Led by the Spirit - Stelios Ioannides

[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you very much.

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, welcome to church.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's literally such a great blessing to be among you all this morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: I feel very grateful to be here.

[SPEAKER_00]: If I haven't met you before, my name is Stelios.

[SPEAKER_00]: As Roger said, I'm part of the Young Adult Team here at One Church.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're watching from Camp, hello, I hope the weather is as good as it is today.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a beautiful morning.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're new to one,

[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome, we are currently in a series on Romans 8, just just the one chapter, but before I begin, let me pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much that we can gather, that we can be in your presence this morning, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Holy Spirit, would you be with us?

[SPEAKER_00]: Would you feel us a fresh?

[SPEAKER_00]: Would you open up our heart too?

[SPEAKER_00]: The word that is going to be spoken today, Lord.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come, Lord Jesus, come.

[SPEAKER_00]: Pray in your name.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, amen, amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Darren mentioned last week this idea of the flesh that yes, it can represent our physical body sure, but what it actually is, it is that is more or less a symptom of a way of life that is turned away from God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Paul continues and concludes this idea in verses 12 to 17.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore brothers and sisters, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh to live according to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

[SPEAKER_00]: But if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

[SPEAKER_00]: For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again, rather the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And by Him we cry, Abba, Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: the Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now if we are God's children, then we are as.

[SPEAKER_00]: As of God and co-as with Christ, if indeed we share any sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now the whole of Romans 8 is remarkable, but I really think that this passage here really is the beating heart of Romans 8.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the reason I love reading the letters of Paul is because of the fact, well, simply, he just wasn't afraid.

[SPEAKER_00]: He was completely fearless in highlighting the need for the spirit to be not only alive, but leading our faith as Christians.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when he discusses the disparity between the flesh and the spirit, he will never at any fluff, or sugar code anything.

[SPEAKER_00]: What he will do is he will simply present both ideas, both thoughts, both avenues of living,

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you picture your faith journey with Jesus as an actual walk, Paul reminds us that on this walk, we have a choice about where we're going to place our attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so as we stroll, we can place it around us, where the things of the world are there that appeal to our human nature, things like validation, pride, lust, other desires that feed the flesh, you know, these things catch our eye, they stop our steps, they lead us off the path, or we can look ahead.

[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing those temptations are there that they are around us, but we choose to walk with the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: With our eyes forward, we move with the new confidence, knowing the Lord walks with us, and so he's guided in and in his strength and in us every step of the way.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a tricky line to balance, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's easier said than done.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean isn't that the cry of the Christian faith?

[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've put my belief in Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, he's made me new.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I'm a new creation, but I'm human.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I still struggle.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we have the choice that Paul tells us that we can live into.

[SPEAKER_00]: The main difference is that the flesh will use you, deceive you, and mislead you, whereas the Spirit of God will grow you support you and lead you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, those are very different things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they are battling constantly in opposition to each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I just love the way that Paul is.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's so blunt on this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It almost makes you think that, I don't know, perhaps maybe one really does lead to death.

[SPEAKER_00]: And maybe the other really does lead to life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Jesus is walking with us.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we live in a world that tries to tempt you away.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's the Holy Spirit who brings us back on the path if you let Him lead.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so while we may think that's a choice, Paul in verse 12 calls it an obligation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, what does that word, obligation mean to us?

[SPEAKER_00]: What does it mean to you?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, if you think about the duties that you have throughout the week, you know, you go to work, you feed your kids, right, these are things you would say, well, I have to do this.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a mass, my whole life is completely different unless I do these things.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's in that same tension that he places on living in the spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's actually more because when you look at the word in the Greek of obligation, the word actually means to be in debt.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you might be thinking, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why do I owe a debt to the Spirit?

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that, isn't that works-based?

[SPEAKER_00]: Something that I have to do to earn God's favor?

[SPEAKER_00]: And the answer is no, I don't think so.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not what Paul means.

