I want to add my welcome to those you have already received on the South campus and downtown and north,

and we'd like to invite all of us on all three of these campuses now to bow in prayer.

Lord, in the little speck called the universe, there's a little speck called the Milky Way.

And in the Milky Way, there's a little speck called the solar system. And in the solar system there's a little speck called the Earth.

And on the Earth there's a little speck called Bethlehem Baptist Church.

And here we are under you, the non-spec.

So God, I pray that you would come and make your majesty and your absolute being known and felt as the most basic foundation for all else that is.

I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

In the 11 messages that Lord willing I will bring between now and the end of the year.

My ultimate goal is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things,

for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

In other words, I want to make so much of God the Father and God the Son through God the Spirit that you would be drawn to join me in glad adoration of our triune God.

Under that over goal for these 11 messages is this.

Another goal, I want to awaken and strengthen a strong conviction in all of you that are part of Bethlehem that the last

30 years has not been primarily consummation, but is preparation.

Or to put it in another way, I hope to help you see and feel

that the transition between Jason Meyer and me is not mainly about landing, but about launching.

Or, to say it another way, the focus in this transition season should not be mainly on the great things God has done, but the greater

things he is yet to do.

That's my other goal.

Therefore, it has seemed good to me, and with the encouragement of the pastoral staff to not pick up where we

left off in the gospel of John as much as I would love to do that and maybe finish two more

...