WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 Let us pray. Father, it's only days until what 00:00:06.480 --> 00:00:12.000 we know it as Christmas Day. Thank you for the 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:16.140 Christ, the Messiah. Thank you for sending your 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:19.899 son. Please speak to us this morning and help 00:00:19.899 --> 00:00:26.760 us to live in light of him. Amen. Friends, Matthew, 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:31.920 Mark, Luke and John. They are so different and 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:36.299 yet they are so much the same. When it comes 00:00:36.299 --> 00:00:39.200 to differences, one thing that is different is 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.979 the family trees that Matthew and Luke include. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:46.619 You could say that Mark and John are not into 00:00:46.619 --> 00:00:50.380 family trees. That's right. Matthew and Luke 00:00:50.380 --> 00:00:56.640 are. Mark and John aren't. Out of interest, who 00:00:56.640 --> 00:01:00.020 here is into family trees? Come on, hands up. 00:01:03.820 --> 00:01:06.799 Well, some of us love family trees and the details 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:10.000 they provide, but some of us are more like Mark 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.340 and John and not into them. I must admit that 00:01:13.340 --> 00:01:15.760 I've never been that interested in family trees. 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:19.019 When people tell me how they are researching 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:21.180 the family tree, I usually tell them that I can 00:01:21.180 --> 00:01:23.299 save them a lot of time. We all go back to Noah 00:01:23.299 --> 00:01:27.219 and then we all go back to Adam. But that is 00:01:27.219 --> 00:01:32.299 just me. Well, whether we are more like a Matthew 00:01:32.299 --> 00:01:37.760 or a Mark or a Luke or a John, there is one family 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:40.079 tree that we need to be interested in. It is 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:45.920 Jesus' family tree. not have forgotten Matthew 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:50.239 and Luke to put it in the Bible if it was not 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:53.700 that important. God obviously thought it was 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:57.120 of great importance to have it recorded in the 00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:01.739 Bible and twice. Once in Matthew chapter 1 and 00:02:01.739 --> 00:02:06.219 once in Luke chapter 3. Now you'll see in your 00:02:06.219 --> 00:02:08.840 bulletin a printout of Matthew's family tree 00:02:08.840 --> 00:02:12.669 and I've made some bits bold. Matthew has certainly 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:16.349 added those bits for a reason. Now we won't get 00:02:16.349 --> 00:02:18.509 to look at all of them today, but we'll look 00:02:18.509 --> 00:02:23.050 at some of them. Now Matthew has recorded for 00:02:23.050 --> 00:02:25.789 us a family tree that goes all the way from Abraham 00:02:25.789 --> 00:02:31.389 to Jesus. And that included a lot of very difficult 00:02:31.389 --> 00:02:37.009 names. Well done, Paul. That is basically 2 ,000 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:41.460 years of history. and includes at least 42 generations. 00:02:42.520 --> 00:02:46.099 This is mind -blowing stuff. Mind -blowing. Think 00:02:46.099 --> 00:02:48.719 about it. In history classes, we were taught 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:53.580 that James Cook claimed Australia in 1770. That 00:02:53.580 --> 00:03:00.599 is only 255 years ago. We're talking about 2 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:04.699 ,000 years ago. We, if Australian born, have 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:07.240 enough trouble tracing things back to a possible 00:03:07.240 --> 00:03:11.280 convict ancestry of 200 years. But here we're 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:16.620 talking about 2 ,000 years, 10 times that. Yes, 00:03:16.659 --> 00:03:19.780 mind -blowing stuff. I don't even know my great 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:25.120 -great -grandparents' names. Here we have Jesus' 00:03:25.340 --> 00:03:34.389 great times 38 grandfather's name. Abraham. Great, 00:03:34.389 --> 00:03:39.009 great, great, great, great, great, great, great, 00:03:39.110 --> 00:03:43.710 great, great, great, great, great, great, great, 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:47.409 great, great, great, great, great, great, great, 00:03:47.409 --> 00:03:54.409 great, great. And if you want something more, 00:03:54.469 --> 00:03:57.590 if you're really into family trees, have a look 00:03:57.590 --> 00:04:02.180 at Luke chapter 3. He goes back another 2 ,000 00:04:02.180 --> 00:04:04.900 years or 4 ,000 years of generations in total. 