Christmas at Rock Point 2022 | Full Service

Do you hear what I hear? Do you see what I see? Do you know what I know? And it's talking about, do you know what Christmas is all about? Do you know who Jesus is? Do you hear God's voice in your life? Do you do you see? Do you see the hope? Because Christmas is supposed to be a time of hope.

And and and most of us act happy, but they we also know that Christmas time seems to be a time of the most depression

and suicides and things like that. So it seems like a lot of people know they're supposed to have hope, but they don't know where the hope is or they're having a hard time finding it or you're just, hey, I know I'm supposed to be happy, but my circumstances right now are tough.

My my my the things going on around me are tough. And so we're trying to find hope. And most of the time, we try to find hope in our circumstances. But Christmas is supposed to show us there's a hope despite our circumstances.

What do you look for in that hope? Do you hear? Do you know? Do you see what Christmas is really about? That Jesus being born, what is it? What does it mean? What does it mean for you? What does it mean for us?

Because there are times that even though we're supposed to have Christmas spirit and that's supposed to give us joy, if we don't know why, we might not. And we might be leaning into the wrong thing. We might say Christmas is gonna bring hope, but are we leaning into the right thing?

For example, in 1932, that was kind of a dark time. The Great Depression had been going for a few years. So many people out of work, money tight, people homeless. It was was a big problem. And it hit Arizona really hard too. And the city of Mesa

had a kind of a problem because they've always done they've done this big, big Christmas parade down Main Street. They did it for you. I used to go when I was a kid. But in 1932, they were doing it then. And it was put on by the business owners of the businesses along the Main Street there and some boosters.

And they got together to plan, and they started talking like, we don't think we can do it this year. This is gonna be hard. We're having a hard time, too. It's tight. Maybe we should just not do it with everything going on. And one of the guys that was involved was his name, John McPhee.

He was the editor of the Mesa Tribune, and he loved Arizona. He loved Mesa, and he just wanted the people to have hope. And he goes, no, we not only have to do this, guys, but we have to double down and do something even bigger or better. Because people need to have hope during this dark time at Christmas.

So he goes, well, what do you suggest? And he came up with this idea. He said, let's hire a parachutist to dress like Santa. He'll parachute into the field next to Main Street, and then he'll lead the parade.

I'll put it in the paper. We'll put an ad in the paper that tells everybody, hey, kids, Santa's gonna parachute into our own parade and visit us. And they're like, oh, okay. That sounds crazy, but we'll do it. Well, you get to the day of the parade. They can't find the parachutist at the airstrip. He was here before.

They look around. Turns out he's next door at the bar. The problem is he's on the floor passed out drunk. He couldn't get up. They couldn't do it. So they're like, I guess we gotta cancel it. Nope. But John McPhee says, nope. We will not cancel.

I have an idea. And one of the guys that owned a business, he owned a clothing store. He goes, go get one of your mannequins. And they brought it over. They put the Santa suit and the parachute on the mannequin.

And then they had the two pilots. They had the one go, hey, you need to throw the mannequin out at the right time to jump. And as you throw them out, just pull the rip cord. And then John McPhee says, I have a Santa suit too, so I will go hide in the field. And after Santa comes down, I'll pop out and I'll lead the parade. It'll be great. Everyone will have hope again. They'll look to the sky. They'll see Santa. It's gonna be great.

So the ad and the paper work. They had thousands more people. Was the biggest crowd they've ever had. Children, so many kids, super excited. I'm gonna see Santa. It's gonna be the greatest. They're all there.

The plane flies over, hear rumbling, the door opens. Santa goes flying out. They go, there he is. Mom says, like, could you see Santa? Yeah. There he is. He's coming out. He's flying down. He's flying down. He's flying down. He's coming down. He's falling down. He's falling down. Why is the chute not opening?

Parachute malfunctioned. It never opened. So instead of, like, having the joy of seeing Santa parachute in, thousands of kids got to witness Santa plummet to his death.

I mean, we laugh. It is funny now if you think about it, but it really did cause a massive pandemonium. I mean, there was weeping. Moms were covering their kids' eyes. They were weep holding. They were running down the street and crying.

And and there was even kids saying, does this mean we're not getting presents since Santa died? A few opportunistic dads said, you're right. We're not getting presents. Santa's dead. I mean, it was a disaster of epic proportions. It did the exact opposite of what John McPhee wanted.

