Communion: The Promise and The Price

Would you take your copy of the Word of God and turn with me to Luke chapter 22?

Luke 22 · chapter mention

!

Luke chapter 22, we're going to look at verse 14.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

In just a few minutes, we are going to take communion together, or otherwise known as

the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Table.

How many of you grew up in church taking communion or the Lord's Supper?

Would you slip your hand up?

Good.

For many of you, this will be very familiar.

It'll feel normal.

The bread, the cup, the quiet reflection.

It's part of what we do in church.

For some of you, if you didn't grow up that way, it might feel very strange what we're

about to do.

And if we stop and think about it, it is kind of a strange practice.

But we're going to look at what Jesus teaches about it and say, why do we do this?

Why do we pass out a tiny little cracker and a tiny little cup of grape juice?

And why do we read in scripture that Jesus says, when you do this, this is my body and

this is my blood?

Sounds weird, doesn't it?

If you think about it.

If you didn't grow up with it and you're not used to it, then it might feel strange.

But it's also easy for those of us who did grow up with it to forget how truly radical

this is, how truly life-changing this practice is supposed to be.

So let's look at Luke chapter 22.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

We'll look at verse 19 first.

And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it.

And he gave it to them.

Of course, this is Jesus doing this.

And he said, this is my body given for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, after the supper, he took the cup saying, this cup is the new covenant

in my blood, which is poured out for you.

That's what this moment is all about.

Jesus for us.

You can actually summarize and reduce the gospel message or the good news story of Jesus down

to those three words.

Jesus for us.

He took our place.

And what he was doing with this practice, which he then said, do it in remembrance of me as

often as you'll do it.

Some churches do it every single Sunday, every time they meet.

Some churches do it once a month.

This church does it four times a year quarterly.

We'll gather together and we'll remember what Jesus did for us.

But it's not just a ritual.

So much more than a ritual.

And it's not just a reenactment.

We're not just putting the famous picture of the Lord's Supper and Jesus and his disciples

up on the screen and trying to reenact what Jesus did.

It's so much more than that.

It's a declaration that the entire story of God and his dealings with man, thousands of

years long, written across generations and covenants and kings, has reached its climax

with sacrifice.

And that's what we're going to talk about today.

Sacrifice.

Covenants.

The promise and the price.

A promise made long before you or I was born.

And a price that was paid when you and I could not pay anything back.

So let's look at number one, the price.

What sacrifice really is.

What sacrifice really is.

We read it just a moment ago.

Jesus took the bread.

He gave it.

He broke it.

And he said, this is my body given for you.

This was the sacrifice.

He said, this cup is my blood poured out for you.

There was a real cost, a real price to be paid in this situation.

Why was that?

Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Let's stop there for a moment and figure out what he's teaching us.

No rabbi, Jewish rabbi.

Remember, it's easy.

We had our starting point course this morning.

Just kick off upstairs, room 203.

If you're not in Sunday school, come jump in and join us in room 203 with our starting point class.

But we stopped and we had to say, look, it's easy to just look at the Christian faith as we see it today and forget its roots.

Forget its origins.

You realize that Jesus was seen as a Jewish rabbi.

And so people expected him to be like the other Jewish rabbis or teachers.

But he wasn't.

He was saying different things.

He was teaching radically different things than anyone else was teaching.

And ultimately, he came to say that I am God.

I am the Messiah.

I am the one that you've been waiting for.

I'm not here just to teach you about God.

I'm here to reveal God to you.

It's me.

My father has sent me.

So we have to go back to the beginnings and remember that this is the faith that we're holding on to.

It's this radical spinoff of that Jewish faith that turns it on its head and says, now it's all about Jesus.

It's not about the law anymore.

It's not about the Ten Commandments anymore.

It's not about impressing God.

It's about the person of Jesus choosing him and following him.

And so no rabbi had ever said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

The old covenants were treasured by the Jewish people.

They were lifted up.

They were held onto as precious gifts from God.

And Jesus is here to introduce a new covenant.

No teacher had ever dared to make himself the sacrifice.

But that's exactly what Jesus was.

He wasn't just teaching us about forgiveness.

He was literally purchasing forgiveness with his blood.

The language we read in the New Testament about what Jesus did on the cross for us is transactional.

He bought us back.

The word is redeemed.

He purchased us with his blood.

Why?

Why was that necessary?

Because you and I had sinned.

