind of servant I would want to be, I would rather be somebody who was on the field, on the court, or on the track, than someone who was sitting on the sideline, casting stones and criticizing those who served and gave with all their heart. God uses family who prepare the way for others. In Zacharias and Elizabeth's life, their obedience to God brought a little child named John. And that little child was going to prepare the way of the Lord. Now, you see this in the story in Luke chapter number one, and we're not going to take time to read all of it, but basically the angel Gabriel said, you know, your prayer is heard, and God's going to give you a son. God's going to give you a child. And when in verse number 18, when Zacharias questioned this, he said, whereby shall I know this? For I'm an old man, and my wife is stricken in years. How am I going to know? I mean, he was past the time to have any children, and so was his wife. But God was going to do a miraculous thing here. Now, it was far more miraculous for the Virgin Mary to have Jesus Christ. But it was pretty miraculous for Zacharias and Elizabeth to have this child. During this situation, Gabriel struck this man with being mute. He couldn't speak. So when he came home that day, all the people knew that something had happened to Zacharias, and even his wife wasn't able to have a conversation with him, no doubt only through written messages that he gave to her. Later in the passage in Luke chapter number 1, the Bible says, after Elizabeth had John the Baptist, still, Zacharias was mute for days. You know, in the Jewish culture, they would circumcise the little boy on the eighth day. And you could read about this at the end of Luke chapter number one. The Bible talks about this in Luke chapter number one, and we'll begin our reading in verse number 57. Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered and brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and they called him Zacharias after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, not so, but he shall be called John. Now, Elizabeth wasn't in the room when Zacharias was confronted by Gabriel. Gabriel told Zacharias, you're going to name this boy John. Now he couldn't talk when he came out of there, so I have every confidence in my sanctified imagination that he had written what had happened to his wife and told her that we're naming this baby John. So when she had this baby, all of her cousins and her family, how many of you ever had a family member tell you what you should name your child? they had that going on in the Jewish culture too. There was probably cultural things that were going on there, but the Bible says that she said, no, we're naming him John. And then the Bible says in verse number 62, and they made signs to his father, how he would have called him. And he asked for a writing table and wrote, saying, his name is John. And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. And a bunch of people started fearing at this time. Listen, if you knew that there was a guy who had been mute for the last 10 months to 12 months, he couldn't speak. And all of a sudden, he writes down his name is John. They're all saying, wow, these two are in agreement. And dad couldn't even talk. All of a sudden, his mouth is loosed. And he begins to prophesy and to preach about who John the Baptist would be. Now one of the things that the scripture says, and we won't take time to read all of this, but he blessed God that day and there was fear on all the people. He blessed God and he began to prophesy about who John the Baptist was. Now listen, if you ever hear someone tell you that John the Baptist was an Old Testament prophet, you can turn that off because that's not true. Jesus himself said that the law and the prophets were until John. John started that new dispensation. Here's Luke talking about the story of Jesus Christ. Where does he start? The birth of John the Baptist. And what was John the Baptist's purpose? It was to prepare the way of the Lord and to make his path straight. He came six months before the Lord. He was born six months before Jesus Christ was born. And here's some of the prophecy that his dad said about him. In verse number 75, it says, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. The Bible speaks about how John grew and was in the deserts until the day that God brought him forth and, you know, basically announced him before Israel because he came out of the wilderness, you can read about it in Matthew chapter 3, he came out of that place preaching. Now, John was the forerunner of Jesus Christ. He was given to prepare his way. God always prepares the way before he sends revival. And in order so that Jesus Christ would have his way made straight, the crooked made plain, how many of you had to set some things in order this week? How many of you actually cooked? for your meal this week. How many of you cooked? Some of you cooked. How many of you, by raise of hand, didn't cook a thing for Thanksgiving? By the raise of hand, wow. There's a majority of people who didn't cook anything. Well, let me tell you about something that we had to do in order to get cooking. First of all, I had to learn some things. Every time, I only cook turkey about once a year. How many of you only cook turkey maybe a time or two? You know, I forgot about all the juice that was in the packet. My wife thought I was crazy. I put the turkey on my island, and I opened it up, and all that juice ran all over my middle island. Why did I do that? Because I'm still, I'm a rookie, folks, okay, when it comes to cooking turkeys. I had to prepare some things. You know, my son Jacob was called into work on Thanksgiving, and you know what I found out? I don't like preparing to cook without my helper. Jacob