2020 - The Year When We Will See Wonders

I had a message given to me last week, and I'm going to tell you a story at the end of this message when I finished writing. I had just finished writing this down when I got a phone call from Washington, and I want to share with you maybe a little bit of what that's about at the end of this message. But I've entitled it, 2020, The Year When We Will See Wonders. 2020. If you will turn with me to the book of Isaiah chapter 58, and you'll understand why I'm reading from this chapter at Christmastime, Isaiah chapter 58. Again, Lord, thank you for your word. Your word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. Thank you for giving us sovereignly hearts, Lord, to be able to receive it. Lord, if you don't illuminate the word, then we can't even see it. We don't understand it. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for giving us hearts to embrace and believe the word of God. Thank you for speaking to us in our present time. Bless this church, oh my God. Bless this church, Lord, with your presence above everything, Lord. We open our doors, God, to you. We open our doors to every person that you would want to send here under any condition. Lord, we will not ever shut away the hurting, the lame, the maimed, the ashamed, the addicted, the afflicted. Never, never, Lord. May it never happen, God. And Lord, we thank you for all that you've done all these years in Jesus' name. Isaiah chapter 58, beginning at verse 6, the Lord says through Isaiah, is this not the fast that I've chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke. Is it not to spare your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out when you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh. Then, then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily and your righteousness shall go before you. And the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness. If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. And you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. You know, it's been rightly said that when any people begin to focus solely on themselves, it's in that place that we actually lose sight of God. In the Christmas season is a vivid reminder of what that looks like and the unseen cost to those who are given to self-focus. You know, in the gospel of Luke chapter two, I think one of the most tragic stories in all of scripture is when the son of God being formed in the womb of his mother, Mary, with her betrothed husband, Joseph, arrived at an inn in a time of difficulty. Now that inn represents a lot of things. It represents to me the walls that religion can build around itself. Inside that inn, there's a lot of religion. A lot of people who have access to, they're the movers and shakers maybe in their society. They have access to government, to power, to position. All of these folks would have put all their influence together to get into this place of personal comfort in a time of real calamity. There's no doubt about that. They were being oppressed by a dominant culture that was threatening to eradicate their very belief in God if they could have done that. They're being sent all over the country to be counted strictly for the purposes of being controlled and ultimately taxed. And so it's a very, very difficult time. They're living in a season when Roman armies could come into towns and basically kill whoever they wanted to without any repercussions. So it's a fearful time too as well. It just doesn't seem like it could get any worse. And when times get difficult in society, religion has a tendency, especially that which has not really had the heart of God at its center core. It's had the scriptures about God. It's been learning about God. I have no doubt the people in this inn were really familiar with the passage of scripture. I just read. The problem is that passage of scripture was not familiar with these people. They could probably quote it. They could probably quote it in original texts and languages. They could tear it apart. They could tell you the history. They knew it all. And suddenly in the midst of their own difficulty in their own society, a soft knock comes at the door. The inn is full. There's no more room. That means everybody who could has gotten themselves a nice comfortable bed. Their meal has been prepared. They have a seat at the table. There's probably a nice warm fire. And I have no doubt they're studying the scriptures because they're the most religious people on the face of the earth at this time. These are the people of God. Now, God is about to do something unseen in history. A wonder is about to appear in the heavens and angels about to preach the gospel. God incarnate is coming to the earth in the form of a child. This is a momentous moment. And God in his mercy knocks at the door of his own people first before having to go outside to those that are not part of the religious elite of the day. And if you'll travel with me for a moment into the Bethlehem Inn, you can just see the people sitting at the table. They're probably uttering some prayers before their meal. They're possibly studying the scriptures. They might even have been reading the passage of scripture I just read to you. When a soft knock comes at the door of their religion, somebody opens a little latch in the door and looks out and everybody is wondering. Nobody really wants any more people because it's getting crowded in there. And especially, they don't especially want people that might disrupt that comfortableness that they've come