You and I still sin, don't we?

We still break God's laws.

We still go astray.

Every one of us has gone into our own ways.

And God has poured out on his son, Jesus, the iniquity or the sin, the wrongdoing of all of us.

He took the punishment.

He was the sacrifice.

But we cheapen the word sacrifice.

We'll use the word sacrifice in our day-to-day life.

You say, I sacrificed my Saturday morning to go help somebody move.

Maybe that was a sacrifice in your mind, but it pales in comparison to the real sacrifice that Jesus was, right?

Say, I sacrificed my dessert for my diet.

Sometimes that feels like a sacrifice, all right?

Let's be real.

They just gave me a bunch of candy.

And I'm trying to think, how much of that can I actually eat?

How much of that do I have to sacrifice and give away to you people?

But the sacrifices we make are not real sacrifices.

Jesus was a sacrifice.

He gave everything.

He paid the ultimate price.

In the Bible, sacrifice isn't about inconvenience.

It's about substitution.

Placing yourself in someone else's place to receive wrath, to receive penalty, to receive suffering.

Something or someone dies so that someone else can live.

The Jewish people would have understood that.

Because animal sacrifices had been dating back to their earliest origins.

The very beginning, God had commanded them to take their very best of their flocks and go sacrifice it as a penalty, as a payment for their sins, their wrongdoing.

And all this, it was never about the animals.

It was all pointing forward to Jesus, who would be the ultimate final sacrifice.

So we don't go out and do animal sacrifices because Jesus was the final one.

So they would have understood that term.

And they would have understood the strength that came behind it when Jesus painted himself as the sacrifice.

And that's what he was saying.

This bread that you tear apart means that I'm about to be torn apart.

This bread that you break is like my body, which is about to be broken.

This cup shows you that I'm about to bleed.

It's not a theory.

It's not something for us to argue about.

This is the cost.

This is the price for forgiveness.

This is the price for forgiveness.

Communion reminds us that grace is free, but it's never cheap.

Grace is free, but it's never cheap.

It came at a great cost.

Jesus' own life.

Jesus' own blood.

We thank God that in power he raised him back up from the dead.

But that does not minimize the suffering, the real pain and anguish and torment and death that Jesus experienced on that cross.

So when we pause in our annual calendar and we stop everything else we're doing and we stop to remember what Jesus did,

let us remember the words that we read in John chapter 10 and verse 18.

John 10 · chapter mention

No one takes my life from me, Jesus said.

I lay it down of my own accord.

I lay it down willingly.

Not only was he a sacrifice, he was a willing sacrifice.

And so then when we read in Romans chapter 12 and verses 1 and 2 and he says,

Romans 12 · chapter mention

now you go and be a willing sacrifice for me,

it's a whole lot easier for someone to tell you that when they've been a willing sacrifice for you.

You say, what have you ever done for me?

Why would you ask all of this?

Why would you ask me to dedicate my life to you when you've never done anything for me?

But Jesus can look at us and say, I did everything for you.

I gave everything for you.

I held nothing back.

Now with that picture of generosity, we've just spent the last six weeks studying how generous God was toward us

and how he wants us to be generous in return.

He can say, this is generosity displayed.

Me on the cross as the sacrifice, the willing sacrifice for you.

Those people might have thought they took my life for me,

but that was always the plan from the very beginning.

You can look back at the prophets and see their prediction of this son of God

who would willingly lay down his life and suffer just as he did on that cross.

So God's grace is given freely to us now today, but it was not cheap.

It cost Jesus everything.

And that's the second part.

Jesus didn't lose his life.

He gave it.

He offered it up willingly.

He wasn't the victim here.

He was the author of this story.

He wasn't the victim of sacrifice.

He was the author of it.

This was according to God's plan.

Out of his great love, he offered up his greatest treasure,

his greatest possession.

John 3, 16 calls it his only begotten son.

The greatest he had.

And he said, I give it to you.

From the very beginning, God's people knew that sin carried a price.

In the Garden of Eden, when God created everything, Adam and Eve sinned,

and an animal had to die to clothe their shame.

In Exodus, a lamb's blood marked the doors so that the death angel would pass over.

At the temple, sacrifice after sacrifice was offered as a substitute for sin.

And all of it was pointing to this when Jesus would give his life on a hill called Calvary,

a cross where the Lamb of God, the final sacrifice, would take away the sin of the world.