I mean, he wanted it so bad. But and it got even worse because he was in the field. He saw it happen. So he thought, I can still save the day. He popped out of the field and came running over screaming, it's okay. It's a Christmas miracle. Santa lives. And that freaked the kids out even worse. They

thought it was like zombie claws or something. It was a huge deal. It was such a big deal. John McPhee, the editor of the newspaper, had to leave town for a while, thinking it's just gotta blow over. It'll blow over. Did it? Well, when he died a few decades later in Colorado, the newspaper put a little bit headline

and it said John McPhee, the man who killed Santa. Dead at age 66. He had the right idea. He thought Christmas should bring hope. And he thought there should be a hope that you get in Christmas about life that is despite your circumstances. Our hope shouldn't be based on what's going on around us.

There's a greater hope than that. He was right on that. The problem is he thought it was watching Santa jump from a plane.

The real hope in Christmas that goes beyond our circumstances is found in Jesus who was actually born on Christmas. The story of the incarnation. Incarnate. That means in the flesh. The story of Christmas is God took on human flesh. God was born into this world. Why? Because he had a plan to rescue us.

And see, most of our plans when we think about what do we hear, what do we see, what do we know when it comes to God, a lot of us, even if we come to church all the time, we think the plan of God is I try to be a good person and then God will rescue me in my immediate. Meaning, I focus and pursue the immediate.

What will immediately make my life better? What will immediately make this pain stop? What will immediately make life work? What will immediate and it's usually it's all these external things. It's my job, my relationships, politics.

It's as if if the government was better, we would be better off. It was all these things. And we often pursue those are real things. But oftentimes, we pursue those. Even as a follower of God, we think the job is I be the good person,

God loves me, and then he rewards me with the immediate. I get what I I really wanted, but that's not how it works. And if you think God works that way, you might be really disappointed right now. You might be someone that I'm only here because I got told no ham if I don't come. Then maybe you used to come to church and you worked really hard. You I was always there. I was like the choir boy. I was this. I was that. But you know what? Where was God when this? Where was God I did all these things? And where was he when I asked him for this? Where was he when and you have a problem

with God. And the problem is because you think the relationship is this contractual thing. That I do this, I'd be a good person. That's why a lot of you are here. You realize you think, you know what? Coming to church is being good, and I heard Christmas and Easter are double points weekends. And so you you think that way

and then when God doesn't save your immediate, you either think God's not real or I don't like him or he doesn't like me.

What Christmas should show us is we need to pursue the incarnate, not the immediate. When because I pursue the immediate, I will miss the incarnate. I'll miss God's plan.

Because if you're there, that's what the first Christmas was like. That video, four hundred years of silence. Malachi was the last prophet that was speaking God's word to God's people. And then the last words of Malachi is, there will come a day that I'm going to call out justice to those who stand

in in need of justice before me, and I'm gonna save my people. I'm gonna save my people. Now, how do you think you're God's people versus the ones under justice? We think I'm better than the other people. The good ones are God's, and the bad ones are the ones in need of justice. There's a problem with that.

The bible says we all fall under God's justice because he's perfect. So if we had a big line of the world, like, on this side is all the people that literally sit under the justice of God because we have violated and not lived in the ways that we are called and created to, And then the good people, there would only be people on one side of the room.

We needed so he says, I will rescue my people. Then silence for 400. The problem is when you don't hear something, you you start to fill in the blank. What does it mean to be saved? What does it mean to be rescued? What does it mean God will rescue us? And they started to fill that blank with the immediate.

That means he's gonna come solve our immediate problems. And their biggest immediate problem at the time was the people that ruled over them all the time. They didn't like their government.

They had the Romans. Before that, it the Greeks. Before that, it was the. And and they thought God's gonna finally come and give us absolute freedom, and then we'll have better government. We'll have a good king. We'll get this political warrior king that'll beat up the bad guys. Finally, stand for something good, and all of our lives will get better because our government works right. I am so glad we don't think that way anymore today.

You know, we're two thousand years ago, thought just like us. Our biggest thing to pray is, we need God to get this person in office because that's gonna change everything. Gonna change nothing. I mean, those are issues, but that's not what we need rescued from.