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:12.219 Right back to Adam, Eve's husband. Very, very 00:04:12.219 --> 00:04:14.280 mind -blowing stuff indeed. You could say that 00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:16.560 the Bible is not just full of Jesus, it's also 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:20.240 full of historical data, much more than you and 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:25.139 I could ever, ever do. So let's have a look at 00:04:25.139 --> 00:04:27.560 verse 1 from Matthew chapter 1. We are told in 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:32.079 the very first verse, this is the genealogy of 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:36.480 Jesus the Messiah. That is, God's chosen one, 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.420 anointed by him, the son of David, the son of 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:46.060 Abraham. I believe that this verse tells us exactly 00:04:46.060 --> 00:04:50.240 what Matthew wants to show his readers. He wants 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:54.709 to show them that Jesus is the Messiah. that 00:04:54.709 --> 00:04:57.490 Israel has been waiting on. Matthew is simply 00:04:57.490 --> 00:05:04.610 saying, look, Jesus is the Messiah. Look, here 00:05:04.610 --> 00:05:07.769 is also added proof, Jesus is the son of David. 00:05:08.569 --> 00:05:13.589 Look, Jesus is also the son of Abraham. He is 00:05:13.589 --> 00:05:20.870 the one God said he would send. That is, Jesus 00:05:20.870 --> 00:05:24.189 is the descendant of the Lion of David some 1 00:05:24.189 --> 00:05:28.730 ,000 years ago and also the descendant of Abraham 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:33.009 some 2 ,000 years ago, just as God promised the 00:05:33.009 --> 00:05:38.410 Messiah will be. Hence why we had read to us 00:05:38.410 --> 00:05:43.230 Psalm 89. We're repeatedly told in the Old Testament 00:05:43.230 --> 00:05:46.449 that God will send a Messiah or a branch, as 00:05:46.449 --> 00:05:50.279 we're also told in Zechariah and Isaiah, who 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:53.620 is from the line of Abraham and the line of David. 00:05:54.819 --> 00:05:57.540 That, no doubt, very much limits who it could 00:05:57.540 --> 00:06:03.019 be. And that's my first point this morning. What's 00:06:03.019 --> 00:06:06.500 so important about Jesus' family tree? It shows 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:10.480 us that Jesus is of the nation and family out 00:06:10.480 --> 00:06:17.839 of which the Messiah was to come. God, in approximately 00:06:17.839 --> 00:06:21.160 2000 BC, said to Abraham that the whole world 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:25.339 would be blessed through him. Not one of his 00:06:25.339 --> 00:06:29.800 brothers or sisters, but through him. The Messiah. 00:06:31.259 --> 00:06:35.980 God even made a covenant with him about that. 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:39.000 That is, he promised he would send him through 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:44.769 him. And so Israel waited and waited. They knew 00:06:44.769 --> 00:06:47.589 that through their father, Abraham, God would 00:06:47.589 --> 00:06:52.149 deliver great blessing to them. And if one reads 00:06:52.149 --> 00:06:54.629 the rest of the scriptures, you find that Israel 00:06:54.629 --> 00:06:58.069 was very proud that Abraham was their father. 00:06:59.509 --> 00:07:02.850 No doubt because of this very promise. This makes 00:07:02.850 --> 00:07:07.930 me think, Wendy, where's Wendy? Wendy, we should 00:07:07.930 --> 00:07:14.740 sing Father Abraham. admit though that i don't 00:07:14.740 --> 00:07:17.560 think many in the nation of israel fully realized 00:07:17.560 --> 00:07:22.019 what god had said to abraham he said all people 00:07:22.019 --> 00:07:26.480 will be blessed through him all people not just 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.540 the israeli people god was actually on about 00:07:30.540 --> 00:07:33.720 something much bigger than many of them had perhaps 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:38.519 realized god also made a covenant a promise with 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:44.050 david now this is some 1 000 years later By now 00:07:44.050 --> 00:07:45.810 I guess many of the Israeli people would have 00:07:45.810 --> 00:07:48.089 thought, when on earth is God going to deliver 00:07:48.089 --> 00:07:52.329 his promise to Abraham? Like now it's been extended 00:07:52.329 --> 00:07:58.490 to David. And I think that's fair to say that 00:07:58.490 --> 00:08:01.750 when David came along, some thought that David 00:08:01.750 --> 00:08:06.709 himself was the Messiah. After all, Israel was 00:08:06.709 --> 00:08:09.050 on the crest of a wave, you could say, when he 00:08:09.050 --> 00:08:12.430 was king. But the answer from God was a clear, 00:08:12.829 --> 00:08:18.829 No, he was not the Messiah. But God's Messiah 