to experience. And so the word comes to those sitting at the table. Now, I'm only creating a scene for you. But the word comes to those sitting at the table. There's a young couple outside. She's pregnant. She's about to have a baby. And they're not even married yet. They're just engaged. And they're looking for room in our midst. I mean, she's in labor. She's about to have the baby. It's cold outside. And you can just see everybody, first of all, casually looking over their shoulder to see if anybody's going to give up their place. Who's going to give up their meal? Who's going to give up their bed? And you know, the thought would have come into some hearts that if we let this couple in here, then one of us is going to have to, somebody has to give up their room. We're going to probably feel obliged to share our food and the warmth of our fire. And of course, then there's going to be labor and all of that that comes with it. Plus the cries, not only the cries of Mary, but the cries of the newborn baby. We'll all be up all night. So it just became easier to agree with the innkeepers. No room. Yeah. No room. Sorry. Sorry. No room. I remember the story Pastor Claude Hood told in this church one time that when he was a young evangelist, it was in the coldest months in Canada in the winter time. And he was called to preach as an evangelist in this local church and to, you know, promote revival. And before he, just before he got up to speak, this lady shows up at the door of the church. It's freezing cold outside. And she's got three little children with her and they don't have coats. They've had to flee an abusive home situation. And they're freezing. And the man at the door said, lady, there's nothing we can do here for you. We're the church. And he said, it broke his heart that the church could ever become something like that. And I thank God it did because through Pastor Claude is one of the largest benevolent ministries in Canada today. They have a huge warehouse for the poor. Thank God for what they're doing, not only in Canada, but also in Haiti and through many places throughout the world, a phenomenal church. And I think there's about 5,000 or so that attended now, one of the largest churches in Canada. And God's doing a phenomenal work there because he chose in his heart. He said, I will never, never do that in the house of God for the rest of my life. Never say, lady, there's nothing we can do for you here. We're the church. The religion had no room for the needs of others, especially if it meant personal inconvenience and sacrifice. You see, God came to his own first. The Bible bears witness to that later on in the ministry of Jesus Christ as a full grown man. He said he came to his own, but his own received him not. But to as many as received him, to them, he gave power to become the sons and daughters. Of course, by inclusion of God, to those, whoever would open the door in a sense, he gave him the power to be everything that he had called them to be. He was going to bring his own people out of the natural and into the supernatural life of God, which is not possible apart from God himself performing what we can't do for ourselves. And so they closed the door. They closed the door. Religion can get like that. Religion can just make its own building, create its own boundaries, and determine who it lets in and who it doesn't let in, ultimately leaving God himself on the outside. But what if they had opened the door? Can you imagine if they had opened the door? I think of that a lot. If they had opened the door, Pastor David's already writing a play in his book right over there. He sees it. Let's go to the next one. If they had opened the door, everything outside would have been inside. There would have suddenly been an angel floating in the midst of that room talking about, this is a great day of good tidings to all people. Great joy to all people. There's born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. I don't know. I guess there's one for theologians. How many angels can you fit in an inn? I don't know. Oh, I have a, when they appeared to the shepherds, there had to be thousands, there had to be thousands in the heavens, shouting and singing a multitude, it says that the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest on earth, peace and goodwill towards men. They would have all been in that room. The people, first of all, would have seen and heard the glory that accompanies every word of God sent from heaven. There would have been a warming in the heart. See, when you start to close your heart to human need, there's a dullness that sets itself in around, there's boundaries and borders that come around the human heart. And the word now is just learning, learning, learning, learning, but never letting that learning bring us to the truth of where it should take us. Keeping us in a sense in that selfish place where it's all just about me. What can God do for me today? How can I enhance my life today? How can I have a better job? How can I have a better future? And a lot of those things are good, but they're not good when they become the total focus of our relationship with God. Then suddenly, when we're not willing to come outside the walls that religion can build around us, we become shut off to the wonder of God's word. The wonder, the illumination it brings into the heart. I remember as a young Christian, you know, I remember I saved a long time because we had a sheep farm and we didn't have very much money back in those days. Matter of fact, we had hardly any. And