And here's the part that just staggers you, staggers me.

No one forced him.

If I knew that what Jesus endured was waiting around the corner,

I would have walked away.

Jesus even knelt in the garden the night before and said,

God, let this cup pass from me.

In his humanity, knowing what he was about to endure,

it almost seems as though he prayed,

is there any other way?

But then he came back to,

not my will, but yours be done.

This is the love that Jesus has for us.

This is the love that the Father has for us.

He would endure any amount of suffering.

He would endure any amount of pain.

So you and I could have a path to forgiveness.

So you and I could have a fresh start with Jesus.

So you and I could have eternal security for all time as the children of God.

But that was impossible.

The relationship was broken.

There was no way we could undo what we as humans had done and continue to do.

So there had to be a willing sacrifice.

And there was.

And that was the price that had to be paid.

But thank God there's also a promise there.

And that's number two.

The promise is what his blood really means.

In just a few minutes, we're going to take the cup and we're going to drink it.

And Jesus says, this symbolizes my blood.

This represents my blood that was poured out on the cross.

Back in Luke 22, look at the phrase that Jesus uses with the cup.

This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

We're going to talk about what that covenant means.

If you've been in church a while, you've heard that line probably a thousand times.

But to a Jewish listener, those words would explode like fireworks.

The covenants were important to them.

They knew exactly what a covenant was.

It was a part of their everyday life.

It was a part of their existence, their identity.

A covenant was more than a contract.

It was more than a handshake.

It was a binding, blood-sealed promise.

They lived by covenants.

The kind that could not be broken without blood being shed.

So from the very beginning, God has been a covenant-making God.

I wrote down some of the covenants.

And these are by no means all.

But some of the covenants in Genesis 12,

God promised Abraham, through your offspring,

all nations on the earth will be blessed.

In Exodus chapter 24,

Exodus 24 · chapter mention

God made a covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai.

And Moses sprinkled the blood of bulls on the altar and the people,

sealing this covenant that God made.

In 2 Samuel chapter 7,

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

God promised David that one of his descendants would reign forever.

Remember, in Jeremiah 31,

centuries before Jesus,

God promised a new covenant would come.

One that would forgive sin once and for all.

And one that would write God's law on our hearts,

not on tablets of stone.

Every covenant was God saying,

I will be faithful to my people.

But every covenant was sealed with blood.

Have you ever heard the saying,

blood is thicker than water?

Anybody ever heard that?

Blood is thicker than water.

Just real quick, what do you think it means?

Somebody yell it out.

Deep insight, Wade.

What are they trying to say?

Blood is thicker than water.

The bond of blood is stronger than the bond of water.

Okay.

What's the context they usually use it in?

Family.

Family.

There it is.

Family, right?

Well, blood is thicker than water.

All right.

Let's actually figure out what that meant.

Back in the 1100s,

a German poet named,

here we go.

We got some people with German roots in this.

Are y'all going to correct me so badly?

Heinrich der Glitcheser.

I don't know how to read that face.

I got the Shoffners over here looking at me like,

I don't know about that.

Gabe, that was the best I could do.

All right.

Heinrich der Glitcheser wrote that

the blood of the covenant

is thicker than the water of the womb.

Think about that.

The blood of the covenant

is thicker than the water of the womb.

That's where that saying came from.

The idea

was not that family

is thicker than any other bond.

The idea was that the bonds

of covenant friendship

or kinship,

the kind made by choice,

are stronger

than those naturally existing

because of family relationships.

You ever heard somebody say

you can't choose your family?

And look,

I'm not ragging on families here,

but I'm saying it's interesting

because we have actually taken this saying

to express the opposite

of what the author of this saying actually meant.

He was writing about brothers in arms

going out to fight

and he said,

the bond,

the blood

of kinship,

the blood of the covenant

made between soldiers

or those who have become like brothers

is actually stronger

than that bond that exists

just from being related.

Covenants

have always been seen

as the ultimate bond

and blood

is usually the price

of these promises.

On the night before Jesus died,

Jesus took the cup

and he said,

this is it.

This is the covenant

that Jeremiah was talking about.

This is the promise

to Abraham fulfilled.

This is the plan

from the Garden of Eden

now come to pass

in me.

Go to Hebrews chapter 8,

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

would you?

Hebrews chapter 8.

