WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:07.839 Well, it is the third Sunday in Advent, these four Sundays of Advent that lead us into Christmas. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:12.560 The third Sunday in Advent is traditionally known as Joy Sunday. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:16.800 And so on Joy Sunday, traditionally the priest would stand in front of the congregation. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:19.519 He would open the service with Philippians 4:4. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.600 Rejoice in the Lord always. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:24.160 Again, I will say, rejoice. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:32.799 It's a call for us to not just fret our way through this season, which we can do because I know you have your list. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:33.679 I have my list. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:39.119 You can, if you have kids, you can begin to look at this list and make sure you have like the right amount of presence for everything. 00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:40.079 You know, is it even? 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:42.079 Have we spent about the same? 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.840 You're wondering if you can just buy a gift card for your sister. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:52.320 Will she notice that you put no thought into this and you just bought it at Kroger the night before? 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:53.359 Will she notice? 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:54.560 You're not sure. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:58.240 Your wife said that y'all aren't exchanging gifts. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.479 Be careful with that. 00:01:02.320 --> 00:01:03.840 Don't believe it. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:09.359 You might have to see your awful brother this year, right? 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:13.280 Like just difficult relationships may pop up, right? 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:16.719 We have no shortage of fretting. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:19.920 But we don't want to fret our way through the season. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:25.920 And so we get this Sunday, this joy Sunday, to be reminded that this is a joyful season. 00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:28.319 We all want some joy. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:35.840 A couple of weeks ago, as a UGA fan, I went to the SEC championship game. 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:37.760 Is it too early? 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:39.920 Is it too soon to talk about this? 00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:42.079 It's too soon for me. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:45.519 UGA had won 29 games in a row. 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:47.280 Not sure if you're aware or not. 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:50.000 The longest win streak in SEC history. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:55.359 My daughter, my daughter had never been to a game where we lost. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:57.120 That's insane, right? 00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:58.480 That's not normal, right? 00:01:58.640 --> 00:01:59.599 Georgia Tech fans? 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:02.239 I mean, y'all know who I'm talking about. 00:02:02.480 --> 00:02:03.359 Go jackets. 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:04.799 Go jackets. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:09.919 And the game started unbelievable for me, right? 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.759 If you're a Georgia fan, you remember the beginning of the game. 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:12.800 It was all joy. 00:02:12.960 --> 00:02:13.599 All joy. 00:02:13.759 --> 00:02:16.719 I mean, it is high fives to people we don't even know. 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:18.400 It is all joy. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:21.599 The Alabama lady to my left, she's right here. 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:23.039 She's no high fives. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:24.400 She's not giving me high five. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:27.599 All joy for me, and then the whole game switched. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:31.599 Alabama fans, you know, Georgia fans, you know, Georgia Tech fans, you probably know too. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:36.960 You were joyful with the Alabama fans because the game switched, no joy for me, joy was over. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:38.800 She is having a blast. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:44.879 She is having an unbelievable, joyful time ruining our streak of joy. 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.199 Twenty-nine in a row. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:50.000 That's a wealth of joy. 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:51.840 That is ridiculous. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:53.360 And you know what? 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:55.919 I needed one more. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:00.800 Actually, I needed three more, if you want to be exact. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:01.599 Right? 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:03.280 And that's worldly joy. 00:03:03.439 --> 00:03:05.759 That is how worldly joy works. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:11.120 That you can get 29 in a row and you still need one more. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.319 Or immediately start comparing, right? 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.159 Because you have the joy of a new car and you love it. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.840 And then you pull up and your friend has the like the limited version, and you didn't get the limited. 00:03:23.919 --> 00:03:26.479 And then you're like, oh shit, I got the limited. 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:27.120 Right? 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:31.199 It just turns out it can be quite difficult to be joyful. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:36.400 Priest Nick Lannon, he writes this in his article, why can't we just celebrate? 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:39.919 It isn't enough to be a Christian, is it? 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.639 We must immediately know just how good a Christian you are. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:48.479 Remember the best line from John Newton's classic Amazing Grace? 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:56.639 Of course, there are many great lines, but the best is how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:03:58.800 The implication is clear. 