Lord's Supper

Go to John chapter 13.

John 13 · chapter mention

Turn to John 13 with me if you would.

My name is Sam Bunnell.

I'm the pastor here at First Baptist Henrietta.

! Got to meet several new faces before the service started.

If I haven't gotten to do that, I'd love to meet you afterward.

My wife and I will be in the back, and we would love to meet you.

We are looking at the Last Supper today.

From the prayer before the offering,

to the prelude before the choir special this morning,

and they did a beautiful job,

we heard about the significance of today in Passion Week

or the events leading up to next Sunday,

which we'll celebrate as Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday,

and all around the world, followers of Jesus are rejoicing

because Jesus rose from the dead.

But in the events leading up to His crucifixion

and then His resurrection,

they're called Passion Week.

And it kicks off with today as Palm Sunday.

You heard about that already a little bit?

And what's significant about that to me

is it stands to reason many of the same people

who were rejoicing as Jesus comes into the city of Jerusalem

and were waving palm fronds, which were significant,

and shouting Hosanna, which was also significant.

They believed that Jesus would be the king

who would free them from Rome.

Many of them.

Some of them had likely listened to His teaching.

Some of them believed He was the Messiah.

Some of them understood that maybe it looked a little bit less like

freeing them from an earthly kingdom

and more like freeing them from the slavery to sin.

But it's safe to say probably the majority were thinking

He's going to come and liberate us from Rome.

And when He failed to do that,

it stands to reason that you see many

of those same people in the crowds at His trial

shouting, crucify Him, crucify Him.

Because they didn't understand what kind of a king He was.

They didn't understand what freedom He was offering them.

So in John 13, we see the events of Maundy Thursday

when Jesus met with His disciples in an upper room.

And beginning in verse 1,

before the Passover celebration,

Jesus knew that His hours, His hour had come

to leave this world and return to His Father.

He had loved His disciples during His ministry on earth

and now He loved them to the very end.

It was time for supper.

This was the Passover supper.

All good Jews would be celebrating the Passover

or observing rather would be a better term,

the Passover.

They would be gathered together in someone's home

and Jesus and His disciples had found a place

in an upper room willing to let them

have their Passover meal.

But Jesus knew the full context.

The disciples didn't.

He'd given them little clues that something big was coming.

Perhaps the end was near,

but He knew what was going to take place.

It was time for supper.

One of them was already going to betray Him.

The devil had already prompted Judas,

son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

Jesus knew that the Father had given Him authority

over everything and He had come from God

and He would return to God.

So He got up from the table, He took off His robe,

wrapped a towel around His waist,

and poured water into a basin.

Then He began to wash the disciples' feet,

drying them with the towel He had around Him.

I think it was a couple years ago,

I preached a sermon about this,

called Pick Up Your Towel.

Serve the way Jesus was willing to serve.

And I want to draw attention to this act again,

because it's significant.

He shows in real time what He meant by,

this is my body given for you.

As was the custom at the Passover,

Jesus takes the bread and breaks it,

and then began to pass off little pieces of the bread

so each disciple would have one.

And He says, this is my body.

He's using it as an example or an illustration,

and I'm breaking it for you.

The truth is, Jesus had been sacrificing His body

from the very beginning.

He had gone without rest oftentimes.

He had spent long hours in prayer.

He had spent even longer hours healing people,

teaching people.

He had exhausted Himself physically.

He had given of Himself,

but it was all leading up to the final sacrifice

when He would allow His body to be broken

for the sins of all.

But He models what this looks like for us.

Because I don't know about many of you,

but I don't think it's likely that God is going to call

very many people in this room to hang on a cross.

Back in the events of unrest toward Christianity

that followed the crucifixion of Jesus,

some of Jesus' followers were crucified like He was.

But that's been a very unusual death.

So how do we take an application

from when Jesus said,

this is my body given for you,

how do we apply that teaching of Jesus to our lives?

What should we do with our bodies?

And for whom should they be given?

So He shows them what that means.

He gets up from the table.

He wraps the towel around His waist.

He kneels in front of them.

A posture of subjection.

I'm lowering myself below you, beneath you.

I'm putting myself in the position of a servant.

What do we read from Paul's letter

to the church at Philippi?

