Word

This Christmas season we've been talking about How the Christmas story Portrays Jesus. A couple weeks ago, we said Jesus is king. That's part of the Christmas story. Last week, we talked about the fact that Jesus is the bread of life. We discussed that last week.

Today, we're going to talk about kind of an ethereal concept: that Jesus is the word. And then at the Christmas Eve services, we're going to talk about how Jesus is the Lamb. But I want you to go to John 1, if you would. John 1. And it's kind of interesting, it's written by the Apostle John.

The oldest fragment of the New Testament that we have. It's called Papyrus 52. It's a little fragment. It's of the Gospel of John. The interesting thing about this is that fragment dates back to just a few years after the death of John.

That's unheard of in antiquity. That you can have a document that close to the original. And I'm telling you that to tell you, you can trust the Word of God. I like John. Ah, kiss it.

You know where Mark is just kind of cut and dry? Give them the facts. John is kind of uh He's like the Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, of the Apostles. A little bit of a mystical, kind of a hippie type guy, whatever. John goes into some mystical.

ethereal things that brings Christianity to us in a powerful way. And John says in John chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God. And the word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. And without him, nothing was made. That was made.

Now look down at verse 14. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. I need you to focus with me this morning. I know it's cold outside, and we're thinking of mistletoe and holly and shopping and all that stuff. I want you to understand what John has just said to you.

Through that passage. Is Earth shattered? Let's go through this passage. First of all, John says, in the beginning, all right, now look. John has two audiences, okay?

He has an audience of Hebrew, Jewish people. And he has an audience of Greek people. Right now, John is speaking to his Jewish audience. When John says to a Jewish audience, In the beginning. Where is their mind going?

Back to Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so, right off the bat, John is connecting Jesus Christ with the creation of the universe in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. And now, for those of you who don't know the Bible, that will... You may be Researching Christianity, there are four biographies of Jesus in the Bible.

Mark wrote one of these biographies, and he says, I'm going to go back to the beginning. I'm going to go back to when Jesus is 30 years of age and Jesus starts his ministry. That's Mark. Matthew says I'm going to one-up you on that. I'm going to start from the very beginning.

I'm going to trace Jesus' genealogy all the way back to Abraham 2,000 years before. That's where I'm going to begin. Luke comes along and says, I'm going to one-up both of you. I'm going to go back 8,000 years in Jesus' genealogy to Adam. That's the beginning.

John says, I'm going to want all of you guys. I'm going to go back before time even began, and that's where my gospel is going to begin. And it's very interesting, there is no definite article V in John 1:1. It literally says this. In.

Beginning. was the word. What's the significance of that? Here's what I think John is saying. John is saying, hey, choose whatever beginning you want.

Jesus was there. Choose the creation of the earth. He was there. Choose 5 million years ago. He was there.

Choose 43 billion years ago. He was there. Wherever you start, Jesus was. He has no beginning. There is no in the beginning.

It's beginning because Jesus Christ was always there. He's always existed. And so in the beginning. Verse 1 was the word.

Okay, remember, John has just talked to his Jewish audience.

Now he's shifting over to his Greek audience. Because in Greek philosophy, there was a concept of the word or the here's the Greek word: logos. Here's what happened to the Greeks. They were acting very smart people. Greeks would look around and say, wait a second, this earth is not chaotic.

Sun comes up. Sun goes down day after day after day. Stars move in a predictable Path. Seasons come and go in a predictable path. The Greeks, I don't know if you know this, they were great at mathematics and they saw all kinds of mathematic patterns in creation.

And so the Greeks said: this is not chaotic. This is The universe is too orderly for it just to have come out of chaos. There must be a divine mind behind the scenes operating and orchestrating all of this. And John says, you are right. The Greeks call that mind the logos.

John says, you're right. That Logos came to earth In the form of a teeny tiny baby in Bethlehem, laid in a feeding trough, that Logos, that mind of God, has always existed, and Jesus Christ is that Logos. Does that make sense? All right. And so in the beginning was the word.

Look at verse 1. The word was with God. And the word was God. Let me hit a couple of things here. You know, we're Pentecostal.

