Romans 15:7

What a beautiful hymn. Please take a seat.

We rejoice with you, Woodwards and Hedmans.

And what a joy to continue launching, friends, our ministry here together,

building on last week's party here.

And thank you, Reverend, for leading us so beautifully.

And thank you, Reverend, for leading us so beautifully thus far this morning.

What we're going to do, friends, is we are, if you've been around a little bit,

you know that we're in the middle of, in the back half of the book of Ephesians.

We're going to get back there and continue walking through that great letter in two weeks.

But what we're going to do is take this Sunday and next Sunday

and we're going to take a look at the book of Ephesians.

I like the word recalibrate, refresh, get jointly, more deeply than ever,

clear again about what we are about as a church.

We have lots in common, the most important things in common

with every other Bible-preaching church that has ever existed.

And it is also true God has given us a distinct vision and ministry

right here in Ephesians.

The suburbs of Chicago at this time.

You might remember a year ago, we spent one week and we looked at Ephesians 2,

the verse where it talks about Christ himself preaching peace.

And that was how we remembered our vision together.

The year before that, we looked at Philippians 4.4.

Rejoice in the Lord. I say it again, rejoice.

The year before that, we had just come out of the summer

and the elders had settled our vision of rejoicing in the real and irresistible Christ.

And we took three weeks.

We took three weeks to lay it out.

And so each year, as we come out of the summer and into the fall,

we're going to just remember what we are particularly about as a church.

The North Star that we are looking at, a vision assumed is a vision lost.

If we assume it, we will lose it.

Shift it into neutral, we will slide away from it.

So we want to keep refreshing it in our minds and hearts.

Now, doing something a little bit different.

Today and next week, you may have received, ought to have received,

an 8 1⁄2 by 11 handout with the weekly.

And some of the brothers here have stacks of that if you didn't.

So maybe just stick your hand up if you do not have a sheet that looks like this with two columns.

It's one page front and back.

Thank you, Della and Donald and Brian.

Anyone else need one of these?

This is just to help you track with me, but right here, Jack needs one.

Thanks, Della's got it.

Just to help you track with me because, as you know,

sometimes I get overly ambitious with the number of points in my messages.

And so this will help you to follow along.

We're going to have the same handout this week and next.

We're going to go down one column today and down the other column next week.

And I think this is going to be fun.

We are thinking about our vision and what Jesus is like, rejoicing in the real and irresistible Christ.

And so what we're going to do is,

let's pause for a moment of prayer, but let me just make sure,

does anyone else still need a handout?

All right.

Thanks, guys.

Let's bow for prayer.

Our Father in heaven, we just sang of your boundless, endless, without a border, love and care of us.

We read things in the Scripture like,

Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable.

How unsearchable are your judgments and inscrutable your ways.

We saw earlier in Ephesians in chapter 3, you speak of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

We sang a few moments ago in that hymn that Will has given us,

what riches are hid in Christ, our soul's delight.

So we are together recognizing right now,

we overestimate how much,

how much we see of you.

Like being on a mountain and looking as far as our eyes can see and seeing a long way

and then thinking, this is just a fraction of the universe.

Perhaps in a similar way, we can acknowledge together before you

that our current view of you sees a long way,

but there's so much more there.

And so we ask you today for the gift of seeing.

Of going home and having the thought,

every one of us, me at the top of the list,

having the thought, he's way bigger and better than I realized

when I rolled out of bed this morning.

So we open ourselves to you now as we open our Bibles.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

And please turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 15.

Romans chapter 15,

where we're going to look just at one verse together.

Our vision, as I have said a couple of times already,

and as you know, is rejoicing in,

rejoicing in the real and irresistible Jesus.

In other words,

he's actually there

and the real one

and the real one.

And he's actually there.

And we will never over-rejoice.

We'll never go too far.

We spend our week over-rejoicing in a hundred different things.

I find myself already over-rejoicing

in how I think we're going to do this year.

By we, I'm talking about the Bears.

We over-rejoice in a pay raise.

We over-rejoice in...

a political turnout that we were hoping for.

We over...

We rejoice disproportionately

at all kinds of things.

The Bible calls this idolatry.

