A Joyous Journey

[00:00:01] Speaker A: Thanks for tuning in to the Met church podcast. Here at the Met, we are all about connecting people to God and one another. If you have any questions or want more information about what's happening here at the church, then head to our [email protected], we would love to stay connected with you throughout the week through social media, so be sure to connect with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Now enjoy the message. [00:00:24] Speaker B: You know, life is a series of challenges. Life is a metaphor. One of the. Probably the most popular metaphors to describe life. It's a journey. It is a journey. It's an adventure. I mean, it really is. You never know. You never know. The twists and turns of life. All the vicissitudes that you and I face in life. Ups and downs and the blind curves and the blowouts that we have and the challenges that we deal with every day. Life really is a journey. It's like traveling. And many of you will travel over the holidays. Which brings up this question. Who do you think are better drivers? Do you think men or women are better drivers? I'm just curious. How many, what? Men or women? What do you think? Yeah, me, too. I agree with you. Here's the thing I'll say in defense of men. We men seldom like to ask directions, right? Because we feel like even if we're not sure we're going the right way, but if we think we're making good time, we hate to stop. Because men, when we have to stop, you know what? The first thought we have, everybody we just passed, is going to get in front of us again. Women, you don't understand that, but that's a thing to men. We really do. We really do. And women, I know when Cindy and I, we'd take these road trips with the kids, she would want me to drive. And so I liked it. It kind of passes the time away. But her job on her side of the car was to control the radio and the temperature. So it's a lot of Barry Manilow and a lot of that sort of thing and a lot of heat that would come into the car. She liked to keep. I used to joke with her about eating a can of easy off, you know, the oven cleaner just to keep the windshield clean. That thing was toasty. But life really is a journey. Whether you are in control of all of the journey or you're not in control of all the journey, here's what I would tell you. At some point in the journey called life, you will encounter God. At some point, he's going to make himself known to you. Now, God speaks to people in different ways. Sometimes it's through a sermon. Sometimes you'll invite someone to church. That's why we encourage you to bring somebody with you for one of the Christmas Eve services. They may not go any other time of the year. It's a great opportunity. And maybe something that might be said through a sermon might speak to their heart. There's some of you guys in here this morning who would say, I remember a sermon that was preached or taught by someone that impacted my life. God will speak through a sermon. Sometimes it's a song. I've actually heard people say, I was listening to this song and it hit me at a time in my life. It was so powerful and meaningful. And I know sometimes God will speak through a song. Sometimes God will speak through sickness. I've had people who say, I don't know that I would have ever looked up had I not hit the bottom. And when my health broke or the health of my loved one broke, all of a sudden we recognize for the first time our need for God. Sometimes God will speak to you through sickness, sometimes through sorrow. Sometimes it's the loss of someone or the loss of something, maybe the loss of a relationship. And all of a sudden, you recognize, I need God. And there is a God. He's available and accessible. What's my point? My point is, we're journeying down this road called life. Whether we're in control of all of it or we're not. Whether we're in the driver's seat or not, at some point in life, you and I will encounter God. And the most important decision. Listen, the most important decision you will ever make is, what am I going to do with him? What do I do with God when I encounter him, I have a choice. I can receive him or I can reject him. Because here's where you cannot remain when it comes to God. You cannot remain indifferent toward him. You can't stay on the fence. Jesus said, if you're not with me, you're against me. If you're not gathering with me, you're scattering abroad. When Paul was talking about doctrine in two Timothy, chapter four, and verse four, he said this. He said, when people turn to bad doctrine, things that aren't biblical, when they turn, he said, the danger they have in. And here's the phrase, in being turned, they will be turned. One is voluntary. One is involuntary. Now, the principle of that is, when you and I voluntarily turn our way away from God, we run the risk of being turned away by God. In other words. Willful rejection of Jesus can lead to judicial rejection by Jesus. When you encounter God, if you willfully turn from him, you run the chance. You may not get another chance to choose for him. You may not. Genesis five. He said, my spirit will not always strive with a man, meaning the holy spirit of God will not always deal with us. It is possible to reject Jesus so many times on this journey of life that he no longer troubles us or bothers us about our soul. He just moves away. That willful rejection of Christ becomes judicial rejection by Christ. And ultimately he gives us what we say we want, and that's no relationship with him. You study the gospel of John, and many times in the gospel of John, you hear jesus say, they will not come to