[SPEAKER_00]: This obligation we have to the Spirit is not to earn salvation, because of the fact that while Jesus' work is finished, our work is the cycle is not, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: Our work is still going.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Christ won the Eternal Battle, Christ is Victor, shout out to my leadership institute friends, Christ won the Eternal Battle, but we still deal with the earthly battle, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so despite the flesh, the principalities, the jaw of the world, Jesus did not leave us now,

[SPEAKER_00]: to deal with these things empty-handed.

[SPEAKER_00]: He told his disciples, I will send you another advocate, the Spirit of Truth, who will be with you forever.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, yes, we wholeheartedly trust in what Jesus has accomplished for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul is now prompting us, as believers, what we're called to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're called to let the Spirit lead.

[SPEAKER_00]: To walk in what Jesus has already made possible.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not to prove ourselves to God, but to actually use the help of He gave us.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's our obligation.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so He's not trying to debate it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul's not trying to argue it.

[SPEAKER_00]: His warning.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I mean, if we choose not, then we creation are then no longer being sustained by the Creator.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what is left to lead us?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if the answer doesn't flow directly from God, I mean, where does it flow from, but if not the world?

[SPEAKER_00]: The power of the Spirit is that He reminds us while we are on the walk with Jesus in the first place, while you're on the walk with Jesus in the first place.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the letter, of course, is written to the Church of Rome.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, he's not talking to the unbeliever.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's talking to the believer.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as follow as a Christ, we do have a responsibility.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have a choice.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sorry, not a choice, not an option.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have an obligation to use the Spirit to what?

[SPEAKER_00]: It was John O'enn, who famously said, kill the sin before the sin kills you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we all have things that hold us back.

[SPEAKER_00]: We all have things that keep us trapped in this almost self-sabotage and cycle of death.

[SPEAKER_00]: Linda had a great illustration of this a couple of weeks back which she's definitely check out.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so reasonably, while the feelings of the flesh are given into, it's the spirit who brings fruit out of you.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what kind of fruit should we be exhibiting?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the famous fruits of the spirit, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And as great as they are, there is one that we almost never talk about.

[SPEAKER_00]: We love hearing about gentleness, peace, joy, and somehow we've overlooked self-control.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe that's why Paul put a last, so we can say gentleness for parents and just keep over it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know, it's quite fascinating and we'll get to that in a little bit.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there is an idea that having self-control, having correct discipline, is showcasing an attribute of the Spirit of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not really spoken about.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean Paul writes to Timothy, he says, for the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, why did he have to include the last one?

[SPEAKER_00]: Why couldn't it be power, love, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think I speak for everyone, when I say, well, discipline's not easy.

[SPEAKER_00]: I don't look forward to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And this is why I am so glad that it is not achievable through my own strength, but it is the spirit of God who gives me what I need to do to accomplish it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, he is the key.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, by continuing to feed the flesh and avoid the spirit's call for discipline, specifically, if you just continue to give in,

[SPEAKER_00]: wanting to fulfill every impulse and desire that we have without boundary.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we're out with that lead you.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think that it will steer us to exactly what we asked for, which is true extinguishing of self-control.

[SPEAKER_00]: And if that's the path we're walking, then we can't be surprised that that outcome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Right, a heart that doesn't forgive, an eye that lusts and a mind that needs constant gratification,

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not that desire in itself is bad.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it's where do we go without desire?

[SPEAKER_00]: And if you think really hard about where you go with your desire, well, the answer might be who slash what is really disciplinary.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when Paul says, the flesh leads to death, he doesn't just mean physical death.

[SPEAKER_00]: He means a spiritual demise of your self-control,

[SPEAKER_00]: How are we doing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Brilliant.

[SPEAKER_00]: It is only the Spirit of Christ who and dwells in us a new heart that puts the cycle of death to death and thus gives us life.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's the alternative.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so regardless of our adherence to God,

[SPEAKER_00]: I love for Him, the yearning that we have in our hearts to follow Him, because we still are living in our mortal bodies, we're going to fall short, we're going to make mistakes.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's a constant battle, fight in the flesh, we'll make you feel like you are literally tearing yourself into.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so without the Spirit, things become impossible for us as believers impossible.