You know, Pentecostal churches in the early days of Pentecostalism had to wrestle with a heresy called oneness. Did you ever heard of that? That Jesus is the Father, Jesus is the Son, Jesus is the Holy Spirit, it's just one. We don't believe that. We believe in one God, but there are three persons in that Godhead.

And with that preposition, it implies multiple people in that Godhead. Say, I can't just be with by myself. There's got to be somebody else. One God, three persons. That's what John is saying.

The word was with God. And then he says this, the Word was God.

Now look. I believe, and Jesus says this at the end of Luke. You go through the Old Testament. You can see echoes of Jesus. Embedded.

all over the Old Testament before he even came on the scene.

Now I'm going to give you one. And the jury is still out on this one. I'm glad Zach and Shelly have gone to the kids' area because they know Hebrew. And if I shared this, they'd be like, you're crazy.

So I might be crazy. This might not be totally correct, but here's an interesting concept. Jesus is embedded all over the Old Testament. Let me give you an example. Put this word up.

Anybody know what that word is? It's God's holy, unpronounceable name. We think it was pronounced Yahweh. Y, H, V, or W, H? Four letters.

Now, in Asiatic languages, it's not like our language, Asiatic languages, individual letters. can also have meanings or symbolism behind it, okay? Like the first Hebrew letter is Aleph, A. And if you look at the Hebrew letter A, it looks like the head of an ox. And so they call the Aleph ox.

The second letter in the Hebrew alphabet is Beth. And if you look at the way it's shaped, it looks like a little house. And so, beth, the second letter B, also symbolizes a house.

Now, remember the Hebrews write from right to left. That first little. Letter right there? It's called a Yod. And Yod means hand in Hebrew.

It symbolizes the hand because it kind of looks like a little hand like that. You see that? Hand. Second letter. Right here, again, right to left, is a hay.

Which has several meanings, but one of the meanings of the Hebrew letter hey is behold, or look. Let's look at this third one. One, two, the third one. Um, that's called Evolve. Envolve symbolizes and means, watch this, a hook.

a peg or a nail. And then it repeats that H again, the Hey, which means behold. You put this together, and embedded in the name of Yahweh is this phrase: Behold the hands, behold the nails. I'm convinced that even in the holy name of God, God is revealing the person of Jesus Christ. And so John is very open and unashamed.

No, Jesus is not just another good religion, he's not a teacher, he's not a prophet, he's not a life coach that kind of makes things better and gives you a sizzling marriage and gives you financial freedom. No, Jesus Christ is God in flesh. That's what John is saying right here. And um this doctrine Of the divinity of Jesus Christ. It's under attack.

I'm noticing a ramping up of this attack on this idea that Jesus is God. And I'm seeing it happen in two ways. Number one is pluralism. Pluralism is an attack on the doctrine of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Pluralism says all religions are basically the same with a little bit of nuance.

Jesus is just One more of a long line of founders of different religions. This is why I don't do interfaith gatherings with other religions. Not trying to be mean, not trying to be nasty, but I'm just trying to say: no, this isn't just a religion. We believe our founder is God. God in flesh.

But pluralism undercuts the divinity of Jesus. Let me give you an example of pluralism. Anybody ever seen this bumper sticker before? Coexist. I was going to make a snide remark about Subarus, but after my Snyder mark last week, I had several church members remind me that they drive subarus and they're big givers.

So I'm not going to make fun of. I was going to say this bumper sticker is probably on a Subaru riding around Asheville, but I'm not going to say that now because we've got a lot of givers to drive Subarus. But have y'all seen this before?

So, I want you to keep this up there. This whole coexistence, this is an example of pluralism. The sea. Represents the crescent moon of Islam. The O is the peace symbol of pacifism.

The E is the whole gender equality, LGBT gender stuff. That's what the E is. The X is the Star of David of Judaism. The I is the wicker Pagan Baha'i thing. The S is Taoism or Confucian.

And of course the T is the cross of Christianity. Coexisting doesn't work. Why does the Kozix thing not work?

Well, for starters, C wants to kill E, X, and T, so that's a problem, at least if you take the Quran literally. If C achieved the world it wanted, I and S would also no longer exist. O thinks it's wrong to resist C. E stands in direct opposition to traditional C, X, and T and accuses those who speak against E of hate speech. It's actually the most intolerant one up there.

