I'm just going to have you turn to a couple passages this morning. The first one is in 1 Corinthians 15. This is where we started the year. And then we will progress to another passage in which we will end the year. 1 Corinthians 15. You know, we sang earlier the words of the hymn written by Frances Havergill, which we will learn a little bit more about her life story this coming year. But the title of that hymn was Another Year is Dawning. And there's such great truth in that particular hymn that, you know, sometimes we probably ought to sing it more than once each year. But we've been doing that for the last several years because it is so relevant to the new year. Obviously, that was the reason why she wrote it. But whenever a new year dawns, whenever a new year begins, as it will tomorrow, it can be helpful, I think, to spend some time reflecting on the past as well as looking forward to the future. pretty good idea when he made a resolution when he was a teenager to not make any more New Year's resolutions. And I think he's kept it so far. So that's a good thing. But, you know, a lot of times it doesn't mean that you can't look forward to new resolutions and especially that daily resolution to glorify God that we mentioned earlier today. And of course, those new resolutions can start off at any time, at any point in the year. But instead of resolutions, as we've done in the past several years now, I'd like for us to spend a little time this morning to review and to preview. So first of all, we're going to review a bit of where we've been as a church since the beginning of 2023. Just as I mentioned before, we sang that last song. Our theme for this last year was victory in Jesus. This victory is declared for us here in First Corinthians chapter 15. We won't take the time to read all of the verses around it, but if you go down to verse 57, First Corinthians 1557, the apostle Paul writes these words, but thanks be to God, which giveth us what? the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And I have no doubt that the writer of the song we just sang had these words and other words like them in mind, scriptural words about the victory that we do have in Jesus Christ. This victory that belongs to all who believe in Christ is a complete victory. Now, it doesn't feel like it's a completed victory because we're still progressing in victory in our lives as Christians, but this victory is a complete victory, that it is a full victory, a whole victory. It is a victory that we are destined to based on the victory that was done through the death of Jesus Christ. This is a victory truly over sin. That is what we as Christians still struggle with in our daily life, in our really hourly life. We still struggle with temptations and even yielding to those temptations, which is sin. And yet Jesus gives us victory over sin. Praise God for that. That's one of that process of sanctification where he doesn't leave us where we've been, but he takes us to where he wants us to be. You know, Brother John read from Psalm 99 how God is holy and he lives in his holy hill, holy heaven. God cannot accept anything that is unholy, unrighteous in his presence. And so he needs to make us righteous. He needs to make us holy. He needs to change us into the glorious image of his own son for us to be present with him. We read in Hebrews that without holiness, we cannot see God. And so we need to have that holiness. And this is where that victory in Jesus comes into play. Victory in Jesus gives us victory over sin. And what is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law of God. Sin is the transgression of the very nature of God that we find in the Word of God. It's not what other people think about the nature of God. It's about the nature that God Himself presents to us in His Word. We can have victory over sin as Christians. This is also a victory over separation. You know, just yesterday we spent some time remembering the life of our dear brother Andy and For a Christian to be absent from the body, we know, is to be present with the Lord, but it still makes that separation, that death, a difficult thing. You know, death is a precious thing in the sight of God, the death of his saints, but there's still sorrow in our hearts. There was even sorrow in Jesus when his friend Lazarus died and was buried. We recognize that there is sorrow in death. There is sorrow in the separation. But praise God, part of the victory that even Paul talks about in first Corinthians 15 is the victory over that death, the victory over separation. That's why in the verses before he says in verse 54, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, he's talking about the resurrection life of believers and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the same that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Because we have victory over sin, We will have in Christ victory over the separation of death itself. And that's why he says again, quoting from the Old Testament. Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But here's that verse. Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, this victory is a complete victory, even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it's yet a completed victory. It's a victory over sin, a victory over separation. It's a victory over the devil and Satan himself. And I think we needed this truth this year. I don't know about you, but I did. I needed this truth this year, especially in light of the things that we've all gone through personally, the things that we've all gone through as a church. We need this message of victory in Jesus. And so as our review to grow in our understanding of that victory, to grow in our appreciation and really our appropriation of that victory. In our adult Sunday school class, we started looking, actually toward the end of last year, early this year, we started looking at the great promise of victory that we find in the book of Revelation. We started in Revelation chapter one and we're making our way all the way through to the very end of Revelation. We're not going to finish that this year. We'll probably finish it sometime next year. But we learned about the great promise of victory. One of the things that I think is encouraging for us and is encouraged to us is to read through the book of Revelation. We've already done that twice together in our Sunday school hour as adults. And in reading it, we recognize that the final victory that we have in Jesus is foretold in some vivid ways. You know, we even have pictures and glimpses of what heaven is like, because in heaven, everything is as it's supposed to be. And that victory that he has there is something that we will experience someday as well. In our Sunday morning services, we continued looking at the great person of victory, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, that's through our ongoing series in the Gospel of John. We will finish the Gospel of John later on this year. On Sunday nights, we finished or we focused on the great progress of victory. So we have the promise of victory, the one who gives us that victory, the person, and then the progress of victory that we as Christians can have in Christ. And of course, we recognize that we do wrestle. We may not wrestle against flesh and blood, the Bible says, but we do wrestle in this life. And so we have three main foes that we've considered on Sunday nights all this year. The foe of the world, the foe of the flesh, and the foe of the devil. And the fact is, as Christians, we can progress in daily victory over those foes, the world, the flesh, and the devil. So remember these lessons, remember these truths so that you can continue to experience and enjoy the victory that you really do have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Victory in Jesus, my savior forever. For the rest of our time, I'd like to consider now the preview of where we're going in 2024. You've already seen the theme for this year in this morning's bulletin. John referenced that in his announcements. And that is Amazing Grace. That's our theme for this year. Amazing Grace. Of course, that's the title of one of the most well-known hymns in the English language. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. It's a song that we'll sing here later. It's probably one that you have committed to memory. It's one that even the world knows. Even the world might sing or play from time to time. Amazing Grace was written by the old English pastor John Newton, who pastored a church in London, England. He wrote it back in 1773 and then had it published in 1779. In fact, when Newton wrote this hymn, Amazing Grace, he wrote it to go with a sermon that he preached on New Year's Day. in 1773. So it's an appropriate hymn for us to even start and embark this new year that's dawning in our own lives. This hymn is not just an English hymn. This hymn has been translated into many other languages as well, using the same tune that we use. It really is a worldwide hymn that teaches worldwide truths about the amazing grace of God to sinners like us. Just reflect for a moment on some of the truths that are written into this hymn. You don't need to turn there, but this is the first stanza. You probably know it. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind. But now I see there are a lot of people that can sing that from their own minds. They know those words, but they really don't understand or appreciate the meaning of those words. And sometimes that's our failure and our fault as well for not understanding those words ourselves. So in just this first stanza, we find two big truths that show us the amazing grace of the gospel. We find, first of all, the truth of Newton's. Of course, he's writing this as a personal testimony, right? Of his and our deep depravity. our sinfulness, our nature and our condition before God as sinners. In fact, he uses a strong term to describe his true nature as a sinful man, as well as our own. And that word is wretch. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Now, that's a hard word. In fact, the dictionary defines wretch as someone who is miserable. someone who is despicable, someone who is base, unfortunate, and thus very unhappy. Now, if you know anything about the life of John Newton, there came a point in his life where he recognized his own wretchedness, his own sinfulness, his own unhappy condition. And really, this particular term applies to us all, not just his testimony, but any Christian's testimony. In fact, any testimony of anyone in this world. This is such a strong term, wretch, that it has caused some to change the word Newton used to describe himself into something softer, something a little less offensive. I've seen some who say, has saved a soul like me or a one like me. But isn't this a biblical term? Isn't this a biblical way to describe sinners? Isn't this how the apostle Paul described himself in Romans 7 24? In fact, just about every translation, ancient and modern, you'll find the same word. Paul describes his own personal struggle between his spirit, which was saved, and his fallen flesh that he kept on fighting against. And he says in Romans 7, 24, Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? You see, Paul knew that he needed the amazing grace of God, because if we're not wretches, we don't need his grace. If we're not sinners, we don't need a salvation. If we're not in