That Jesus humbled Himself,

became a servant.

And we see Him doing that in real time

right here with His disciples.

It's one of the last things He does.

I don't know about y'all,

but I like to pay attention

to some of the last things that wise people say.

When people have lived long, successful careers

and they get toward the end of their life,

I like to pick their brains.

What have you learned?

I want some of your last words of wisdom and advice.

We get to see some of the last things

that Jesus chose to do before His time was done.

And we get to listen to some of the last teaching

that He chose to give.

This is the part His disciples were not expecting.

They believed He was the Messiah.

They believed that He was the promised King.

They believed He came from God.

They had some understanding that He was God Himself.

But they had a category

for what they thought He should look like.

He should teach.

He should lead.

He should win.

He should be on top.

And Jesus had been teaching them from the beginning

that in the kingdom of God,

you've got to flip that upside down.

You've got to flip that on its head.

The last will be first.

First, the rich will be poor, etc., etc.

There's a principle that's upside down

to our human way of thinking.

And these weren't just any feet

that Jesus was willing to wash.

Some of the feet were those who would betray Him,

those who would fail Him,

those who would deny Him,

those who would scatter in fear.

Those who had argued.

These men had struggled

in their years walking with Jesus.

He knew them intimately.

He knew all their successes.

He knew all their failures.

He knew their strengths and their weaknesses.

He doesn't wait for them to be worthy

before He washes their feet.

That's the example He left for you and for me.

What are you willing to do with your body

as a follower of Jesus?

Is it at least to lower yourself

to the position of washing someone else's feet?

Now, my guess is not very many people in this room

want you to touch their feet.

So you probably don't have to literally

go wash somebody's feet.

Now, you might be in a particular situation

that requires that,

and we need to be willing to do that

if we need to.

But let's apply the principle here.

How can we serve someone else

in the way that Jesus served

His very unworthy disciples?

He knew exactly who they were.

And then He gave them a command.

He said,

As I have done for you,

you should do for one another.

Now, Simon Peter, of course, resisted.

If you read about Simon Peter,

he's always got something to say,

and it's usually a little,

I don't know,

off the beaten path,

kind of breaks the mold a little bit.

That's Peter, right?

He pops off,

maybe speaks without thinking sometimes.

That's some of the vibe we get from Peter.

He says,

No, Lord,

you're not going to wash my feet.

Come on now.

Jesus says,

You don't understand what I'm doing,

but someday you will.

And He says,

No, Lord,

I'm not going to let you do this.

This is wrong.

I should be doing this to you.

You shouldn't be doing this to me.

That's kind of the idea that Peter has.

And then Jesus says,

Okay, if you won't let me wash your feet,

then you don't belong to me.

So then Peter jumps in,

and he says,

Well, then don't just wash my feet.

Wash my hands.

Wash my head.

Wash everything, Lord.

Give me a full bath.

And Jesus says,

No,

a person who has bathed all over

does not need to wash

except for the feet

to be entirely clean.

And you disciples are clean,

but not all of you.

Because He knew

that someone would betray Him,

and He knew who it was.

So after washing their feet,

Jesus puts His robe back on.

He sits back down and says,

Do you understand what I was doing?

Look at this in verse 13.

You call me teacher,

and you call me Lord,

and you're right,

because that's what I am.

And since I,

your Lord and teacher,

have washed your feet,

you ought to wash each other's feet.

I've given you an example to follow.

Do as I have done to you.

Notice,

I don't think it's a mistake

that it didn't say,

Do what I have done to you.

Do as I have done to you.

Take this level of serving one another,

of humbling yourself,

and using your body

to serve someone else.

Take that principle

and apply it to your lives

and to your relationships

with one another.

Why?

Because we understand

from Jesus' teaching,

they will know you are my followers

by how well you love each other.

And you show each other love

by serving each other.

Now, we love to be served,

but we don't always love to serve.

This is the principle

that Jesus was teaching.

Do as I have done to you.

To tell you the truth,

slaves are not greater

than their masters,

nor is the messenger more important

than the one who sends the message.

Now that you know these things,

God will bless you for doing them.

So I want to impart

that same message to you,

that same principle to you.

Now that you know these things,

God will bless you for doing them.

How many of you,

pretty simple question,

I think everybody in here

can answer it.