me. They will not come to me. Listen to the way he phrases that they will, that will, will not, will not. You have a will. You have an ability to choose. And Jesus was saying, they will not come to me. And it isn't long until about John eight, you hear him say, they cannot come to me. Wow, what happened? The willful rejection of Jesus can lead to judicial rejection by Jesus. That's why he said, now is the accepted time. Today is a day of salvation. That's why you say, well, I'm not going to side this morning. I'm at church. We're rolling into the Christmas season. I have time. First of all, you don't know that you do. I mean, in proverbs 27 one, he said, don't boast about tomorrow. You don't know what today may bring forth. We really don't. The only time you and I are promised is right now, here and now again. That's why he says, now is the accepted time. Today is a day of salvation. So I would suggest to your heart that on this road of life and on this journey that you and I are on, at some point when you encounter God and he calls on you to make a decision about him, receive him in that moment, accept him. And in the Christmas story, there's a beautiful story of these men who were on a journey, intellectual, theological, they were trying to put things together. They were highly intelligent and very educated men. And on that journey for knowledge, and on that journey to put it together, and on that journey they were on to find meaning and fulfillment. God appeared to them and revealed himself to them. And in the story, as we're going to share with you this morning, they came to him and ultimately worshipped him. Of course, if you're already tracking with me, you know, it's a story of the wise men, the Magi. Now, historically, we say there were three, so don't mess up your nativity scene. There might have been more. It's okay. Three is good. And traditionally, we say three because of the gifts that they brought. Gold, frankincense, myrrh. The significance of those gifts I'll share with you in a little while. So we assume that because there were three gifts, there were three wise guys, but there probably could have been more, maybe five. I don't know. But we do know they were Chaldeans. They were from the land of Babylon. And we do know that not only were they educated men, but they were also theologians. And we know that because they understood the significance of a star. If you read Balam's oracle in numbers 24, in Balam's oracle, Balam prophesied about a star in the east that would signify the coming of the Messiah, who would judge the world in righteousness and in judgment. Well, how did they know to watch for a star? And how did they know to recognize the significance of the star if they hadn't studied the scriptures? Revelation 20 216 says, jesus is the bright and the morning Star. So these men who were Chaldeans and they were men who were men of theology, had obviously studied the scripture. You say, well, how did the gospel, how did the scriptures reach Babylon? Well, you remember back 500 years prior to the coming of Christ, you had King Nebuchadnezzar, who took Israel into babylonian captivity. You remember that story? So they brought the Jews into captivity. And when you read the book of Ezra, Ezra said, when they were finally set free and the Jews were allowed to go back into their homeland, at that point, many of them decided not to go. Many of those jewish people stayed in Babylon, which is the ancient country today of Iraq, Persia, Iran. And so we know there was a group of people in that region of the world who knew about God, who had many of the Old Testament scriptures, who loved God. And as far as we know, they were even free to worship God. So we assume from all of those facts that the Magi, these Chaldeans, these men of science, were also men of theology. They knew maybe a lot about God, but they didn't know God. And can I tell you, that happens today. There are people who know a lot about God that don't know him. You can have an intellectual acceptance of who God is without having a personal relationship with him. That's why a lot of religious people won't make it to heaven, because they know a lot about him, but they don't know him. It's more than just having information, it's having the relationship with him. You can know a lot about another person without knowing that person. You name a celebrity. I know a lot about this celebrity. Do you know them? No, I don't know them, but I know a lot about them. You see the difference? And these Chaldeans, these stargazers, these intelligent, wise men, they were learning more and more and more about God, but they really, at this point in their journey, they didn't know him. So look at Matthew, chapter two, and let me share this narrative, and then hit two or three thoughts and cut you loose. The Bible says in verse one, jesus was born, note, in Bethlehem and Judea during the time of King Herod. And the Magi came from the east to Jerusalem. And when they arrived, they said, where is he who has been born? Or where is he who has been born king of the Jews? And let me stop long enough to catch the significance of that. They didn't ask, where is he who's born? Who will be the king, who ultimately will be the king of the Jews? He didn't say, where is he who is born that one day will become king. Did you get the phrasing of that? Where is he who was born king? Jesus was king in his birth. He was born into this world as a king. And the Magi caught that. Where is he? They ask, who has been? We have note now seen his star in the east, and we've come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all of Jerusalem