that condition, we don't need Christ's work on the cross for our sin. We are wretches. And so because of this truly wretched and miserable condition, our depravity, Newton further describes himself using other biblical terms such as lost. I once was lost. And he also says, I was blind. And there are other ways to describe this depravity, this total depravity of our nature before God. Death is another way that we see described in scripture. This is why the grace of God that Newton wrote about could be so amazing. Because God's grace reaches down into the deepest pit of our depravity in order to provide the other great truth of this hymn, and that is God's deliverance. That's where God's amazing grace comes in. That's what makes his grace so amazing. It is God's grace that can bring salvation and deliverance to wretches like us. And that's why he could say again, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. He was saved. That's amazing grace. It's God's grace that can find lost sheep like us so that we might be found. It is God's grace that you can give sight to blind sinners like us, just like Jesus was able to give physical sight to those who are blind. He gives a spiritual sight to our true nature so that we might be saved. It's all about God's grace. And this is what makes God's grace so amazing, because as we know from Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 and other verses, you probably know for by grace, Are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. And those are just a few of the truths, a few of the great truths that we can glean from just this one stanza from this one hymn that is saturated with biblical and gospel language. But you know, as English-speaking Christians in an English-speaking church, we've been blessed to receive hundreds and thousands of songs like Amazing Grace, haven't we? We have a whole bunch of them in our hymn books and then hymn books are multiplied with other kinds of songs and hymns that have the same kind of language, the same kind of gospel truth, the same kind of teaching. And of course, these hymns are through which godly men and godly women have been able to teach God's people the doctrine we need in order to grow and endure as Christians. And so our theme verse for this year, the going in conjunction with amazing grace, our theme for this year is Colossians chapter three. So why don't we head there now? Colossians chapter three, verse 16. We looked at this verse a little more in depth when we went through the book of Colossians a few years ago, but in Colossians chapter three, verse 16, we read these, these words also from the apostle Paul. Colossians 316, he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. In Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. I hope and I pray that throughout this year we will commit this verse to memory. If you have a hard time memorizing any other verse, at least this year, strive to memorize this verse with us. Colossians 3, 16 again. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now, like we do with our good news clubs, when we'll start back up in February, we do motions to help us learn those verses. Maybe we can do that here. Would that help if we did motions? Would everybody do those with me? I know Phyllis and Pat would, because they do. Do you guys do that? I think you do. I make them. Of course they do, right? So maybe that'll help. But I think this is a powerful verse because in this verse we find the primary source of growth in our lives as Christians, don't we? We cannot grow as Christians without the word of Christ. We cannot grow as Christians without the truth of the word of Christ dwelling in us richly. But what is this word of Christ? When Paul is writing these words, he's not primarily talking about the words from Christ. He's not talking primarily about the the red letter words that we might find in our Gospels, because by the time Paul is writing this letter, the Gospels, as they were written in the New Testament, really in the New Testament as a whole, were relatively unknown. Obviously, there was some, you know, word to word. Hey, this is what Jesus said. This is what Jesus taught for sure. But primarily, when Paul is describing the word of Christ, he's describing the words about Christ. Yes, it is the message of Christ, but it's also and especially the message about him. It's simply what we call the gospel. The word about Christ is the gospel. The word of Christ is the good news of Jesus Christ. Now, obviously, this came from his lips, too, but there's a lot more to the word of Christ than just the red letter editions of our Bibles. The word of Christ is all the word about Christ from cover to cover. Genesis, Revelation, Old Testament, New Testament, every single book. It's about him. This is the primary truth that we find about Christ. This word of Christ is not just found in the New Testament. As I mentioned, it's found all throughout the old as well. In the Old Testament, we looked at this a couple of years ago. We find promises about Christ. We find prophecies about Christ. We find the purpose of Christ. And there are even times where you find the real presence of Christ in the Old Testament, don't you? Even when Adam and Eve were there in the Garden of Eden, what do we find? We find God himself walking in the garden in the cool of day. Who is that God? Who was that person that was walking with his own feet? It was the Lord Jesus in a pre-incarnate form. It was Jesus with his people. Jesus fellowshipping with his people even before they sinned. Jesus even said this in John 5 39 you're searching the scriptures for in them You think you have eternal life, but then he adds but they are they which testify