How many of you,

by uplifted hand,

would say,

I want God's blessings in my life?

I think that's most of us.

That's good.

I'm going to be like Peter.

I want both hands up.

If you do these things,

God will bless you for doing them.

If you serve one another

as I have served you.

So here's the truth

I want you to take away from this.

The body of Jesus shows us

that love moves first.

You don't wait

for someone else

to make the first move.

You make the first move.

You serve first.

You meet the need first.

You step up

and be the one

for God to use first.

And then you are allowing

your body possibly

to be broken

for him

and for them.

And that's how we

can be like Jesus.

Not after somebody apologizes.

Not after somebody changes.

Not after

you have full assurance

that they're going to take it well.

It's going to go

how you hope it goes.

You move first.

You go with forgiveness first.

You go make it right first.

You go meet the need first.

You step into the gap

and be the one

to be like Jesus first.

Christ.

That's how

we remember

his body.

By doing

as he did

with his body.

He held nothing back.

He sacrificed it.

Every step of the way.

Every journey

of his time on this earth.

He sacrificed his body

all the way to the end

when he let his body

be broken.

How far will we go

in giving our body

for Jesus

and for those

whom he loves?

Would you bow your heads

in prayer with me?

I'm going to invite

our deacons up.

I'm going to invite

our musicians to play.

In just a moment

we're going to distribute

the elements

of the Lord's Supper.

We'll hand them to you

together.

The bread and the cup.

We're not going to take them

at the same time.

First,

we're going to observe

his body.

We're going to remember

his body.

So would you right now

in the stillness

of this moment,

would you pray

and talk to the Holy Spirit

and say,

God,

you held nothing back

from your body

for us.

how do you want me

to use my body

to do as you did?

Men, if you'll go ahead

and take the trays

and begin to distribute those.

as the trays

are going to pass down

your aisle,

I want to remind you

of this.

Jesus invites

all followers

of Jesus

to participate

in the Lord's Supper.

If you don't consider

yourself a follower

of Jesus yet,

you can let that

pass right by you

with no problem.

No one will look at you

any differently.

No one will probably

even notice.

But I would invite you

then to pray

and to think

through what you've heard

about the sacrifice

that Jesus made,

about the kind of person

that Jesus was.

So we invite anyone

in the room,

whether you're a member

of our church or not,

if you're a follower

of Jesus

and you've given

your life to him,

then please go ahead

and take these elements

and hold on to them

and we'll take them

together

at the appropriate time.

Thank you.

Amen.

When you're praying,

there's a lot of times

there will be.

Oh.

There's one bag.

There's one bag.

There's one bag.

Amen.

As we prepare to take the bread,

we remember a Savior

who didn't wait to be met halfway.

He moved to us first.

We thank Him for that.

Amen.

Amen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

All right.

Heavenly Father, we just come here today, Lord, just thinking about your sacrificial love.

As we prepare to take this bread, Lord, we think about the fact that it represents your son and how he was the incarnate word.

He became flesh.

so he died on the cross for our sins

and just the great sacrifice that is

we want to remember that

that he bore our sin and our shame

so that we don't have to face that punishment of death

so Father we just want our hearts to be filled with gratitude

for that great sacrifice that you made by sending your son

and just we want to be thankful during this time

but just really all the time Lord

just that great sacrifice

and we want to remember that our sin and our shame

died on that cross with him

Lord that we don't have to do that

but instead we can live our lives as a sacrifice for you

so we just thank him

thank you for sending your son to die on the cross for our sins

and we'll just remember that

Jesus said this is my body

given for you

do this in remembrance of me

I'm going to dismiss the deacons and thank them for their service

Jared is going to lead us in the words of a song

that point us back to Jesus the Messiah

the one who came and gave his body for us

oh he became sin

who knew no sin

we might become

his righteousness

humbled himself

and carry the cross

love so amazing

love so amazing

love so amazing

love so amazing

Jesus, Messiah, the name above all names,

blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners,

the ransom from heaven, Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.

His body, the bread, His body, the bread, His blood, the wine,

broken and poured out all for love.

The whole earth trembled and the veil was torn.

Love so amazing, love so amazing.