Even good things.

Over-rejoicing.

Guys, we will never ever,

we cannot ever do it,

over-rejoice Christ.

Like, he's this good,

but we just went a little...

outstripped him a little bit

and now rejoicing.

We will never do that.

We will never go too far.

Never get too out of hand

in our...

being really happy

about what he's really like

for us at all times,

including at our worst.

And we will see that

more and more deeply

that we can't over-rejoice

as we see the real,

the real,

Jesus Christ.

Imagine an artist

taking a lifetime

to create one glorious picture

of a person.

Taking a lifetime to do that.

In a sense,

that's what your and my Christian life is.

Taking a lifetime.

And with each passing month and year,

the picture is coming a little clearer.

As opposed to,

we see Jesus

the day we are converted

and we see Jesus

the day we are converted.

And we see Jesus

the day we are converted.

And we see Jesus

the day we are converted.

And we see Jesus

and then we go through life

with our eyes off of him

and occasionally,

like once a week,

glance back and say,

thanks,

but keep moving on

and giving our hearts

to other things.

And we are rejoicing together

in the real Jesus.

Rejoicing in the real

and irresistible Jesus

implies, of course,

we're doing this together.

When a church family,

as you all have been doing,

rejoices in the real Christ,

it's not...

couple hundred of individuals having a solo individual one-on-one experience rejoicing in

Christ. It's a rejoicing that builds and fosters and creates a certain kind of togetherness the

world can't get. We saw in Ephesians 2 that the wall came crashing down between us and God,

and then Paul goes to the next logical point. Therefore, the walls come crashing down between

one another, between us and other believers. And that is what we have been calling around here

gospel culture, gospel doctrine, the truths of the gospel, fostering beauty of togetherness.

And I don't think there's a verse in the Bible that captures both sides of that.

Being loved by God, the wall coming crashing down between us and God, total access and freedom

of friendship and mutual flowing love.

On the one hand, and then a certain harmonious, magnificent, attractive, otherworldly way of being

with one another, vertical, horizontal, gospel doctrine, gospel culture, than Romans 15.7.

So let's look at it together here. This is a text that brings both of these together. The text reads

like this,

As Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God.

It is not a stretch to say anywhere you plunk down in the New Testament,

whatever you are reading in some way slots into one of those three buckets.

Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God. What to do?

Welcome one another. How to do it?

As Christ has welcomed you. Why to do it? For the glory of God. The command, welcome one another.

The power for the command, Christ has welcomed you. And the purpose of the command, for the glory of God.

And what I would like to do is simply take that second line today and the first line next week.

Very simple. The second line today, Christ has welcomed you.

And,

the first line next week, therefore we welcome one another. Now as we get into this, just look in your Bibles there

and notice with me

that as we come to Romans 14 and 15, Romans 15.7 is

arguably,

I might say probably, the high point of the entire letter to the Romans.

It's all funneling down to this.

I mean you get to this extended section of Romans 14 and 15 where Paul is talking about the fact that he's not going to be able to do this.

He's not going to be able to do this.

Paul is telling us how to treat one another.

And Paul opens in chapter 14.

If you just flip over back a page to Romans 14, in verse 1 we read,

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him.

Same Greek word.

Welcome him.

But not to quarrel over opinions and so on.

Verse 3,

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains.

Let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats.

For God has welcomed him.

There it is again.

14.

1, welcome one another. 14.3, as God has welcomed you. And then that's the first, the opening book

end. And then the closing book end is 15.7 for the whole section. Therefore, welcome one another

as Christ has welcomed you. So I want to ask today and take, trying to be obedient to the time,

we could go a long, long time here, guys. But exploring according to the pages of the Bible,

what does it mean for Christ to have welcomed us? Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.

Conclusion, we cannot welcome one another if we don't understand how he's welcomed us,

because it says as. So we've got to get clear together on what it is for you and me

to have been swept into the arms of Jesus Christ and then be liberated into, wow,

we actually conduct ourselves, move towards one another.

In that kind of a way. So how does Christ welcome us? In at least 30 ways. Number one,

ruggedly. I say ruggedly because of the word that is used here, welcome, is not the kind of welcome

that if you went to Hobby Lobby this afternoon and found a welcome mat and went home and put

it outside your door and someone saw that, how they would feel.

