Mary Had a Little Lamb | Zach Hammond | FAC Maryville

Luke 2 verse number one as it came to pass in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world would be taxed and this taxing was first made by serenus was governor of Syria and all went to be taxed everyone into his own City and Joseph also went up into his own City and Joseph uh went up From Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea under the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and the lineage of David Pastor talked about that on Sunday morning and gave such a perfect depiction of that verse 5 says he would to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife being great with child and so it was that while they were there the days were accomplished and she would be delivered and she brought for forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger because there was no room for them in the end and there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over the flock by night and lo the angel of the Lord Came Upon them and the glory of the Lord Shone round about them and they were sore afraid the angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the lord and this shall be a sign unto you you shall find a bath wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there was an angel there there was with an angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace Good Will toward men I know that we have probably read this you'll hear this read numbers of times throughout the next few weeks this is the whole story of Christmas and why we celebrate this time of year what we do but I I think just like anything else we talk about prayer we talk about the Bible and how much it's it's good to us the doctrine the Oneness of God the essential of of of baptism and all these things I think it's good for us to be reminded each and every year of what exactly happened in this passage what all it fulfilled in the prophecies and remind us the true reason the true reason for the season and so I I want to preach for just a few moments tonight or or teach I would rather say it that way on this topic Mary had a little lamb Mary had a little lamb um you turn to your neighbor and just just state that to him Mary had a little lamb you can be seated tonight often times in uh in the uh the the the Bible and and reading through sometimes in the world that we live in kind of like the whole excus thing you can get caught up and thinking that something is something that it's not and so I I I want to and again as I read through this please no one think that I being sacrilegious At All by reading this passage of scripture but I want to reread what we just read from a the newest version mother-in-law close your ears the newest version of the Bible I'm not a big fan of a number of them just because they take out a lot of words that are very essential and so um there's nothing like it and so they take out they take out a lot of words that are essential to the doctrine that we hold so true to but I I want this this kind of plays into what I'm I'm going to talk to you out tonight but this is from the Gen Z Bible for all the young people in here I will try my best to read this without laughing in the old days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that all the people of the world must be registered or you know pay some taxes hashtag get your wallets ready and just so you know the whole taxation thing happened way back when cenus was calling the shots in Syria and everyone had to go get taxed going back to their own City so Joseph like he like left Galilee where Nazareth was and went to this place called Bethlehem and Judea he did that because you know that was part of David's family line and all that stuff so Mary and her soon Tobe husband which is really confusing Joseph like totally caught up in this government tax business and BTW Mary was actually prar and about to have a baby no biggie just important Deets you need to know and oh by the way when they say taxed it also mean enrolled just FYI this is real people really read this and like while they were there it was time for her to you know have the baby and she like gave birth to her firstborn right and she wrapped him up in these swaddling clothes and placed him in like a Manger cuz there wasn't any space for them in the hotel so there were these Shepherds hanging out in the field next door and just chilling and looking after the Sheep during the night you know night shift sheep Squad hashtag yo suddenly this angel from the Lord shows up and starts singing God's glory all around them and let me tell you they were all scared to death the angel was chill and said don't trip I got good news they'll bring mad joy to everyone you dig yo listen up today in the city of David a mad savior is born like totally epic yeah I'm talking about Christ the lord fam listen up fam here's how you'll know it's legit you'll spot the baby all snug in a Manger wrapped up tight in some soft baby threads then out of out of nowhere the angel brought along a whole Squad from Heaven hyping up giving mad props to God and they were like praise God High Vibes all the way and on Earth let's spread peace and love joy to everybody so obviously that's pretty extreme but if you read some of the depictions of this story in scripture you can see how we may have got a little bit off base of what actually happened in the Christmas story so I've taught some Concepts before from this story as you can see so many parallels in scripture I think that the amazing thing about the Bible is when you put Pieces Just the smallest pieces of B of the Bible together it validates everything that as we look at just a few portions that will correlate we know that when Jesus Christ came to Earth through a virgin birth and was born where he was was born that the probabilities of fulfilling the prophecies from the Old Testament if I put it in modern terms it would be like winning the lottery 11 times in a row not that we do that right but it would be like the probabilities are very very high and so we sometimes have this inaccurate information based upon things we see or things we read you probably have