but this morning I want to focus particularly in chapter 1 of John on a truth on a on a deep subject it truly is deep and and I feel I feel under equipped to take on such a task this morning but we're going to look specifically of Jesus himself and and more than that deeper than that it's a it's a look at God himself that we worship God and in Spirit and in truth, but we worship a God that is triune. We worship a God that is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's not three gods, but it's three persons of one God. There's three in one. And it's a challenging thought to our minds. But when we understand the beauty and the richness of that reality, we see things in a different way, a different manner. And this morning, one of the main emphasis of this study, this look at John's gospel, is that we can see with certainty who Jesus Christ is. Not who he was, but truly who Jesus Christ is. is. And so we're going to look specifically at verse 14 of John chapter number one. But for sake of context I'm going to read some verses surrounding this in the first chapter of John. So if you found that and you're able and willing this morning would you stand with me in honor of reading God's word John chapter number one, beginning to read in verse number one, the word of God says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. and then jump down to verse 14, it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him and cried out, This is he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. This is the word of God. Let's pray father. We thank you for your word and we pray that this morning that you would help us Lord to have eyes to see and ears to hear that God's seeing and hearing we would believe and we would understand and that God your spirit would work in our hearts to To strengthen us in our faith and lord if there's somebody here today who has never trusted in jesus christ as lord and savior of their life that today they would see him, Lord, not as an option among many, but the only means of salvation that God, that you have provided for us. Father, thank you for these things. Thank you for these truths. Lord, as your servant today, I pray that you would cleanse me of sin, empty me of self, and fill me with your spirit. Help me to be a blessing to these, your people, and God will give you all the praise and the thanks for it all. In Jesus' name we pray, amen and amen. Thank you for standing. You may be seated. Quite clearly, I've chosen the title of the message this morning directly from our text, The Word Became Flesh. There's an incredible truth that we speak much about during this time of the year. We speak about it other times, but we especially focus on it now. And the word that is used to describe what took place nearly 2,000 years ago in a Bethlehem manger is the word incarnation. incarnation. The word incarnation means, as defined by the text before us, God or deity becoming humanity. In other words, the simplest way that we can state this reality is this, God became a man. God became a man. There are many confusing and faulty understandings concerning this doctrine, and we're not going to take time to explore all of them, but I do want to, for argument's sake, I want to briefly mention to you a few faulty understandings of this reality, of the incarnation. So, three specifically. One, there are those who have in the past and presently believed and teach that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, only appeared to be a human, but was truly, or I'm sorry, was only truly deity. That is to say that Jesus was only man in appearance but not actually. So that's one faulty understanding of the Incarnation. Another is this, there are also those who have in the past and presently believe and teach that Jesus Christ was a deified man, a deified man. That is to say, a man became God. And at the moment that man became, I'm sorry, that the moment that this took place was either at Jesus's baptism or at his resurrection. OK, so again, that statement is that man, a man existing becomes God. And specifically, they would point to either the baptism of Christ or his resurrection. Equally wrong is the first. The third view is that Jesus Christ was a humanized deity, a humanized God, in that Jesus simply got into an earthly body but not in the respects of taking on its fullness like you and I, but similarly to the way that you would get into a car. Okay? And suffice it to say, these views are all equally wrong. So how do we understand this? And what actually took place? Well, stated again, quite simply, God became a man. God became a man. Now, let's look at the text before us, and we're gonna start with verse one of chapter one. If you have a bulletin you're following along on the outline, the first point is this. The Word was God. The Word was God. In John chapter one, verse number one, it says, in the beginning was the Word. The way that the Holy Spirit inspired John's gospel is absolutely incredible. And the obvious nature of the beginning of this book demonstrates this, that it's not man's thinking at work, but instead, It is the work of an infinitely wise God speaking through the finite man, John, and now through the voice of myself. John 1 makes a statement of classification and also clarification. So he's going to classify something and clear something up for us concerning the Word, the Word. the Word. What is this, the Word? Well, it says, in the beginning was the Word. The beginning spoken of here is the equivalent to what we would find in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, right? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So John's gospel begins with the beginning of the Bible itself. He goes all the way back to the beginning, and he makes this profound statement. He says the beginning that's spoken of here, being the equivalent to Genesis 1-1, the Bible itself begins with God, but note carefully, God himself does not begin with the Bible, okay? The Bible begins with God, but God did not begin with the Bible. God precedes the beginning and therefore has no beginning. God always was. We call this eternal. God is eternal. Therefore, in the beginning, that is the beginning of time, the beginning of space, the beginning of creation, the beginning of the matter that we now know, was preexistent the Word. So the word was before the creation, but the creation or rather the word was what brought about the creation. And notice the next phrase. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God. This statement points to the distinction of the Word and the Word's presence with God. And based upon our last statement, the Word being eternal was eternally and distinctly with God. Now, you gotta, I promise you, it's gonna get a whole lot easier as we go along. But follow me here. We've gotta set this foundation. In the beginning was the Word, The Word was with God, eternally and distinctly with God. And then John adds another layer to this. He says, and the Word was God. Wait a minute. In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and now he says, and the Word was God. Note carefully the equality with which this statement is made. The Word was not simply like God. The Word was not only with God or became God, but rather the Word was God. Fully and equally, God was the Word. And then John says in verse 2, He. He. He's calling the Word He. Right? And it's not until we keep going in John's Gospel that we discover the He that he's referring to specifically He, the Word, is the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? That's the connection we gotta make. Now, knowing that, knowing that reality, now we go back and we say, wait a minute. Jesus, right? Jesus was in the beginning. He was in the beginning. In the beginning was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was with God. Jesus Christ was god and we could say jesus christ is god okay amen is right now this is why is this so important why is it absolutely positively essential that we understand this reality because we got to know we have to understand the beauty and the dimensions of the gospel itself. Jesus Christ is not like anyone else because Jesus Christ was truly God. Some people will say, well, he was 100% God and he was 100% man. Well, he was truly God, and he was also, as we'll see, truly man. And then we're gonna look at why that's important. So now we jump down to verse 14. The word, who is who? Who is the word? Jesus Christ, the word who was God, Jesus Christ becomes flesh. There it is in verse 14, and the word became flesh. The word becoming flesh, that is to say that this word flesh, it means that which is living opposed to that which is dead, right? That's the opposite of living, it's alive. But he was Jesus Christ. The word becomes flesh means he was a breathing creature with all the internal and external parts of a body. And in other words, the word became blood and bones and muscle and skin and was a living breathing just the same way that every single one of us are here today. The Word became a human like you and I. Why was it so important that as we read the Gospel accounts that the writers, again by the inspiration of the Spirit, would say that there were moments when Jesus said, I thirst. that he was hungry, that he was tired, that he could feel the pain and the agony of the brutality of humanity. He experienced fatigue. He also had to sleep. He knew pain. He knew pleasure. He shed tears. He expressed compassion. He expressed joy. He expressed anger. In other words, Jesus Christ had emotions and feelings and functions physically the same way that every single one of you and I do, right? That's the point that's being made. Jesus was fully a man and he was fully a man without stopping being fully God. It took place at the very same time. So the Word, who was God, becomes flesh, never ceasing to be God. And then we add to it the next phrase, the Word, verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, dwelt among us. What's the relevance of this? Why is it so important, John, that we know that Jesus, the living Word of God, lived with us? Well, this Word to live with us, as it's translated for us, dwelt among us dwell it means to tabernacle or to tent to simply put another way it means to dwell or to live and when we think of the specific the the most literal translation this this tabernacle he tabernacled among us it makes us think about the old testament it makes us think about the the way that the uh the children of israel would build they built the tabernacle and it was the place where they would go to do what to worship God. That was the place that they would go and meet God. And in the tabernacle, there would be priests that would minister from man to God. They would take the sacrifices and the offerings that were given by the men, and