Oh, Jesus, Messiah, name above all names,

blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel, the rescue for sinners,

the ransom from heaven, Jesus, Messiah,

the Lord of all.

All our hope is in You.

All our hope is in You.

All the glory to You, God.

The light of the world.

All our hope is in You.

All our hope is in You.

All the glory to You, God.

The light of the world.

Jesus, Messiah, name above all names,

blessed Redeemer, Emmanuel,

The rescue for sinners

The ransom from heaven

Oh Jesus Messiah

Lord of all

Oh Jesus Messiah

The Lord of all

The Lord of all

The Lord of all

Amen.

We're going to get back into

looking back at that night, the last supper.

And this time we're going to move on and look at the blood.

Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

Jesus says, this cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you.

Well that was an odd thing for them to hear.

With the benefit of hindsight, we get to look back at Jesus' sacrifice, at the blood that was spilled.

We get to read the early church fathers writing about the impact, the cleansing effect that Jesus' blood in effect has on us.

And our sin problem.

But they didn't have all that context.

So they're hearing him say, this cup is the new covenant, which goes back to old covenants that God had established with the Jewish people.

We can read about them in the Old Testament.

But he says, this is a new covenant that I'm starting with you in my blood poured out for you.

A blood covenant is the strongest kind.

But it's sealed in blood.

So this is a promise.

This is a binding covenant that I have between you and me.

I'm signing it in my blood and pouring out my blood as a sacrifice for you.

So then he gives them a picture to understand what he's talking about.

And he says in John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

I am the vine.

You are the branches.

If you abide in me as I abide in you, if you remain in me as I remain in you, you will bear much fruit.

Branches don't have to strain and work hard to produce fruit.

Where does it come from?

It comes from the vine, which comes from the roots.

You understand what Jesus is saying.

The fruit will come if you remain in me.

If you stay strongly connected to me, you will bear healthy fruit.

We get to see in Galatians exactly what kind of fruit he's talking about.

Paul gives us a list.

Peter gives us a list in 1 Peter or 2 Peter.

And we see these building blocks or these fruits of the spirit.

This is what God produces in you when you are connected to the vine.

It's not about gritting your teeth.

It's not about trying harder.

It's not about working overtime to impress God.

That's never been what it's about.

In fact, he taught against that.

He preached against that.

There were religious leaders at the time who built their lives to do that, to impress everyone around there.

So they would all think that they were closer to God.

That they were the ones who were the most pious, the most holy, the most righteous.

And Jesus said, no.

It's all a show.

It's all your human effort.

None of it is coming from God.

In fact, he goes on to say, apart from me, you can do nothing.

That's true.

Because a branch can't do anything on its own, can it?

You cut a branch off from a tree, what's going to happen to that branch?

It's done for, man.

You're going to throw it away.

You're going to burn it.

Your dog's going to grab it and go chew on it.

That's what happens at my house.

Nothing apart from him, you can't produce any of the fruit.

He's talking about that.

We talked about that in our class this morning.

You can mimic the fruit.

You can try.

You can make something that looks real good on the outside.

It looks very convincing.

Have any of you ever seen the show on Food Network, Is It Cake?

Where the guy from Saturday Night Live gets on there and cuts into things that look real

and turns out it's cake.

And it fools me every time.

I've gotten pretty good, but then I think I've got it.

And nope, that was cake.

You can make something that looks just like an apple on the outside.

It can convince the human eye, but when you cut into it, that's not an apple.

That's a really good cake artist.

You can convince someone on the outside that you're a follower of Jesus,

but when we get underneath the surface, when we've been around you long enough,

or even forget about whether you fooled us or not,

the Holy Spirit of God knows that's fake.

That's not from me.

That's imitation.

That's not the real thing.

You might be able to fool me,

but you can't fool God.

Why would you want to?

He's a good God.

He's a good father.

Why wouldn't you just sign up for the genuine article?

Why wouldn't you just say,

God produced that fruit?

I need the real stuff.

My wife needs it.

My husband needs it.

My kids need it.

My neighbors need it.

They need the real fruit of the Spirit in me.

My coworkers need it.

Those who are in my life need me to be showing that fruit.

They can see through it when it's fake.

So, you don't have to generate.

You don't have to come up with the life that God is calling you to live.

It comes from His blood.

His blood now changes you.

It is the life stream that flows from the vine into your branch,

and it bears the fruit of goodness,

of righteousness,

of holiness,

of peace,

of joy,

of love,

of patience,

long-suffering,

not short-suffering.

What are we talking about by long-suffering?

It doesn't necessarily mean in that context

that you're suffering for a long time.

It means you'll put up with a lot.

It means you'll put up with the nonsense

that you get sick of putting up with,

but you realize that Jesus put up with so much worse

than you're ever called to put up with.

You say,

All right,

I'm not going to tell them what I really want to tell them.

I'm not going to give them a peace of mind like I want to.

I'm not just going to cut that person off like I want to.

I'm going to suffer long with them

because Jesus showed long-suffering to me.

This is the kind of fruit of the Holy Spirit

that comes from the blood of Jesus.

You don't have to manufacture love and patience and faithfulness.

You receive it from God.

When you spend time with God,

He changes you.

And if you haven't changed in the last year,

or five years,

or 10 years,

or six months,

maybe it's because you haven't been spending as much time with God.

Not talking about going to church.

Not talking about going to Sunday school.

Not even talking about reading your Bible.

You know you can read your Bible and not spend any time with God?

You've got to spend time with Jesus.

You've got to open your heart and mind.

Tear down the walls

and listen to what Jesus has to say in the pages of Scripture.

Listen to what God the Father and the Holy Spirit

have to say in the pages of Scripture

and let it change you.

How you go to it,

the time you spend with it,

it's called meditating on the Word of God.

Joshua 1.8 says,

this book that we get from God,

we're supposed to meditate in it day and night.

Then it can change us.

Then the power of God comes alive through it.

So,

let's reach down.

Let's pick up our cups.

Let's go.

As we prepare to take this cup,

I'm going to invite Steve Ross forward,

our deacon chairman.

He's going to lead us in a prayer

thanking God for His blood.

And I want to say this final statement.

Jesus said,

I am in my Father,

and you are in me,

and I am in you.

This blood is so much more

than just a picture

of Jesus' sacrifice and forgiveness.

This blood changes things for us.

It's the idea that we are brought into a new family.

It's almost like we've got new blood flowing through our veins.

It's almost like we've got new DNA.

He took us from belonging to the wicked, sinful darkness

that had us trapped before,

and He won the victory over that.

And so we thank Him for the blood that frees us

and that then can generate the life

that He's calling us to live.

How unfair would it be

if God said,

I want you to live a life that looks like this.

Now figure it out.

Now He's going to produce that life in us

by the power of His blood

the longer we stay connected to Him.

Steve, would you lead us in prayer?

Lord,

we thank You for this day,

for this Palm Sunday,

as we come before You

in remembrance of our Lord and Savior,

Jesus Christ.

Lord, we love You.

We ask that You forgive us

where we fail You.

Forgive us of our sins

as we come to Your table.

We pray Your blessings

on this cup that we take

and the juice that it represents

the new covenant

in Jesus' blood

that was poured out

for our sins.

Lord, we thank You

for our Savior,

Jesus Christ.

We thank You for His life.

We thank You for His sacrifice.

And we thank You for His resurrection.

And I pray these things

in the strong name

of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Jesus said,

This cup is the new covenant

in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me.

Amen.

How deep the Father's love for us.

How vast beyond all measure

that He should give His only Son

to make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss.

The Father turns His face away

as wounds which mar the chosen one

bring many sons to glory.

Behold the man upon a cross.

My sin upon His shoulders.

Ashamed I hear my mocking voice

call out among the scoffers.

It was my sin that held Him there

until it was accomplished.

His dying breath has brought me life.

I know that it is finished.

I will not boast in anything.

No gifts, nor power, nor wisdom.

But I will boast in Jesus Christ.

His death and resurrection.

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer.

But this I know with all my heart.

His wounds have paid my ransom.

Amen.

Just a couple of chapters over.

John 17.

Jesus gives us one more theme.

He talked about His body.

He talked about His blood.

And then He talked about the bond

between His followers.

After the meal, Jesus prays.

We're listening in on what matters to Him most

in that moment.

What's He praying about?

He says,

My prayer is not for my disciples alone.