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

We're going to be there

for just a few more minutes

before we stop

to take the elements

of the Lord's Supper.

We're going to be in Hebrews chapter 8.

Hebrews 8 · chapter mention

and then going into chapter 9.

You can follow along

in your Bible as I read.

Hebrews 8,

beginning in verse 6.

But now Jesus,

our high priest,

has been given a ministry

that is far superior

to the old priesthood.

The priests were the ones

who had to go

and make the sacrifices.

They had to be the representatives

of the people

before God

to say,

we're killing this animal

to make up for the sin

that we've done.

It could never

take away the sin.

It was just a placeholder

for the one

who would come

to actually pay

and atone

for the sin.

So he said,

Jesus

is far superior

to the old priests.

He is the one

who mediates for us

a far better covenant

with God

based on better promises.

All those covenants

from God,

the Israelite people

would hold on to those

like a lifeline.

Say,

this is what we have

from God.

This is the promise.

And Jesus is saying,

I'm coming

with better promises.

I'm coming

with a new

and better covenant.

And it's not just

for the Israelite people.

It's for anyone

who will come

to God

based on better promises.

Back in Hebrews 8,

if the first covenant

had been faultless,

there would have been

no need

for a second covenant

to replace it.

But it wasn't faultless,

was it?

It had faults.

When God speaks

of a new covenant,

it means he has made

the first one obsolete.

It is now out of date

and will soon disappear.

Kind of like technology.

Soon as you buy

a new phone,

it feels like

it's out of date,

obsolete,

and will soon disappear

and be replaced

by the newest,

latest,

and greatest version.

I'm going to have

to probably buy

a phone this year

because my old one

is starting to feel

very obsolete

and out of date.

It's what they do to you.

I've held on

as long as I can.

So God is replacing

the old covenant.

He said,

this is now out of date.

It's obsolete.

I'm going to do away

with it.

I'm going to give you

a new one

that's far better,

but I'm not going

to charge you

hundreds of dollars

for it.

You're not going

to have to get

a subscription plan.

It is a once for all.

It's a free gift.

Then get into chapter 9,

Hebrews chapter 9,

Hebrews 9:1

verse 1.

That first covenant

between God

and Israel

had regulations

for worship

and a place of worship

here on earth.

This is an illustration,

skipped out,

pointing to the present time,

verse 9.

For the gifts

and sacrifices

that the priests offer

are not able

to cleanse

the consciences

of the people

who bring them.

They couldn't do you

any real good.

The old system,

sinning,

having the priests

go and confess

your sin

and kill an animal

as a sacrifice,

none of that

could really do

anything good

for you.

It was just a symbol

of what Jesus

was going to do.

That old system

deals with only

food and drink

and various

cleansing ceremonies,

physical regulations

that were in effect

only until a better

system could be

established.

So Christ

has now

become the high priest

over all good things

that have come.

He has entered

that greater,

more perfect

tabernacle

in heaven

which was not

made by human hands

because anything

made by human hands

is not perfect.

Y'all know that,

right?

Anything you've made,

you might be very proud

of it,

but it's not perfect.

It could always be

improved.

But in heaven,

it truly is perfect.

It's not part

of this created world.

With his own blood,

what did Jesus do?

Not the blood of goats

and calves.

His own blood.

He entered

the most holy place.

And without taking

a lot of time

to get into

all the rules

and regulations

of the temple

back then,

when that priest

would go in

to atone

for the sin

of his people,

only he could

enter into

this most holy place.

They called it

the holy of holies.

Behind all these curtains

and there was this

one big thick curtain

that was sewn

so thick

no one could even

cut it.

It was so long

and so thick

and so heavy.

And when Jesus died,

when he gave up

the ghost,

his spirit left him

on the cross.

That temple,

God tore it

from top to bottom.

That covering.

What am I trying

to say?

That curtain.

There we go.

Thank you.

That curtain,

God tore it

from top to bottom

because the holy

of holies,

that most holy place

was now obsolete.

It held no special

significance anymore

because that system

was now gone.

No more sacrifices.

No more priests

going in on our behalf.

That's why you don't

need to come

and sit in a confessional

booth and tell me

the wrong things

you've done.

I don't want to hear it.

Trust me.

And I don't want

to tell you mine.

We tell it to Jesus.

You ever heard that song?

Tell it to Jesus.

Tell it to Jesus.

There's no other

such a friend

or brother.