they would offer them to God on behalf of man. Now, the other office in the tabernacle was that of prophet. The prophet would receive the words from God and give them to man. And so there was two offices. distinctly, one going vertically, the other one coming down vertically. And so this idea that God would come and be present with us and dwell among us, it says, to me that there's a place of worship has come, but also that he himself was familiar with what it was like to be here in this place. We see a reality of the tension and confusion that was existing in the minds of people. We just go back a few chapters to John chapter four, and in John chapter four, Jesus is met with the Samaritan woman at the well. And when he meets the Samaritan woman at the well, she's amazed that Jesus knows everything about her life. He begins to tell her all about her life and all about her history. And it's a good reminder to me that there's nothing that I have said, there's nothing that I have done, there's nothing that I do, and no place that I've gone that God doesn't know everything about me, right? He's omnipresent, he's everywhere, and he's all-knowing. And Jesus demonstrates this to this woman at the well. And after he shows her, he shows her that he knows everything about her, she says, I perceive you're a prophet. John chapter four, verse 19. He says, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. And then this is her, she wants to talk about worship. Verse 20 says, our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship. Jesus said to her, woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and truth. For the father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. And then listen to what the woman says. She said, I know that Messiah is coming. He who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And then Jesus says this, I who speak to you, am he. In other words, the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed one of God, you don't need to look for him anymore. He's standing right before you. And Jesus gives us this lesson on worship. He says, if you're going to worship God, you've got to worship God in spirit and in truth. It has nothing to do with whether or not you're at 600 Walnut Street in Penns Creek, or you're at 995 Mitchell Road in Middleburg, or if you live somewhere out in the western parts of Union County, right? He said it has nothing to do with that. Those who will worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth, and you will do so through the Christ, the Anointed One. So in other words, worship, listen, true worship, it really doesn't matter what the location is. It matters that the Holy Spirit is at work, and it matters that truth is being professed, that truth accompanies the work of the Holy Spirit. In John chapter 17 and verse 17, Jesus gives us the definition of these things. He prays that we would be sanctified in truth, and he says, thy word, God's word is truth. And Jesus is the embodiment of God's entire word. And we're gonna get more in those things in a bit. Suffices to say, this woman at Samaria, she was learning something about worship, and we're learning something about worship, that God came to dwell among us, just as it was prophesied of Isaiah in chapter seven in verse 14 of Isaiah. It says, therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you will call his name Emmanuel, which means interpreted God with, us. So John's proclaiming God did exactly what he said he would do, and this is how he has done it. God said, I will come and live, dwell with you, and he did so. How? By becoming one of us, by becoming a man. Now, here's a question. What is the particular relevance of this truth? Why was it important that Christ would come, become a man, and dwell among us and in our likeness living with us in our likeness as a man, it means that Jesus was subject to the same exact things that you and I are. That is to say, he became like us to sympathize and associate as, not like, but as one of us. But not just a likeness, not just an association, but specifically to be a substitute. To be a substitute. A substitute is one that takes the place of another. Boy, I could tell you stories about substitute teachers in high school, but then you'd learn what kind of character I was and ran around with. But suffice it to say, a substitute, you understand, everybody understands what a substitute is. It's somebody who's taking the place of another. And Jesus came to be flesh and dwell among us to serve as a substitute, a genuine taking of our place. Listen to the way that Galatians chapter four and verses four and five describe this. It says, but when the fullness of time had come, that is, the fullness of time according to God, man did not determine the fullness of time, God determined when the fullness of time was. And at the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, how? Born of a woman. In what way? Born under the law. Meaning, in other words, the law itself was not just applicable to you and I and to all the people of the Old Testament, all the people of the world, but it was applicable to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we would receive adoption as sons. So Jesus' primary mission, his primary mission was to come and to redeem, that is to purchase back, that is to bring somebody who's in a position of bondage and slavery and to purchase them to their freedom so that they can be let go. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 15 emphasizes emphasizes that Jesus was able and willing and and so tied connected to our humanity that he did so as our great high priest again that's our representation before God as a man it says in verse 4 or 15 of chapter 4 Hebrews who in that Jesus in every respect has been tempted as we are yet without sin. Jesus, truly God, truly man, lived among us the same way that you and I do, with all the pressures of life, with all the temptations of life, and yet he did so without falling to the temptations that, listen, every single one of us in this building here today have fallen to. Every time that I fail, every time that you fail, we mess up. We break God's law. We can't keep those commandments, right? You can't even keep them in your mind, let alone in your actions. Jesus did, perfectly, sinlessly, with all the same pressures. You say, well, you don't know what I'm going through that I would do or say or whatever. No, no, that's the point. We know what you're going through and Jesus knows what you're going through. And yet he did all these things. He lived perfectly and sinlessly according to God's law, yet without sin. And so when we put these pieces of the puzzle together, we see that he becomes our substitute, that is to live with us and as us in order to accomplish that which you and I cannot. right? And to grant to us what we do not deserve. That Jesus himself would be the just one, the one who obeys in perfection and the one who also justifies those who come to him by faith. So Jesus, he is saving us from the penalty of our sin in our justification, right? And then he is saving us from the power of our sin, that's sanctification, but he's also adopted us. He's placed us into his family and that adoption, it means a whole lot. The adoption that we go from being of the fallen race of Adam and being adopted into the family of God as a child of God through Jesus Christ, it gives us a completely new identity. that we're no longer a child of perdition, as the word says, or a child of the devil. That is by nature. We have this sin upon our lives. And because of that sin, there's a curse upon our lives. God's word says that the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life. How? Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And so Jesus Christ, he's our justification. He is our sanctification. He is our adoption. And there's this full and final aspect of salvation, the glorification that one day we will be saved fully and finally from the presence of all sin. Heaven is going to be heaven because there'll be no sin there. And you think, how in the world is that possible? If I make it to heaven, how in the world would that be possible? The sin nature that resides in every single one of our hearts today, it will be completely annihilated. It won't exist anymore. Listen, you will not even have the desire to sin in heaven. You say, well, what's the big deal about that? Can I tell you that every single thing that's wrong in this world, every single thing that's wrong in your life and in the world in general, it comes from one source. Sin. Sin has cursed everything that we see. Why is it you can build a piece of furniture out of the finest piece of wood cover it with all the finest preservatives? and it will one day rot. And if it doesn't rot, it will one day burn up. Amen? It's all consumable. It's all tangible. It's all perishable. But in heaven, in eternity, nothing will perish. Nothing will be consumed. Everything that we'll look at, everything that we'll experience will be indeed eternal, including your life. Wow, what an amazing thing, because it's the absence of sin and the presence of God's perfection, of his holiness and righteousness. And this is exactly what John goes on to point to, that the word, the word, Jesus Christ displays the glory of God. Notice the last phrase there of John chapter one and verse 14. I'm gonna read the whole verse for context again. And the word becomes flesh, dwells among us, and we have seen his glory. How? Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. John says that we have seen. We have seen. I like the way that the King James actually translates this word in the Greek. The King James reads, and we beheld We beheld. What's the relevance of that? Well, when you behold something, you view it attentively. You look at it with deep contemplation. There's a sense that you're carefully considering it. There's a wonder that's involved in it, and it's careful and deliberate vision of what you're interpreting, right? And when we behold the Lord Jesus Christ, when we think about him, and I mean, we've already We've already said enough about him this morning that we can sit and contemplate and meditate and behold Jesus and his glory today for a very, very long time. But when we do so, John says that when we think on Jesus and who he is and what he has done, we behold what? His glory, his glory. What is glory? Well, the word itself comes from another word, it's doxa, and it comes from doceo, which means to think, or to suppose, to think or suppose. And doxa means to think in a way that it produces honor that is due. In other words, it's an honor that produces praise. It's an honor that produces some kind of applause. It's an honor that lifts someone up. And so when he says that Jesus Christ comes and we beheld his glory, we