In Matthew 16 and in Mark 8, the same account in the two Gospels, when Jesus says he's going to

be rejected and suffer and die, and Peter pulls him aside, physically takes him aside

to say, this is never going to happen to you. The word for Peter pulling Christ aside

is the word used here for welcome.

Now, let me ask you a question. Was Peter welcome mat welcoming Jesus?

My point is simply, this is a strong word. He welcomed him. He pulled him aside.

He got right up close with him. He pulled him in. That's the word used here.

Welcome one another as Christ has pulled you in, so to speak.

Not a pastime.

Not a passive nodding welcome. Not a, you knock on the door of the heart of Christ,

and he sits, stays sitting on the couch and says, come on in, it's open.

No, he jumps to his feet. Secondly, intimately, we're going to go as quick as I can here. Each

one of these is a sermon series in itself, but intimately, we're united to him. Look at this.

We're welcomed in such a deep, intimate way. Do you not know, 1 Corinthians 6,

that your bodies are members of Christ? He who is joined to, will let us in a beautiful little

reflection on union with Christ in between those two songs. Thank you, brother. You are united.

Is your basic fundamental umbrella-like self-understanding that you're united to Jesus

Christ? According to the New Testament, it is not you're justified, and that's the biggest picture,

or sanctified, or reconciled, or purchased.

All of those take place in your union with Christ. You're united to him. You see that language,

joined to the Lord. By the way, when the New Testament says the Lord, it's talking about Christ.

It's not a generic word for God. Joined to the Lord, joined to Christ becomes one spirit with him.

You're not just next to him. You're in him. He unites. You are welcomed intimately. Third,

sacrificially, Christ loved us, Ephesians.

We just saw this in our last Ephesians sermon. Christ loved us and gave himself for us

a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. He allowed himself to go down into death.

He went to zero. He went down into the grave. He didn't get weakened for you. He died,

gave himself for us. He's not a calculating Savior. He wasn't doing, like, let's do some

cost-benefit analysis and see if this is really what we're doing. He wasn't doing, like, let's do

this. He wasn't doing, like, let's do some cost-benefit analysis and see if this is really

going to be worth it for me. Philippians 2, he emptied himself

sacrificially in his welcome. Fourth, unreservedly, Jesus stood up and cried out,

John 7. If it wasn't clear, just follow along in the left-hand column of your handout if you want

to, okay? I thought that'd be easier than flipping all over in the Bible real quickly.

Unreservedly, fourthly, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, if anyone thirsts,

not if those who are at least a C-disciple and above, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me

and drink. No stipulations laid out. Yesterday, I was trying to sort out some

things with my bank accounts, and every time I was trying to get into the next level in,

I had to have it text me on my phone a five-digit code to get to the next level in, you know.

So impersonal. So assessing and scrutinizing and making sure that you getting into your accounts

is the opposite of what it is like to approach Jesus Christ. Unreservedly.

Five, permanently, oh, the freedom of this. Whoever comes to me, this is John Bunyan's

favorite verse, whoever comes to me, I will never, the text literally reads, I will not,

not.

Cast out. You come to me, once you get my hug, you cannot ever do anything to let me

let go. You can't do it. Once I hug you, you are with me to stay. You and I deeply resist

that, guys. You think, just screw up enough. And surely, he's somewhat like us, and will

eventually say, screw it.

Jesus is not like you and me. Once he pulls you into his heart, he will never let you

go. At Crossway, we would put together a book contract when we came to terms, you know,

negotiate terms with an author. We would put together the contract and send it to him or

her. And a key part of the contract is all of the things that are in the book contract

that might happen, that the author might do, such that we would then be free of the

contract.

Happily, that's not how it works with Jesus.

Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

Sixth, happily. What man of you, having a hundred sheep, Luke 15, if he's lost one of

them, does not leave the 99 in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he

finds it, and when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, complaining. Isn't that

surprising? When he finds the wandering sheep, it wasn't when he found the obedient sheep.

He is pleased in your enmity.

