Unwrapping the Savior
Christmas Unwrapped

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all right good morning church it’s really good seeing you now i know who the people are that are coming to church no matter what. you look around here you are and you know i’m from the hills you know i’m from the appalachian area of up in virginia and we’re just not used to letting snow stop us up there so this morning i got up at five thirty and drove around looked around town and everything plus i used to run drug stores we had to open those no matter what right blake and so i just got used to getting up and doing things and so we thought let’s just go with the eleven o’clock service and people hopefully have enough sense to stay home if they don’t feel comfortable but hey welcome to wcc and christmas and it’s kind of fun being together it is a little smaller and it’s exciting to be here and plus, i worked all week getting ready for the sermon. I need to preach it to somebody.

So thanks for being here everybody this is week two of of this idea of christmas unwrapped, and it’s that there’s layer upon layer upon layer of wrapping over the story, and we want to unpack it. And last week we began by talking about how god, like a good gift giver, gave some hints about what was inside. And in the book of isaiah, he gave us several hints of prophecies that talked about the son that was to come. And so last week we unwrapped the Son because there never was a time when christ was not. He didn’t become at the point when he was born. He became man. But he had always been. That’s what we talked about last week.

Now, this morning we’re going to unwrap the savior. Last week we did unwrapping the Son , and we’ll be looking in the book of philippians today. But i would first direct your attention to our theme passage, which stephen beautifully read earlier. But just these couple of verses. Let’s focus on them just for a second. Fear not for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of david who is Christ the Savior who is christ the lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

So we’re going to unwrap christmas now that very first christmas was a very humble christmas it was a very humble one. Jesus was not born in a royal palace, but he was born in an animal pen. He was not born as a prince but as a pauper. His birth was not announced before high society, but before lowly shepherds. He slept not on a bed with sheets, but on a manger with straw. He came not as a sovereign but as a servant. Jesus came to save us. He came to be our savior.

Now, the first christmas after my father’s death was a humble one for my family. He died november third and then that first christmas my mother just really wasn’t able to take care of me, my brothers and sister. I was eight years old; I’m the oldest. And so she decided that we should move in with my aunt. So we moved from virginia up to wayne, michigan, outside of detroit. We moved in with my aunt, and it was christmas time.

My father had just passed away, my family is in shock and christmas time was coming. And I had asked for johnny west and those of you don’t know what a johnny west is. Here’s one upon the screen. I wanted a johnny west with the black stallion named thunderbolt. Okay, that’s what i asked for. But that particular christmas morning when i unwrapped my gifts instead, i found a jane west and a palomino. Now that was a humbling christmas. Especially humbling was the fact that my cousin randy actually got the johnny west with the black stallion, and me and my brother barry both got jane’s with palominos. My mom said that when she went to the store, she just wasn’t up to shopping. And so she had asked my aunt to do it; she just went down the aisle and picked up three of everything, and she didn’t pay attention to the fact that some of them were girls and some of them were boys. And and i told randy who was a year younger than me. My cousin who got johnny. I said, this jane can beat you up. I mean, i had to. I had to salvage it. The best i could do at a humbling christmas. That was a hard christmas. Maybe some of you are here this morning, and this is your first christmas. That was our first christmas. You know what i mean by first christmas? First christmas after my father’s passing, where you had to figure out how to do it differently, this kind of humbling, kinda hard season. And so that’s how life can be sometimes. And the god of the universe and his only son, jesus, to come and save the world. And not from a distance. He didn’t phone it in. He came, became one of us. He entered into our story into our situation into our pains and hurts. That was the first christmas, and it was a humble christmas.

Have you ever had a humble christmas? You ever had a christmas where maybe you lost your job going into christmas. A lot of employees at gm have found out that they’re losing jobs. I think it’s horrific that they would announce such a thing before christmas. Especially hard on families. Maybe you’ve lost a job going into christmas. Maybe you’ve lost a loved one. As i mentioned, maybe you’ve had bad news from the doctor. You’re going into christmas. It’s you know, it’s bad any time of the year, but going into christmas for some reason seems to make it worse. Have you ever had a humble christmas?