already set up some nativity scenes in your home already that have quite the depiction of of of things that that we could find maybe are are not exactly the right way when looking at scripture we picture Jesus being born in a stable with some animals present couple donkeys maybe a chicken over to the side um there's a few sheep and um this this livestock here where actually none of that is ever mentioned that it just says that he was laid in a Manger in Luke 2 and the go the other gospels where we picture Shepherds on one side and to be you know perfectly laid out we would put the wise men on the other side and that's the way it would be depicted um although we're never told there're three that's how the song goes but we're standing together there at the manger but the Bible tells us that by the time the wise men showed up that Jesus was 2 years old and living in a house and Matthew 2 And1 and also in verse 16 and so we picture everyone following a star to the manger but that didn't actually happen e either the Shepherds from the fields near Bethlehem were the only ones who came to see Jesus on the night of his birth according to scripture they didn't see a star rather they followed some very very very strange instructions some very odd instructions which seem not only strange in reading them now and they would have definitely seemed strange to the common person Luke 2 and verse 10 said it the angel said unto them fear not for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David Our Savior which is Christ the lord and shall be a sign unto you you'll find he's in the city of David and he's wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a Manger three details where he's wrapped up in swaddling clothes and he's lying in a Manger very vague but you see Bethlehem the city of David this powerful story story of the birth of our savior in a lowly manger is is such a an amazing thing for us to grasp for us to hold on to for it's a story within a story we can always look back over our lives and and he does it in the Old Testament as he's writing as the writers even through the New Testament they they always want to list the lineage and prove to you that that anybody can come from anybody and great people can come from nothing and all of a sudden that that you can step onto the scene and so I think he tells us a lot of things here obviously from a lowly manger that there is there's God will walk into any situation no matter what it looks like God is always at work sometimes the biggest thing holding God back from fulfilling his plan in my life and your life is that you had something different in mind I this is not exactly what I thought it was going to be it didn't look like this a few years ago I didn't think I was going to go through this I I expected my family to all be together I didn't expect this to happen I didn't expect that to happen and the picture I had in mind sometimes is at a in a struggle with what God has in store and so we have to read the Bible and know that all things work together for the good of those who love him those that are called according to his purpose so if your thoughts aren't big enough or you can't see God at work in your life sometimes we can't see past the manger to see that he is the Messiah it says that there was no room in the end and that ultimately is why he ends up being born where he's born and according to the gospels Mary and Joseph they travel to Bethlehem they arrived weeks if not months before the birth of Christ due to the call of census for their city and their taxing of the people we read all of that up into that moment and Mary and Joseph are both from the city of David they would have both had to return to the city of David for this time that everybody had to come back to where they were from and Bethlehem is important everybody say Bethlehem Bethlehem is important to God for multiple reasons it was the city where the Lambs were kept to be sacrificed in the temple in the city where the Lambs of what was called the temple flock they were born and raised they were birthed in what is called the Tower of the flock at migdal Adar as it is pronounced they were raised there in the surrounding Fields just outside of Bethlehem where they could be taken and they could be sacrificed for the sins of the people remember you can revert back to the Old Testament as we tie these two together throughout the the gospels as we see that so many things are fulfilled by Jesus being born when he was born where he was born and all of those things so remember it was the pro prophet Micah who told us that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem and he was very specific but he we put the pieces together we find that Micah was actually much much much more specific than Bethlehem Micah 5 and verse number number two but thou Bethlehem ephra thou though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be a ruler in Israel whose goings forth have been from from from of old from Everlasting so we first see Bethlehem afraa but more uh a little more than a thousand years prior to that we see that's Rachel dies bringing Benjamin into the world in the Book of Genesis this is the first time it's mentioned and then the second time here is Micah 5 and 2 Genesis 35 actually records it like this if you're making notes to be able to reference these Genesis 35 and verse number 19 and Rachel died and was buried in the way of ephrath which is Bethlehem and Jacob set up a pillar up upon her grave and that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day and Israel journeyed and spread a tent beyond the Tower of edar which is considered the Tower of the flock this Tower the Tower of the flock was a watchtower for the Shepherds to watch over the flocks grazing in the surrounding Countryside there would have been much uh there wouldn't have been many structures here in in in in ancient Israel but this one had a very special meaning because it was the place where not only Rachel's Tomb was nearby as she was giving birth and we we see all the things here that we tie to the Old Testament but because of the unclean nature of shepherding Shepherds and sheep and