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this morning comes to us right in the middle of a conversation between Jesus and one of

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the most educated guys, one of the most educated theologians in all of Israel, a guy named

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Nicodemus. We find that conversation here in John chapter 3. Now somehow Nicodemus heard

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the teaching of Jesus that in order to enter the kingdom of God you have to be born again.

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And Nicodemus, he doesn't understand. He thinks to himself, how can a person be born

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again if you've been born once? How can that process possibly happen all over again? All

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this to say, it really confused the man. And so by the cover of night he sought out Jesus

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to ask him about this very interesting teaching of his. Now in the conversation Jesus pretty

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much says to him, Nicodemus, you are one of the great theological minds of Israel. Yet

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you don't understand something as simple and as important like new birth. And at one point

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Jesus in fact says it plainly, if you are not born again you will never see the kingdom

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of God. To which Nicodemus responds, I don't understand. How can these things be? An important

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question and an eternally important answer to understand. To which Jesus then goes on

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to speak about Moses lifting up a serpent in the desert and relating it to his own life

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and mission. And then he says those incredibly important words that we just heard read for

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us. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. And whoever believes

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in him shall not perish but have eternal life. We're going to break this text down into just

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three sections this morning. First we're going to have a look at the love of God. Second

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we're going to have a look at the gift of the sun. And then third we're going to look

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at the promise and the eternal difference that it really makes. So if you have your

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Bibles with you this morning we're going to be in John chapter 3 verse 16. And look with

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me at just those first few words there. For God so loved the world. I don't know about

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you but one of the very first memories that I have in children's church is learning the

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words that we're actually looking at here this morning. And it's a beautiful thing really

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and why Grace Kids and Sunday School is such an important ministry among us as the very

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first thing that I learn about God isn't that he has a big white beard and a rod with

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lightning bolts ready to throw at people but that he loves. Some of you might be surprised

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by that statement this morning. That God loves. Maybe you haven't grown up with that being

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told to you or you have a completely different idea of God. Maybe your idea of God is more

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like what I just described before. A big white bearded man sitting in the clouds waiting

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for you to make a mistake so that he can crush you like an ant under his big God like thumb.

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Everything could be further from the truth. But before we really dive into that I might

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ask why do we struggle with the love of God. Well I want to put it forward to you this

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morning that we struggle with God and his love because of our own inner struggle with

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guilt. That's why I think a lot of people gravitate towards that image of a man in

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the sky ready to pounce and tear them apart rather than a kind caring loving God because

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we all know that we do evil things and we know that we deserve to be punished for our

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wickedness. But Paul's words of the apostle couldn't be any more clearer in his writing

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to the Romans in chapter five. He says, you see at just the right time when we were still

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powerless Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person

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though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his own

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love for us in this in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Hear that

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church why we were still helpless powerless why we were weak he demonstrated his what

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he's wrath his anger his frustration his disappointment. He demonstrated his love for us in that he

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gave us the most beautiful gift his son. There's no denying it we are weak and every single

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human being on the face of the planet knows deep down that they could be doing a better

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job at this thing that we call life and that we can't break free from our brokenness and

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our own moral failings. Now the Bible has a whole load of different ways to define that

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brokenness. For one example God has given us his perfect moral will in something called

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the Ten Commandments and thus when we break those laws we are defined as lawbreakers.

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Sin that's another term that's used in the Bible which is an old archery term in which

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when someone shot an arrow and it missed the target or fell short of it altogether it was

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called sinning. Lawbreaking sin both of these things aren't good and the Bible teaches us

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that when we have fallen short when we have broken God's law when we have missed it altogether

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and sinned we actually twist and stain the image in which we created to emulate which

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is God himself and the Bible tells us that the wages of that sin and lawbreaking is death

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which every single person on the planet has committed. Now this is the beautiful thing.

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Notice exactly the words of our Lord in this text. God so loved the world. Now world in

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the way that the apostle John uses it throughout his gospel is a way to describe that which

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has set itself up in rebellion against God himself. This is why a little later on in

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the same gospel Jesus will say to his disciples do not love the world which is to say do not

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live in the way that sets itself up against God and his kingdom and treasure the things

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of this life but as we've already seen that's what we have all done and do all the time

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because we are helpless weak and powerless. All this to say the world and its mindset

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is in rebellion against God but then we read these tremendous words here that God so loved

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the world. Amazing and surprising but amazing nonetheless in that our Creator would love

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helpless weak powerless sinners like you and me that are at odds with him and have earned

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and deserve nothing but wrath and judgment which brings us to the next thing that Jesus

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has to say to us here. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. This really

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lies at the Christmas story at the core doesn't it. It's the scene that we all have in our

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heads when we think of Christmas. Little baby Jesus surrounded by Mary and Joseph,

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wise men, three kings with a whole bunch of animals giving glory to this little man. Now

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there's a whole load of historical problems with that picture that I just gave you there

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and we won't get into it but the point is this. God gave this world a gift and that

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gift is God's one and only son. I absolutely love my children. When I met Jacob for the

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first time I really knew what it was to feel like you would die for someone. When I met

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Bethany my daughter for the first time I really knew what it was like to feel like you would

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do absolutely anything in the world to protect another person. But I shudder at the thought

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that I would ever have to give my precious child over so that my enemy who totally and

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murderously hates me could be set free from what they have truly earned and bought on

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themselves. It's a scenario that makes any parent sick to the stomach. But this is the

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most awesome thing that we see here on this Christmas morning. God willingly and freely

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gave his own precious son to a world that as we have seen this morning is in total

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rebellion to him. Now to fully understand what's being said here we need to understand

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that unlike the example that I just gave to you my son Jacob is really totally different.