Well, that very first one, may i say to you, jesus came and entered in to our situation so he understands no matter what you’re going through today. Trust me in this, jesus understands because he became a man, he became one of us and entered into our story. You know, i didn’t choose to have a humble christmas. It just kind of came my way. But what makes jesus unique is that he chose to become poor, that we might become rich. He chose to face death and so that we wouldn’t have to. So let’s unwrap this story. Let’s unwrap this savior and learn why? Why would he do such a thing?

As we look at paul’s letter to the philippians. He described the humble mind of jesus which moved him to come to us a savior. And i believe as we look at this story in philippians, chapter two, we can understand the humble mind of christ which moved him to save us. How can we do it? How can we understand it? Well, let’s look at the text. And i think the text gives us three conditions that will help us unwrap it. if you will reveal the mind of christ the humble mind of christ our savior.

So let’s look at the text. It’s a well known section of the scripture philippians chapter two. So if there is any encouragement in christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy complete my joy by being of the same mind having the same love being in full accord and of one mind doing nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in christ. Jesus who, though he was in the form of god, did not count equality with god. A thing to be grasped but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father. This is god’s word.

We’re looking for these three conditions that reveal the humble mind of our saviour. Here’s the first condition. The first condition is the disposition of jesus. The disposition. The word disposition speaks of his state of mind. I want you to notice the word in verses one through five, you’ll see the word mind three times. two times in verse two. It’s referring to our state of mind. And then, in verse five. It’s referring to the mind or the disposition or attitude of christ mind and says, we look at this word in the greek could mean mind, Mindset, attitude, disposition.

Christ had a way of thinking. And paul is talking to the church of philippi and it gives him this list of if then statements, if you will. If there’s this long list of if there’s any encouragement in christ, you’re gonna do that if there’s any comfort from his love, yanni that he’s asking any comfort, any participation? Another word there might be any fellowship, coinonia, we know that word, right? Coinonia; if there’s any coinonia in the spirit, any fellowship, any affection, any sympathy? This is what verse one is all about. Have you got any of this? Then complete my joy. Whose joy?

This whole book of philippians is about joy, by the way. And he says complete my joy. How how can you complete my joy? Because he’s the spiritual father that introduced them. He preached the gospel to him and led him to jesus. And he said complete my joy how? By being of the same mind be like minded having the same love being in full accord and of one mind there’s mind again. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility. Count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not into his own interests, but also to the interests of others. So he gives him the if then. So that verse one is the if then and then two, three and four days of that. Then if this then do this be like minded have the same love put others ahead of yourself. And by the way, verse five that’s the mind of jesus that you have like a verse five again.

So here’s the thing; we preach the gospel. I’m not preaching a to do list to you. I’m preaching to you something you can have. You can have it. You don’t have to work it up. But you have a verse five. Have this mind doesn’t say get this mind have this mind among yourselves which is yours in christ. if you have christ, you have the mind of christ available to you.

And what is the mind of christ? The mind of christ? Thinks of others before self. That’s the mind of christ. You know how you have the mind of christ. You think of others before yourself. You know how you don’t have the mind of christ. You think of yourself before others. That’s what paul is talking about. And so paul says, this first condition that we see in christ is the disposition of humility in his mind. His way of thinking our savior’s mind is meek and lowly. He thinks of others first. He thinks of us first ahead of himself.

Look at matthew. One of the most loved passages in matthew, this invitation from jesus come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For i am meek and lowly in heart or in mind or in the way i think and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Meek and lowly.

Now meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength under control. The greek word comes from the idea of putting a bridle on a horse. During the time of jesus, the horse was one of the most powerful animals, they used it to pull things. Even today, when we have a fancy car that goes fast, we say it has a lot of horsepower, right? And so that’s about power. But you can put a small bit in a horse’s mouth and it becomes meek. It’s still strong, but it’s under control, and that’s jesus, he says. I’m meek and i’m lowly. In other words, i choose to put myself before you. That’s his disposition. That’s his state of mind. This is the god of universe who comes and visits us. And we celebrated at this time of year that he has this mind that is meek and lowly. And our savior’s mind, as i said before, is available to us.