00:08:18.829 --> 00:08:23.790 would come through his descendants. One needs 00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:27.209 to remember an important point here. When Jesus 00:08:27.209 --> 00:08:31.790 arrived, it had been around 1 ,000 years. That's 00:08:31.790 --> 00:08:35.009 a long time. Since God reiterated pretty much 00:08:35.009 --> 00:08:39.860 the very same things to David. And to add to 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:42.720 that, it was around 400 years since the last 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.679 Old Testament prophecy. Yes, God was pretty quiet 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:48.659 for a very long time before Jesus arrives on 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:52.940 the scene. And so the Jews should have been absolutely 00:08:52.940 --> 00:08:58.600 hanging out by this point, let alone Jews who 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:03.360 are not Christians today. And so here he is now. 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:06.460 It's been a long time coming. Some would have 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:09.090 thought, But others might have questioned, is 00:09:09.090 --> 00:09:14.009 he really the one promised by God to Abraham? 00:09:15.350 --> 00:09:19.190 Is he really the one that God also promised to 00:09:19.190 --> 00:09:24.610 David? Is he really the one that God had spoken 00:09:24.610 --> 00:09:28.029 all about a very long time ago and reminded us 00:09:28.029 --> 00:09:32.850 through the prophets? Well, enter Jesus' family 00:09:32.850 --> 00:09:37.980 tree in Matthew. He certainly is, as far as Matthew 00:09:37.980 --> 00:09:43.539 is concerned. And he goes to length to show that 00:09:43.539 --> 00:09:47.259 such through his family tree. Not only is Jesus 00:09:47.259 --> 00:09:49.580 a descendant of Abraham, he's also a descendant 00:09:49.580 --> 00:09:53.580 of David, irrespective of how long it has been. 00:09:55.240 --> 00:09:57.879 And that's why by the time of Jesus, some, many 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.539 referred to him, well, cried out to him, son 00:10:00.539 --> 00:10:06.149 of David. That phrase is actually mentioned, 00:10:06.230 --> 00:10:11.289 I looked it up, ten times in Matthew. Son of 00:10:11.289 --> 00:10:14.870 David. Let's move on. What's so important about 00:10:14.870 --> 00:10:17.570 Jesus' family tree? The second thing is, it shows 00:10:17.570 --> 00:10:20.870 us that God's understanding of time is nothing 00:10:20.870 --> 00:10:26.149 like ours. Can you imagine God saying to you 00:10:26.149 --> 00:10:29.850 at the age of 25 what he basically said to Abraham 00:10:29.850 --> 00:10:33.509 and to David? The Messiah will come through you. 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:36.600 The Messiah will be one of your descendants. 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:40.980 I promise you this. This is my covenant for you. 00:10:42.259 --> 00:10:48.139 Covenant with you. And you get to 40 and still 00:10:48.139 --> 00:10:54.399 nothing. You get to retiring age and still nothing. 00:10:55.779 --> 00:11:01.720 You are in Regis Aged Care Facility or Botanica. 00:11:03.629 --> 00:11:11.870 And still nothing. And then you die. So your 00:11:11.870 --> 00:11:14.250 son thinks, God must be going to bring the Messiah 00:11:14.250 --> 00:11:18.470 through me if it wasn't my dad. And so you get 00:11:18.470 --> 00:11:24.070 to 40, 60, booper, and still nothing. And then 00:11:24.070 --> 00:11:28.029 you die. So now it's your grandson's turn. He 00:11:28.029 --> 00:11:29.909 thinks, maybe it's going to happen in my lifetime. 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:34.019 But then you start to think, maybe God has forgotten. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:44.000 Well, add to this 40 odd generations. 2 ,000 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.799 years. And I'm thinking, God has certainly forgotten. 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:54.200 And then you remember Psalm 90. Well, you should. 00:11:54.899 --> 00:11:59.100 Do you know Psalm 90? It's a psalm written by 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:02.279 that great leader of God's people, Moses. He 00:12:02.279 --> 00:12:04.200 was sort of in the middle of that period between 00:12:04.200 --> 00:12:08.139 Abraham and David, Moses. And Moses wrote the 00:12:08.139 --> 00:12:11.480 psalm. It's in verse 4 that we need to look at. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:16.019 How about we read it together? This verse is 00:12:16.019 --> 00:12:20.360 referring to God. Together, a thousand years 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:24.299 in your sight are like a day that has just gone 00:12:24.299 --> 00:12:30.639 by. or like a watch in the night. Therefore, 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.960 one could say that from God's point of view, 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:37.580 the time from Abraham to the arrival of the Messiah, 00:12:37.659 --> 00:12:43.039 Jesus, was not 2 ,000 years. It was only like 00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:50.080 two days or two watches in a night. One could 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.220 also say that from God's point of view, the death 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:55.090 and resurrection of Jesus, It was just the other 00:12:55.090 --> 00:12:59.590 night. And so he's promised to return to judge 00:12:59.590 --> 00:13:03.129 us in our response to Jesus, that is who he is, 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:06.990 the Messiah, God's son. And what he's done for 00:13:06.990 --> 00:13:10.850 us, perfectly lived and awfully died but gloriously 00:13:10.850 --> 00:13:14.029 rose to save us from the penalty of our sins, 00:13:14.129 --> 00:13:20.289 was just the other day. But to say that is really 00:13:20.289 --> 00:13:25.799 missing the point. The point is that God is not 00:13:25.799 --> 00:13:32.659 bound by time like we are. Compare also 2 Peter 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:38.620 3 .8. You know what? I'm sometimes like God. 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:43.480 For example, Sue's always telling me that I've 00:13:43.480 --> 00:13:50.899 no concept of time. And just as I can annoy Sue, 00:13:51.179 --> 00:13:57.779 so too... Does that annoy us? God is not bound 00:13:57.779 --> 00:14:04.740 by time. And so when he says things we can think 00:14:04.740 --> 00:14:10.440 he's so slow to deliver, we may even start to 00:14:10.440 --> 00:14:17.299 think that he's forgotten to deliver. You can 00:14:17.299 --> 00:14:20.879 write this down on your outline. Time may exercise 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.919 our patience, but time never weakens any of God's 00:14:24.919 --> 00:14:31.320 promises. 2 ,000 years didn't weaken God's promise 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:35.559 of a Messiah. Jesus did come just as God promised 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:40.179 to Abraham and David. Likewise, a few thousand 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:42.340 years will not weaken God's promise that Jesus 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:48.100 will return to judge all people, including all 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:56.350 of us. At NHA, Northern Hope Anglican. God might 00:14:56.350 --> 00:15:01.690 be beyond time, but his timing is perfect. We, 00:15:01.850 --> 00:15:04.929 in this quick -fix, instant everything -or -else 00:15:04.929 --> 00:15:10.529 society, don't like to wait for things. But this, 00:15:10.549 --> 00:15:13.690 his first coming, and now his second coming, 00:15:13.830 --> 00:15:18.200 might seem to us to be thousands of years. But 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:23.580 not to him. What's so important about Jesus' 00:15:23.700 --> 00:15:26.500 family tree? The third and final reason today 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:30.600 is this. It shows us that God's plans are not 00:15:30.600 --> 00:15:33.360 thwarted. That's a big word, isn't it? Thwarted. 00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:36.700 It's a hard word to pronounce too. Thwarted by 00:15:36.700 --> 00:15:42.820 our behaviour. And I mean good, indifferent or 00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:48.519 simply, outrightly bad behaviour. At one level 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:52.320 it doesn't matter. God's plans will not be thwarted. 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:55.840 There's such a mix of people here in this family 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:58.919 tree and Matthew helps us with his little comments, 00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:06.700 comments that I've put in bold. There are heroes 00:16:06.700 --> 00:16:10.559 of faith in this family tree like Abraham, Isaac, 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:14.820 Ruth and David. There are some very ordinary 00:16:14.820 --> 00:16:20.289 names. like Hezron, Ram, Nashon and Akim. Actually 00:16:20.289 --> 00:16:23.009 for Akim, this is the only mention of his name 00:16:23.009 --> 00:16:28.009 in the whole Bible. But there are some very shady 00:16:28.009 --> 00:16:34.889 characters like Rahab and Tamar. There are some 00:16:34.889 --> 00:16:42.629 very evil people like Manasseh and Abijah. And 00:16:42.629 --> 00:16:46.870 if you're into family trees, You might have thought 00:16:46.870 --> 00:16:51.269 there were some undesirables in yours. Well, 00:16:51.350 --> 00:16:56.169 here we have, in this family tree, prostitution, 00:16:56.269 --> 00:17:06.730 adultery, murder and incest. Yes, what a family 00:17:06.730 --> 00:17:10.730 tree indeed. For example, what's behind verse 00:17:10.730 --> 00:17:17.569 3 is incest. What's behind verse 6 is murder 00:17:17.569 --> 00:17:21.990 and adultery. And did you notice something about 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:29.269 this verse? Bathsheba isn't even mentioned. But 00:17:29.269 --> 00:17:34.470 David is mentioned and mentioned as king. Yes, 00:17:34.529 --> 00:17:38.490 the king of Israel. It makes us realise that 00:17:38.490 --> 00:17:42.569 Israel was sadly not that great of a nation. 