helps me get my smoker clean. And without Jacob there, everything that could have went wrong went wrong for me on Thanksgiving morning because I had no one to help me. What were we trying to do? You know, before I could put that turkey on the smoker, there was a lot of things that I had to do to prepare it in order to get it to the point where you could just get it on the smoker. Of course, I cook with charcoal. It takes a while for those to heat up. You know, it took me to get to find the grill cleaner, and I'm not even the one who found the grill cleaner. How many of you have ever purchased something and you never used it, and you were excited to use it, and it was misplaced the one time you got a chance to use it? Oh, it's the story of my life. Some of you aren't following me at all. You're just like, okay, you want to stand and bow for prayer now? You just want me to shut her down. What I'm trying to say is that in order to accomplish anything in life, it takes preparation. And God was preparing the way for His Son Jesus Christ to come to the world, and He used the family of John the Baptist in order to do it. When John the Baptist came on the scene, he came preaching. And I want to tell you something that all children of God have in common in this particular day and age. You should have a love for the preaching and the proclamation of God's Word. If you don't have it, if you sit in a preaching service and you're like, boy, this stinks. This is terrible. This guy's preaching God's Word. This is so boring. What can I say? You know, this is something that comes along with the salvation. When we get born again, we get a hunger for God's Word, for music, and for fellowship, and for doing the things of the Lord. Listen, you want to have that love for the preaching of God's Word, and it's not something you work up on your own. It comes with a new birth. God uses families who prepare the way for others. May we, as Zacharias and Elizabeth's family, may we lead our children towards Jesus Christ. May we make straight paths in our home. We need to make places and times in our home for God's word and for a reflection of it. You know, when we were raising our children, there were, maybe it wasn't every night, but there were nights we went upstairs when our children were sleeping in the upstairs in a place where we were living, and we would pray with them before they went to sleep. We wanted them to start their day with the Lord. We wanted them to end their day with the Lord. You know, let's, as God's people, let's lead our families towards the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a dark world out there. Don't let the cell phone and the tablet raise your children. You raise your children and have them raised around the house of God. Live in a way that points others to Jesus Christ. You know, as always in our home, our lives have been centered around the things that are going around the Word of God and around the house of God. It's our life, it's where we've planted down. It's where we've determined to sing our best song. It's where we're determined to give and support God's work. It's where we're determined to try to win people to the Lord and bring them to the place of worship. That's how we can influence other families for the things of the Lord. May our homes be places where we're preparing hearts for the children of God to be born. You know, our physical birth isn't the only birth you need. You need to be, you must be, according to Jesus, born again. God also uses families who boldly stand for truth in a dark world John the Baptist was fearless when he came in into the world Jesus basically declared that John the Baptist was no reed shaken in the wind. He didn't have fear of really anyone he just came out and he preached and preached the truth and he preached about people repenting and Repent for the kingdom of heaven was at hand and people to bring forth fruit meat for repentance You know, there's a change that will take place in your life when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ Today's families need moral courage and clarity and spiritual convictions There's a world that's out there who's confused about what the truth is, but God uses families who are not afraid to stand on truth In closing today. I want to ask you a question about your soul. You know, your soul is the most important thing that you have Inside of your body, there's a spirit and soul that the Bible declares will live on somewhere forever. If you died today, do you know for a fact that you're saved, that you're forgiven, and that you have a home in heaven with Christ? Some may say, well, let me think about that. Am I sure about that? Jesus said these words in John 3. He said, ye must be born again. Have you been born again? Say, Pastor, I'm not sure I know what that means. All that this means is that you've come to a place in your life when you recognize that you were lost without Christ. Say, I don't know that I've ever acknowledged that I was lost spiritually. Well, you can't get saved unless you acknowledge that you're lost. You know, there are many people today who say, I'm just not so sure I believe in heaven and hell. It's easy to believe about heaven. But to believe in a place called hell, well, the bad news is this, if you don't believe in a place called hell, you can't be saved. What did you get saved from? I mean, the penalty of sins and to be separated from God in eternity, that's a serious thing. Jesus said in order to avoid that, you must be born again. Not only do you need to recognize that you're lost and in need of a Savior, but that Jesus is the only way and that He came to save you. Those are recognitions of the soul, but truly the exhibition of faith when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, when