with him. Now, when you encounter Christ on this journey called life, I said a moment ago, you're going to have a response to it. Now, the wise men responded by being open to receive him. And I talk to people every weekend that are very open. I know people. I have people in our circle, and I know there's people who come to this church. I know them personally, who are open to receiving, but they haven't yet received him. They're on their way. They're moving toward Christ. They haven't yet made the commitment to trust Christ. They're like the wise men. They're theological, they're smart. They're moving in that direction. They haven't rejected him. They're open to receive him, but they have not yet made that decision. And that's the most of people. Most of people are there. But the second group is illustrated in Herod, where they violently reject him. Now, as we'll see in the narrative eventually, when Herod is certain that Jesus had been born. Born king. He felt threatened. He didn't want another king. He's king. Nobody's going to rule over me. I rule over myself. I'm in control of me. I don't want to yield anyone, especially God. And Herod. His job under Caesar, his job under Caesar was to keep peace among the jewish people, especially in that region of the world. So if he thinks there's somebody else born now, that's going to be a threat to his leadership, he's got to put that down. That could lead to rebellion among the Jews, that could lead to insurrection against the roman empire. And the first person that will go, Caesar, will kill Herod. He knows that. So he has a lot of reasons for not wanting to embrace the news of the Magi, that there has been one now born king, and he has been prophesied, all the old testament prophesied, said one day he would be here. He's here now. Again, Herod was familiar with the prophecies. He was not a believer at all. In fact, we'll read a little later in the story where you'll understand that when the wise men do not reveal the location of the Christ child, Herod has every hebrew male baby under two years of age put to death. He is so vehemently, angrily rejecting Jesus that he calls for the slaughter. Can you imagine of all of those little hebrew boys under two years of age, he was trying to kill Jesus? Now, I know of people again this morning who don't just passively reject Jesus, they aggressively and even angrily reject him. You see them on television from time to time, and they almost just. It's just an anger that comes out of them. When you even bring up Jesus or you say you're a Christian, they're just not thinking you're crazy. They want to take you out. Well, there are people that's not unique to our age. Herod was right in there. And then there's a third group. Like I said, all of Israel were troubled. There are people that are just troubled by this. Jesus has always been in the business of kind of troubling people. He has the power to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. And so here he is. The news of Jesus is creating this turmoil in Jerusalem again. And if you look with me in verse four, when he had called together the chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them, where is Christ to be born? He's looking for the historical, the prophecies of the prophets. And they quote in Bethlehem and Judea, for this is what the prophet has written you, Bethlehem and the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. Out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people, Israel. I mean, they're quoting scripture to Herod. They're saying, no, what these men have said and what they are saying is right out of the words of the prophets. So, verse eight, he sent them to Bethlehem and says, go and make a careful search for the child. And as soon as you find him, report to me, I guess, so that I may go and worship him. I don't think so. And after they heard the king, they went on their way. And the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them, stopped over the place where the note now where the child was. Again, don't mess with your nativity here. But Jesus was not a baby here when the wise men arrived. He's not called a baby in a manger. He's called a child. And many scholars believe he may have been two years of age by the time they arrive. Now, when the star appears from their journey from Babylon down to Jerusalem, that journey was probably on camel more than a couple of months. Now, I have ridden a camel. I don't know if you've had that experience. It is not the way to travel. You don't want to travel by camel. But that was kind of common back then. So it would have taken him a couple of months riding a camel to get here. So it's been a while. So notice now, Jesus is no longer called a baby. He's called a child. And not only is he called a child, but the Bible goes on to say verse ten. And when they saw the star, they overjoyed. And notice verse eleven on coming to the house, notice it's not the manger, it's the house. Now, again, don't mess up your nativity, but you keep it all in that in place. But just get the timeline in your mind that this is a while after the baby. They leave the manger, they secure a home, and life is happening. The baby is growing, and the wise men appear. And notice it. Now, they saw the child with his mother, Mary. And notice what they did. What was their response to seeing Jesus? They bowed down and worshiped him. And you can love without giving, but you can give rather without loving. But you cannot love without giving. And one of the things they did is they opened their treasures and presented him gifts of gold. Gold represented deity. They gave