livestock were to be kept far away from temples from the city and they would they would they would have been they would have been out in the wilderness they would have been far away from where everyone else lived and this was not only for the the stench but just it was unclean and everything around the temple was needed to be clean but however there was one exception because out of the hundreds of lambs that were needed for temp Le sacrifice these flocks needed to be kept in close proximity to Jerusalem thankfully just four to five miles away from this little village of Bethlehem in its Hills and its Valley perfect for sheep to graze and so Bethlehem became this one place in all of Israel where the sacrificial Lambs were to be raised and nurtured and prepared for temple sacrifice in the lower level of this Tower where newborn spotless Lambs were brought they were wrapped in Long strips of cloth so they would not hurt themselves they knew that these Lambs were subject to fall over they were they were they susceptible to bruising and then from that point on they're not acceptable to be used in sacrifice and so they would wrap them in strips of cloth and so the Shepherds that tended to them were not ordinary Shepherds they weren't just your you're just casual guys with a cane these were guys that knew the levitical law they considered them levitical Shepherds they were skilled not only Discerning what would be a perfect lamb but they were skilled in the law they had to know the law like a priest because they had to prepare this lamb for the priests and so they had to find what's the imperfect lamb we had to nurture we had to care for we had to wrap and swaddling clothes and they had to put them in this specific place until they got of size that they could allow them to grave these men were not ordinary Shepherds they were in very important part of the Temple's system without them without these levitical Shepherds there was nothing to sacrifice in the temple just four or five miles outside of the Town these Lambs would be born these sheep would graze and this is forever known as the temple flock these are the Shepherds that the angel appeared to so when the Shepherds see this Angel this shall be a sign unto you that you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a Manger those words are vague to most people but not to these Shepherds those words might have not made much sense to the wise men but these were levitical sheph s rather these two specific things not only giving them a location but telling them that they were wrapped in swaddling clothes and they had they knew right where to go they didn't need anything to point them they had given them a very specific location the manger within the tower where the sacrificial Lambs were born wrapped in swaddling bands inspected I have done this at time this is this is where that they function this is where they work this is what their responsibility was and so when he told them they said this makes sense and so they went to where they knew exactly where Jesus was on the night of his birth these Shepherds had been trained all their lives for this very moment you see the prophet Micah gave another prophecy in chapter 4 more specific in in words of chapter 5 in verse number two and 4 and 8 he says and thou oh Tower of the flock the stronghold of the daughter of Zion unto thee shall it come even the first Dom dominion and the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem Luke's original audience would have immediately picked up on the significance of an Angel appearing to the Shepherds of Bethlehem because it was not just ordinary Shepherds it was not ordinary sheep these were sheep without spot without blemish every other Shepherd was Far outside of the city they knew when you said Bethlehem they were saying sacrificial Lambs they knew when you said Bethlehem we were talking about a different group of shepherds these were people that knew the law that knew the word of God and certainly would have recognized the significance of Jesus being laid in a Manger wrapped in swaddling clothes no doubt many of them probably rehearse the words of Micah's prophecy that the Messiah the first Dominion the kingdom would be revealed at the tower of the flock it was a powerful prophetic sign perhaps to them there was so many signs to them that's beyond what we even fathom reading it there was the these levitical Shepherds who they they've helped give birth to and protect sacrificial Lambs every single year they knew the requirements they knew what the priest wanted they knew what the temple required they knew all of these things and they knew the prophecies they came to fulfill the law but little did they know they were about to wrap the high priest in the garments of priest it wasn't just another lamb for sacrifice of sins it was the lamb for the sacrifice of the sins of the world and so just like salvation I want you to see again there's so many things that we can learn and so many stories within the story as we walk through this tonight just like salvation came it went to the Jews it went to the Shepherds these levitical Shepherds it went to and then it went to the wise men the Gentiles who were AAR off came two years later there's so many things that are being depicted here if all it only makes sense that perhaps there was no room in the end for a reason who knew that rejection who knew that rejection because they were going back to their family place many would think that she there was no room in her own family home this wasn't a Motel 6 this would have been a place where she was rejected by her own family perhaps that she was showed up with a man that she wasn't married to with a baby but rejection rejection is something that we all have to deal with yes sir and many times many people end up in places they never thought they would be simply by rejection that's right of somebody they really cared about who knew that rejection would fulfill the prophecy sometimes God's word is going to come true in your life through the rejection of somebody else who knew the Revelation that would come forth through rejection so don't fall prey tonight young people