[SPEAKER_00]: He goes on to say in verse 14, those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not talking about calling the Spirit, we're talking about leading, letting the Spirit lead, keeping in step with Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you might think, that's great on paper, that's great.

[SPEAKER_00]: But how do I practically do that?

[SPEAKER_00]: How can I go through my week and actively try to let the Spirit lead?

[SPEAKER_00]: I think there are three things you can try.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think first and foremost,

[SPEAKER_00]: Ask, obviously, okay, obviously.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the reason I say ask, humbly, is because a humble heart is one that is not looking for an immediate result, but is the invitation by which the Holy Spirit is able to dwell.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so when you actually want something to be different on your walk with Christ, if you want to improve, the idea of humbling your heart, if done earnestly, means coming to God with a posture of wanting to hear,

[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes the easiest prayer we can pray is come Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord says, ask anything in my name and I will do it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't think you can pray anything in the name of Jesus and have nothing happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: Second thing, seek honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's say that I was feeling extremely unwell and I was getting worse day by day by day.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I told you I didn't need to see a doctor,

[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't need to go to a hospital.

[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to say, Stel, you absolutely need to.

[SPEAKER_00]: You need to see a professional who is going to highlight the things that you need.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so as Christians, we should be going to the one called Spiritual Advocate.

[SPEAKER_00]: The one is going to highlight to us, exactly what we need, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so yes, that analogy may work.

[SPEAKER_00]: But while a doctor is human and knows the human anatomy,

[SPEAKER_00]: The Holy Spirit is God who desires to dwell in you.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's a big difference.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a different help.

[SPEAKER_00]: Join it in Him, and He will join you to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Number three, read carefully.

[SPEAKER_00]: What the Scripture have to do with seeking the Spirit, everything, absolutely everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not only does it shape us, form us, but scriptures our spiritual food, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: It sustains us.

[SPEAKER_00]: For example, Jesus says that the eyes are the lamp of the body.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I don't know about you, but that makes me double-think almost everything, not only that I've looked at, but enjoyed looking at.

[SPEAKER_00]: And how is what I'm looking at actually illuminating the rest of me?

[SPEAKER_00]: So I've thought, why don't I shift my thoughts?

[SPEAKER_00]: My patterns, if I was after God, I'd want to look at His Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: It also may be hard to discern, dis-earn how God is speaking to you if you don't know how we talk.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're going to make sure that we are not just readers of the page, but we're opening up to be here as of the word.

[SPEAKER_00]: So how do we let the Spirit lead?

[SPEAKER_00]: Ask humbly, seek honestly, and read carefully.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to be tough, it's going to be tough, it's not going to be perfect.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everything's working against us.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so while we still have contact and influence from the flesh, from the world, from your environments, the promise of the Spirit is that in Jesus, you no longer belong to it.

[SPEAKER_00]: So there has to be a time where we have to try and stop letting the world decide what works for us and let the Holy Spirit steer our faith.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul is not saying by the way, by doing so, that you're going to get everything you ever wanted, every blessing you ever wanted, because that is not the message of the New Testament, that is not the message of the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: But by letting the flesh control you and dictate you, what it's doing is it is leading you further away from the identity God wishes to bestow upon you, that is his child.

[SPEAKER_00]: And being led in the spirit is how we step into that identity.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so in Him, you can receive something that far outweighs anything the world can offer you, that regardless of what you've come from, where you've been, the Lord will look at you and He will see, He's child.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how can we ever go back to the way things were before?

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how can this spirit give us this stamped identity in Jesus if we are outsourcing our time, our attention, and our value to something of the world that will just take it, run with it, and leave us with nothing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so, in current times, where our young people are really, really struggling to find their identity, the vow of the Lord is that in Christ we are bestowed a new one.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we have to hold to this promise, Paul says, in verse 15, the Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again,

[SPEAKER_00]: So through this spirit, you can live your life with Christ, but be taken out of your insecurity, out of your anxiousness, out of yourself, loathing yourself sabotage, out of anything causing you to fall down and be brought into God's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Be holy, be righteous, blameless in his sight.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life with God isn't following us at a rules or taking off a checklist of boxes.