him incense or frankincense that represented his purity. And they gave him myrrh a strange gift to give a baby because that was a burial spice, but it represented his death, and those men worshipped him. And when I read this narrative, as I thought about just sharing a few thoughts with you this morning, before we go, three things really struck me that you will encounter, and I will encounter on this journey, this road of life, when we meet God. First of all, they encountered a great providence. A great providence. The Bible says in verse two, a star appeared. Isn't it interesting that God spoke to these men in a language they could understand? They were stargazers. Do you know, when God shows up in your life, he will speak to you in a language you can understand. He'll speak to you in a way that you can comprehend. We talk about how he doesn't put the cookies on the top shelf. He always puts them down there where we can reach them. He speaks to us in a way that we can understand. And so when he appears to these men, he appears to them in the star. He appears to them in the sky, in the heavens. They had been studying this. And God is a God of providence. He's a God that sees ahead and plans ahead. Now, I don't have that ability, and neither do you. We live life a day at a time, a frame at a time. I can't see ahead. I only see this moment that I'm living in. That's why it's foolish to presume upon a lot of things in life, because we don't know what life has in store for us. That's why even in proverbs 27, verse one, he said, don't boast about tomorrow. You don't know what a day may bring forth. And so I'm suggesting the only one that has the ability to see ahead is God. Providence means to see ahead. The word providence comes from two words, pro. Video. Pro is forward. Ahead. Video is to see. So Providence means God sees ahead. That's why you can trust him to be your guide. You can trust him to be your guard. You can trust him for everything you need, because he's the only one that sees ahead in your life. He's the only one that can be trusted. So stay with him and stay close to him and listen to him, because he's a God of providence. And these men were finding in their journey toward God, God was speaking providentially to them. So the first thing you see is what I'm calling a great providence. The second thing you see in verse nine is, you see a great provision. The star moved, but it moved as they followed it. Now the star appears. That's one thing. But the star doesn't move until they begin to follow the star. Now, let me give you a principle to think about. When God gives a person light, if the person is faithful and true to the light God has given them, he will give them increased light. In John one nine, the scriptures say he is the light. He's the light that lights everyone who comes into the world. Now, that doesn't mean there's a spark of divinity within everyone, and that if you fan the flame of divinity, you become a Christian by a process of evolution. It's not evolution. The Bible says it's a revolution. If anyone be in Christ, he's a new creation, a new creature. What is being taught in John one nine is there is a knowledge of God. There is an awareness of the creator within the heart of every human being born in this world. And if a person is true to the light God has given them, he will give them increased light to the point that I think he would wreck a plane and drop a missionary on top of someone true to the light God has given them. The danger is, I go back to what I mentioned a moment ago. The danger is, if you turn from the light you've been given, you run the risk that you will not get increased light. You run the risk that God will not reveal himself to you a second time. So these men, as they pursued the star and followed the star, the star continued to move, meaning God was drawing them. He was drawing them toward Jesus. He was moving them in the direction of Jesus. Can I again make a practical application and say, have you ever thought about your life, that the circumstances you go through in life, God may be working in and through those circumstances to move you toward Jesus? The heartaches and the heartbreaks might be things that God has not necessarily caused, but allowed to happen, to move you toward Jesus. Sometimes it takes a difficulty. David said this in the psalms. He says that he praises God for the afflictions that he's gone through, because he would not have learned from God had he not gone through the affliction. Sometimes it's the difficulties in life. I don't know about you, but I pray more when I'm feeling pressure. I press into God a little more when I'm under the gun. Do you? I tend to hunger for God in a greater way when I'm thirsty for something that I cannot find within myself. So I'm saying God is at work in the lives of people, and all the plan of God is ultimately is to bring you to him. And God will work in all the ups and downs and the ins and outs. Someone said, God will whisper to us in our pleasure and he will shout to us in our pain. And God was moving these wise men through a series of circumstances. He was moving them to the manger, he was moving them to the house. He was moving them to the Lord Jesus. He was working in and through their life. Another thing that struck me when I was reading this is that even though they were pursuing God, they ended up going to the wrong place. What's that old song? Looking for love in all the wrong places. Where'd they go? They went to the palace. Herod? Why? Well, they're assuming if he's born, king must be in the palace. What's the application? What was it that struck