of me? The Old Testament is just as much the word of Christ as the New Testament. The book of Genesis is just as much the word of Christ as the book of Revelation and all the gospels. And so this word of Christ is nothing less than the gospel of grace, the amazing grace of Jesus Christ. And we find in this verse, Colossians 316, the incredible value of the gospel in the life of those who believe. The first thing that we find is the wealth of the word of Christ, the wealth of the gospel. Of course, You watch any of those old Westerns like my father-in-law does, you know that one of the reasons why the West was won was for gold. Gold and silver and other precious metals. But the miners who searched for gold in the Old West, they didn't know how much gold was there. In fact, sometimes they would go to a place and they would start digging, they wouldn't find any gold. Sometimes they would find much. But the term that was used for these miners, they were called speculators because they're speculating. They're speculating. Maybe this is a good place. Maybe this is a bad place. We're not going to go here, but we will go here. The fact is, as Christians, when we think about our greatest treasure, the word of Christ, we are not speculators. The world might think that we are. But we are not speculators as Christians. We know what our treasure is, rather who our treasure is, the Lord Jesus. We know where our treasure is and we even know how to get our treasure. And so let Paul tell you to let your treasure dwell in you. Let this word of Christ dwell in you. Let the gospel of his amazing grace dwell in you this new year. In fact, this phrase is in the form of a command. He says you need to do this. Let it. There's something active here. You pursue it. You read it. You study it. You learn more about it. You grow from it. Let the word of Christ dwell in you. But he also says that you need to let it dwell in you richly because it can. Do you know that the gospel of God's amazing grace can dwell in your heart as a believer richly in a deep, personal, growing way? There's no such thing as too much of the word of Christ. There's no such thing as too much of the gospel. There's no such thing as too much of God's amazing grace. In fact, Paul's desire is for us to be full of this. Colossians one nine, a couple of pages back, Paul says, for this cause, we also since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you. This church in Colossi and to desire that you might be filled with a knowledge of his will in all wisdom. and spiritual understanding. You see, this word of Christ, the gospel, the word of Christ, the message about his grace, as John Gill writes, is a rich treasure, an invaluable mine of precious truths. Be full of the word of Christ this year, be full of the gospel, be full of God's amazing grace, because there is great wealth to be found there. the wealth of the word of Christ. The second thing that we find in this verse is the wisdom from the word of Christ, the wisdom from the word of Christ. Some treasure hunters, when they finally find what they've been looking for, become hoarders of it and they become to the point where they don't want anybody to know about where their claim is. They don't want anybody else to take what they have. They hoard it. And the treasure ends up doing them very little good. In fact, it robs them of any joy, any enjoyment of the treasure they find. Instead, they're protective. They become paranoid. But you know, the treasure of the gospel, this word of Christ that we have is not meant to be hoarded. It's meant to be used. And that's why Paul Paul continues in verse 16 here by saying, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing what one another. This is the wisdom of the word of Christ in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another. This means that there's more than enough of this treasure for everyone. I don't know about you, but I was blessed by hearing about some of the treasure that was shared by our brother Andy to all of his friends and family members in the testimonies that were given about his life and memory yesterday. He had a treasure, the gospel, the word of Christ that was so special to him, but it was so special he didn't hoard it to himself. He wanted to share it. He wanted to give it away. That's the kind of treasure that we have in Christ. That's the kind of word of Christ that we do have. There's more and not more than enough to share. So we need to search for this wisdom. But then we also need to share this wisdom in the word of God to each other. You know, this is one of the ways that we search for wisdom. It's through Bible reading, Bible study. growing in the grace of his word. This is why we introduced the Take 20 program years ago and have continued to do for many years, because we need to saturate ourselves in the word of Christ, saturate ourselves in the message of God's amazing grace. But it's not just about hanging on to it for ourselves just to fill up our minds, but then to fill up our lives and then to share it as well. But what is wisdom? You see, wisdom is not just knowledge of the truth. You know, we often think, well, someone is wise because they know a lot about scripture. They know a lot about the word of God. They know a lot about the gospel. It's not about the knowledge that makes wisdom. It's the application of that knowledge that is wisdom. It's the application of truth that you know. So how do you know if you have this wisdom that you can use to teach and admonish each other when it comes to the word of Christ? Well, it will be evident. It'll be evident in what you think about. Consider what you think about throughout the day, throughout the week. Does