X's very existence is threatened not only by C, but also by O, because O invariably supports C over X. INS are statistically insignificant. They're just up there to complete the bumper, okay? And. T is who the bumper sticker is really arguing against.

But it poses no physical threat to the others. Historically, true biblical T has brought about more tolerance or coexistence than any of the other movements on the bumper sticker, and yet that's the thing that T, this coexistence is really targeting T, wants T marginalized.

So you don't understand. Let's be nice to all religions. Don't be nasty, don't be nasty. Don't compromise. He's not just a founder.

He's not just a prophet. John says right there, he's God. And pluralism is trying to undercut the divinity of Jesus. And a second way that pluralism, or pardon me, the second way that the divinity of Jesus Christ is being undercut is through outright heresy. Let me give you an example.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe Jesus is fully God. They believe he's a created being, they believe he is actually the archangel Michael. And so, when they come to your door with a green Bible saying we're basically saying the same thing, but we're a little different, no. They read John 1:1, not saying, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Here's what their Bible says: and the word was.

A God. Little A Liturgy.

Now, how many of y'all have had Jehovah's Witness comes to your door, and if you talk to them, they'll say that. If you say to them, I couldn't be a Jehovah's Witness because y'all don't believe Jesus is God. We'll say, no, we don't believe he's God. And you say, well, what about John 1.1? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with God, and the Word was God.

They'll always say the same thing.

Well, that's not what the original Greek says. And when they say that to me, I say, oh. I thought the original Greek said, inrke, heinho logos, kaihulogos, hein proston, theon, kaitheos, hein ho logos. Because that's what the original Greek says. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

And then John doesn't just let that hang out there. John says, if that makes you a little uncomfortable, Let me go a little bit further. He says all three things verse three were made through Him. And without him, nothing was made that was made. Let me stop you right here.

Because we used the word carpenter. And we kind of glamorize that. Jesus wasn't a carpenter. If you look at the Greek word, he was a tecton. Here's what it means: Jesus Christ was a blue-collar construction worker.

Here's what John just said. That 5'11 blue-collar construction worker that we knew and had dinner with and hung out with and camped out with for the last three and a half years, that was the one who created everything. That little baby, and you look at this baby, this is a wrinkled, pudgy little baby. laying in a feeding trough in a barn in Bethlehem. That was the one through whom God created.

Everything. Does that blow your mind like it blows my mind? Through him all things were made. Paul basically says the same thing in Colossians 1:16. He says, For him, pardon me, for by him all things were created.

How many things? All things were created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. Jesus Christ.

Now you ask the secular scientist How was all things made? Who made all things? Here's what they'll tell you. RANDOMNESS It just came about. Because everybody knows the logic of nothing plus nothing equals everything, right?

It's randomness. The Wistar Institute, prestigious Institute. Years ago, brought together 50 of the top scientists. and mathematicians in the world together. And the Wiss Star Institute asked them this question: If given enough time, can natural processes be responsible for animate life?

These 50 top scientists worked on that question for weeks. And when they were done, they issued this concluding statement. Based on our understanding of the laws of chemistry and physics, and what we know about mathematical randomness, there is no way the complexity of life could have just come about. They added that for randomness to be responsible for life, it is a mathematical impossibility. No matter how old you think the universe is, there just isn't enough time according to current models.

Okay, Mr. Secularist? If everything did not come about through randomness, How did it come about? John answered, you're right there through Jesus. Yeah.

For years We were taught The smallest thing, building block, of matter that you can break anything down to are atoms. Take this thing down, keep reducing it. When you get it, the smallest, the building block there was atoms. Everything was built on atoms. And so that was it for years.

Then we pop the top off of the atoms through science. And we looked. and we found subatomic particles. like protons and electrons.

So when I was coming along, I was taught the smallest thing that you can break everything down to was the electron. That's the smallest thing. Matter is built on electrons. Um John says Tom says something totally different. Again, he goes back to the word, and it's interesting.

Word logos can mean logic. It can also mean sound. It can also mean voice, because your voice is a manifestation of that logos.