me? Here's what struck me. A lot of people look for the answers. They think I go to church, and that's going to make the difference. Now look, I'm glad you're here. Jesus puts priority on the church. The Bible says he loved the church and gave himself for it. I think the church is one of the greatest institutions other than the family on the planet. He only created three institutions. He created the home. He created the church and he established government. And I believe with all my heart, as the home goes, so goes the church. And as the church goes, so goes the nation. So I believe in the church. But can I tell you, salvation is not in the church. It's not in the baptistry. I have friends who disagree with me on that, and that's all right. They're wrong about other stuff. We roll that baptistry out and we celebrate people getting baptized. But let me tell you, there's nothing supernatural about that water. It is Fort Worth water. You get into it dry, you come out of it wet. What is it? It's a symbol. It's like a ring. You can be married without a ring. Ring is a symbol. It's when you go public with your faith. It's when you say, I want to identify with Christ. Acts two, they who received his word were baptized. I think it's the first step of obedience for a child of God. It pictures the gospel. You go back into the water, death under the water, burial up out of the water, resurrection. We baptize by immersion. You say, why wouldn't a little dab? Do you like brill cream? Some. Just give you a little sprinkle. That'd probably be okay. But we do it because the Bible teaches immersion. There's not an example in the scripture where they were sprinkled. In fact, all baptisms in the Bible were immersion. The word itself, baptizo in the Greek, means to dip, plunge, or immerse. Now, I'm not hating on anybody's tradition. I'm just saying why we do what we do. We think it's one of the things we can do exactly like jesus did. When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, the Bible says he came up out of the water. You can't come up out of something you didn't first go down into. And when he came up out of the water, the dove descended. This voice of heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. But I'm saying the baptistry doesn't save you. If the baptistry was necessary for salvation, what happens to the thief on the cross? Jesus said to him, today you will be. He didn't say, we got to get off of this where I can baptize you. Then you're going, no, today you will be with me in. So he said, well, what about that verse in mark that says, he that believes and is baptized shall be saved? I say, amen, read the next verse. But he that believes not shall be damned. It didn't say, he that believes not and is not baptized. The emphasis is on the relationship with Jesus, not on the peripheral, even though it's important. I believe in singing songs. I believe in attending church. I believe in giving my resources. But I can't buy my way into heaven. My money doesn't impress God. Are you kidding me? The Bible describes heaven as a place where there's streets of gold. Streets of gold. You know what gold is? An ounce. You know what it is in heaven? Pot filler. They fill the streets with that stuff. Now we got to have it down here to live. I get that. It's important. I understand that. But it's not necessary to get you into heaven. It's not your good works. Isaiah said, it is not by the works of righteousness which we have done, but it is by his grace that he has saved us all of our righteousness, Isaiah said, are filthy rags. What's my point? They went to Herod. They went to the wrong place. Sometimes people go, you remember the story of the treasure of Candacea? In acts eight? He left the most religious city in the world as lost as he was when he got there. You remember when God spoke to Philip? And he sent Philip to meet this guy. He's reading Isaiah 53. He's reading the passage concerning the death of Jesus, the prophecy of Jesus going to the cross, and he was confused. As a termite to Yoyo. Here is a man that has just been to the most religious city in the world and left empty. And when I hear that, I think about people that go to churches like this and leave missing Jesus. Can I tell you, friend, if you miss anything else when you come to this church but Jesus, you can miss it all. But we don't want you to miss Jesus. It's my point. I want that to be the takeaway for everybody. We close every service making clear how people can know Jesus. You know, I want you to know him more than any. If you never see me again, if you never come to this church again, if you never go to anybody's church, I want you to know Jesus, because at the end of the day, when you stand before God, that's all that's going to matter. Read Matthew 23, the last verse. Many will say unto me of that day, Lord, didn't we do many good things? Didn't we give a lot of money? Didn't we help a lot of people? And he'll say, depart from me. You've worked deceit. You've deceived yourself. And then he said this, I never knew you. He didn't say, I knew you, and you blew it. And I wrote you out. He said, I never knew you. You were never one of my kids. You knew a lot about me. You just didn't know me. So all of these trappings of the church, all of these things are good in their place, but none of them are salvific. The only thing that brings about salvation is your personal faith in Jesus Christ. And they went to Herod. They went to the wrong place, and finally they're redirected, and finally they make their way to Jesus. You see the second thing very quickly, you see a great profession, a great profession. You