He said,

My prayer is also for those who will believe in me

through their message.

That reaches down through the annals of time

all the way to 2026 in Henrietta, Texas

and Clay County.

We are the ones,

some of the ones,

who were reached through their message.

So Jesus is praying for us.

And what is He praying for?

What does He ask from His Father?

That they may be one as we are one.

This is our bond.

The theme of unity

goes from the Old Testament,

from Solomon's writings,

and it's modeled by those

who followed God as the children of Israel

all the way through to Jesus' disciples

and His teaching

and then all the way to Peter's teaching

and Paul's teaching

and James' teaching

that we would be one,

that we would have this strong,

inseparable bond in Christ.

Now look,

y'all are weird people, okay?

I thought that would get some laughs.

You really think I'm serious?

Well, you are.

You are weird.

And I'm weird too.

That's why we work together.

If you're weird,

if you're not weird,

you can't be part of us, okay?

You gotta be a little weird.

We may not always get along

in every area of life.

You might have different opinions

on certain things that I do

and vice versa.

I like to put lavender in my coffee.

You may think that's weird.

It's great.

It's awesome.

Holly thinks it's disgusting.

She's like,

why do I wanna drink soap?

We may not agree

in a lot of different areas,

but we can set aside

the less important things.

Now that's a silly thing, right?

Truth is,

I don't really like coffee,

so I gotta dump

as many frou-frou,

sugary stuff into it

and then I don't get to drink it much

because I'm trying to do better.

Anyway,

you and I don't have to agree on it.

We don't have to like

the same sports teams.

Should we go here?

We don't always have to agree

on every political issue.

But look,

we do have to agree on Jesus.

And if we agree on Jesus,

then we have a bond.

And that bond should not be broken

by how you take your coffee

or what sports teams you like

or what political affiliation you have

or candidate you happen to like

or whatever issue happens to divide people,

would you say America is more united

or divided these days?

So,

I didn't have to give

all those silly illustrations.

I just wanted to wake you up for a second

because this is the third sermon.

the truth is,

we all know this.

We know America's divided.

They're divided by race.

They're divided by socioeconomic status,

how much money you got in your bank account.

They're divided by all kinds of dividing lines.

Sometimes in a small town,

it can be divided by

who your friends were in high school

or what family,

who you're related to.

Dividing lines that humans draw between us,

that can shatter the bond of unity

that Jesus is praying for

in John chapter 17.

John 17 · chapter mention

Then Paul echoes the same thing

in 1 Corinthians 10.

He's writing about the Lord's Supper.

He's writing about communion.

And he says,

because there is one loaf,

we who are many are one body.

We all come from the same broken body of Jesus.

That's how we have life.

We all have his blood

that gives us new life,

gives us forgiveness,

gives us cleansing,

and produces the same fruit in all of us.

It might look different.

Patience in my life,

in my life,

might look different than patience in yours.

I might show love differently

than you show love.

God might be working differently in me

than he is in you.

But the point is that he's working in all of us,

that he's producing this fruit in all of us.

That's what binds us together.

So when we come to what we call the Lord's table,

and we pass the bread,

and we pass the cup,

and we drink it,

and we remember Jesus,

we're doing this together, jointly.

Joy and Jared, our staff,

went around this week to some of our shut-ins,

and they gave these Lord's Supper elements

to them ahead of time

so they could watch on the live stream.

And when we all take the bread and the cup,

they can be doing it at the same time.

And I thought that was a wonderful idea.

I don't remember who came up with that.

Was it one of the deacons?

It was Joy.

It was Joy's idea.

Joy comes up with all the good ideas.

If anything is good about this church,

it was Joy's idea.

Just trust me on that.

Jesus said,

this is how the world will recognize you

as a follower of Jesus.

John 13,

by this everyone will know

that you're my followers

if you love one another,

if this bond is strong,

not by what we can claim,

what we can brag about,

what we can boast about,

by how much better we are,

or by how we can relate to everybody.

They'll know that you're his followers

by how strong the bond is.

That's what draws people to Jesus.

The table doesn't just connect you to Christ.

It ties you to his people.

Whether they're easy to love or not,

whether you're easy to love or not,

whether you naturally just click or not,

it's not a chosen community.

It's a given community.

It's a gift from God.