hear me don't fall prey to becoming a victim that you were so entitled to the end that you miss the miracle of the manger he was wrapped in swaddling clothes had Jesus been born in the in or anywhere else for that matter he would have been swaddled up like perhaps some of the babies in this room or in the nursery tonight just like any other child would have been the scripture says swaddle with clothes and that this this again plays into everything that we see in scripture the Lambs and the Tower of the flock were not just swaddled with any garments these were the garments of the priest the garments of the priest that once they had went in for sacrifice those garments could not be used anymore so they would take the garments that the priest had taken into the holy of holies and they would take that garment and they would take that garment to pieces and they would rip it down into strips and they would wrap those babies up those little lambs in this sense the priest of all priests they would wrap up the king of all Kings can you imagine you wrap him up with some garments that's already been in his presence wow you wrap him up with with some garments it's already been past the labor you wrap him up with some garments it's already been through the process of what would eventually he would die for this this this this this garment's already walked past an altar that represents the cross this garment's already walked past the labor that represents baptism this garment's already walked past the the the golden candlesticks and he's went from daylight to candle light into the glory light he's been in a place where he's experiencing something and he can just feel can you imagine God robes himself in flesh and the first thing that touches him is something that's been in his presence something that just it perhaps it had some blood on it some stains on it from where he had been at the altar perhaps it had some water from the labor that had washed just like we get washed and it remits our sin it gets that blood off and I just I I can't help but just think of all the things that start happening as we see these Priestly garments that were once used for all they were used for Luke 2 and verse number 16 let's continue to read down and they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and a babe lying in a manger and when they had seen it they made known abroad saying which was told to them concerning the child and all that they had heard it wondering at those things which were told them by Shepherds but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart now that you understand who these Shepherds were it makes sense that they're telling Mary stuff she don't understand these Shepherds you're talking about a song Mary did you know there's a lot of stuff Mary didn't know but I'll tell you who did know these Shepherds knew these Shepherds knew a whole lot more about what was going on than Mary did and oh how powerful that is we always need a Shepherd in our life right and God's going to come and tell some things to a Shepherd before he's even going to explain them to you and you may be the one giving birth to the situ you may be the one in the middle of the situation but there's always a Shepherd that God is going to work through she pondered in her heart what these Shepherds were saying she's heard from an angel but these Shepherds they sure did know a lot about this lamb because if there's ever been a story a nursery rhyme that is so true Mary had a little lamb long before we knew John 1:29 said Jesus cometh unto him and saith Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world why refer to him as the lamb why can't you just say the Son of God because he is reminding you that he shed his he's going to shed his blood he's trying to tie you back to Micah too he's trying to tie you back to Micah five he's trying to tie you back to to the blood on the door P post he's trying to tie you back to every time a lamb was brought before the slaughter he said this is the Lamb that's walking before us and so you'll see John talks about it 1 Peter chapter 1 in verse number 18 for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your father first Peter Peter's trying to tell him some things he says but with the precious blood of Christ as of the Lamb without blemish and without spot he said I'm going to consistently these writers in the New Testament are still tying you back to what happened not only in the gospels but the prophets had told yes it's such a powerful powerful narrative Revelations 13 and8 it makes all the more sense he says and all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship Him whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world if if there's anything that's intriguing to me is that when John gives us The Book of Revelation he can't hardly talk about him without referencing the lamb it's it's like he he don't want you to even see anything without seeing the end without seeing the beginning I came in this manner this lowly manner but when you see me he you'll see it right here Revelation 17 and 14 we see here he he says these shall make war with the lamb and the lamb shall overcome them for he is the Lord of lords and the king of kings and that they are are with him are called and chosen and faithful he he he keeps referring to it over and over and over and over again this spotl spotless lamb had to be born in a manger wrapped in the garments of a priest without spot and without blemish so he without sin could be robed in flesh could take on sin could put it around him he could become sin for us and would die for the sins of all the world so he keeps going on Revelation 19:9 he said to me write blessed are they which are called into the marriage supper of not Jesus marriage supper of Christ marriage supper of the Savior no I'm going to take you back to a lowly manger so when you gather your family around you begin to eat you begin to open gifts whatever your TR Traditions are he said always go back because at this moment did it happen on this exact day could we could we split hairs over something else could we use that energy arguing something else and just realize