know what they did? The Bible says the first thing those men do when they see Jesus, they worshiped him. You know why? I think those men genuinely received him in that moment. Some people say, was there any record of the Magi really having a relationship with Jesus? I think when you look at how they responded to him, maybe that's an indication they worshiped him. One of the ways a person, really, who has a relationship with Jesus, one of the ways, you know, is there is a desire to worship God. There's something in your heart that desires to worship him. There's something in your heart that desires to give him honor. There's something in your heart that just desires it. Let me tell you what I think people will do one day when we're in the presence of God. If I were to announce that some big dignitary is here this morning, and I were to say they're going to make their way in, in just a moment, a general, a president, a potentate, there was somebody who held a high office of respect, probably, I would say 99% when they walked through the door, we would stand in honor of who they are and what they represent. But can I tell you one day when we're in the presence of God, I don't think we'll stand. You know what I think we'll do? I think we'll kneel. The Bible says one day every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that he's lord. You can't stand in the presence of God, you kneel. He is not just a king, he's the king of kings. He's not just a lord, he's the lord of lords. And one day I think in the presence of God, we'll do what those wise men did when they walked in the presence of he who was born king. They worshipped him and then they gave gifts of gold and frank, and they brought the best they had to lay at his feet. And you see this great profession, the last thought I'd give you, and let's go on this one, you see a great protection. Protection. What were they protected from? Herod. Protected from Herod. The Bible says God revealed to them, don't go back to Herod, stay away. You know what I think would have happened? I think he would have tortured them, I think he would have interrogated them because he wanted to kill Jesus. And it's kind of strange to think, but those wise men protected Jesus. They protected that young boy. They protected him by not going back to Herod. They protected him by. And God was again, providentially orchestrating this whole thing. They were responding to it and God was protecting them as they protected him. And he led them back home another way. I thought about his protection. None of us would be here today without the protection of God. Sometimes we don't even know how he's protecting us. We don't see how he's protecting us. I know he's got angels around us. I believe God assigns angels to protect his people. Mine are going to be just worn slap out one day. I know when I get to heaven they're just going to go, for the love of God. Thankfully this is over. But I really do believe God and he protects us sometimes from things we don't even see. He keeps us out of things that we're not even aware of. Maybe the delay happened, the flat tire happened because God was. There was a wreck that he was going to help us avoid. I don't know, maybe the trip got canceled because something was going to happen there that you needed not to be there or you needed to avoid. So, God, I think over my life, the thing God has just protected me from, and a lot of it, I won't even know till I'm in his presence and realize he's protected me every step of the way. You have a provider. You have a providential God, and you have a protector. He loves you. He cares for you. And long as you are following him, you are under his care, his protection. He will guide you. He will guard you. That's the kind of God he is. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day. This is the day that you have made, and we rejoice and we're glad in it. Thank you for an opportunity where we could come and see each other, encourage each other, greet each other, and just, Lord, be in your presence. Thank you for worship. We can sing songs that lift our hearts toward you. We're reminded that you are Gyra. You're Jehovah Jireh. Genesis 20 214. You said you provided a ram in place of that boy. And Abram named that place Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. And God, this morning we celebrate your provision. Financial provision, emotional strength, physical health. Father, we thank you that all that we need, we find in you. When we have nowhere else to turn and no one else to turn to, we go to you and we realize you are the substance and the source and the strength of all that we need. Paul would say of you, in you we live and move and have our being. Thank you for that. Thank you for your word, Father. As we've opened it and we've studied it and we've looked into it and we considered it, I pray now we will apply it. And finally, Lord, I pray for my friends watching online those that may hear this service later, hundreds will listen later than those in this room who may never have trusted you. May they realize today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Give them the strength to humble their heart and to pray this simple prayer and say, Lord Jesus, with everything I know about me, I now trust all that I know about you. Come into my heart. Forgive my sin. I trust you. In Jesus name. Amen. [00:35:39] Speaker A: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you have any questions or prayer requests, please contact us by visiting metchurch.com so that we can follow up with you this week. We look forward to seeing you next week. Close.