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:06.879 It's incredibly easy for us to forget how profoundly we needed that grace when we found ourselves eating the pods with the pigs. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:13.199 The moment we feel safe, we start to compare ourselves to the other prodigals who've returned to the farm. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:15.680 Who's repaying the father the best? 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:17.920 Let's go the other way. 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:27.920 Let's do what John Newton would have us do and remember the precious nature of God's grace given to us when we didn't compare favorably to anyone for any reason. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:31.439 In fact, in Christ, everything's amazing. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:36.959 If we're lucky for a moment, we can hear that and just be happy. 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:37.600 Right? 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:39.600 That's what the call of today is. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:42.399 Be joyful, rejoice in the Lord. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:43.279 Joy. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:47.600 Theologian and author Henry Nowen, he writes this about joy. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:05:04.639 Joy is the experience of knowing that you are unconditionally loved and that nothing, sickness, failure, emotional distress during an SEC championship game, oppression, war, or even death can take that love away. 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:05.680 Right? 00:05:05.839 --> 00:05:06.800 We need that. 00:05:07.199 --> 00:05:08.639 We need that today. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:10.879 Our passage today is John 1. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:20.000 Some religious leaders have come out to question John the Baptist, and something has changed in the core of John, in the core of who he is, in his heart, his inner self. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:27.360 John the Baptist is this leader that stands between the old covenant of law and the new covenant of grace. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:30.560 He does not have all of Jesus' teachings. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:32.800 He does not have Paul's writings. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:38.560 You and I know so much more about the Christian faith than John would have. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:42.720 And yet he knows one vital, vital thing. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:44.000 So let's read this text. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.879 John 1, 19, we will read through 27. 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:54.160 And this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:58.879 He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I'm not the Christ. 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:00.399 And they asked him, What then? 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:01.199 Are you Elijah? 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:02.160 He said, I'm not. 00:06:02.399 --> 00:06:03.279 Are you the prophet? 00:06:03.439 --> 00:06:04.560 And he answered, No. 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:06.560 So they said to him, Who are you? 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:09.040 We need to give an answer to those who sent us. 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:12.319 What do you say about yourself? 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:15.680 He said, I am the voice of the one crying in the wilderness. 00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:18.879 Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:21.439 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:27.519 They asked him, Then why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:38.160 John answered them, I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. 00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:41.759 And here's what John knew, which is our point number one. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:46.720 In Christ we are free from using achievement to be our identity. 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:50.879 This is what enables him or empowers him to behave and speak like this. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:52.399 What was John's identity? 00:06:52.480 --> 00:06:54.560 How did he understand himself? 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.240 John describes him as what he is not. 00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:00.319 He describes himself as what he is not. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:01.920 Verse 19, who are you? 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:03.360 Not the Christ. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:07.279 See, secure identity begins in understanding who we're not. 00:07:07.839 --> 00:07:17.040 The attempt to earn your worth or identity can be exhausting when we use achievement or beauty or status or money for identity. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:19.439 We always need one more win. 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.120 29 is never enough. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:22.399 We always need another one. 00:07:22.720 --> 00:07:29.600 Because we were created to receive identity, never build it or maintain it ourselves. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.680 Remember a few weeks ago, my family watched the movie The Holiday. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.160 Two weeks ago, I used this as a sermon illustrator. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:39.759 We'll go back to the holiday again today because all answers are in the holiday, it turns out. 00:07:39.839 --> 00:07:42.959 This 2006 Nancy Myers film. 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:45.680 If you remember, has anybody watched it? 00:07:45.920 --> 00:07:46.639 Over Christmas? 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:47.519 Anyone watched it? 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:47.920 Okay. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:49.120 Good job. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:50.720 Iris is British. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:58.720 Remember, Iris is British and she's just a mess and she's heartbroken over this horrible human being, Jasper. 00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:00.720 Just a horrible human being. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:02.480 He's just awful. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:05.120 And he, but he's good looking. 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:11.680 And he's smooth and he's manipulative and he's selfish. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:15.680 So Iris switches houses, get a break for him with Amanda in LA. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:17.519 Amanda goes over to Britain. 