[SPEAKER_00]: Life with God means being freed from the desires that hurt us.

[SPEAKER_00]: It means freedom.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, journey and as a Christian is about letting the Holy Spirit come into your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Show you who Jesus is and how He can set you free.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, what's the famous verse?

[SPEAKER_00]: Who the sun sets free is?

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul does something very interesting in this passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: And he only does it one of the time.

[SPEAKER_00]: He highlights the word, Aba, which is our remake for Father, the language Jesus would have spoken.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when I think of that word, I don't know, I just can't help but think about when Jesus was in the garden of goodsemini.

[SPEAKER_00]: The shadow of the cross was lovin' over him.

[SPEAKER_00]: He asked his disciples to keep watch, but they fell asleep and so he's alone.

[SPEAKER_00]: How often are our friends in Eras, but we still feel alone?

[SPEAKER_00]: before the cross ever weighed on his back, it weighed on his heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's bearing down on him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know about you, but there is just something inside of me that hurts when in this state Jesus says, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, death.

[SPEAKER_00]: And as he prayed, he would have called out, Arba,

[SPEAKER_00]: And so what does he ask?

[SPEAKER_00]: Key asks, if the cup be passed from him, essentially, do I have to go to the cross?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is there any other way?

[SPEAKER_00]: What am I getting at?

[SPEAKER_00]: Through the spirit, through the spirit dwelling in us.

[SPEAKER_00]: We share in that same right, to call God our Father the same way Jesus did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not only that, but the glory that He received as God's Son, because of His sacrifice for us, we get the gift in sharing that.

[SPEAKER_00]: We become a co-air with Christ, a co-air, even though we don't deserve it, even though we haven't earned it, we receive the gift of partaking in this inheritance, right, not because of our work with the work that Jesus did for us.

[SPEAKER_00]: because of the Spirit, the Spirit testifies on our behalf that we are God's children.

[SPEAKER_00]: Thus, when the Lord looks at you, he sees his son, he sees his daughter, he sees his air.

[SPEAKER_00]: You become an inheritor.

[SPEAKER_00]: How do you even try to accept something like this, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the Spirit, through adoption, gifts us, gifts us the right to cry out to God.

[SPEAKER_00]: Not as master, not as a scary figure, but as Abba as a father.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so through being a deader to the dwelling of God's spirit, we become an inheritor of God's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: Through being a deader to the dwelling of God's spirit, we become an inheritor of God's family.

[SPEAKER_00]: about this passage really is the heart of Romans 8 and I do believe that and I've spoken a bit about verse 17, it's on the screen, I think this is the most important verse that we need to understand and I didn't read the whole thing out for a reason, this is what it says I'm going to reread it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now if we are children then we are as.

[SPEAKER_00]: As of God and coares with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so that latter part of the verse, the glory, I've covered that.

[SPEAKER_00]: What I haven't covered is that Paul tells us if we are to be glorified with Christ, we must also suffer with Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so why does He link inherent into suffering?

[SPEAKER_00]: This is what Jesus himself said to his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, pick up his cross and follow me.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I just go and back to the illustration of walking with Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's gonna be a time where he's gonna stop you and he's gonna look at you and he's gonna say, are you willing?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you willing to pick up your cross?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are you willing to deny yourself and walk the same path I've walked?

[SPEAKER_00]: Remember, our inheritance, our adoption is secure, it's a cure.

[SPEAKER_00]: But there is still a daily sacrifice to make in daily what it means to be a Christian.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so you'll be led through the desert before you get to the Promised Land.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't miss the bigger picture and stay wandering the wilderness for 40 years.

[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, in the spirit, we have all these benefits of adoption, amen, but there is still a living cost we have to deal with.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't just belong to Christ in the easy moments that we like.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Christ, we belong to Him in everything, all the way through, not just through general suffering.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not what Paul's talking about here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul is talking about the daily anxieties, tensions, and temptations that Christ Himself faced.

[SPEAKER_00]: and it's the kind you feel when you lay down your pride, your comfort, and your will, and you surrender it all to the Father.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so are we only thinking about the glory?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because that's the trap.