Okay. I was talking with the electrons, they are the smallest thing. And when they pop the top off of electrons, They found what they call fundamental particles. Things like A quarks. and leptons And so I remember when scientists says, okay, now we've come to the realization, everything is built on things like quarks.

And leptons, that are the fundamental particles that are out there.

Well, then they pop the top off of those things. And now what scientists are saying. Is everything in the universe, the building block of everything, is what they call, quote, vibrating strings of energy. What do you call something that vibrates?

Sound. Scientists are now saying the entire universe is built on sound. And God said, Let there be light. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. Isn't it great when science finally catches up to the Bible?

Hey, when the scientist validates the Bible, it doesn't give me more confidence in the Bible. It just gives me a little bit more confidence in that scientist, okay? And John is saying everything in the universe is built on the word, the sound, the logos, Jesus Christ. He said, Jad, that's great. And thank you for the science lesson.

And wonderful. How does this apply to me?

Okay. I want you to skip down to verse 14. And John says something amazing. He said, and the word. This logos.

This mind of God that has always existed. Um this this um This being through which everything was made, that Logos became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Here's what he's saying. After going through several hours of labor, This little teenage peasant girl. pushed out from her womb.

The Word of God that became flesh. It's pretty astounding. But there's something else here. If you're into underlining your Bibles, I want you to underline in verse 14 two words. Um you say that word dwelt, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Greek language that that was written in. That word dwelt has as its root the word tent or tabernacle. Literally, the word pitched his tent or the word Tabernacled among us. That's what the word dwelt literally means. And that word glory, do you see that?

The Greek word is doxa. The Hebrew word is shekinah. Where else in the Bible do we see tabernacle? and glory Tabernacle and Shekinah coming together. You see it in Exodus chapter 40, where several million Jews are wandering through the desert and they build a special tent or tabernacle where God's presence dwells.

And it says in Exodus 40, 34, then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested on it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And if you read this, God's people, several million Jews, are scared out of their mind when they see the glory of God come to that tabernacle. Do you see what John is saying?

The same glory of God. 1,400 years before in the Old Testament, that was so powerful and so amazing that when it came down on the tabernacle, people ran in terror. That same glory was at his mama's breast nursing Christmas night. You said, Chad, wait a second. It's pretty audacious.

You tell me the word that created all things was embodied in Jesus? Yes. You telling me the tabernacle glory that made Jews in the desert scared was embodied in Jesus. Yes, that's pretty audacious. Wait, I'm not finished.

Do you know where that word now dwells? Over and over and over in the New Testament, the Christian life is described this way. Christ In you. Yes, four. The moment you get saved.

Islam can't offer this, Buddhism can't offer this, Judaism can't offer this. The moment you get saved, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the founder of your religion, literally comes to take up residence inside of you. That's where the Logos now exists. In fact, the Apostle Paul says this. He said, You want me to describe the Christian life to you?

Very simple. He says, here's the Christian life, Colossians 1:27. The Christian life is simply this. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's it, right there.

I'm saying to you. That the word that created everything, the logos that has always existed, the Shekinah glory of God. I can give you multiple scriptures that say this.

Now it is in you, if you're a born-again believer and you belong to Jesus Christ. I could give you 20 things that ought to produce in your life. I'm just going to give you two right now. When you understand. That the Logos of John 1 Are y'all following my logic?

Have I lost you yet? Are you still with me? Am I the only one to get excited? I'm on my second energy drink, so I'm a little excited. I haven't lost you, right?

When I understand The divine logos of John 1.

Now resides in me. It gives me hope. That's what Paul just said right there. Christ in you, the what? Hope of glory.

Hope of glory means eternal life. It means that's not, this isn't all there is. The best is yet to come. It may be tough now. You may be heartbroken now.

You may be going through a tough time now. Christ in you, the hope of glory, means it's going to get better. The God who came to live in you, when you die, is going to bring you home to be with Him in the heavenly tabernacle forever. And brother, when you don't have hope, you have nothing. Um Again, there's a reason why the Barnet people are saying we have.

Or Gallup is the Gallup people. We've been measuring depression for decades. We've never seen this much depression ever! in America.