Philippians 4.8 come to mind? Whatsoever things are and it goes on, think on these things. Is that what you think about? If so, then you are letting the wisdom of the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It will also be seen in your desires. It won't just be what you think about. It will affect how you feel and what you want and what you desire in your life and the life of others. If you're letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly, you will want people to experience God's truth, God's way, the way you have. It'll be evident in your desires. It'll be evident in your decisions, what you choose. It'll be evident in what you talk about, your discussions. And that's why we need to, when we find God's wisdom, we do not hoard this treasure. We share it here through teaching. This means that you share with others the things that you've learned. This is not talking just to pastors. This is not just talking about Sunday school teachers. It's talking about every Christian. I can learn from you just as much as you can learn from me. We are to teach each other and help each other learn more about this word of Christ, more about this amazing grace so that we can grow together. We share this wisdom, but also we admonish, we stir others up with this wisdom. Another translations put it puts it counseling each other. That is, people are struggling or people have questions or people are dealing with things in their lives. What do you do? You bring God's word to bear in their problems, in their situations, in the storms that they're facing, in the sorrows that they're going through. You don't just come around and say, you know, it'll be all right. Things will be better tomorrow. The sun will come out tomorrow. Now, that's the Pollyanna view of the world. We have the truth. We have the word of Christ. We have the amazing grace of God's gospel that can actually come into someone's life and change them and comfort them and help them. We need to share this wisdom and admonish and stir each other up with this wisdom. This is one of the reasons why Paul even wrote Colossians and Colossians 128. He says, referring to Christ, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom. We admonish and teach so that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So we stir each other up with the wisdom and knowledge of Christ so that we all might become perfect and complete in him. This is the responsibility of every member of this church and really of every member of every church to stir each other up with the wisdom of God. This is our responsibility. So are you searching for his wisdom through his word? Are you sharing this wisdom through his word? Are you stirring up others with this wisdom through his word? This is the wealth and the wisdom of the word of Christ. As we move on in Colossians 3 16, we also see the worship through the word of Christ, the worship through the word of Christ. Treasure is not only meant to be shared, it's meant to be used, isn't it? It's meant to be used. What makes gold so valuable? It's not just because it's rare. There might be things that are rare that really aren't that valuable, not that useful. Fact is, gold is useful. It's used for jewelry. because of its beauty, because of the shining properties of pure gold. But gold is also used for protection. It doesn't corrode. In fact, some of the the best conductors, the best wires are made out of gold because they do not corrode. Gold is used for priceless objects like cups and plates because of its ability to be molded and formed. We even see this in the Old Testament where it was the gold cups that were the best cups that were used in the worship of the tabernacle of the temple of God. You see, one of the best and most beautiful uses of the gospel is really to return it to the one who gave it to us in worship. That is one of the great uses of the word of Christ, our greatest treasure as Christians. Again, here in verse 36, verse 16 in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Paul says, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Here we find the songs of our worship, the songs of our worship. By the way, singing is not in and of itself worship. Singing can be a form of worship if the worship is done in your heart. Worshiping God is responding to God according to the truth that you hear from God. And then you can express that worship in different ways. One of them's through singing. That's perhaps one of the main ways. Giving is another way of worship. There are other forms of worship. But you and I can sing our hearts out without truly worshiping. because we haven't responded to the truth that we're singing about. And yet we have psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that we can use to worship God because they're so full of God's truth. These are the songs of our worship. Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. And when the gospel enters a Christian's heart, they will sing. They will sing. The songs that we write and sing will be different than the songs that the world writes and sings. And so we have three different kinds of songs here in this verse. We find it another place in the New Testament as well. These are different songs designed especially for Christians who want to respond to the word of Christ. First of all, Psalms. Psalms are songs with a content of scripture. In fact, those are the best songs, aren't they? especially though from the book of Psalms. That's one of the reasons why we go through the Psalms, because we're told to, right? We're supposed to admonish and teach each other how, through these Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Sadly, I think a lot of Christians do themselves a