[SPEAKER_00]: Are we believe in we don't need to live in the spirit that we don't need to surrender or forgive or pray for the ones that hurt us?

[SPEAKER_00]: That's hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's really hard.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so sometimes, I know for me, I want the glory, but I don't want the suffering that comes with it.

[SPEAKER_00]: The suffering of bearing the name of God's Son.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I think that, and I'm so guilty of this too, but living in a false inheritance, living in a false idea of what it actually means to be Christian, to follow the gospel.

[SPEAKER_00]: and so a by-product of the Spirit leading you into your identity in Jesus is to answer the call of Jesus and He's calling you to pick up your cross and carry it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so without the Spirit, without the Spirit leading you, you may struggle under the weight of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how would we actually live out our lives if we truly believe this?

[SPEAKER_00]: Living in the Spirit means allowing ourselves to be led into the wilderness, because it was there where Jesus learned obedience by surrendering everything to the Father's will.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so if we're going to be co-ares with Christ, well, we're going to be called to walk in His footsteps.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so we need to recognize in our journey when you suffer in Christ, take heart.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not meaningless, it's not pointless, it's spiritually forminue and shaping you into His likeness.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus never wants to shawd that the disciples will be free of struggle, free of suffering, but He does promise that He will be with them through it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so our inheritance is waiting, but our battle is on going.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the Lord calls us to obedience, to suffer for Him because we love Him, because we want to answer the call of Jesus, because we want to live the life of a Christian.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so the question that I really want us to think about is, am I going to be a spirit

[SPEAKER_00]: Are we going to be a people of the Spirit, a church of the Spirit, or are we going to be Spirit less and risk something else taking that place?

[SPEAKER_00]: And so why is this important?

[SPEAKER_00]: Because a Spirit less faith, meaning a distrust in the Spirit to lead you, will draw you away from your calling, your purpose, and ultimately your identity.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so I really hope that today is the day something clicks that something will change in our faith, that we will walk differently, that this promise of God will take seriously and we'll let it see, can do our hearts, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: And that we will live out our life with the fruit that the Spirit will bring out of us.

[SPEAKER_00]: I am so thankful, so thankful, that I don't do any of that in my own strength.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no way, there's no way.

[SPEAKER_00]: enter the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And while you won't find the word Trinity in the Bible, what you do find in this passage is the trial you in God, embodying love and grace, what you find in this passage is the Father listening to your cry, the Son, knowing your suffering, and the Holy Spirit leading you to adoption, they are all working.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that we, the body of Christ, can be conformed to the image of Christ, that the love of God was so great that through Jesus, by letting the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, you're not just being transformed, but you're being led into a new family.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is an incredible promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I said it before, but I mean, how would the church look in three to four years if we really believe that, if we looked towards suffering as a Christian not as a negative, but as a byproduct that we are being shaped into the likeness of Jesus, what an incredible promise, what an incredible blessing.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so now friends, we are going to come into a time of communion.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is going to be a time where we can approach God.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can ask Cumbly, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: We can seek honestly.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can come to Him with all the things we've been carrying throughout the week.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so before Jesus ever experienced what He did in the garden, on the night He was betrayed.

[SPEAKER_00]: Jesus took the bread.

[SPEAKER_00]: He broke it, and he gave it to his disciples, and he said, this is my body that is broken for you, and then he took the cup, and he said, this is my blood which has been poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

[SPEAKER_00]: And out of all the things that Jesus has called us to do, this is really verbally the one time where Jesus says,

[SPEAKER_00]: And so this is what we do.

[SPEAKER_00]: We do it to remember Jesus, to remember what He did on the cross, and to remember what happened three days later.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so before we remember, as I invite our ashes up, our servers, let's pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, thank you for your Holy Spirit, that He desires to dwell in us, that He desires to give us a new heart,

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, help shape us, form us into your Son, lead us Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: We welcome you here in two our Presence, be with us Holy Spirit.

[SPEAKER_00]: Come Lord Jesus.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen, amen.