Well, I believe it's because we lost hope. When you've lost hope, you've lost everything. Tim Keller says we are hope-driven beings. Without hope, We have nothing. He gave this, I love this analogy.

He said, Imagine you have two ladies on an assembly line. This lady's working on this assembly line, that lady's working on that assembly line, and the boss says, Now, here, I'm hiring you. What's going to happen is item A is going to come down the line. You put item A. End item B and you send it back down the line.

Item A. into item B, send it back down the line. Eight. hours a day Sick to five days a week. And tell the first lady: if you do that at the end of the year, I'm paying you $30,000.

You tell the second lady. Don't tell her. But you keep doing this, at the end of the year, I'm paying you $30 million. Do you think the fundamental attitude of those two ladies is going to be different? First lady's gonna be complaining.

My feet hurt. Why am I doing this? This is boring. Second lady that you just promised $30 million at the end of the year, you couldn't fire her if you tried. She's like, bring it on.

I don't care because I know if I can hang in here at the end of the year, I'm getting $30 million. Why is her attitude different? Why is she joyful when this person's miserable? Why does this person have excitement when this person is in drudgery? It's because she has hope.

And if I thought all there was to this world was this, I'd be the most miserable person in the world. Because I got Christ in me? The hope of glory? It gonna get better one day. I've got a home waiting for me.

The logos of God lives in me, and one day He's taking me home, and that gives me hope, church. Again, I could give you a lot of other things that this produces, but the second. The word That was made flesh. that now lives in me. It lives in you.

Man That gives me boldness. That gives me confidence. I mean Look, I've told you this before. The closer we get to the second coming of Jesus. The more demonic it's getting out there.

Isn't it interesting that even secular people like Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan are all starting to talk about the reality of the demonic as well? Even the secular world recognizes this. I think what's happening is Satan knows his time is short, and like a cornered animal, he's just starting to lash out. We're seeing this, our prayer team. It says, we have never seen more demonic issues that we're having to pray over than we're seeing right now.

I was reading a famous psychiatrist in Manhattan that's not even a born-again evangelical believer. He says, What I'm now facing in my clinic. I can only describe it as one way. It's demonic. There's something weird going on.

We had to deal with a lady this past week, the leadership team. I saw some of the stuff that she was saying, I was like, This ain't right. There's something weird. This is more than an irritant. There's something weird going on.

Did some research, and she's into crystals and charms and spells and herbs and all that. I was like, aha, there we go. I knew it. It's demonic. Now that freaks some of y'all out, demons.

We're gonna do the demons. What about he who is in you is greater than he who is in this world? What about that that you do not understand? You've got the logos of God. You've got the word of God.

You've got the one who created all things living inside of you. And you're scared of a little demon? You're scared of losing your job? You're scared of losing your finances? Hey, that God of the universe lives in me through the person of Jesus Christ by His Holy Spirit.

That ought to give you a little bit of divine cockiness. You ought to. Throw your shoulders back. Lift up your head. Be bold and strong and confident because Jesus lives in you.

I was um I wish I wish. This is gonna sound weird. I wish for about two seconds you could take off your physical lines. And put on your spiritual eyes. and see you the way Satan sees you.

It'll change the way you live your life. Charles Kraft was a professor. at Fuller Theological Seminary. And one of the things he liked to do was interview people who came out of the occult. Witchcraft.

and came into Christianity. He said, I was interviewing one lady that had gotten saved out of witchcraft. She'd been deep into the occult. And Professor Kraft said, while serving Satan, She said she had the ability to see the amount of spiritual power. people carry with them.

According to this former witch, Every person carries a certain amount of spiritual power. But the difference in power between Christians And non-Christians, she said, is amazing. Indeed, she said, as a witch, I could immediately spot a Christian in any group, even at a great distance, by noting the amount of spiritual power that person carried. She said, now that I'm saved, I know that that's... That's the presence of the Holy Spirit in that believer.

She remarked, though, that when she was a witch, she and her occult group felt no threat from most Christians. Because the Christians had no idea. how much power they had. Though that power, that is the Holy Spirit, afforded them much protection from evil, they did not know how to use the Holy Spirit's power to go on the offensive. But then she said this.