we trust Him and believe what God's Word says, that He came to save us, that He died for our sins according to the Scripture, that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scripture. That is when someone is born again, when they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, one thing that this requires is humility. It requires humility for a man or a woman to acknowledge that they're lost. Do you realize that's a prerequisite for salvation? God never saved anyone who was standing in their pride. You say, well, I'm not that bad, or I didn't sin as bad as other people. I'm here to tell you that Jesus came to die for you, and He put your sins, no matter what they were, on His back. And the only way to be saved is for you to acknowledge, first of all, that you're lost and that you need a Savior. Maybe your family needs to make right decisions. Maybe you're starting your family. Or maybe you have things that God's spoken to you about today as you've been in church that you need to change in your life for the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to invite you today to make that decision. There's other people here today that you may be away from the Lord, or the Lord's been working on you to follow him in scriptural baptism, or whatever God's speaking to you about today. I want to invite you as we stand together Won't you decide to do what God is speaking to you about as we stand? Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed. We'll prepare for a verse of invitation. For those of you who haven't offered up any prayers to the Lord today, won't you take this time to pray? Some may need to ask the Lord for forgiveness. Others may need to ask the Lord to save them. Whatever it is that God's spoken to you about, In just a moment, we're going to play this song called, Lord, I'm Coming Home. If the Lord spoke to you, won't you come today? As we sing verse one. Won't you come today? Zacharias and Elizabeth had a home that honored God. God used them greatly. Won't you make that decision to honor the Lord? Pastor, I'm lost. Not sure I'm saved. Won't you come? The Lord's not willing that any should perish. He wants everyone to be saved. Nevermore to roam. Open wide thine arms of love. As we sing, I've wasted many precious years. Now I'm coming home. Won't you come today? I now repent. With bitter tears. Lord, I'm coming. Coming home, coming home. Never more to roam. Open wide thine arms of love. Lord, I'm coming home. Another verse. and straying, Lord. Now I'm coming home. I'll trust Thy love, believe Thy word. Lord, I'm coming home. Coming home, coming home, never more to roam. Hold then wide thine arms above. Lord, I'm coming home. And all the saints of God said Amen, it's been good to be in God's house today. If you're visiting with us, thank you for being here We pray that your hearts were challenged by the Lord's Word and we certainly wanted you make you feel friendly that we're a friendly church and welcome and we're thankful that you've chosen to come and worship with us today and The choir, please don't forget we're meeting tonight at 430 and we hope that you'll be here on time ready to go we've got only a few more weeks of practices and so we'll look forward to that and We'll see at 430 tonight and then we have 6 p.m. Services tonight as well. I We pray that we'll be able to see you back here at our services this evening at 6 p.m. And I do want to commend the church before we close for how much work and effort went into the homegoing service that we had for Sister Deborah. It's great to see Ronnie here today, but I know that a lot of people took comfort in the services that we had here on Tuesday. And for those of you who were not able to be here, we had not only an overfull crowd, but we had zero parking spaces left in our parking lot, and people were parking on the grass. I don't know if we had a particular count, but if we didn't have 350 to 375 in here, we had to put our own people in the choir on this side because there were so many people gathered in the back. We had to bring out chairs. And that is a testament to a life that was lived in service to the Lord. And Sister Deborah is severely missed here. And so you pray for the Stevens family and for all those who are grieving this time of the year. But we thank the Lord for her faithfulness, for how she left a mark here and in the lives of so many business professionals, her family. There are so many people from different walks of life who all came to pay respect to her last Tuesday. And we're very thankful for that. And I'm also thankful for everybody who was here to turn on the furnaces. and run the sound booth and run the stream so that other people who couldn't be here could see it. I had somebody in my life said that they had to watch that service twice this last week. And that's something that I've never been told that before, how the service was such a blessing to people. And so thank you for everybody who took time off work to be here. And everybody was such a blessing. All right, Brother Tim, if you would close the service in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for allowing us to be in your house today. Lord, we thank you for this message from your Word. And Lord, this time of year, Lord, I thank you for the many, many blessings, Lord, that you've given me and you've given each one of us. Lord, help us not to forget. The most important thing that you gave and that was your son to die for our sins Lord, we thank you so much for that lord. We thank you for our church We thank you for our visitors that are here Lord, we want to continue to lift up ronnie and his family lord bless them in a special way Lord bless each one of us as we go our ways bring us back tonight in jesus name. Amen