But this text points out, when he found the wandering sheep, he threw it around his shoulders

and he started singing a song, rejoicing. The Puritans taught us that Jesus rejoices when we

come to him in our sin and mess, because when we come to him for healing, his own body is getting

healed. Why would he want his own body?

Not to get healed. We're one with him.

Seventh, patiently. He welcomes us patiently. Some of us waited a long time before committing

to him. Some of you in the room today still haven't. Make today the day. Be at peace forever.

Some of us waited a long time before committing to him, and he never, like, said, forget it. The

offer's off the table. And all of us who are in Christ now, who have taken him up on his offer,

are experiencing his patience all the time with our many ongoing sins and stumblings and failures.

Look there with me at 1 Timothy 1. Paul's reflecting on his own life. He says,

I received mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost, sinner number one, Jesus Christ my

display his perfect patience. His perfect, total, complete, comprehensive, missing nothing,

perfect patience. The Greek word means wrath from afar. Patience as an example. Eight, humbly,

come to me for I'm gentle and lowly. That word means accessible. It means way down low. It means

he's not like out of your reach. He's right there at your level. I'm lowly in heart. Matthew 11,

Jesus says of himself. I mean, for me to get on his team is for his team to get worse.

He doesn't mind getting me on his team. He doesn't mind being totally accessible to us.

Nine, tenderly. What a beautiful passage. A bruised reed. This is in Matthew 12,

and it's quoting one of the servant songs. They're called from Isaiah chapter 42.

And Jesus,

this is me, a bruised reed. This is what Jesus is like, a bruised reed. He will not break. Maybe

many of you grew up in churches, and through the church that you grew up in, maybe it read and

believed a text like Matthew 12, but atmospherically, what you were picking up rightly was,

you better not screw up. Gospel culture, what is that? We want a church to

feel like a text like this. Like you walk in, and it's like, oh,

I'm free to be the wreck that I am, safe in Christ. I got to finish reading the text here.

A bruised reed, he will not break. A reed, a frond of grass that is bruised. It's been

stepped on, and it's about to fall over.

A smoldering wick, a candle that's just about to go out.

He will not quench.

He's the kind of master who comes along and deals tenderly, ninth, eighth,

emboldeningly. That's a big word, kids. I just mean he makes you brave.

He helps you to not be afraid, emboldeningly. Acts 23, 11,

the following night,

the Lord stood by him, speaking of Paul. The Lord, remember Christ, Christ stood by him

and said, take courage. It goes on to say, you're going to testify in Rome. You and I probably are

not going to testify to our faith in Rome, but that's what Jesus is like, standing next to us

and saying, take courage. The welcome of Christ puts boldness within us. So tender, but emboldened,

tender.

11, unashamedly, he is not ashamed to call them brothers, Hebrews 2. He delights to call us his

brothers and sisters. You're his brother or his sister. He's not only your master and your king

and your savior, he's your older brother. Some of you were treated terribly by an older brother.

He's the perfect older brother.

Compassionately,

12, when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them. This is one of dozens of passages,

right, that we could have plucked up from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Compassionately,

when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless.

He feels our anguishes more acutely than we do. B.B. Warfield,

he was called the Lion of Princeton because he was such a fierce defender of reformed orthodoxy.

And he wrote an article, a seminal article, I've mentioned it once or twice, I think,

throughout the last few years, called On the Emotional Life of Our Lord,

in which he takes Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and he says,

what was happening emotionally within Jesus Christ taking the four gospels at face value?

And his findings are that there are three main emotions more than any other.

One, joy, anger. I'm going to come back to that in a minute because it's not the kind of anger

that you might think it is. Joy, anger, and he said, number one, and even more than the other two,

compassion. You prick Jesus and out flows compassion. Compassion. He welcomes us

compassionately. Third, non-disgustedly. He doesn't hold his nose,

in his welcome of us. He reaches out and touches. I mean, this passage in Mark 1 is so beautiful,

reaching out and touching a dirty, unclean, actually physically and ceremonially,

religiously, ritually unclean person who, according to Old Testament law,

if that leper touches Christ, then they're both unclean.