The occult Rich coven discovered That some Christians did know how to use their power. And she said, the servants of Satan learn to steer clear of those Christians because they could be a threat. Fortune tellers, occultic healers, and others working under the power of Satan discover that their power does not work well when Christians like that are in the room. Ain't it sad that Satan understands the power that lives in you more than we understand that power? Yes, the word created all things.

Yes, the word has always existed. Yes, the word showed up. In that tabernacle in the desert with the Shekinah glory of God. Yes, I believe all that. I'm sure it doesn't end there.

That word now lives in you. And when you die, that word is taking you home to your heavenly tabernacle where you'll be with the Lord forever and ever and ever. Do you believe that, church? No. Stand with me right now.

And so Let me ask you something. You believe that word that created all things. You think he's more powerful than cancer? Yes or no? That's so Is he more powerful than depression?

Yes or no? Is he more powerful than that demon that's got your kid or grandkid all turned upside down and blinded their eyes? Is the word of God living in you more powerful than that? You believe that he is in this place right now? He is here.

He is here. So here's what I want us to do. Here's how I want us to close. If you need not just a natural touch of God, natural touch of God is something you can handle on your own. I can do it.

If you need a supernatural touch of the power of God. Follow my instructions because nobody followed it first service, okay? Follow my instructions. If that's you. You need a supernatural touch from God.

Are you listening to me? In just a moment, when we start singing, come and stand right down front here.

Okay. And we're going to keep singing. Don't complain that it's loud because we're going to keep singing, okay? And then with the music Kind of goes down. Uh We're going to have our prayer team.

We're going to have our elders and deacons. and pastors. Come and simply lay hands on you and start praying. And I just believe we're going to see that supernatural power of God that we've just read about in John 1. We're going to see that power released in your situation.

And then after a few moments, I'll close us out in a word of prayer. But does that make sense? We're gonna just start singing And as we start singing, if you need a supernatural touch from God, come stand right here. And if you're an elder, deacon, Pastor, member of the prayer team, come, and that's all though I want praying for these people, okay? When I don't relegate it to just the elders, deacons, pastors, and prayer team, get a lot of weirdos down.

It's just that team, okay? And we're going to pray. We're going to see God move. And we're going to sing a song. See, I have a problem with how we sing and we don't even know what we're singing.

Uh The same God I just read about right there. It's not a different God. That same God is going to show up, right? He's not a different God. It's the same God that's going to show up down front.

So lift your hands and lift your voice and let's start singing to the Lord. And if you need a supernatural touch from God, come right now and stand right down front here. Let's sing this. Jesus. Oh, God, my God, I need you.

Oh, God, my God, I need you now. How I need you now. Oh, rock or rock of ages. I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness. And you were providing then.

You are providing now. You are the same God. You are the same God. You moved in power then. God moved in power now.

You are the same God. You are the same God. You are a healer then. You are a healer now. You are the same God.

You are the same God. Deacons, pastors, prayer team. Begin praying for these brothers and sisters right now that need a supernatural touch from God. Just right now, begin to pray. I'm a little bit shorthanded, and so I'll.

Open this up a little bit. If you're a small group leader, I'll let you come and pray for some folks as well because we've got a lot of people that need prayer right now. Just come and start praying for our brothers and sisters who need a supernatural touch from God. And as You're being prayed for. I'm going to dismiss everybody else and listen to me.

When I say amen, just slip out quietly because God's doing, I'm just telling you, I wish you could stand right here. The supernatural power of God is, He's doing something right now.

So, when I say amen, go and slip out quietly. Y'all do not leave until you've been prayed for. The word is here. The Logos is here. The Holy Ghost is here.

He's moving and He's touching. The rest of you, raise your hands and receive this Hebrew blessing from the Lord. Chazach, Behamatz. I'll tell you all the hit. He emecha adonai and lehecha beho a shetelai.

Which is Hebrew for church, big bold. Be strong. Don't be afraid and don't be terrified of anything. Why? Because the Lord your God is going to be with you everywhere you go this week in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

You're dismissed if you need to go down front. Y'all stay right here. Sit right here. I need some small groups. I need some folks down here just praying for the people right down here.

Come, come, come, come, come.