Look at first corinthians, chapter two. It says the spiritual person, that’s the person who’s received jesus and has the holy spirit abiding in them, judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one for who has understood the mind of the lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of christ. You have jesus. You’ve got the mind of christ. It’s available to you. You can understand some things because you have available to you through the spirit of christ living in you. You have this when you’re walking in the spirit, you have the disposition of his mind that you want to put others ahead of yourself.

Now, one way you might check and find out if you’re walking in the spirit or not today is if you got up selfish today, you might check and say, you know what? I’ve got the spirit available to me . But right now i’m walking in the flesh. How do you know you’re walking in the flesh? You putting yourself first you’re walking in the flesh. You want your way rather than god’s way. You’re walking in the flesh, but you can walk in the spirit. You can have the mind of christ.

Now C. S. Lewis, this is one of my favorite quotes from him. He says humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s just thinking of yourself less. I like that in this world of our concerns about low self esteem. You know, we’re so concerned that somebody’s going to have low self esteem but this is not about having low self esteem. Christ didn’t have low self esteem. No, christ knew who he was.. If anybody had high self esteem, it was jesus. He knew exactly who he was. But he was comfortable in his identity. And so he just didn’t think of himself at all.

the person with low self esteem or the person who’s prideful on either side of the spectrum. They’re actually thinking of themselves all the time. But christ thinks of others. You see the disposition of jesus. Do you see this one who came and was willing to be wrapped up in human form and to even be a baby as we talked last week, even in swaddling clothes so he couldn’t even move his harms and his legs. The god of the universe. Omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, a baby in swaddling clothes. This is jesus, meek and lowly. He is our saviour, our humble savior.

Will you see it, will you recognize this lowly disposition of his way of thinking? And here’s the second. Here’s the second condition we see in Philippians, chapter two. It’s the humiliation of jesus. We’ve seen the disposition of his mind. And now we see the willingness to be humbled and to humble himself the humiliation of jesus. The humble mind willingly lowers himself willingly. And so he comes willingly. If you look starting in verse six, see six to eleven. Many theological scholars believe that this was a first century christian hymn, but that paul is is quoting something that the philippians already knew, and they knew how to sing it.

This is important because it shows that already there was a high view of christ as the son of god. There was a great deal of clarity about who he is, who he is and who he claimed to be. Whether it was a hymn or not, it should be a hymn. It’s beautiful in the way it’s written in the greek. It’s very poetic looking, the shape and the layout very symmetrical. verses six through eight describe the downward steps that jesus willingly took. Down, down, down he goes. Look what we see here. Look, look.

First of all, we see his renunciation. His renunciation. This is the first of the three downward steps of christ. Willing humiliation. Look at verse six. It says who though he was in the form of god. Who’s Jesus? He’s God. He’s in the form of god, whatever god is, jesus is.

This is the difficulty and the challenge of understanding the trinity. But we see it revealed in the scripture, whatever makes god, god, christ, is god, the god, the father, god the son, god, the holy spirit. One god, three distinct personalities. This is what’s being pointed at here. Who, though he was, in other words, who being in constant condition.

As we said last week, he didn’t become someone he had always been. By very nature essence he’s god. Then look adversity who being who, though he was in the form of god, did not count equality with god a thing to be grasped. Okay, so he’s god equal to god, but he decided not to hang on to it. This is interesting because that’s exactly what adam and eve did, who we could reverse it and just talk about adam and eve for say who not being in the form of god and not being equal to god did attempt to grasp equality with god, and they reached out and took the fruit. What was the temptation? The serpent said to them, if you eat this, you will be like god. You see, that’s what sin is.

By the way, it’s an attitude or disposition of the mind and heart that says i will do it my way rather than your way. I will do it myself. I don’t need your help. I will be my own god. That’s what. That’s the attitude underneath sin. But jesus, who is god releases. He lets go of it. He renounces it and he empties himself. It says in verse seven. Now this is a deep thing, and there’s many books written on this, and we don’t have time to read them all right now for seven, but emptied himself of what? What did He empty himself of? Well, that’s the question, isn’t it that He emptied himself of his divinity now

i like what one theologian says. He became god incognito, yeah. He is still god. I like what the theologian Lightfoot says. He says he stripped himself of the insignia of majesty. No, he’s still god. But what he did was he had been sitting at the right hand of the father with royal robes and a ceptar and a crown on his head and the angelic host singing holy, holy holy we know this because isaiah saw it. And as a chapter six there was a holy, holy, holy.