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He's a different being to myself. And so if I was ever to give him over to my enemies

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to pay their debt I would be really giving someone away an individual we might say against

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their will. That's not the case that we see here because not only did the son come willingly

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from the father but both the son and the father are eternally God which is to say from eternity

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past before the ages from before the world was made and sin entered into it our triune

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God planned that the eternal son would take on flesh and pay the penalty for the lawbreaking

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and sin of his people. That is the kind of God that gave his son. One who loved us so

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much that he planned and came willingly so that he might grow up to die on a cross. You

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know though I grew up in church as many as you as many of you know I didn't stay but

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in my late teens left to pursue a career in the music industry. God had other plans and

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years later while speaking to a Christian friend of mine I asked him why did Jesus have to

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die on the cross because I never actually understood that growing up. What did a guy

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in Palestine who lived 2000 years ago dying on a cross have to do with me? I'm so glad

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my friend knew how to answer that question because drawing on John the Baptist's preaching

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of Jesus as the spotless Lamb of God. Well he explained to me that I had smashed God's

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law and that there was absolutely nothing that I could do to clean up the utter mess

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of my life that I had made. No amount of good works being nice saying sorry going to church

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or giving money to charity would wipe away the stain that I had so happily made. And

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he explained to me why Jesus had to die on the cross. It was because his perfect life,

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his sinless life was placed on a cross and offered as a sacrifice and he was punished

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for all of my wrongdoing and his blood wiped away the filthy stain of sin that I had made.

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But more than that, that as my sin was placed onto him and he was punished his perfect life

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and right standing was placed onto me. So that as I stand before God Almighty now and

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on that day of judgment he will look at my account, he will look at your account which

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has been credited with the perfect life of Jesus and all God's people will hear not guilty,

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free, beloved child of mine. It's essentially what Jesus is speaking about here in our text

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this morning. He's saying that God so loved his enemies and those that sinned against

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him like you and me that he gifted us the solution to our very real sin problem. God's

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very own beloved son so that he might die in our place and pay our debt with his very

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life. What an amazing truth, an amazing gift of God to reflect on in this Christmas morning

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which leads us to the last part of this beautiful sentence. Whoever believes in him will not

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perish but have eternal life. Haley, my wife and I had a wonderful experience this morning

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and that was waking up to our excited children and watching them receive the gifts that we

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had given to them and that is the thing about gifts. They are utterly useless to us if they

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just stay under the tree unwrapped and looked at all year round and that is the point of

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our Lord here. God has given him as a gift to the world and those in the world now have

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a responsibility and that is to receive him so as to receive all that he came to give.

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We are set free as we receive him. How do we do that? Well Jesus tells us plainly here

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by believing. Now this believing isn't like believing a friend about a thing that they

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saw the other day or an author who wrote a biography and the things that they wrote.

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The believing that Jesus is talking about here means trust. That is the great crescendo

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of this sentence. God loves those of the world so much that he gave us the most wonderfully

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awesome gift and that gift will set us free from all that we deserve if we simply trust

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the Son of God. In other words God clears the debt and gives life to all those who trust

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in Jesus as their only way of salvation. Friends Jesus is as clear with us here this morning

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as he was with Nicodemus all those years ago. He has come to take your place and mine. He

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came into this world to bear our sin and our shame. He came to stand in our place and receive

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the wrath that we all deserve and as we trust him and his work on our behalf he actually

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gives us more. He is the gift that keeps on giving. He gives us a new heart. He gives

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us the Holy Spirit. He makes us a part of an eternal family where we can cry out to

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God as our Father. Brothers and sisters Jesus is the most wonderful gift ever given. He

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came to die in our place and he was raised again so that we might be made in right standing

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with God for all eternity. And why did any of this happen? Well it wasn't because you

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and I deserved it. It wasn't because you and I earned it. It wasn't even because you

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and I asked for it. No why we were still powerless weak while we were dead in our sins as the

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enemies of God. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son for us. This

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is the promise that God's gift brings. If you believe, if you trust, you are forgiven.

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You have eternal life. That's God's promise and what we are reflecting on this Christmas

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morning it's the greatest news that we could ever hear because we know that we deserve

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nothing but punishment. But instead he has given us his son so that we might receive

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a full pardon and spend eternity with him. If you hear this morning and you would like

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to know more about how to receive this most precious gift of God then please I implore

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you do not walk out of this place without coming to speak to me and hear this friend.

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Jesus is key. Like any gift it doesn't need to be earned or strived for or labored after

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because it would no longer be a gift. No Jesus is someone who is given freely by the

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Father to anyone from anywhere who has done anything who would simply receive him. So

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if that's you I would love to meet you and speak to you more about these things that

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we have heard on this wonderful Christmas morning. Would you please pray with me church?

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Father God we are so thankful that you wrapped the eternal Son of God up in flesh and sent

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him to us. Father where we were helpless, where we were powerless you reached into our

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worlds and have rescued us. Father we ask that the proclamation of the gospel would

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be held high would be herald loudly today that your people wouldn't be ashamed of your

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name but so grateful that our joy would bubble over that we would share good news with our

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friends and family today. Father we ask that this gathering, this church would be a people

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that would love you and love people and that we would be a people that go and make disciples

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teaching all that you have given to us. We thank you that we are here this morning gathered

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in your name. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.