This community.

Look around.

Can everybody just look around?

Just look around at each other?

Now say,

you're a gift to me.

You don't have to do that.

That's awkward.

Don't do it insincerely.

But we are.

We are a gift to each other.

So now let's sit quietly.

Lindsay's gonna come forward

and she's gonna sing a song.

Jared's gonna play.

They're just gonna be down here.

She's gonna sing this song over us.

And I pray that it's a blessing to you

as it is to me.

Let this be a time as she's singing

where you talk to the Holy Spirit of God,

but maybe more importantly,

you let him talk to you.

If God wants you to respond

to the preaching of his word

through his teaching

that was relayed to you today from John,

then this is a good time.

You can come forward.

You can talk to me down here.

I'll be down front

if you need somebody to pray with you.

If you'd like to place your membership

in this church and join us

as part of our body

as we're joining Jesus

this journey together.

Come down.

Let's talk about that.

If you'd like to place your faith in Jesus

for the first time today

and say,

I choose Jesus

to forgive me of my sin

to become God's child.

I wanna make today the day we do that.

I'd love to sit and talk with you about that.

If you'd like to be baptized,

if you'd like something else

that's on your heart

you wanna talk about or pray through,

come down front.

If I'm tied up with somebody,

we'll grab somebody else

to come pray with you.

But use this time of invitation

to invite you to come forward

or stay in your seat

and you just do business with God

right now while Lindsay sings.

This is the body

that was torn for us

This is the blood that was spilled

Points to the pain

You endure for us

Points to the shame,

the blame, the guilt

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Come

Move our hearts

To remember

This is the Lamb

Who was slain for us

So we, the church,

May enter in

So bittersweet

When we think of you

The one who bore

Our curse, our sin

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Come

Move our hearts

To remember

To remember

Father,

To remember

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, come.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, come.

Move our hearts to remember.

The body shows us, yeah, thank you, Lindsay.

Christ's body shows us that love moved first all the way to sacrificing its own life.

His blood gives us a life that we don't have to create or manufacture.

It comes from Him.

And then this table binds us together with a people that we didn't choose,

but we get to do life with, with Jesus.

So let's keep that in mind.

I'm going to invite you to stand if you're able to.

Some of you may know this song.

If you don't, you can just listen as we sing it.

But this song is called Power of the Cross.

We're going to start with the chorus.

And if you know it, sing along.

If you don't, just listen and let it bless you.

Singing about the sacrifice that Jesus made.

And let's try to think on that as Christians and followers of Jesus this week.

And when Resurrection Sunday comes next week, we'll be ready to celebrate the truth that He is no longer dead.

He has risen.

He is alive.

This the power of the cross.

Christ became sin for us.

Now sing this part.

Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day.

Christ on the road to Calvary.

Think about it.

Tried by sinful men.

Torn and beaten then.

Nailed to a cross of wood.

But now the daylight flees.

And now the ground beneath.

Quakes as its maker bows his head.

Curtain torn in two.

Dead arrays to life.

Finished the victory cry.

This the power.

This the power.

This the power.

This the power.

Of the cross.

Christ became sin for us.

Took the blame.

Bore the wrath.

We stand forgiven at the cross.

Now think about these words.

It personalizes it.

Brings it down to you and me.

Oh, to see my name written in your wounds.

For through your suffering I am free.

Death is crushed to death.

And life is mine to live.

One through your selfless love.

Sing it out.

This the power.

This the power.

Of the cross.

The son of God.

Slain for us.

What a love.

What a cost.

We stand forgiven at the cross.

Let's sing that through one more time.

This the power of the cross.

This the power.

Of the cross.

Son of God.

Son of God.

He was slain for us.

What a love.

What a cost.

We stand forgiven at the cross.

God, thank you for that cost that you were so willing to pay.

Thank you for giving your body and your blood.

And for the bond that you have given to us.

Help us to go forward into this Passion Week.

Remembering the events that led up to your death.

Your sacrifice.

And the ultimate victory over everything that can come up against us.

With your resurrection.

Bring us back together Wednesday night.

And back again together.

On Resurrection Sunday.

To celebrate Easter in the way that.

Churches all around this world.

Will be gathering to do.

We'll give you all the praise and glory for it.

It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.