00:17:45.900 --> 00:17:48.119 He might have ridden on the crest of a wave as 00:17:48.119 --> 00:17:53.119 their king, but he stacked it big time. And then 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:55.799 in verse 10, we read one of the evilest kings, 00:17:55.980 --> 00:17:58.619 I think that's a word, evilest kings that Israel 00:17:58.619 --> 00:18:04.779 had, Manasseh. He even sacrificed his sons. Can 00:18:04.779 --> 00:18:07.059 you believe that? He sacrificed his sons to a 00:18:07.059 --> 00:18:12.460 pagan god. 2 Chronicles 33. You can read all 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:16.009 about it. Yes, as we look down this list of names, 00:18:16.069 --> 00:18:21.089 we see a lot of serious personal sin in the leaders 00:18:21.089 --> 00:18:26.910 of Israel. We also see, thanks to Matthew, the 00:18:26.910 --> 00:18:32.470 sins of the whole nation, with the very mention 00:18:32.470 --> 00:18:38.470 of the exile to Babylon. And so we see the disobedience 00:18:38.470 --> 00:18:40.910 of individuals as well as the disobedience of 00:18:40.910 --> 00:18:46.440 the nation, Israel. Yet, God still keeps his 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:54.039 word, his promises. And aren't we glad? Like, 00:18:54.099 --> 00:18:58.059 when I sometimes look at the state of some of 00:18:58.059 --> 00:19:01.980 the churches today, Anglican churches included, 00:19:02.220 --> 00:19:05.839 I'm so glad that God's plans will never be thwarted 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:11.700 by our behaviour. Like, when I look at some of 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:15.420 the church leaders today, Anglican church leaders 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:19.160 included. I'm so glad that God's plans will never 00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:23.160 be thwarted by our behaviour. When I look at 00:19:23.160 --> 00:19:26.039 how complacent and comfortable and lukewarm some 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.299 churches are today, Anglican churches included, 00:19:29.579 --> 00:19:33.160 I'm so glad that God's plans will never be thwarted 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:38.920 by our behaviour. When I see how many self -confessing 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:41.160 Christians give church a miss because of the 00:19:41.160 --> 00:19:45.180 slightest hiccup in their life, or a clash with 00:19:45.180 --> 00:19:48.539 another engagement, I'm so glad that God's plans 00:19:48.539 --> 00:19:56.259 will never be thwarted by our behaviour. When 00:19:56.259 --> 00:19:59.119 I see how many self -confessing Christians so 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.339 preoccupied it seems with discouraging words 00:20:02.339 --> 00:20:04.680 and comments rather than encouraging words and 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.359 comments, I'm so glad that God's plans will never 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:12.829 be thwarted by our behaviour. When I see what 00:20:12.829 --> 00:20:18.950 happened in Bondi, I'm so glad that God's plans 00:20:18.950 --> 00:20:23.009 will never be thwarted by our behaviour. And 00:20:23.009 --> 00:20:25.309 friends, when I look at my own life, my familial 00:20:25.309 --> 00:20:29.690 leadership as a husband, as a father, as a grandfather, 00:20:29.970 --> 00:20:33.890 as well as my church leadership as your pastor 00:20:33.890 --> 00:20:45.950 for one more week, My behaviour. God will achieve 00:20:45.950 --> 00:20:49.869 his dream at the perfect time. He will finish 00:20:49.869 --> 00:20:52.450 building the kingdom that his son, Jesus, the 00:20:52.450 --> 00:20:56.109 branch, the Messiah, the Christ, his chosen one, 00:20:56.150 --> 00:21:00.809 has started. It's a kingdom he promised to Abraham 00:21:00.809 --> 00:21:05.509 and to David. It will be a kingdom of people 00:21:05.509 --> 00:21:12.869 who love him. Will you be there? Will you be 00:21:12.869 --> 00:21:21.990 in his kingdom? Will I be in his kingdom? It 00:21:21.990 --> 00:21:25.970 all depends on our response, ongoing response, 00:21:26.289 --> 00:21:34.109 to his Messiah. May we respond rightly on Christmas 00:21:34.109 --> 00:21:37.400 Day, Thursday, this coming week. rather than 00:21:37.400 --> 00:21:39.640 the importance of Jesus' family tree, we'll be 00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:41.920 looking at something else that is very important, 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:47.200 Jesus' birth. And Brendan will lead us through 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:55.180 that. So see you all, God willing, on Christmas 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:57.839 Day 2025. Amen.