I remember I saved a long time to get a new coat. And I was so proud of this new coat. It was a nice new coat. It was one of the puffy things, you know, with the hood with fur and stuff on it. It was nice, it was nice. Well, it wasn't girly, okay? It was nice. It was a really nice coat. And I wore it to church. And I remember one of the ushers come run down at the end of the service. I went to get my coat, it's on a hook. And one of the ushers came running downstairs and said, there's a man at the door. This is February in Canada, it's cold. And he has no coat. And you know, I'm the poorest guy in the church, for real. I am. I mean, this is a middle upper-class church. There's lots of money in this church and lots of really nice coats hanging on those hooks. And a lot of those folks had other coats at home. And so everyone, all the guys are in this cloak room and everybody's looking at their coat. And I remember one man said, tell them we'll pray about it. Now I had just been reading in the Bible where John the Baptist, remember he came to the soldiers. They said, what should we do to have eternal life? And he said, let the man who has two coats give the one to the man who has none. And I said, Lord, I have two coats, but the other one's at home. Now that was the one that smelled like sheep and was torn. And the Lord says, give him your coat. Give him that coat. And so I gave the man my coat. And I went home without a coat, but I went home with my heart full. I went home with something of God. I think, I think it's the day I opened the door to the Lord. To the end of my heart. I think it's the day that I started to learn the ways of God. Then I found myself not long after sitting in the house of God, hearing a preacher say, with God, all things are possible. And my heart, it wasn't just knowledge now. My heart was warmed. And I started thinking, could that be true? Is that possible? Could God use my life? Could he take me farther than where I am? And could he make me into something that I could never hope to be? Could he take me out of the confines of this physical experience that I've had in my life these years and bring me into something he's got for me? You see, my heart started to be warm because the messenger suddenly appeared before me. And something came into my heart of praise. Like when those shepherds were out in that field and suddenly these angels are singing glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill towards all men. And suddenly I am praising in a way like I never have before. We were invited to a friend's church one time in another town and the service was nice and the church was little more than semi-affluent. And I was thinking, what's wrong with these people? Why don't they praise God in this place? I could hardly wait for them to leave. I have to be honest. When they left, I just ran up and down the aisle and I was singing, he lives, he lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me. And I just took time to praise God. And I remember thinking, what's wrong with these people? Where did their song go? Why can't, what is it that their hearts are not warm? No matter what the preacher preaches, why are they so lethargic? You see, that's what happens when humankind builds religion around itself. It closes the door to human need and lets the man who's cold go home cold and as long as they can go home warm. And they shut their heart to human need. And they, in the end, the last thing they couldn't see was how God manifests his glory in their day-to-day lives. You know, the angels said to the shepherds, they said, this will be a sign. You'll find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. This will be your sign. This will be the sign that God has destined to make peace with all men, that this is a good moment in history, that this is news of great joy, and it's for all people, all people, not just a few people, not just the elite, not just the religious or the self-focused, but to all people, here's the sign. You'll find a baby. You know, have you ever wondered what was the, I mean, as momentous as that was, Jesus Christ could have come into this world as a 10-foot giant. He could have come with an army. He could have come as a bronze warrior. Could have come into the world any way he wanted to. He was God, so why as a baby? And what is so good about that? You see, the sign was simply this, that God was showing us that he is willing to come and inhabit us in our weakness. He came as the weakest form of humanity. God, God, God who has more power than a million nuclear bombs. You're not even touching the power of God with a million nuclear bombs. God who can think a universe into existence. God who can raise the dead. God who can calm the sea. God who can multiply loaves and fishes and feed thousands of people. God, God comes into this world in a form that needs to be carried and have his diapers changed and has to learn how to speak and learn how to eat. God, and it was his way of saying, I'm not offended with your weakness. I'm not offended by your struggles. I am willing to save you and to indwell you and literally wrap myself in the rags of your life. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. If they had only opened the door, if they had only opened the door, they would have known there would have been a glory. There would have been a song. There would have been something miraculous come into their hearts, but it was much easier just to study the scriptures, you see, and stay comfortable. And that's the dilemma of church all over the world and all throughout history. The last church that Jesus Christ appears to, to speak to in the book of the revelation of John is in chapter three. It's the last church. And many equated to the church of our generation, or at least the last generation. And they had built for themselves another religious inn. And one more time, the son of God, he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. What did these people say? Well, I have enough resource. I don't need anything anymore. I'm comfortable now. I've gotten what I need in life. And I'm just gonna hunker down. I'm gonna study the scriptures. I'm gonna fellowship with the people of God and go home. And that's what they had. They said, I'm rich, I've become wealthy. I've needed nothing. And he says, you don't know that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire. In other words, purchase from me that which is of lasting value. And white garments that you may be clothed and anoint your eyes with eye salve that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I'll come in to you and dine with you and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also came and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says and to the churches. So here is Christ one more time knocking at the door just as he did through his stepfather Joseph and his mother Mary in the beginning. And he's knocking again. And you see the tendency of religion to isolate and encapsulate and forget and lose the heart of God. About eight years ago, I was in my office praying and I was praying about a specific thing and I was asking the Lord, I said, God, where would you like us to establish satellite churches in New York City? Simply because we were at that time crowded, so crowded that we were creating a fire hazard on Sunday morning. And so I began to pray. And as I began to pray, the Lord began to speak. And he told me, he said, the satellite churches are already in New York City. They will never be called Times Square Church. They will be called the First Baptist Church of 181st Street. They'll be given other names. And he says, the Lord spoke to me and says, I want you to open your heart as a church because they have a need. There's a lot of poor people in their communities who don't have enough food and they don't have the resource to feed them. And a lot of these churches are discouraged and their leaders are discouraged because they see the need but they have no resource to meet it. The Lord spoke to my heart clearly and said, I want you to underwrite 100 churches in New York City. And I want you to give them $1,000 each a month of food and value in food, which is a huge commitment for us as a church. We're still doing it eight years later. Now we've been able to pare that down a little bit. For us, there was a hefty commitment $1.2 million the first year. When I took it to the board, it was the deepest missions commitment in the history of Times Square Church. And it was strictly for the needs of others. The only request we made to these pastors of these 100 churches is that you have to have a prayer meeting that it's not enough just to feed hungry people in your community, but you have to feed them spiritually as well, lead them to a place of healing in Christ. We started to pray together. We still pray together today. We just had a wonderful meeting last week, last Wednesday. The joy of the Lord is there. And we found a camaraderie and love one for another that only can be birthed in God. And all of this came about because we just simply moved in obedience to God, made that commitment and started to feed people. The last report I had through the Feed New York churches were feeding roughly about 19,000 people in New York City. And every church does this differently. Some give kids a lunch on their way to school who don't have a lunch. Others, we have mothers who can come in at the end of the day and pick up fresh vegetables for their children because there's in a lot of these areas, there are no markets like that. You really can't get much other than canned beans and pasta in some places. And so I thank God. And you've done that. You've done that as a church. This is not, it didn't come out. It didn't, you know, this was your tithe. This was your tithe that's doing this and feeding. And the Lord spoke to me and he said these words, if you will do this, I can answer your prayer. That was a strange response because my prayer was, where do we plant satellite churches in New York City? But I didn't know that that's not the prayer the Lord was talking about. It was another prayer. Through the pastors of Feed New York, we advertised in the city on the subway and invited the city to come in and pray with us for the city. And they were the first, we had a meeting here on, I think on a Tuesday night, there was 40 of us here that led in that prayer meeting. And we didn't know it, but God handed us a worldwide prayer meeting. That's now in 205 countries throughout the world. It's truly amazing. Listen to what the Lord said through Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 58 verses eight and nine. If you don't hide from your own flesh, then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing will spring forth speedily and your righteousness will go before you. And the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Verse nine says of Isaiah 58, then you shall call and the Lord will answer. You shall cry and he will say, here I am. Yet what has been the cry of this church? Oh God, send a spiritual awakening to New York City. Send a spiritual awakening to America. Deliver our children from the evil that would try to baptize them in godlessness and deny the reality of God and radicalize them against even their own country. God, help us, give us grace to fight against this encroaching darkness and send a spiritual awakening into every borough, every home, every apartment. Have mercy on our children. It's been the cry of our heart. And he said, if you don't hide from human need, you'll call out to me and I will say, here I am. If you take away from your midst, the pointing of the finger, looking to blame somebody, imagine them in the end saying, well, it's their fault. She's pregnant, they're teenagers, not even married. So what, that's not our problem, that's their problem. Let the social services look after them. That's not the problem. See the finger pointing, you see, when you can blame somebody, you don't have to do anything about it. Or pointing the finger at somebody else saying, well, somebody should do something about that. You should give up your room. You got more money than I do. You should give up your place at the fire or your meal at the table. It's always easier to point the finger at somebody than to actually do what God asks us to do. And if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then he says, then your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noonday. Even in the darkest moments, he says, I will guide you. I'll answer your prayer. And it will be just like it's noon for you, even though it's dark for people all around because you will see something that people who are self-focused can't see. It comes with the heart of God and the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought, praise God, and strengthen your bones. That's a verse for me, by the way, because my bones hurt a lot every morning. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. In other words, that living water that's promised you, the water that comes to you from God will not fail. You will have a word in season to speak. You will know the direction that we are to go. You will have authority in your speech to tear down powers of darkness and see people released from places of captivity. And verse 12 says, those from among you shall build the old waste places. You shall raise up the foundations of many generations and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell. In other words, the one who closed the hole in the wall that let the enemy get in in the first place. The enemy that came in and started to destroy the very foundations of your society, started to try to take away your history, deny the reality of how you were formed as a nation and who it was that formed you as a people. Revisionists that try to change your history and confuse you and get you to the point where you don't even know who you are anymore as a people. But if you as my people will open the door and if you will not hide from human need around you, I will answer you. I will be your light. I will be your strength. I will do even more than you can ask or think. God says, I will through you, I will use you and through you, I will raise up the foundations of previous generations. You will be called the repairer of the breach and the restorer of streets to dwell in. So this year, 2020 is the year that you and I are going to begin to see everything that God has promised us. Now, I closed the book, put it in my bag, moved over to a chair that was close to me and my phone rang. And it's somebody from Washington, I can't tell you who, but it's somebody from Washington asking me, will you take the leadership on the 400th anniversary of the founding of America from Plymouth, Massachusetts, where we will advertise across the country and get millions, millions, tens of millions of people will be live streaming this prayer meeting and will you lead us in a prayer meeting? Asking God to send a spiritual awakening to America by the grace of God. Hallelujah, hallelujah, glory, glory, glory, glory. This will be perhaps the most momentous thing we've ever undertaken as a church congregation. But you see, God said, if you will do this, that's 10 years ago, almost now, I will be able to answer your prayer. If you don't hide from human need, when you call out, I will say, here I am. I believe that God's speaking to my heart, that he will do things that are so far beyond us. One day, you and I are gonna leave this sanctuary on a Sunday morning, we're gonna go on onto Broadway and we're gonna dance and we're gonna say, only God could have done this. Only God could have done this. Hallelujah, and so here's my altar call this morning. My God, I want my heart to burn again at your word. My God, I want the door of my heart to be open. I don't wanna pass by human need. When you present it to me. Now, I'm not talking about everybody out there that's gonna try and scam the church after this service. You understand? There are people here this morning that when they're preparing their little sermonette on the sidewalk and they're putting on their disguise right now, that's just the reality of where we live. So you need discernment with this, all right? But nevertheless, God will present genuine need. Genuine. Then give us the grace, my God, to have an open heart. Give us the grace as a church to be open-handed. Give us the grace, my God, to keep feeding people through 100 churches in New York City. Give us the grace to build our brother instead of saying, well, it's not my problem. There's little churches in the inner city. It's not my problem if they can't feed the poor. No, it is our problem. It is our problem. God is knocking. He knocked on our door. The Lord knocked on our door. It is our problem. And so maybe there's a few things we can't financially do, but we can help our brother and sister in Christ to feed the hungry in their communities. And God said, I will answer your prayer when you call out to me. Praise be to God. I want my heart to burn. I want to hear the praises of angels. I want an open heaven. I want to know my God. I want to be able to see beyond just the dome of my own experience. Lord, would you open the heavens to me? And I want to see Jesus in my everyday life. I want to see you, Jesus. I want to see you wrapped in my weakness. I want to see you wrapped in my struggle. I want to see you walking with me when I'm confused. I want to see you strengthening me when I'm weak. I want to see you feeding me when I can't feed myself. God almighty, I want to see you every day in my life. That's the day you will see, this is the year you will see wonders, wonders. You'll become aware of the presence of God in your life, aware every day that Christ is not offended with your struggle. He's not offended when you can't walk or feed yourself. He's not offended. He loves you with an everlasting love. Oh God. Oh God. Keep us moving forward, Lord. Keep us moving forward. God, don't let us close the door. We've had an open heart and an open door in this church for 31 years and the presence of God has been here because of that. May it never be, may it never be that this door would ever close to human need or the leading of God or whenever he knocks and says, I have something I need to say to you, may we never be closed to him. Praise be to God. If you've heard from the Lord today, if the Lord's stirring your heart, if there's something in you that says, oh God, count me in, count me in. I'm gonna ask you to join me at this altar today. We're gonna stand in just a moment and we're gonna just simply pray together and ask God that 2020 in your life, in my life and in the lives of this church would be a year when we see wonders. A year when things start to happen that we know only God could do this. Only God, who but God could do this. Praise be to God. Let's stand together please. We're gonna worship for a moment and if God spoke to you, just come to the balcony, go to either exit, the main sanctuary, slip out in the annex, make your way here, we'll wait for you. In our campus churches as well. What a time to be alive. What a time to be servants of the living God. What a time to reach out into our communities. Just come. Beloved, I'd just like to lead us in a prayer. Father God, thank you. Thank you for your presence that brings life and courage. Lord, as your people, we open the door. We open the door to our hearts. We open the door to your will and your way. We open the door to your wonders that you will bring in, where all of heaven will move into our spirit. Lord, I thank you now for the grace, oh God, to not turn away from need, but when we see it, oh God, we will go deep and we'll know, oh God, that you will help us and you will provide, that we will not turn away from human need, oh God. Thank you, Lord. I believe that, Lord, it will be the opening of the door to the wonders of God in our spirit, in our soul. God, break over us as your people, the pointing of the finger. Lord, you say that gets us nowhere. Lord, please break that spirit, a pointing a finger and make us a people of another spirit. Take that away, oh God. We trust you with that. Lord, you're gonna go deep with that, but that's exactly what we need because as we open the door to believe you, to move in us, oh God, supernaturally, to break the chains, to break in us, that we, oh God, may be used of you to break the chains of others, that we may be filled with the spirit, that your spirit may move out in this city, oh God. Lord, you wanna do something. You're just looking for a people who will believe you, so we open the door to believe you. Lord, it's not about us, but it's judging that you are faithful and you are great and you are God. And Lord, we heard today to open the door and Lord, that's been our history, but now we pray, oh God, for the grace individually to keep opening the door to you, Lord Jesus. Thank you, you've appeared before each one of us and you are knocking at our door. Lord, we bend our knee, we fall to our knees in this holy place, knowing, oh God, what you wanna do for us. Thank you, you want to reveal yourself to your people in a fresh way and in a living way. Thank you, oh God, that we can just bow our knees and bow our heads and bow our hearts before you and Lord, you accept it and you receive us. So we just thank you today that we are blessed among all people, that the favor of God is upon us because you have shown up at our door, the door to our heart, the door to our church, the door to our family, the door to our city. And by the grace of God, we open it and keep it open, Lord Jesus. And we thank you for that, we thank you for what you're doing supernaturally in this place. You are breaking the fear, you are breaking the unbelief, you are breaking all that's needed, Lord, in our hearts to rise and believe you for there is no God like you. There is no God that will do wonders and signs and miracles in our place, hallelujah. Let it begin, oh God, in our heart today. Thank you, we are right now receiving what you are giving. Merry Christmas, we thank you, Jesus. We love you, hallelujah, we receive it in Jesus' name, amen.