that whether you choose to exchain gifts today on the 25th or in January or whenever you choose to do what you're going to do do let's not forget about the lamb that he said I I want you to take even when you get to the end of it all he says I I want you to realize that that when you get there it's the marriage supper of that lamb it's it's it's it's all about a lamb that came in a lowly manger and he fulfilled every prophecy all 300 it's amazing to see everything that happened just because he was born where he was born says in Revelations 21 the city hath no need of the sun of moon to shine in it the glory of God did not lighten it and the lamb is the John why why can't you use something know because you got you can't forget the lamb Moses the servant of God Revelation 15:3 and the song of the redeem no the song song of the Lamb don't forget he said great and marvelous are thy Works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy ways Thou King of saints and Revelations 21 and 27 if all that doesn't do it for you and there shall be no in no wise enter in enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh Abomination or maketh a lie but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life not the Kings not no no he said he said brother step I'm going to take you back because all the prophecies that were read all the prophecies that were told we take you back to this little manger all of us would have chose the end all of us maybe would have become victims because we aren't where we thought it doesn't look like we thought it was going to look like it was this or it was that but he said if you'll let me take what looks like a wrong situ ation what looks like it shouldn't be where it should be this is the king of kings this is a virgin birth angels are talking to people about this baby and you're going to put it in a flock of sheep you're going to set it down in a little piece of wood and wrap it up with some cloth that's that God knows what's got on it it's got water and blood and all the you're telling me the King of Kings is going to come through all of that yes you he is because that's going to fill every single Prophecy of the law and he came came not only to fulfill it but to free us from yes why and so he says every time John says oh don't forget that lamb don't forget what happened in a lowly manger just outside of Bethlehem so never forget that Mary had a little lamb before he came in a Manger he was put on the doorpost of the homes of his people that's right to deliver them from a death angel during their great Exodus from Egypt he became the lamb slain on the cross where that blood would once again be put on the post of what would be now the door the way the truth and the life it's so amazing to see all of the things I don't have time tonight I do not have near the am to take you through the Old Testament and talk to you about all the Lambs but it says that the city of David talks about a star it talks about this and that and I can't help but all the things that point to it it says that when you put the blood on the lentils put it on the side post and the cross post and when he got on that cross he said that there was going to put nails in his hands and in his feet when you kill the lamb you got to put Blood on the post said I want you to put it on the left and the right and the top he said when you crucify him he's going to have this gruesome death and you're going to put nails in his hands and in his feet they say that when they drew the Star of David all they did was connect the dots of the blood of the Lamb the first one that delivered God's people and the second one that would deliver the world so they took and they created that triangle that creates the arrow pointing upward in the Star of David from that doorpost leading them out of Egypt so you have one two three it's upward then the downward is the hands and the feet of the Cross telling us that if we will give him what is his the sacrifice goes up then his glory will come down yes it's over and over and over in just the turn of a page or if you want to dig as deep as you want to dig you will find a lamb slain from the found from from the beginning of it all there's been a lamb that was coming and Mary would have that little lamb and oh how powerful it is that that writer even got a little bit more creative I don't think he had a clue but God was in it because he goes into that second verse and he goes everywhere that Mary went everywhere that Mary went you better know this nursery rhyme all of a sudden becomes a powerful thing when Acts chapter one says and when they would come in and went into the upper room Abode both Peter and James John and Andrew and philli and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew and James the son of alus and Simon zealous and Judas and brother James they all continued with one Accord in prayer and supplication and the lamb has already been taken away but with the women there was Mary the mother of Jesus that's the only woman they mentioned but everywhere Mary was they begin to T they were all in one Accord Mary's here and here comes the lamb what was born in the tower of the flock in Luke 2 is just the beginning of what would be born in Acts chapter 2 Emmanuel God With Us the lamb slain yes it's such a powerful thing to see that it's it's just it's just it's it's just all laid out for us so he was that lamb that spotless swaddled innocent holy pure lawful Genesis 22:7 and Isaac spake unto Abraham and this is one reason that I go back to ministering this tonight I know that many of you I I I've taught this from a few different angles and and I I want you to just just remember this I think this is this ought to ring true and every father every mother when it comes time for the season that we know the true reason for the season why we're doing it all goes back to a God who is giving himself who loves us the lamb slain Isaac speaks to his father and said my father he said here I am my son he said behold the fire and the wood but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering and Abraham said my son God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering so they went both of them together I pray that the Christmas season in your home is you being able to communicate to your students the Next Generation your family whatever that may look like church family we're just always able to say God not that he's going to because Abraham obviously wasn't there yet he knew but he says he's going to provide for him a lamb and we're able to gather ourselves together as a family and just say let's never forget that God provided for us a lamb see I I don't know what you're going through tonight there's there's not a there's not a better picture of uncertainty than than walking up a mountain with with your your first W with the Sun that's supposed to fulfill the promises of the stars that the generations are in Isaac and all these things that are here there's not a more powerful depiction of submission that a another generation grabs a hand of a previous generation and Trust his word without seeing anything he says I'll follow you even though I don't understand and that's something that is not as popular today but it should be it's a perfect picture of so many things that are within biblical principles of just saying I'll follow you and it's it's just no matter what you're going through I know some of you have had loss in the season in this year and and throughout this season you're going to face things you're going to have conversations there going to be emotions that hit you and there's going to be things that don't look like they're supposed to you're supposed to be in the end but you're not you're supposed to be here or not the the turkey got burnt whatever the case may be the the smallest to the largest thing that could rock your world just always remember God provided a lamb he's he he's not just the god of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob but he's the god of you and me and everyone and I I I I know that we have a a baptism tonight and um if they want to go ahead and prepare for that baptism I believe that the closing of this will play right into our baptism tonight today you can't go visit the Tower of the flock you can't visit that Tower outside of Bethlehem anymore at least you can't you can't visit it in its original state let's say it that way it was tore down in the year of 325 ad a man by the name of Constantine built a church called The Church of the Nativity over the top of what would be considered mdel Adar in the Old Testament or the Tower of the flock that Micah talks about that there that that Jesus was born on this this location this this this place that was perfectly ordained in scripture the tower was tore down and they built what is called The Church of the Nativity and now it's a tourist attraction that looks nothing like a lowly manger but rather a place that's elaborate because they know the end of the story right they know what he ended up being they didn't see it at the moment there was only some Shepherds who knew you can actually checked it out on uh on um on Travelocity you can pay $20 to skip the line you can pay you could pay extra for a you know this behind the scenes tour you actually can go in exactly they believe this is exactly the piece of dirt this is the area whatever the case may be but they tore down that Tower of the flock now it's nothing like what I believe scripture depicted it to be and there's nothing coincidental that the fact that a man named Constantine in 325 ad tore down the place where Jesus Christ was born and fulfilled almost every Prophecy of the Old Testament I don't know if any of you have studied apologetically the doctrine of the Trinity but the nian council met and brought together a bunch of bishops from all over the world where they born they formed the false doctrine of what we know as the Trinity would you believe that the same year the same Roman emperor Constantine would tear down the Tower of the flock and I I had to look at this about 15 times to clarify to validate that he tore down the Tower of the flock I would say probably out of the same spirit that he birthed the Trinity at one point he was trying to divide him up to try to create something that was not obviously and then in the same year the same person tears down the place that depicts him of who he is probably more than any other scripture in all the while my frustration boiled I chalk it up as another ex just like that exus because Constantine you can try to ex him out but he doesn't need that Tower anymore that's right you can try you can try to tear him down you can try to divide him into three but he he said the name of the Lord is a strong tower and it's not a place for lambs anymore because there's no need for another lamb the lamb was slain from the foundation we we see that there there's no need I I couldn't help but think that we we we don't need that because we've got Jesus Christ that last lamb that was brought in and he opened the doors of the temple he tore the veil he didn't just take on the sins of Bethlehem and this people he took on the sins of the world and as much as I'd like to see that Tower of the flock I'd much rather have the name of Jesus we watch people come in to this house and be born again yes we watch people take on the name of Jesus as they're about to here in just a moment and this this this this newborn in Christ is going to be robed and wrapped in righteousness just like he was swaddled in clothing we we see that that we find safety in this strong tower we find the power in the name that's above every name and I can't help but tonight as we could just say Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world I want you stand to your feet I want you to reach your hands toward the baptismal pool as we we we see the the lamb that was slain we see that blood that's been applied in Repentance and we see this water that's going to wash away every sin Lord we pray God over this young lady tonight God I pray that you would move God as she is baptized as she comes up a new creature in Christ Jesus for old things are passed away for all things are made new Lord we're here to see God your kingdom come your will be done in her life as it is in heaven tonight in Jesus name we pray