And he took off his crown and he took off his royal robes and he lay aside his ceptor and he stepped down, down, down. See, that’s the first step. The first step was, he renounced his rights. We’re all about our rights, aren’t we? I mean, we are a country of i want my rights. That’s not fair. I want my rights. He renounced his rights. He didn’t hang on to it. He emptied himself of it.

one theologian doctor says that this emptying was not by subtraction but by addition. Well, that’s was that mean? Well, it’s the next sentence that describes it. It wasn’t that he let go of the divinity. He let go of the rights of divinity, and he put on human flesh. And so he’s saying it was that addition of putting on humanity that limited or emptied him of his divine privileges.

That’s where we go next. It’s his incarnation. That’s the second step downward down this ladder of humility, humility, his renunciation. He says no to that which was already his. He has incarnation. The word incarnation means in the flesh. The old king james. If you read first corinthians, chapter three, verse one. It talks about the carnal man. That means the fleshly man and where we get the word carnivore, it means flesh eater, meat eater. And so incarnation means in the flesh incarnation in the flesh and so He came in the flesh.

This is why we’re preaching this at christmas, because here it is, right here is christmas verse seven being born in the likeness of men. there’s how we ended up here at christmas why we are in philippians at christmas well right there’s christmas verse seven being born in the likeness of men god became man in the person of jesus and he was born of men first of all he became a servant in other words he decided i’m just going to obey whatever the father says and then he took on human flesh

now many have wrestled with this? there have been many arguments about it but here’s what i believe by faith of what i believe the bible teaches it doesn’t make sense mathematically it’s called a paradox in which jesus is one hundred percent god he never stopped being god he just surrendered his rights they took off the insignia of majesty but he’s also one hundred percent man and somehow the paradox is that there’s no one else like him anywhere ever nor will there ever be anyone like him he is the god man one hundred percent god one hundred percent man that’s what we believe that’s what the bible teachs yet one nature somehow together one nature but yet these two realities in one person he’s the god man and then third.

The third step down is his crucifixion. Three downward steps, his renunciation. He renounced his rights, his incarnation. He took off the rights of divinity and put on humanity, which is, we said call this subtraction by addition his emptying and was not so much what he let go of but what he put on because becoming a man was very limiting. He humbled himself for, say, and being found in human form. He humbled himself. He’s not finished. How low can you go? Lord, i will watch this. I’ll show you i’ll go where no one has ever willingly surrendered that much. That’s what he does. He humbles himself being found in human form he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. He said, father, not my will, but yours be done. He obeyed.

I think, in his divine mind, he knew that this is what they’d planned forever. They had always planned to do this because god has foreknowledge. He stands outside of time. But in his humanity He feared death. And so he said, my god, my god, you know why have you forsaken me? He’s saying not my will, but yours be done. So he’s obedient under death, even death on a cross. So he humbles himself. He’s obedient to death. And then the worst kind of death. Death on a cross in condescending to death. He condescended not only to death but to the lowest and most ignoble kind of death that was reserved for criminals the punishment of the meanest of felons and slaves.
Deuteronomy twenty one through twenty three says that it’s a curse for a man to be hung on a tree. He took on the curse to go on the curse of the law of the curse of death, the curse of sin so that he became completely humbled for us.

Notice what paul writes in second corinthians for you know, the grace of our lord jesus christ. That though he was rich yet for your sakes, he became poor so that through his poverty you might become rich. Do you know anyone else like that? Maybe a parent you’ve seen go without, you know, there’s just a little glimmer of god’s love in a mother and in a godly father. Just a glimmer. Not this much. Wow, this is unbelievable. This story, this is astounding. But we catch glimpses of it.

Don’t wait when someone goes without in order to take care of a family member. in matthew jesus speaking, he says the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. He came to be a servant and to serve others.