And then getting caught up in that, here's the problem. If you're looking for the warrior king to fix your immediate, what happens when the first video that comes out of the story of Luke describes the savior finally coming after 400 of silence? It says, you behold. Here's the sign. Here's what you're gonna find. A baby

wrapped in snuggly cloths. So you're waiting for your your your political hero, your your socioeconomic hero. You're waiting for God to come and solve the immediate problems on the outside. And his answer is, I'm here, and that's a snuggle baby. How is a snuggle baby gonna help your here and now?

I mean, any of you that have ever made this mistake, you're young, you're married, it's hard time, you're having a tough time. You know what we should do to fix this? Let's have a baby. Didn't help. I guarantee it. Why would God say, I'm coming to save you, and then a baby show up?

Well, that seems dumb if you expect the immediate to be what he's saving you from. But what if that's not what we really need to be saved from?

And that's what sets up the book of Matthew. You go a few pages after. You turn from Malachi, Matthew, first book of the new testament. And it tells the story of the savior showing up. And it starts off with this super exciting ancestry.com post.

It has a genealogy. What's that all about? Why is it describing who was born? Who was born? Well, you ever watch streaming shows? I mean, that's the way people watch TV. We don't watch regular TV anymore. Right? And it used to be I like streaming shows because I could binge watch them. Then streaming shows says, you know, need to make this more exciting. We should only get out one episode a week. That's a novel idea.

It's called TV.

Back in the day, you get 25 episodes a year, then a short break, then you come back and watch. Now streaming shows, they'll give you six, maybe twelve, and then nothing for like two years. You're lucky. You'll get

how do you remember what's going on? That's the biggest problem. I like a show, but then I forget what's happening.

And I've told people about it. You should watch this show, and I've described it. And then I realized I don't know what's happening. Like when I go back this week, I have no idea. Jack Ryan, that was a convoluted plot as it was. I gotta go watch that stinking video says recaps of what's been going on. You ever watch? You gotta watch like the five minute recap. I'll watch these recaps and realize I explained the show wrong to people. I didn't even get what I thought happened right.

But you gotta watch the recap. That's what this genealogy is. If you're wondering about the bible, it's like saying, hey, I wasn't silent for four hundred years. God says, I was setting it up. And he's he's saying, previously, on my plan for the world,

here's what's been happening. And it goes all the way back to the time of David before the four hundred years, and it's showing all of these births, all of these people coming. Then there's 10 of those generations listed in that genealogy. This happens during

the four hundred years of silence. Something was moving towards his plan to save us even during that.

But we weren't looking at the right thing. And then all of a sudden, it says, then there's this guy, Joseph, who was married to Mary who was the mother of Jesus. It doesn't say he's the father.

He was just chosen to be his dad on earth, but he wasn't really his father. And then you pick up the story of how the snuggle baby showed up. And look, this guy Joseph had to make a choice. Am I gonna pursue the immediate which seems to fix my problems and make life work easier?

Or am I gonna choose the incarnate, the plan of God which actually is gonna make his life more complicated? And here it goes. This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin,

she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph to whom she was engaged was a righteous man, and he was a good dude, and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. Did you hear? There was some some conversations that happened between those two verses.

It's saying, we're telling you that the real plan was, yes, she got pregnant, but God caused it. There was no dad. He made it happen.

The very next verse says, Joseph, who's engaged back then, an engagement was way more serious. You're basically already married. You're in this covenantal relationship. You're just waiting where the guy usually built an extra room onto the family house so you have a place to live. But you've actually it's like you're already married. So why they're already married,

she gets pregnant by the power of God. But apparently, Joseph doesn't know that because the thing is, next thing you hear is he's saying, I'm gonna quietly divorce her and not cause a public disgrace. That means there was a conversation where she said, hey, you're not gonna believe this,

but I'm pregnant, but I have not cheated on you. God did it. And he's like, okay. And then he went away and he says, crazy. But he's a good guy. He doesn't wanna cause public disgrace. Public disgrace means he could've made a stink of it, of her violation of his covenant. And it could've cost her her life,

But he doesn't want to do that. But he also doesn't wanna marry crazy

because that would complicate his life and be horrible to him. Because one, people were gonna talk smack. They're gonna think they were messing around. Best case scenario. Or if he had said something and and married her anyways, it'd be like no self respecting man would do that after such a betrayal and people would talk about him.