beheld his honor, And how is that honor? He says it's defined specifically as the only son from the father. This is a unique glory. It's a unique honor, a glory that belongs to no one else. Jesus Christ is the only son of God from the father. The glory that Christ displayed was an eternal glory. And it was a glory that is possessed by only God. And that is indeed the highest glory. The angels declared glory to God, how? He said, glory to God in the highest. Glory to God in the highest. And then finally, John gives a distinction. Again, the glory of Christ. He says, full of grace and truth. full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ, the eternal word of God, who came and dwelt among us, John says, we beheld his glory, and it was full of grace and truth. The message of full grace and full truth is, again, it's a deep and profound thought. And to understand this, we have to look at the verses that follow, specifically 16 and 17. The law was given through Moses, right? That's what it's verse 16 for from his fullness Jesus we have all received what grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses grace and truth came through Jesus Christ instead that the law itself brought from Moses now listen I'm just about done, so hang with me. The law of God is good. The law of God is right. The law of God is holy. Why? Because it came from God. All good gifts come from God, and God has given his law. But in that law, although full of truth, the law is not full of grace. Instead, the law brought about the bondage and slavery. Why or how? Because of man's inability to keep it, right? Rather than a source of freedom, the law was a taskmaster that could not be satisfied and furthermore could not accomplish our salvation. The shadows, the figures, the types of the law and the ceremonial procedures, they pointed to something that in all reality was higher than the achievement of sinful humanity. Jesus Christ came full of the gospel of grace and truth. And it wasn't until the word became flesh that the world could see fully what the law of God was actually seeking to accomplish. Now, In the last minutes of this message, I want you to understand this. Maybe, perhaps, maybe for some, in a way that's never been described to you before. If you were to go Monday morning, well, not this Monday morning, it's Christmas Day, the county offices will be closed. But say the following Monday. Nope, can't go that day either, that's first of the year. All right, three weeks out. You were going to go and you were going to stand before the judge. And the reason that you were going to go and stand before the judge was because you had broken the law, right? If you break the law, there are what we call what? Consequences, right? If you break the law and you're caught, what did the songwriter say? I fought the law and the law won. You can't beat the law. Doggone, right? But if you broke the law and you were standing before the judge and and let's just make it let's make it a crime that that I believe I believe it's safe to say that none of us would care to commit but maybe Maybe we're not serious enough about how we understand it either because Jesus says that if you even have anger in your heart, it's the same as murdering somebody and Hey man, that's what he says. So maybe we've never murdered somebody physically, but in our hearts, in our hearts, we've slain quite a few, okay? If you've murdered somebody and you're standing before the judge, and the judge and the court system does its due diligence to find out whether or not you are guilty or innocent, and all the evidence proves that you are indeed guilty of the crime of murder, what's the judge going to do? He's going to convict you, right? There's going to be a verdict given, and there's going to be a stipulation that comes with the crime committed and confirmed. Now, the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is what? Death. The wages or the punishment The verdict of sin is death. Why do people die every single day all over the world, whether they're black, blue, yellow, green? It doesn't matter, does it? It doesn't even matter what their name is, whether they're a Smith or they're a Jones or they're, you know, around these parts, the rich people are Bower Soxes. I'm just kidding. The point is this, it's a universal thing. Everybody dies. And the reason that everybody dies is because, again, we have been cursed with sin. Now, it's hard to believe this, but when our children are born, all cute and cuddly, they're already sinners. And you know what I find over and over again is I don't have to teach my kids to do the wrong thing. They can do bad all by themselves. Can I get a witness? So what do I have to teach them? I have to teach them what's right. But back to the court. We've broken the law. We've murdered, whether it's physical or in our hearts. Jesus says there's no difference. And the judge says that the punishment of murder is that you yourself will be put to death. The death penalty is enacted. There you stand before the judge with what? Without a plea. You're guilty. You know it. They know it. Case closed. And just like that, through the doors, walks a man who says, judge, I will take his punishment. No, I have not committed the crime that he's committed, but I want to take his place or her place. And whatever the punishment is for the wrongs they have done, you can place them on my life. Can I tell you that's exactly what Jesus did. That Jesus busted right into the courtroom of the throne of God and he laid his life down for who? Not for the righteous, not for the ones that were good enough. He laid it down for all of us who have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And while Jesus was truly God, sinless, he was perfectly and fully man as well, yet without sin. So his, your sin, my sin, never becomes his sin, but it's laid upon him and he suffers and bears it as one of us. So that what? So that the judge can say, well, I'm gonna kill him, but you get to go free. I don't know anybody I don't know anybody who would be in that situation earthly speaking that wouldn't kick their heels together and do a cartwheel if they could and Rejoice all the way home But can I tell you that if that were to happen and if you truly understood what took place in that courtroom Your life would never ever be the same again Don't you believe don't you think I? that now you who had just received what? You received grace. Grace is something you didn't deserve. And it was never, ever, ever at the expense of truth. Right? There was no truth that was expended. There was no truth that was overlooked. The judge says you're guilty. And he says, I'll take your punishment. You can go free. I crush him. You get to live. But because the substitute was sinless, death could not hold him. And Jesus Christ rose in victory over dying the death that we deserve. And God confirmed, what did he confirm? He confirmed that Jesus Christ's blood was good enough, that his obedience and living the law of God perfectly was indeed true, and that his death sacrificially made full atonement for the sins of the world And all now all now who look to Jesus as the the one who took their place and they come to him by faith Confessing to God that they are a sinner in need of a savior in need of salvation God says I will in no wise cast you off You see Christmas is far more about a Savior than it is about a baby in a manger. I But we needed the baby in the manger because unless God was both truly God, sinless, and truly man, like you and I, he could not save us. The Bible tells us that the blood of bulls and goats cannot atone for the sins of man. We needed a man to die for our sins. And that man is Jesus Christ. And can I tell you today that he did exactly that. And if you will trust in him as Lord and Savior, believe upon him. Romans says it best. Let me read from Romans. It says, I'm sorry, actually, I don't even have that. If you will believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, he indeed will save you. It's that simple. It's that simple, but can I tell you, it's also that hard. It's that hard. Why is it hard? Because we have to agree against ourselves and we have to agree with God that we actually deserve it. Because you know what? Without a shadow of a doubt, there's people maybe even now here and certainly everywhere we go that we think and we lie to ourselves and we say, I'm not that bad. I mean, I'm not as bad as they are, right? Can I tell you that every sin known to mankind has a seed in every single one of our hearts? Every single one of our hearts. And we are really good sinners, but Christ is, Christ is an amazing and perfect Savior. Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. Today, I pray and I encourage you, listen, hear me, not because I said it, but because this is what the word of God tells us. Amen. Let's bow our heads on our hearts this morning. In closing, I just want to ask you, I want to ask you very, very specifically, have you received this gift? You're standing in the courtroom before a holy God, nobody around you, mom, dad, husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, neighbor, Nobody, it's just you and God. The books are open before you. God's seen, He knows. What's your plea gonna be? Where are you gonna run? What are you gonna say? Can I encourage you today that the thing you need to do is to run to the cross of Christ and that you need to say, judge, I know that I'm guilty as you say, but there is one who lived for me and there's one who also died for me. And his name is Jesus and I plead to you that he took my place. And that judge who's right and just and holy, he will say, that's the only sacrifice, that's the only plea that I can accept. and because of what he's done on your behalf, and because of the faith that you have in him, you're accepted. And the word is this, enter into the joy of your salvation, thou good and faithful servant. Praise, praise, praise the Lord. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. not of works lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. Dear God, I pray that every single one of us in this place this morning can walk out of this building today with no excuse, no excuse of the clarity of the gospel, But Father, also no excuse of not entering into the gates of heaven today, to someday, whether it be today or tomorrow. Father, I pray that you would create faith, sustain faith, strengthen faith today, because we have beheld the Son. We've beheld the word that was made flesh, who dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. God, thank you for this time of the year. We love you and we're so appreciative, God, of all you've done. Help us, Lord, to publish it far and wide for your glory alone. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.