00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:21.199 Iris comes to LA to spend time there in LA. 00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:29.759 And Jasper even flies to LA to come after her, to surprise her, marches into this house where my girls explode. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.440 This is a pause moment and let the anger just kind of come out. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:35.279 What is he doing here? 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.399 Isn't he engaged to Sarah in circulation? 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:40.240 Like, isn't he still engaged to Sarah? 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:41.919 What is he doing? 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:43.360 Why won't Iris see that? 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:45.440 He's an absolute jackwagon, this guy. 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:47.759 I mean, he is a miserable jerk. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.320 I mean, he's lucky he didn't come into my living room. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:52.480 My three girls would have taken him out. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.240 But then in LA, Iris meets Arthur. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:08:56.720 Right? 00:08:56.799 --> 00:08:59.200 You've seen the movie, don't we love Arthur? 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:00.960 Oh, we love Arthur. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.279 This kind elderly man. 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:05.600 And this is her breakthrough. 00:09:05.679 --> 00:09:07.440 This is when her breakthrough begins. 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:14.639 Because Arthur, by simply being kind, he teaches her how a man should treat her. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:17.759 And finally, Arthur just says it, dead on. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:21.360 Iris, in the movies, we have leading ladies. 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:23.200 And we have the best friend. 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:28.879 You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you're behaving like the best friend. 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:36.240 You see, her breakthrough, she had to understand her identity is who she is not and who she is. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:43.919 And she had to see that she was worthy of more than an unloving lover. 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:46.000 Jasper the Jack Wagon. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:53.440 When we all live, when we live for the approval of an unloving lover, we never become who we truly are. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:55.360 I mean, who would have guessed it? 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:56.159 The holiday, right? 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:57.279 I mean, who would have guessed it? 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:58.480 It holds all the secrets. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:09:59.600 It holds all the secrets. 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:02.480 My mentor Scotty Smith, he wrote this. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:05.200 We've read this before, it's so good, applies so well here. 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:14.240 On one hand, there are people to whom I attach my umbilical cord, metaphorically speaking, and look to them for life. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:19.600 Their praise is an elixir of joy, sometimes more so than the gospel. 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:28.480 And their disappointment or rejection can taste like a potion of self-contempt, causing me to withdraw, retaliate, or medicate. 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.799 Nobody deserves that much power over our hearts. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:37.039 Because the gospel's true, I can freely confess these things. 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:42.080 Because the gospel's powerful, I have hope for change. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:44.799 This is what John knows. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:50.080 Verse 26 and 27, John says, I'm not even worthy to untie Jesus' sandals. 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:52.480 In this ancient time, people walked everywhere. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:53.840 There weren't clean sidewalks. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:01.360 They're walking on dirty paths, so they show up into somebody's house with incredibly dirty, nasty, stinky, sweaty feet. 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:06.240 And only the lowliest of servants would go to untie these sandals and to wash these feet. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:10.639 And so John's view of himself is very, very low. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.519 But what sort of person is John? 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:20.399 This is what's kind of surprising, because John is actually incredibly bold and brave. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:26.960 Which is odd, because you'd think if someone has a low view of themselves that they would be timid. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:32.320 Because we've all known somebody who had a low view of themselves and they were incredibly hesitant in some way. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:34.799 But here is John, and he's different than this. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:41.679 Because he's humble, he's lowly, and yet he's fearless with courage. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:45.279 This is an identity free of performance. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:49.679 Pastor and author Tim Keller said this when he preached on this text. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:53.919 A performance-based identity is an achieved identity. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:56.960 Your sense of self-worth is rooted in how well you're doing. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:11:58.559 It's performance-based. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.840 And if you're living up to standards, then you feel good about yourself. 00:12:02.240 --> 00:12:06.960 And if you're not living up to standards, you feel terrible about yourself. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:14.960 And the gospel relieves us of this swing of pride and despair because we are receiving our worth from Jesus. 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:20.960 See, John has a low view of himself as he has a high view of Jesus. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:28.559 So theologically, we could say he has low anthropology, a low view of humanity's nature and potential. 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:34.720 This is a total depravity of man as a sinner in need of God's grace. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:43.679 We have ability, but it's limited and incredibly limited when it comes to concerns of the heart, forgiveness, righteousness, worth. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:54.080 Which is why even high-achieving people can have burnout, guilt, shame, despair, depression, exhaustion. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:13:02.320 We may even be getting better in some areas of our lives, but Matthew 5.48 levels us and humbles us into a lowliness. 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:03.440 Be perfect. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.879 Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. 00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:11.039 We need an outside rescue, an outside love. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:14.559 God's grace to us while we don't deserve it. 00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:18.480 To have a high view of God's grace while we have a low view of ourselves. 00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:33.200 This gives us a high Christology, which is Jesus as more than enough for our hearts by his divinity, incarnation, teaching, work on the cross, and exalted worth as redeemer and restorer. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.960 So this gives us point number two. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:40.559 We grow in courage through a low view of ourselves and a high view of Christ. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.279 We're created in God's image. 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:47.519 This is the doctrine of Imago Dei. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:53.120 So there's no inferiority complex, such a gift. 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:55.600 Now we're saved through Christ alone. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:58.159 This would be the doctrine of justification by grace alone. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:02.639 So there's no superiority complex, which means this. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.559 Here's the gift of the gospel for us. 00:14:04.720 --> 00:14:05.919 This is what John knows. 00:14:06.159 --> 00:14:18.159 We are secure enough to be below no one, humble enough to be above no one, and loved enough to be joyful and brave in the face of anyone. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:22.639 See, John can only say he's not worthy to untie those sandals. 00:14:22.720 --> 00:14:33.039 At the same time, he's behaving incredibly brave and bold because he knows a profound deep worth that is outside of his own performance. 00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:36.159 Let's reread John 1, 25 through 27. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.480 Because they asked him, Then why are you baptizing if you're neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:43.360 And John answered them, I baptize with water. 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:52.080 But among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie. 00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:55.519 John is pointing to Jesus. 00:14:55.840 --> 00:14:59.600 Point number three is that the beloved always points to Jesus. 00:14:59.759 --> 00:15:02.399 John is saying, Don't celebrate me. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:08.960 I'm someone, but I'm not the loving, redeeming, salvific plan for humanity. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:17.679 So we live receiving, and as we live receiving, we're secure, and as we live secure, our life finds meaning as we point to Jesus. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.080 John knew this. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:24.000 And thus joy flowed and courage flowed, boldness, bravery. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:31.519 500 years ago, the German Renaissance painter Matthias Grunewald painted this, the Issenheim altar piece. 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:35.039 This was a huge piece placed in the hospital in Germany. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:40.399 In the Issenheim hospital, monks were there and they served and they cared for dying peasants. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:44.639 And in this piece, John the Baptist is to the right of Jesus. 00:15:45.200 --> 00:15:49.120 And one thing is so clear when we see John the Baptist in this piece. 00:15:49.519 --> 00:15:51.440 Grunenwald had it right. 00:15:51.919 --> 00:16:00.960 You can get this sense of John the Baptist, clearly secure, bold, he's proclaiming, and yet it's not about him. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:03.279 He's lowly. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:06.159 He's not belittled, he's humble. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:07.840 He's secure. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:14.159 And Jesus is the point because John knows that his very self is not his performance. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:18.879 His meaning will not just be in his own life, but it will be coming from God. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:24.159 It's rooted in this relationship that he has with Jesus. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:30.399 Beloved, your very self, the core of who you are, is not your performance or your record. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.440 It's rooted in your relationship with Jesus. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.320 This is the goodness of the gospel for us. 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:42.000 That it doesn't send us into despair and being belittled, and it doesn't send us into some superiority complex. 00:16:43.200 --> 00:16:45.919 You are secure enough to be below no one. 00:16:46.559 --> 00:16:49.679 You are humble enough to be above no one. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:56.240 And because you are loved enough in Jesus, you can be joyful and you can be brave in the face of anyone. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:58.000 Let's pray together. 00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.279 God, thank you for your grace to us. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:11.759 That we can call you Heavenly Father, not because we have earned something, but that you have welcomed us, you have pursued us in our own despair and limitations and sin. 00:17:13.599 --> 00:17:18.079 Thank you that we were relieved of trying to work out of our guilt or shame. 00:17:19.279 --> 00:17:25.599 And that we with open hands this morning receive the full forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus for us. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:34.319 That our sin is put upon Jesus, his righteousness is given to us, and we are deemed your beloved forever. 00:17:34.960 --> 00:17:40.880 Help us to grow in a lowliness that we do not think ourselves better than others. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:54.240 Help us to grow in the security that we have in Christ, to be sure of who we are as your beloved, and help us to learn to point to Jesus, to serve others, and to find meaning as we glorify Christ in our lives. 00:17:54.400 --> 00:17:55.839 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:17:56.079 --> 00:17:56.559 Amen.