disservice by eliminating one of those. We'll do hymns and spiritual songs, but we're not gonna sing those songs. Let's sing those songs. This is what we have from the Word of God. Psalms are a part of the Word of Christ. In fact, many Psalms are about Christ. In Luke 24, 44, Jesus says, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. There's a lot of the Psalms that point directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, and then I think probably all the rest of them point to him in some indirect fashion. And that's why God gives us Psalms and the truth of those Psalms, the word of Christ in those Psalms to use in our worship. Hymns. Hymns is another one of our songs. Songs that are sung in honor of God and in praise to God. It's a song that is a response to what we learn about God, what we learn about Christ from the Word of Christ. And I think this truly is part of that amazing grace. John Newton was able to understand what God had done for him. He understood his depravity. He understood God's deliverance. And so he wrote this hymn of praise in honor of what God is and what God did for him. spiritual songs, any song that is sung that is spiritual in its content. These aren't those songs of the world, the songs that, you know, talk about worldly love. And certainly we need to have the kind of love that we have for brother and for husbands and wives. And certainly there might be some value in some of those. But these are spiritual songs. That take love in its true context, the love of God, the love of Christ to us. It comes from a mind and a heart that has been influenced by the spirit of God through the word of God. And so a spiritual song is spiritual in character, in content, in purpose. And all of our songs need to be based on the word of Christ. These are the songs of our worship. But we also see the sense of our worship. He goes on and says here in verse 16, singing with grace in your hearts. That's how we're supposed to sing to the Lord, aren't we? Singing with grace in our hearts. Our hearts need to be filled with thankfulness and gratitude and grace. Our voices need to express our hearts, not just saying the words of a song, but meaning them. This is why we need to sing. This is why we need to sing as a church, because when you do, If you do it from your heart, knowing what you're singing, knowing why you're singing, you worship God. But, you know, singing is not just in worship for God. If you look at this verse again, it ties encouraging and admonishing each other as well as this worship. You probably heard the acronym for joy, right? If you really want to have joy in your life, you've got to set Jesus first, that's J, others second, and then your self last. I think we need to sing with joy, that kind of joy in our hearts. Yes, Jesus is our primary audience when we come and we sing and we worship. There's a reason why we don't just sing in our minds and sing silently. Because it's not just for the Lord. He's our primary audience. But then we're also to what teach and admonish one another, even in these songs and hymns of spiritual song. So there's the others. We are encouraging and edifying each other in singing. I read an article a couple of weeks ago by a Christian blogger named Tim Challies, and I would encourage you if you ever have a chance to read some of his material, he does a good job. But he was offering advice from his own experience in his own church. And he said, If you want to be a blessing to your pastor, if you want to be a blessing to your fellow church member, he says, sing and sing loudly. You may not be the best singer, but sing and sing loudly. Why? Because of this verse. Yes, we are worshiping God through that music, but we're also edifying, encouraging each other. People will hear what you're saying through your words and through your singing. But of course, It is also a blessing to your own soul. You also sing for yourself. You sing because you know these truths are truths that you need, just like John Newton. He said, I'm a depraved man who needs a deliverer. And that is something that we can all take for ourselves. That song is our song. That song is my song. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was so depraved. I was so deep in that pit that I could only have someone like Christ come and save me. He alone. can reach down into that pit. That is singing with joy. Jesus, others and yourself. That's the sense of our worship. We also find in this verse the spirit of our worship, singing with grace in our hearts, ultimately to the Lord. This is our primary audience, no matter what else we know, what other else we sing, how you sing should reflect and reveal what the gospel has done in your heart to the Lord. I like what John Gill writes. He says the end in view for our singing, the end in view should be the glory of God. Doesn't this also correspond with Paul says, whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. If you can glorify God in what you eat and what you drink, you certainly can do it through what you sing. Our singing is not primarily what makes us feel good, but what brings glory to God. But you know what brings glory to God will also be for the good of God's people. So one of our desires for this new year is to grow more in the grace of God, especially through what we find here in Colossians 3.16, especially through Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs that teach us and admonish us about the word of Christ, the truth of God, the truth of the gospel. And that's why our theme for this year again is amazing grace. So just to give you a quick forecast of where we're going, God willing, to develop this theme of amazing grace on Sunday nights, we will