You know, there’s a story in the book of genesis, chapter twenty eight. It’s where jacob left home kind of running from his brother because he’d kind of taken everything that belonged to his older brother himself. He was only older by a couple of seconds. They were twins, but he had taken his blessing and he’d taken, you know, his firstborn rights. And so he was getting out of town. And he went back to the land where abraham’s people lived, where isaac had got his wife, rebecca. And he’s going back and he’s by himself. And he’s scared. He pulls up a rock for a pillow. No, that’s humble isn’t it. You know, like, you gotta be desperate for a pillow to put your head on a rock. And that night he had a dream. I’m not surprised. This was a dream from the lord. He saw heaven open up. And he saw a ladder between heaven and earth with angels ascending and descending upon it. He got up the next morning and said surely gods in this place. And he named the place beth el, which means house of god.

Do you know who that ladder was? Do you know who that ladder signifies? That’s jesus. He walked down. He climbed down every run. Down, down, down he went. No one made him. No one else has ever been like him down down, down, renouncing his divine privileges, putting on human flesh, even a baby, and then saying yes to death, even death on the cross, he took off his robes and his crown of sovereignty. He put on this garb and cross of a servant. do you see it? Do you see this? Jesus.

And then finally we consider the exaltation of jesus. The exultation of jesus we are in verses nine to eleven. Now these final versus begin with a word that we often are reminded of what it means. He writes the word . therefore, whenever you see the word, therefore what should you ask? What’s it therefore, that’s right, because whatever happened before, whatever preceded it brings this result to pass. It’s like an equal sign in math. One plus one equals whatever that is, too.

Therefore, because jesus humbled himself, gave up, surrendered his rights was like a servant, obedient, even under death because he lowered himself. Therefore god, therefore god. But god, if you find a but god you preach that you preach that all day lon. if you find a therefore god. Oh, my goodness. Therefore god did what exalted him to the highest place. Why? Because he lowered himself to the lowest place for god and for you. And for me. Therefore, god has wholly exalted him. I don’t know how you could be any higher than he already was, the son of god at the right hand of the father. But whatever position that was and however many crowns and medals and whatever went with that, there’s a higher place now, because now he’s was crucified. He’s the resurrected one.

There’s some new titles that go for this jesus god exalted him. So we see three upward steps. These three upwards steps he’s not taking god’s lifting him up The first one is an exalted position. He’s highly exalted. The greek word there begins with the compound word ( ) which today we say hyper. That means above and beyond. If we say that kid is hyper, we mean that he is above and beyond. I mean, that kid’s full of energy. He’s hyper high. Whatever that highest places he supreme and with, secondly, has an exalted adoration. So he has an exalted position. He has an exalted adoration.

There’s no name greater than his in heaven or on earth. Therefore, god has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name what’s the name? Jesus yeshua. God’s salvation. And he wasn’t always called that. There was a time before there was a yeshua because that name is the god, man. There was a time when he was god, the son of god. You’re staying with me. i know it may be new to you thinking about this, but there was a time before the two thousand years ago point when he came when he was the son of god and he had not yet taken on human flesh. This took place at a point in time. There never was a time when the Son was not. But there was a time when yeshua was not. But at a point in time he interrupted history.

So even to this day we say, what year is it? Two thousand eighteen. What’s that? Two thousand eighteen years since yeshua showed up. Right? We’re still trying to hang on to that. Although history books have changed their designation, we says now the common era before the common era and the common air. Well, when i see that c i just go in the christ era before the christ there.

So it’s an exalted adoration. There’s no name higher than jesus. That’s the highest name. Now that’s the highest name in the universe. And at the name of jesus. If you call on him, he will answer. And then, if there’s an exalted confession, an exalted confession look what happens so that at the name of jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. I think that’s a description of everything in creation and in verse eleven and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of god the father. Now this hasn’t happened yet. And he has exalted him to the right hand. That’s already happened. But this part his future had happened. Yet this part where every knee, every tongue, every need, that hadn’t happened yet. That’s in the future. I don’t know how far future could be tomorrow, but it’s not right now. That’s coming. It’s happening.