Jesus reverses it and says, I'm clean, you're unclean. I'm going to touch you,

and you're going to become clean. You're not going to make me unclean. I'm going to make you,

the language that we use today,

for being clean is a saint, a cleansed one. If a kid was covered in mud, and you were wearing

nice clothes like you are right now, or you were at a wedding, you were wearing something really

nice, and it was white, and you walked up. I guess you don't wear too much white at a wedding

because that's just the bride. You're wearing something bright, okay? And a kid covered in mud

ran up to you and wanted to give you a big hug. What would you do?

Jesus is the kind of person who sweeps that muddy child up in his arms. He proves it right there

in Mark 1 and many other places. I will be clean. You know that it doesn't just mean I will do this.

It means I want to. Fellow is the Greek word. I desire it. The leper had said,

do you want to do this? And he said, oh, yes, I do. That's what his welcome is like. Non-discussively.

14. Indiscretion.

Indiscriminately. Wade read it. Let the little kids come to me. Let them come to me. In that

beautiful passage, he picks them up. The disciples want to filter out the kids.

He says, no, you don't. Let them come to me. Indiscriminately. Human beings of any age,

as we look at Christ's ministry, we see him welcoming human beings of any social position.

Rich Zacchaeus to poor beggars. Ethnically, Jews,

and a Roman centurion. Morally, prostitutes and tax collectors on the one hand, and a rich young

ruler on the other hand who comes up to him and says, I've kept all the Ten Commandments.

The testimony of every Christian. Your testimony, guys, at root is, hey, world,

if he welcomed me, he can welcome anybody. Indiscriminately. 15. Tearfully. Would you ever have

guessed?

God became a man. Would you think that God becoming a man would ever cry?

He's weeping over Lazarus dying. And actually, the text says, if we were to look at it more closely

at length, it's when Jesus showed up. He had said at the beginning of John 11, I'm going to go and

I'm going to raise him. So he knew what he was going to do. He knew he was going to raise Lazarus.

But when he saw the others who loved Lazarus weeping, that's when he started weeping. He didn't

start weeping because of his own pain at his friend having died. He couldn't bear to see those

whom he loved and who loved Lazarus weeping. It drew him out. That Jesus is perfect doesn't mean

that he doesn't get distressed. It means that he gets perfectly distressed.

16. Encouragingly. 16. In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome

the world. Take heart. Thank you, Lord, for saying that. Take heart. Take heart. Oh, the reasons we

have had this week to lose heart. Terrible. Jesus says, don't lose heart. Take heart. Not because

he's the one who's going to lose heart. He's the one who's going to lose heart. He's the one who's

the supreme optimist. But because he's overcome the world. You might feel like you're like at the

beginning of the fourth quarter and you're down 42 points. And he's saying, hey, take heart. We win.

You're with me and we will win. Take heart. I've overcome the world.

17. Indignantly. 17. I mentioned joy and compassion and also

anger. What kind of anger? Anger at death and hell and Satan. In John 11, which we were just

talking about Lazarus being raised, the text says that he was deeply moved when he showed up. And

it's a very strong word. It doesn't just mean, oh, you know, a little tinge of emotion. It means he

was deeply agitated on the inside. He was indignant. He was defiantly angry at death on our behalf.

18. Feelingly. 18. He had to be made. Hebrews is a chock full of this kind of thing. Hebrews 2. He

had to be made like his brothers in every respect. He knows what it's like to be thirsty, hungry,

tired, alone, ridiculed, rejected, shamed. Again, his perfection doesn't mean he doesn't feel. It

means he feels perfectly. Sympathetically, 19. When you experience something difficult and risk

opening yourself up to a good friend and they respond and say to you, I know just how you feel.

Now, each situation is different. At times, that can be a very painful response because you might

be thinking, no, you don't. And even if you went through like a very similar situation, that was

you and this is me. Jesus can say that to you. This is the teaching of the book of Hebrews. He has,

except for sin,

walked through everything you and I walk through. He's able to sympathize. It means co-suffer with

you. Gently. How wonderful. Number 20. Gently. He can deal gently. He's talking about the priests,

but making a point about Christ. He can deal gently, Hebrews 5.2, with the ignorant and wayward.