teach and admonish one another through hymns and spiritual songs. We're going to learn more about some of the great hymn writers of the past, as well as some of their hymns, which have communicated the truths of God's amazing grace for generations and have stood the test of time. How are we going to do this? Well, we're going to kind of take it month by month. On the first Sunday night of each month, starting with next Sunday, we will learn more about the background and biography of some of the godly and gifted writers that we have of these hymns. For the rest of that month, we'll actually look into the doctrines of grace that we find in some of their songs. We're going to look at the truths of those songs. We're going to look at the scriptural background of some of those songs, just like we did earlier with Amazing Grace and how we saw the truth of our depravity and the truth of God's deliverance. We're going to dig deep into these hymns because through these hymns we can learn so much. And I think there is so often As we as we sing these hymns even the older ones we we kind of lose track of what it's teaching us and Yet so many of those truths we need more than ever So probably every month we will look at two or three of those hymns to learn more about them but not just the hymns but to learn the truth of those hymns and That'll teach us not just to sing with our hearts, but to sing with our minds and our understanding also. Singing is a worship that is holistic. It should be from our hearts. It should be done with feeling, but we don't let our mind go out the door. But we also don't just sing with our mind. We also have to sing with our hearts. It's got to be holistic. It's got to be from all of us. In fact, the best and most enduring Christian songs are not songs just merely of Christian experience, but are songs of Christian doctrine and truth, and really the best join both of them like amazing grace. On the last Sunday night of each month, we will look at one of the various facets of God's amazing grace in a message. We're going to look at how God's grace is sovereign, how it's sufficient for us, how it's satisfying, and even much, much more. On Wednesday nights, once again, we'll be teaching and admonishing one another through the Psalms. We're going to go through the book of Psalms, just like we've been one Psalm at a time, to not just learn about them, but to sing them and understand them. Of course, in our adult Sunday school class, we'll continue our series through the book of Revelation, which, if you remember already from chapter four and five, is full of singing, isn't it? There's some great hymns of praise to God in heaven. in those chapters and it'll continue on. In fact, those are that's one way that you can organize the book of Revelation is by the hymns and the songs that are sung in praise of God in that book. And then, of course, on Sunday mornings, we will finish our study through the Gospel of John, which has been the source of many of the songs and hymns that we sing. We're actually starting. Well, we've already started to look at the final hours of Christ's life in this world. But isn't that where we find God's amazing grace on full display? God commendeth his love toward us, his grace toward us, his tenderness toward us. You can just add more and more characteristics and attributes in that Christ died for us. That's amazing grace. So let's pray for each other this year, that we may grow more in our understanding and in our enjoyment of God's amazing grace this new year. Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you again for this opportunity that we've had to just kind of review where we've been this last year, but also, Lord, preview where we feel you would have us go this new year. And Lord, we can't go wrong with exploring more your grace. And so, Father, I pray that you will help us and that you'll give us the grace that we need to explore your grace, because Lord, even as Ron prayed earlier, without you, we are and we can do nothing. We need your grace completely. And so Father, I pray that the way we were saved by grace is now how we will live by your grace. And I pray, Lord, that you will help us get a taste, a greater sense that that grace is just so amazing that even that word cannot describe it in its fullest. But Lord, we are thankful for the Psalms and the hymns and the spiritual songs that not only do we find in your word, but also have been written by countless Christians and countless generations from countless backgrounds and in countless languages so that we are able to share with them and learn from them the great gospel truths about the word of Christ so that we can grow, that we can worship, that we can praise you even more. And so, Father, I pray that even today, as we think about. Your amazing grace. that Lord, you'll remind us that in these psalms, in these hymns, in these spiritual songs, not only do we sing them from our heart, but Lord, we must also sing them from our minds. Help us, Lord, to understand the truths that we sing. Help us to dig deeper into the doctrine that we find there, because Lord, we know that the doctrine, the truth of scripture that is reflected in any psalm, hymn, or spiritual song is what will stabilize us, is what will strengthen us, is what will stir us up, is what will make us holy, more holy for you are holy. It is what will help us in those times of struggle and temptation and trial. And so father, I pray that you'll help us as we dig deep, that you will take those scriptural gospel truths and write them on our hearts so that we will not soon forget them, but live according to them and trust you through them. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.