Maybe it’s already happened in your life. Have you bowed the knee? Has your tongue confessed? If that’s so that’s already happened in your life. But it hasn’t happened in all the lives around us yet, has it? But it will. now i would prefer, and i think the lord jesus, definitely from all that he’s done, would prefer that it happens by your volition. By an act of your will. A decision. But know this that ultimately it will be against, you know it’ll be after the fact it’ll be at that point at the judgment seat, right?

And so there’s a future day. There’s a future day when everyone will bow the knee and confess, because at that point it might be actually too late for that person. But right now, you and i could go ahead and unwrap the savior, except the gift is your own. Go ahead and confess him right now. That’s what romans says to do.

Romans ten nine, says, if you confess that jesus is lord believe in your heart, that god raised him from the dead. In other words, let your heart bow down, bow your heart and confess with your tongue. You can do it right now. In fact, I’m going to give you a chance to do that in just a moment. Go ahead and start thinking about it. It’s the best decision you will ever make; the best christmas present you’ll ever receive. Christ saves; exaltation is described.

Listen to what paul says. This is how he prays for the church in Ephesus; he says. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of god’s power. For us who believe in him, this is the same mighty power that raised christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at god’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else, not only in this world, but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of christ and has made him head over all things. Why, for the benefit of the church, that’s who we worship.

He’s not a baby in a cradle anymore. He’s the king of kings. He humbled himself, but god exalted him. There’s a proverb that teaches us how we should live as jesus, proverbs twenty seven says. Let another praise you and not your own mouth. A stranger and not your own lips. We live in a braggadocious age, don’t we? We are people who brag on themselves. I don’t know when it started. I don’t think the world war two generation did that. They’re passing away quickly now, the men and women who went off and won that great war and came home and had a lot of baby boomer babies and built the country. They didn’t brag on themselves, but somewhere in the last fifty years it’s become something that we do, you know.

This past week, we mourn the passing of our forty first president, George H. W. Bush. Jon Meacham, the Bush biographer and presidential historian, was one of four people chosen to offer a eulogy, and he decided to share the words of his eulogy that he had written with president bush before president bush passed away. And he reported this in his eulogy, he said that the ailing the ailing bush responded in his characteristically self deprecating fashion. And he said this to jon. Well, that’s a lot about me, john. former secretary of state condoleeza rice said of president bush. Humility was his best quality. It was never about him, and i think that’s what made him such a great president. Well, i never knew the man, but the reports that we’ve heard is that he cared more about being a father, a grandfather and a husband than he did being a president. And it sounds true. Based on everyone who spoke of him

, how could we be more like president bush? Because president bush was really displaying what i believe is the mind of christ. How could we be more like jesus? How could we have the disposition of christ? The mind of christ? You must have jesus. You have to have him. You have to receive him. He’s the gift. This is christmas unwrapped. The crib points to the cross. Christmas points to easter christmas. Unwrapped is the coming of our humble savior. Would you humble your heart and would you receive him? Bow in your heart and confessing with your mouth that jesus is lord.

let’s pray, lord, thank you for jesus. Thank you. That as we unwrap christmas as we reveal what christmas is really about, we were reminded of what christ gave up in order to become one of us. That he might lift us up. So, lord, i pray right now this morning that if there’s someone here that has yet to give their life to christ, i pray right now that the holy spirit would stir their heart right where they are at and that they would be willing right where they are at to pray along with me. Dear lord jesus, i’m a sinner. Just pray it right where you are believing in your heart i’m a sinner and i need a savior. And i believe that you died on the cross for me and that you rose from the grave that you live today will you come and be my lord and savior, forgive me of my sins. Make me the person you want me to be I bow the knees of my heart. I confess with my tongue that jesus is lord, if you’re praying that prayer right now believing the bible says he will save you and make you a child of god, others are here today. Would you be reminded of what christ has done for us right now? Would you say lord, forgive me for putting myself first? I pray holy spirit that you’d show us right now. That place where we’re doing that. Where are we being selfish? Where we are taking hold of something rather than letting go and giving it all to you or forgive us, give us the mind of christ in jesus name. Amen.