Tender restraint. You know, mindful of our weakness. Gently. Fortifyingly. It means making

you stronger. Gives you strength. His welcome is not burden.

It's burden lifting. But the Lord, 2 Timothy 4, at the very end of his life,

everyone flees. Every Facebook friend said, unfriend to Paul at the very end of his life.

Like everybody. And he said, but the Lord, which is Jesus, stood by me and strengthened me.

No matter what you experience at a human level, if you're in Christ, you have that.

That can be a burden. That can be a burden. That can be a burden. That can be a burden. That can be a burden.

That can never be taken away from you. His welcome is a welcome. That means he will always

be standing at your right hand to fortify you. Befriendingly. 22. I've no longer called you

servants, but friends. John 15. One of the heartaches of life, every one of you could

testify, is discovering someone you thought was your friend. Oh, they're not. Or many of you could

testify to him. He's not your friend. He's not your friend. He's not your friend. He's not your friend.

Having a real friend, a proven, tested friend who moves far away or dies. Jesus will never do

either. He'll never let you down, and he will never let you go. Befriendingly. 23. Fully,

he is able to save, Hebrews 7.25, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God.

Defendingly, he speaks up for you. Some of you will be like, who is ever going to stick up for me?

The answer is Jesus Christ is and will and does. Defendingly, if anyone sins, 1 John 2.1,

we have an advocate, the best, most perfect defense attorney

in the universe. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ. Eagerly, 25.

Revelation 3. Eagerly, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come in and we will get some lunch together. I'm standing at the door knocking. I would like

to come spend time with you. I want to come eat with you. Who is the person in the world that you

would most be astonished and delighted if they were knocking at your door? The public figure or

the athlete or whatever. If you knew, like your ring goes off,

and you look at the camera on your front doorstep, and that person is standing there knocking,

you would scramble to get to the door before they left. Jesus Christ is way better than that.

And he says he wants to come in and eat with you. Eagerly, 25. 26. Attentively, did you ever notice

this? Then turning toward the woman, Luke 7, he said to Simon, do you see this woman?

The most ignorable person at the party. Hey, Simon,

do you see this woman?

Attentively. He notices us. He dignifies us. He sees us in all our smallness. You don't need a

microphone to get his attention. You don't need someone else who seems more important to you or

more well-known than you to make an introduction of you to Christ.

He sees you. Attentively, 27. Cherishingly, no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and

cherishes it. I almost want to say adoringly. Nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does

the church. When you cut your toe, what does the rest of your body do?

That's how Christ is for you in your anguish. Freely, 28. God so loved the world that he gave.

God did not say, here is my son for you, and here's the price. Can you pay it?

He gave his one and only son freely, 29, wholeheartedly. As the Father has loved me,

John 15, 9, as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Whatever comes into your mind,

when you think of how the Father loves the Son, that thing in your mind is how the Son loves you.

Jesus said so. Perseveringly, I will never leave you nor forsake you. His helping presence is

permanent marker, not pencil. I will never, ever leave you nor forsake you.

How does Jesus welcome us? Well, what we expect is reluctantly, tepidly, coolly,

cautiously, scrutinizingly, what we find in Jesus Christ.

What we find in Jesus Christ is the samesameness that we have with God. He doesn't want us to stay

His welcome is rugged, intimate, sacrificial, unreserved, permanent, happy, patient, humble, tender, emboldening, unashamed, compassionate, non-disgusted, indiscriminate, tearful, encouraging, indignant, feeling,

sympathetic, gentle, fortifying, befriending, full, defending, eager, attentive, cherishing, free, wholehearted, persevering.

What a cascading waterfall of wonders that you and I are resisting.

And you are free not to.

Where you feel most unwelcome and most defeated.

That is where you are most welcome to Jesus Christ.

Christ has welcomed you.

Next week we will consider what that means for how we are with one another.

Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, wow.

Thank you for welcoming us in your Son apart from our report card.

Lord, before we ever did anything nice for you,

thank you for this multi-billion dollar inheritance of Christ's welcome

out of which we will consider next week.

We are writing little $50 and $100 interpersonal checks.

Thank you, Father, for sending your Son to welcome us.

We bless you and thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.