Tell it to Jesus

alone

because God made

the old way

obsolete.

Now,

man-made religions

will still try

to hold on

to things.

And they'll try

to hold on

to certain traditions

and say,

no,

this is how

we got to do it

because look back,

it's been done

for thousands of years.

Yeah,

until Jesus came.

And now Jesus

gave us a new way.

The temple

made with hands

no longer

has any significance.

Now,

it's the temple

made in heaven

waiting for you

and I

to get there.

and the

New Testament

actually teaches us

that our bodies

are now

like the temple

of God.

Kind of gives us

some pause

when we

go eat Tex-Mex

or whatever.

How well

are we treating

this temple

right now,

right?

But individually,

we are the temples

of God

walking around

because we are now

the holy place.

He has made us

holy.

We didn't make

ourselves holy.

When we repent

of our sins

and turn to Jesus,

He has made us

holy.

So let's get back

into Hebrews 9.

He has entered

that greater,

more perfect

tabernacle in heaven

which was not

made by human hands.

It's not part

of this created world.

With His blood,

He entered

the most holy place

once for all time

and secured

our redemption.

There's that word again,

that transactional word

that means buy back.

He secured

our redemption

forever.

Under the old system,

the blood of goats

and bulls

and the ashes

of a heifer

could cleanse

people's bodies

from ceremonial impurity.

It was never real.

It was always ceremonial.

It did nothing

with the heart.

It was just the bodies.

Just think

how much more.

The writer of Hebrews

says,

the blood of Christ

will purify

our conscience

from sinful deeds

so that we can

worship

the living God.

God can make you

clean

on the

inside.

Those sacrifices

could never do that.

And nothing

you can do

can clean

your inside.

You can take

all the showers.

You can use

all the products.

you can try

to get your mind

into a better

state.

Try to forget

the wrongs you've done.

Try to move on.

Try to leave the past

in the past.

You can do all that

but you cannot

make your

inner self

clean.

You can't

clean your heart.

You can't

clean your soul.

You can't

clean your memory.

only God

can really

cleanse

the real

you.

You can

clean your

shell

but not

you.

Just think

how much

more

the blood

of Christ

can and

will

purify

our

consciences

from sinful

deeds

so then we

can really

worship.

For by the

power of the

eternal spirit

Christ

offered himself

to God

as a perfect

sacrifice

for our sins.

That is why

he is the one

who mediates

a new covenant

between God

and people

so that all

who are called

can receive

the eternal

inheritance

that God

has promised

us.

Told you there

was better

promises coming.

The eternal

inheritance

that will last

forever

because of

Jesus and

what he did.

For Christ

died to set

them free

from the penalty

of the sins

they had committed

under that

first covenant.

So let's look

at these old

and new covenants.

The old

covenant

the first

covenant

was the

righteousness

of the law

and do you

know what

it accomplished?

Condemnation.

It condemned

you over

and over

again and

if you still

live by the

law open

up the

old testament

read the

law you

and I

break it

all the

time.

We break

the law

continually.

So the

old covenant

was there

to show us

just how

bad we

really are.

Here's

God's

standard you

can't reach

it.

You can't

meet it.

You might

feel good

about yourself

because you

feel like

you're meeting

it better

than that

guy is

or better

than that

girl is

but the

truth is

none of us

are meeting

God's

standard.

We continually

break the

law.

So the

new covenant

came.

Jesus brought

the second

covenant

which is the

righteousness

of Christ

and that

brings us

reconciliation.

We can be

reconciled.

things made

right only

by Jesus.

The old

covenant

showed us

how far

apart God

and us

are.

The new

covenant

shows us

how that

distance

can be

overcome,

can be

brought

together

because of

what Jesus

did.

So the

old covenant

was concerned

with a clean

outside,

clean hands,

clean rituals,

clean appearances,

clean habits.

The new

covenant is

the righteousness

of Christ

concerned with

a clean

inside,

a forgiven

heart,

a transformed

spirit,

a life made

new from

the inside

out.

The cross

was not

God changing

his plan,

it was God

completing

his plan.

This was

always the

plan.

He didn't

see how

badly we were

keeping the

law and say

okay I gotta

pivot and I gotta

figure something

else out here.

Jesus why don't

you go and

make all this

right?

It was the

plan from the

beginning to

show us how

we needed

him.

You can't get

somebody saved

until they

realize they're

lost.