It would affect his business. He's a carpenter. People are I'm not gonna work with that guy. He's an idiot. So he was gonna go, you know what? The immediate answer was I'm not gonna get her in trouble. I'm gonna be cool. I'm gonna be a good guy, but I'm gonna quietly bow out.

You know what? His life would have been less godly. Who knows what he would have went on to do? I mean, he could have gone on and and stayed in Nazareth and maybe become the foremost builder of of affordable homes in the greater Nazareth area. He might have had his name carved into rock billboards all across the the greater,

you know, Jerusalem area and all that. I I don't know. All I know this is if he didn't trust God, we wouldn't be talking about him right now. He would have missed the blessing, the real life, because the answer that we need is not found in God fixing our externals. We have a bigger problem, the one that really needs help.

And that's what it says next. He was gonna maybe break it off. But then he says, he considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Joseph, son of David. Angel said, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. I always said that was funny. He said, don't be afraid. Because if if I had a fiance that

totally I thought they cheated on me and then they said it wasn't I didn't really cheat on you. It was God and I didn't believe that. I'd have a lot of emotions about why I didn't want to marry this person, but afraid would not be one of them. But it says he was considering this. I think Joseph was already a good dude

that knew God and he was thinking about it. He was already starting to think, what if she's not lying?

And then the angel confirmed. He spoke to God. Now he knows. But the angel also know, hey, even though you know this is true now, I know you're still afraid because my purpose in your life is gonna make your life harder, not easier. And it did. There was talk. They did get talked about badly. It was a struggle.

And then as he chose to be the father in this moment and marry her, he also, at one point, the king Herod tried to kill the baby and God warned him in a dream, Joseph, and he led his family and left for Egypt. He had to leave the promised land, which was a big deal for a Jew. He lost his family, his home, all of that

because he was trusting God. See, if you pursue the immediate, even if you pursue a relationship with God and you think the relationship with God is about being good so I can get the immediate thing, You're missing the whole point. Oftentimes, if you pursue the good plan,

the life that God has for you, life is gonna get more complicated. But you know what's gonna happen? Instead of having easy circumstances with no real life, you'll have a real life that means something despite your circumstances.

And here's why

there had to be the baby. Here's why God didn't come to fix our immediate circumstance. Here's the real big enemy we have.

It says, do not be afraid for the child within her was conceived by the holy spirit. She will have a son. You're gonna name him Jesus. That's cool. You got to name him Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins. You catch that?

The reason he didn't come as a warrior king and came as a baby, because the biggest enemy you and I have, the biggest problem we have is not any of the external things. The biggest issue we have, our biggest enemy if you wanna know your biggest enemy, the biggest problem cause them, the one that is giving you the greatest issue of all eternity in your life is, look in a mirror. It's you.

We are our own worst enemies. We are the ones that separate us from eternal life. We are the ones that have the problem. The problem is when I said there's only everyone's on one side, the bad that needs that falls under the justice and wrath of God, the good, none of us. The reason you balk at that is because we judge good or bad based on where we're at. I am the bottom of the line. If I'm humble, I believe I'm the bottom of the line. I'm the beginning of good.

So everyone, me and better, is good. Everyone that I think is a jerk are worth, they're bad. God doesn't work that way. God's perfect. So there's everyone who's perfect, good. Everyone who's imperfect, bad.

And none of us are perfect. None of us we don't trust God. We sin. It means miss the mark. We have done things where we try to make life work. We run after the what we think is the best for us. We hurt other people. We hurt ourselves. We do that. None of us is perfect. Last I checked looking at this room, I'm probably the closest one to perfect in this room, and I am not perfect.

I got one or two issues.

Sarcasm is one of them.

But Joseph trusted and it says when Joseph woke up in verse 24, he did as the angel Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. The reason we had a baby instead of a warrior king is our problem was a separation from God from our own sin.

And the only way he could save us from ourselves is he became only God could take care of that. Only God could stay just and love and show mercy because he could be born. He could live the life we couldn't live, the perfect life. And then he could take the justice for us to himself because he's just.

He will judge sin. So he judged it. Jesus took the judgment on our behalf because he loves us. And that's what we need more than a better paycheck, better politics, better relations. We need that. That's what we need because without that, there is no eternity.

You could actually be living the good life right now and maybe everything's going your way. But without that love of Christ, at some point, you're dead and then the life is over. You're separated from God forever. Or you can live the life trusting God and maybe things are terrible in this life.

I would take terrible in this life for eternity with a God who loves me and created me in perfection than the other way around. I don't know about you. So that's why we got a baby. That's what Christmas is about. It's about the incarnate, the eternal, the plan, the love of God.

It's not about us trying to live for his love to be good enough so then he'll bless us with what we want. That's not Christianity. If anyone's told you that, they lied

and you got the wrong idea. And when you try to live that way, you get bitter at some point because it it doesn't work. It comes crashing down like Santa without a parachute.

Because either you are successful at trying to do a lot of good things and then you don't get the things you wanted and you thought, hey, God, you're reneging on our deal. And you're missing the whole point. So where are you at? What do you hear? What do you see?

What do you know about what it means to know God? Do you know his love? Let me let me let me just summarize it this way. I'll explain the gospel plain and clear here this with this story. Number years ago, had a hot tub. It broke.

And when I put it in the backyard, I had built a nice wall around it, had seats, it looked really cool. So so it was broke. It didn't work. But as long as it was clean back there, it still looked nice. You walk by, hey, that looks nice. But it it was broken.

So I could fool the neighbors. I could fool but I knew it didn't work. The only thing it was doing was collecting dust, scorpions, and feral cats who like to have babies between the wall thing around it and the spa itself.

So at some point, I knew. I go, I gotta deal with this. So I knew we had bulk trash. I said, I'm gonna get bulk trash to take it. But I figured there is no way they're gonna take a six person spa hot tub. They're just not. I'll put it out there, they'll go nice try, you're an idiot. That's your mistake, you have to deal with it. So I said, but you know what? They say they'll take bulk trash. I go, I think I can make it acceptable.

I think I can get it to the point that they will accept it. So what I did is I have a picture of what I started to do. I went out there with a sawzall and a hammer. And I spent four hours taking my big spa and breaking it into a bunch of little pieces.

Because you know what I figured? It just says they take ball trust. They didn't say how big the pile is. I knew they wouldn't take a really big problem like a spa. But if I saw that, like, it's not that bad. It's not a big spa. It's it's this little piece of stuff. It's this little piece of foam. It's this little pile of wood. It's this little piece of pipe. It's this little piece. I broke it into more manageable pieces to say it's not that bad.

This isn't really this big of a problem. It's just this little thing with this little thing with this little thing. So now I've made it acceptable. In the process, I also gave myself stage one heat stroke.

And my wife thought I was an idiot. That's why she came out and took the picture. She wanted to document this to make sure the life insurance company would still pay.

But I sat there when I finished and had this huge pile, which if you really think about it now that I'm looking back, what was the total mass and weight of the pile versus the total mass and the weight of the spa in the first place? The same. I hadn't changed anything.

Matter of fact, I made more of mess and probably have given myself cancer already from all that foam I inhaled.

But it felt like I did something. I made it acceptable. I found the loophole. I was gonna get what I wanted because I did this. And then my neighbor drives up.

What are you doing? What is that? I go, it's my spa. Why does it look like that? I go, I did it. Well, if you're that angry at your spa, you didn't have to do that. I go, no. No. No. It's broke.

And I wanted to make it acceptable for bulk trash. I go, what do you mean? I go, you spent all the time doing that because you thought that's how it works? I go, yeah. He goes, did you read what they gave you on the magnet with the phone number on how to call them when you moved in? No.

So you don't know it? No. You haven't heard what it says? Nope. You haven't seen what it says? Nope. You really should go read it, but I'll tell you what it says. It's a number to call if you have a really big item and even gives an example. For example, the first example is a broken hot tub.

And then what does it say to do? It says you put it out front, you call them and let them know, and then they have a big truck with a bulldozer and two guy crew that they just go to all the places where the big things are and they'll come and get it.

If you leave it out here like this, it's still gonna be out. They won't take this. This is a worse mess. You need to call out to them and say I got a problem bigger than I can handle and they'll come take care of it. He drove away. He was leaning up against the tree trying to not pass out.

And you know what the first thought went through my head as he told me that? I don't believe you. You're lying. That is too good to be true.

It's too good to be true. And I was also mad because if it was true, I still felt, no, I can't believe that because I already did all this work. I already did a good job. I took a big problem and made it manageable. I took a big problem and made it acceptable. I wasn't this big of a problem. Was like, it was this and it was this. And then I did a lot of work to do that. So I had really done a lot of effort. I didn't wanna get told they wouldn't take it that way. I didn't wanna reach out to them. I wanted them to thank me for what I did.

That is the gospel. And most of us try to handle sin. We try to handle our problems. We try to handle our relationship with God in this contractual way that says, hey, I got this sin in my life. Death. Something that I was created for that's not working.

And how we try to make ourselves acceptable to God or make our life work on our own is I'm gonna take this big thing and I'm just gonna work really hard at breaking it down and saying, see, I'm not that bad. See, this isn't terrible. See, I can handle like this. See, I can handle like that. And there, see God, look at all the work I did. I this is acceptable. Take it away and give me what I really want.

But it's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. You're just gonna end up with heat stroke. What we need to do is what that magnet said I should do about the spa. You call out to God and you take the sin that's hiding in your heart in the backyard that you try to make look like it's working to everyone around you

and you put it in the front yard. That's called confession. You just take it out front, put it right out in front of you and before God, and then you call out to God and say, God, I am a sinner. I'm separated from you. I fall under your justice, but guess what? I know what Christmas is about. I know what the prophet Malachi

said, and I know that you came and you were born and laid in a manger, but you came for the cross.

You call out to God and you accept his offer of love because he said, you called me. You put your faith in me. You turn to me. You don't try to cut things up. You don't try to make excuses. Don't try to make it look better. You don't try to hide it. You don't try to fight with me. You just accept the incarnate way. Accept my plan. Quit trying to manipulate me into changing your circumstances.

Just trust my plan. Look to me. Look to what I did for you. Look to my love. Don't try to live for my love. Live from my love.

And how you do that is you just cry out and put your faith in Jesus. You say, I'm a sinner that could never be made right with God, but now I'm gonna accept what Jesus did. I accept your love. I accept your offer. Did. Please take it. And guess what? It may sound too good to be true, but he will pull up the cross, and he will take that sin, and he will drive it away.

And then you will be holy before him, and you will have what you really need, eternal life made back in connection to the God who make you and loves you. And that's the only way. There is no other way to God but by that way, because that's the only way.

Any other way is an attempt to make it right on your own, and it won't work. So have you done it? I know there's a lot people here that probably don't go to church a lot. Some of you have here a million times.

And you're like, wow, I just thought I was gonna get a little, you know, Rudolph the red nosed Jesus story tonight.

But I love you enough that if this is my only chance to talk to you, I want you to know how how to have eternal life. And that's by calling out to Jesus. That's what Christmas is. That's the greatest gift ever.

And I wanna give you guys an opportunity. You can have it right now. It's simple. Sounds good. Should just call out. You just ask them. So I wanna pray. Close your eyes. And some of you might join the 420 other people that have already done this with us just in the last two days.

And that is I want to receive that. I wanna pray and call out to God. I'm gonna help you. I'm gonna guide you through a prayer. Make it your own words between you and God. But I'm gonna ask you to do something to make this real for you and just symbolically take this step in this choice.

Before we pray, if that is you and you want to to have this life found in Christ alone and you've never done it before, I want you to just hold a hand up and just keep it held up while we pray. Don't be afraid, you're not gonna get called to answer a question like we're in class or something.

I'm the only one looking around. Just hold, I see them, hold them up, keep them up nice and high. It's as if you're reaching up and saying, God, please take this. Or here I am, it's me. I need you to come to my life and take away the broken spa of my sin. As that angel said to Joseph, Don't be afraid

of God's love. Don't be afraid of God's plan. Just hold that hand up.

And if that's you, just pray with me. Just pray something like this in your heart. God, thank you. Thank you that you came with a plan that is too good to be true. Thank you that you had a better plan than my idea of what was gonna make my life work. Thank you that you came to give me real life, eternal life.

And right now, in the best way I know how, I'm gonna turn from my sin, And I'm gonna turn to you, and I'm gonna put my faith, and I'm gonna believe in you that you did come. You lived that perfect life. You died on the cross. You resurrected for me,

proving you are who you say you are, and you gave me the life you said you'd give. You said you would take my sin. Thank you. Thank you. Now help me to go from here, and as I experience the circumstances in my life, whether they're up, down, back, or forward, Help me to learn to live from your love,

trusting you with more areas of my life, not so you'll love me, but because you've already loved me so much, so perfectly. Thank you. I pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.