You and I

could not turn

to Jesus until

we realized we

needed to be

forgiven.

Until we

realized we're

not good enough,

we're not strong

enough, we need

him.

the blood of

bulls and

goats could

only cover

sin but the

blood of

Jesus can

cancel it.

And it

has.

He's canceled

mine.

He's canceled

many of

yours.

And if you're

here today and

you don't have

that kind of

relationship with

Jesus, please

don't walk out of

here today without

starting it.

God, this is

the moment, this

is the day of

salvation for

you.

Now is the

time for you to

turn from sin and

say, I turn to

Jesus.

God help me.

I can't do it on

my own.

Colossians chapter

two and verse

13 talks about

that.

When you were

dead in your

sins and the

uncircumcision of

your flesh, God

made you alive with

Christ.

We're not going to

get into the whole

circumcision part.

That was part of the

rituals to make you

clean.

But it was a

practice that of

course now is

practiced today with

babies born in the

hospital.

But when you were

dead in your sin and

all these rituals that

you couldn't keep up

with, God made you

alive with Christ.

He forgave us all of

our sins having

canceled the charge of

our legal indebtedness

which stood against

us.

It condemned us.

The law always

condemns you.

But then he's taken

it away and he nailed

it to his cross.

What an awesome

picture of

how Jesus treated

this.

How he bought us

our salvation.

What he has to do

with the law now.

He said I take it and

I mail it to the

cross.

This is now where it

hangs.

It has no rule over

you anymore.

Now I'm to be the

sole ruler over you

and I want that to be

a relationship.

That's the difference

the cross makes.

every drop of blood

that fell at the cross

of Jesus is God

saying I keep my

promises even to the

death.

Every drop of blood

is God's promise to

you.

I paid for your sin.

So in conclusion

that's what this

moment is about.

It's a price that

was paid

and it's a promise

that was kept.

So when we hold

the bread this morning

and we hold the cup

don't let it become

a routine.

Or if it has become

a routine for you

repent of that

and say no

I'm going to think

about this

how God wants me

to think about it.

We're doing it for

him.

And so it's a

reminder.

This is what it

costs.

It's a testimony.

This is what he

promised.

And it's an anchor.

This is how much

we are loved.

I'm going to ask

the men to come

forward.

We have some of

our deacons

to serve us

with the Lord's

supper this morning.

As they come

forward

I want to remind

you that this

moment is not

about what we

bring to God.

It's about what

he brought to

us.

A promise kept.

A price paid.

So would you

keep that in your

mind as we bow

together in just a

moment and we

receive these

elements.

And let me give

a little bit of

instruction here.

For those of you

who are guests

with us this

morning.

If you know in

your heart that

you're a child of

God and there's

been a moment of

salvation for you

when you turn to

Jesus said please

forgive me of my

sin.

Make me your

child.

Then we invite you

to join us with

this time of

communion Lord's

supper.

You'll receive the

elements together.

Would you wait and

hold on to those and

be in an attitude of

prayer until the

time comes for us to

all take them

together.

We'll do that

twice.

We'll have a prayer

before each one.

But what this is

about is a

reminder of the

price that was

paid.

So we look at

that bread and we

think of Jesus'

body and the

suffering that he

endured as our

sacrifice.

We look at that

cup and we think

of the blood that

is the new covenant

that we get to be a

part of.

not just with the

people of Israel

with all of us who

will accept the

invitation that God

extends.

So let's keep our

minds locked in there

when we have that

bread and we have

that juice.

What do these

represent?

Would you bow with

me in prayer?

God at this moment

we ask for our

hearts to be quieted

our minds to be

cleared of all the

distractions.

sins.

That every man,

woman, and child in

this room would know

you as their savior,

know you as their

friend, know you as

their father, know you

as the forgiver of

their sins, the

sacrifice for their

sins.

God you didn't just

come to give us a

better life on this

earth.

You came as a very

real, very needed

sacrifice.

sacrifice.

Let us not forget

that.

Let us in the next

few moments consider

that.

Speak to us.

Speak to our hearts.

Change us from the

inside out.

It's in Jesus' name

we pray.

Amen.

All right, the deacons

are going to distribute

the elements.

Music's going to play

in the background.

And as you receive

them, just sit quietly

in prayer and then

I'll read a scripture

and we'll pray and

we'll take the

elements together.

And as youiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseiseise