Jesus’ Last Day and Our New Year: Living in Light of the Cup

his sweat became like drops of blood

falling down to the ground.

And he was in agony.

You know, when we started Watermark,

several of us were praying,

and we felt like, you know,

what kind of church did we want,

what kind of church did we feel like God wanted us to have

in this midst of this part of Hong Kong Island?

We wanted to be a church where people were known.

We felt like there were a lot of clubs

that people just kind of bop in and bop out,

and there's actually a lot of churches

where people just kind of bop in and bop out,

and no one really knows anybody

because we're so busy.

But we wanted our church to be different.

We felt like God was calling us

to have his church be different.

We wanted the church to be raw and authentic and real.

I get in trouble sometimes when I say raw

because people say,

you can't, don't say raw,

say organic.

And so organic,

and we wanted it to be organic.

And one of our greatest fears

was that you would look at the staff

or the elders or the pastors

and that you would think of them as plastic people.

I don't know if you've ever thought about that,

but I've thought about that.

I've gone to churches where I look up

and I wonder what's going on inside of that person.

Are they real?

Are they, could I get to know them?

Is that something that they would allow?

Are they just kind of plastic?

You know, you grew up in churches all the time

where people ask how you're doing

and everybody's answer is always,

oh, great, I'm doing really good.

Thank you very much.

And I just grew up in church

where everybody was doing really good and great.

And except for me,

I had a hard time sometimes,

but I was never always doing great.

And we wanted Watermark to be different than that.

We wanted you to know the staff and the people

and we wanted to be a family.

So I want to share some things with you about myself

so you're going to get bored as you get to hear more

if you've been here for a while.

But one of the things you have to know

is that I can't hear out of one of my ears.

So I'm actually deaf in one of my ears.

And sometimes people will say,

well, he was really rude

because I started talking to him

and he just walked away and I kept talking.

And if that happens,

it's usually because I just didn't hear you

and because you're speaking into my bad ear.

Now as a husband, it's really helpful

because sometimes your wife is talking to you.

And most husbands use the excuse already,

I can't hear you.

But for me, that's really true.

And so when I go to bed at night,

I just lay down on my good ear

and I can't hear all the talking going on.

But I learned if you just go, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh,

then everything's okay, right?

I'm kind of sentimental.

I have this weirdness about me

that I attach meaning and experiences

to things in my life

and I carry them around.

And so when we got married,

Christina was always trying to get rid of my sweatshirts

and my shoes that had duct tape on them.

And I had always found out

I didn't go to the trash can in our house

because she would put my trash can outside.

So when I'd come home, I'd go to the trash can outside

and I'd grab my favorite pair of shoes out there

because they had meaning

even though they looked like junk.

Before we got married, I bought this watch.

I love watches.

But as a pastor, that's kind of a bad thing to love

because you can't afford those things.

But selfishly, I felt like, okay,

I got three months before I got married,

I have some money left over

and who knows if I'll ever be able to get another watch.

Who knows if my wife will ever let me buy another watch.

By the way, this is not an advertisement

for my wife letting me buy another watch.

But selfishly, I thought that.

So I bought the watch selfishly.

And when I look at the watch,

occasionally I'm reminded of my selfishness.

I remember when we were getting married,

I was sitting in the church

and the bell rang and the doors opened

and I looked at my watch.

And I looked back and I saw Christina there

all in white with her dad.

I was like, wow.

God is so good and amazing.

And I remember that when I look at this watch sometimes.

I've timed all of our kids' birth on this watch.

One time Rachel, our first child,

was 16 hours and Christina was in labor with her

for 16 hours.

It was getting really, really hard.

And we were just the two of us

and the doctor and the nurse.

And the doctor came up and he said,

okay, this is the last push.

If you don't get out this time,

we're gonna have to do something difficult.

And he picked up this phone

and all of a sudden there's like eight people in the room

and forceps are coming out

and all these things are happening.

And I was just praying and praying,

okay, God, please let Rachel come out,

let Rachel come out.

And the last put, Rachel came out.

And I was like, wow, God is so good.

And as I'm timing, I'm timing on my hand.

Labor starts here, this given here,

this, and so I'm keeping track and all these things.

And at the end, I just put God is good.

I remember when I shared two weeks ago,

Christina had the ectopic pregnancy

and she's bleeding out.

And I was in the hospital in Patia

and I was sitting there

and the doctor said,

well, it might be five hours.

And I put my watch down,

I looked at it and I pushed the button

and I wondered,

would I have a wife in five hours?

And four and a half hours later,

the doctor came out

and said, everything's gonna be okay.

And I thought, God is good.

I remember two years later,

I had a heart attack.

It was the middle of the night,

like two o'clock in the morning,

Sunday in the morning.

Christina took me to the hospital.

And I gave her my ring and my watch

as I went in.

And I said to her,

I'll see you in heaven.

And I came out.

And I look at this watch.

I said, man, God is good.

I remember the birth of our second child

and the adoption of our third.

And then in the fourth,

we were up at Matilda

and I was timing everything there.

And Christina,

because she has a blood condition,

she couldn't take anything for painkillers.

And we're trying to work it out

and didn't work out.

And she got in there

and she was in delivery

and she was,

it was so funny.

Well, it wasn't funny.

But when I think about it now,

the doctor,

so Christina's,

and Kate K's coming,

and Christina's going,

oh Jesus, oh Jesus, oh Jesus.

And the doctor who's Indian goes,

there's no Jesus here.

No Jesus here.

No Jesus.

Christina goes,

oh Jesus, oh Jesus,

no Jesus here.

And when Caitlin came out,

I wrote on the back of my hand,

Jesus was here.

God is so faithful in our lives.

Sometimes we attach his faithfulness

to things like watches

and songs

and people.

Sometimes we just forget.

But it seems to me

on this journey

that God's principal purpose for us

is that he's trying to do

everything he can

to keep our eyes off of ourself

and to put them on him.

God's main goal in our life

is to put our eyes off of ourself

and to put them on him.

Okay, we've been looking

at the gospel of Luke for a while.

We've come to this last week

in Jesus' life.

We basically said it's his last day

and we're thinking about

what it means for the rest of our lives.

Remember, Luke is written by Dr. Luke.

He was a physician.

He had a friend

who was probably a high-ranking

government official,

very wealthy.

But persecution had started happening

within the Roman Empire

and his friend wrote a letter to Luke

and said,

is it worth it?

Is Jesus real?

Is everything you told me true?

Is it worth the suffering

and the persecution?

Should I hold on?

And so Luke does all this compilation

and interviews

and he brings all the research together

and he writes the gospel

according to Luke

as God's Holy Spirit

indwells him and teaches him

and shows him

and helps him write

and he writes the book of Acts.

In the passage so far

in his last day,

we've seen this.

We've seen that in God's kingdom,

success is serving people.

Remember that?

We said in God's kingdom,

success is serving people.

Now our pride

and our ambition

in the world

is gonna tell us

that success

is serving ourselves.

But the passage said

that if we ultimately do that,

we're going to fail.

That the only way

that we can succeed

in God's kingdom

is we realize

that God served us ultimately

and because he did,

we can let go

and serve other people.

We don't need to worry

about our fear and ambition

because God served us.

He's going to take care of us.

We ask the question

as we raise our children

and educate them,

are we educating our children

so that they will have

a lot of people serve them?

Are we educating our children

so that they will serve other people

and be a success

in God's kingdom?

And over and over,

we see that God

does everything he can do

to take our eyes

off of ourself

and our eyes on him.

We've learned in this book

last week

that the Bible

is a book of failures.

We learned that there's

a lot of failures

in the Bible

and what we learned

was that God knows

that we're gonna fail.

He expects us to fail.

We talked about Peter

and Peter failing

and what we learned

is that God does amazing things

in our failures.

We're a culture

that's afraid to talk

about failures.

We don't wanna be a failure.

We don't wanna mention it

but what the Bible says

is that when we fail,

God does amazing things.

Some of us don't wanna serve

because we don't wanna fail.

Some of us wanna do something

but we need to take 50 classes

before we do that

because we don't wanna fail.

But the passage says

that when we fail

and God knows

that we're gonna fail,

that God does something amazing.

What he does is

he wraps our failure

in his grace

and he changes us.

He says for Peter,

now that you've failed,

now I can use you.

Now that you've failed,

now you can reach out

to the other disciples

and you can be a part

of their lives.

If you hadn't failed,

Peter,

I couldn't use you.

We learned in the passage

that even though

we're gonna let God down,

God never ever

lets us down.

Even though we're gonna fail God

today and tomorrow

at our work

and in our home

and in our marriage,

God never fails us.

God's primary work

again and again

is to get our eyes

off of ourself

and put our eyes on him

and to realize how good

and wonderful

and beautiful he is.

And so today

we come to this passage,

it's a communion passage.

And what I wanna do

is I just wanna look at it

really briefly.

We're gonna try something

we've never tried before

which is always a danger.

But we're gonna look

at the passage on communion

and I wanted to look

at a couple things

because I believe

that as we as a church

look at communion

and allow God's spirit

to change us,

we should change our thinking

in a couple things.

We're gonna think differently

about ourselves.

We're gonna think differently

about other people.

And we're gonna think differently

about our focus.

We're gonna think differently

about our future.

We're gonna think differently

about where we're heading.

The passage is written out

for you in Luke 22,

but before we get to Luke 22,

you have to realize

that Passover and communion

started a long time before that.

I mean, in the Bible

in Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

about 2,000 years before

what we're reading here,

we're told that our father Abraham,

the father of our faith,

who waited 100 years

to have a son,

finally has a son

and God says,

hey, I wanna see if you love me

or if you wanna love this son more.

And so he sends him

to this faraway mountain,

Mount Moriah,

the mount where God will provide.

And he goes,

what I want you to do

is I want you to make

a mulloch there,

which means I want you

to sacrifice your son.

I want you to sacrifice

your son to me.

I want you to take your eyes

off yourself

and I want you to put

your eyes on me.

And so we're told

that Abraham goes there

and he does that

and right as he's about

to sacrifice his son,

remember his son asked him,

well, where's the lamb?

What does Abraham say?

He said, well,

God will provide the lamb.

Take your eyes off

of yourself

and realize that God

wants to do something amazing

in your life.

And so God provides this ram

and it's caught in the bushes

and it's perfect

and he sacrificed it.

A little later on

in Genesis,

we're told that there's

this great famine

that happens in the land

and no one has food,

no one has water,

and God does something amazing

and he takes these brothers

who are in conflict

and he sells one brother

as a slave

and Joseph goes to Egypt

and through this terrible,

terrible failure

in brotherhood

and familyhood,

he does something amazing

and he saves his people.

The passage says

that 430 years pass

and there's a Pharaoh

who no longer knows

the God of Joseph

and the people of God

have become to multiply

and multiply and multiply

and they become a pain

and the Pharaoh

has put them into slavery

and the bondage

and life is terrible,

terrible, terrible.

And the passage says

that at the right time,

God sends a deliverer.

He sends Moses

in Genesis,

in Exodus 15.

And Moses goes to Pharaoh

but Pharaoh's heart

is hardened

and God brings judgment

upon judgment

upon judgment

and still Pharaoh says,

no, no, no, no, no.

I want to be God.

There is no other God.

Often a lot like us

in our lives, right?

I want to be God.

I don't want another God.

And finally God says,

okay,

one more judgment.

I'm going to send

the angel of death.

I'm going to send

the angel of judgment.

And God warns Moses

in the Exodus passage.

He says,

judgment is coming

but by the way,

there is a way

that you can escape

from this.

it's called a Passover meal.

I mean,

it's the only way

that you're going to be able

to escape this judgment.

The only way

that you're going to be

free from death

and from condemnation

is that you're going to have

to partake of this meal.

You're going to kill a lamb

and then you're going to

take a hyssop branch

and you're going to

smear its blood

all over the door.

And whoever does this,

when the angel comes,

whoever does this,

they're going to be saved.

But whoever doesn't do this,

whoever doesn't do this,

they will face judgment

and they will perish.

And I wonder

as I read that passage,

were the Jewish people

like us today?

Were there some people

in there going,

did God really say that?

I mean,

do I really need

to make my doorway

dirty with blood?

And I'm a good person.

I'm pretty good.

I mean,

I serve in a temple.

I'm nice.

I'm not as bad

as that person.

I wonder if there were people

like us

during that day

who doubted God's word

and doubted his goodness.

But we're told

in the Exodus passage

that by the end of the day,

in every house in Egypt,

in every house,

there was either

a dead lamb

or a dead person.

there was either

a dead lamb

or a dead person.

No one was going

to be saved

unless they had eaten

the lamb

and been covered

by the blood.

Everyone at the end

of the day,

think about this,

everyone at the end

of the day knew

that the only reason

they were alive

because it was

a little,

furry,

white,

innocent animal

had its throat slit

and it died

in their place.

The Bible says

that generation

after generation

after generation

passed

and year after year

the father of the household

would lead his family

in a very specific ceremony.

The ceremony

would always start

like this.

The youngest person

in the family

would ask a question.

They would say,

why is this night

different?

than all the other nights?

Why do we do this?

Why do we do that?

And the ceremony

would include things

like unleavened bread

which was a symbol

of haste

and hardship

in the wilderness.

The ceremony

would include

bitter herbs

which symbolized

their bondage

and their slavery

and their captivity.

It would have

a red stew

that the composture

and the mixture

would look just like

the bricks that they made

and in the ceremony

there would be four cups

and they would do

these toasts

and they would

basically toast God

and thank him

for his goodness

in their life.

They would thank him

for their freedom

for their redemption

for their peace

for their new

relationship with him

and then

a lamb

would be killed

and his blood

would be stained

everywhere

and everybody

would remember

that the only reason

they're alive

is because God

is good

and somebody else

had to die

in their place.

We get to Luke 22

and we fast forward

about 1500 years.

Jesus has gone

to Jerusalem

and we've been talking

about this for like

a year, right?

He's gone to Jerusalem

and he's basically

gone to Jerusalem

to accomplish

his exodus

for God's people.

I mean,

he's going to do

the exact same thing

that Moses did

in Egypt.

He's going to do

the exact same thing

in Jerusalem

for us.

The people were in slavery.

The people were in bondage.

Now remember,

Jerusalem was going

to explode.

I mean,

there was some,

Josephus and some scholars

say there were

200,000,

200,000,

2 million people

in Jerusalem

during the festival.

I mean,

this was a special Passover

because there was this rabbi

and he was changing

things around

and everybody wanted

to be at Jerusalem.

So 2 million people,

some of the estimates

are there were

about 200,000 families.

So 200,000 families

at 3 o'clock

in the afternoon

would take their sheep

and the priests

would blow the horn

like a shofar

and at the same time

they would take their knives

and they would cut

the throat

of the sheep.

Can you imagine

what that was like?

100,000 sheep dying

at the same time?

I mean,

the sheep don't die well.

They're bad,

bad, bad.

At the same time,

3 o'clock,

and you heard

this loud noise

and the blood

was gushing everywhere.

I mean,

it's told that

there's thousands of priests

that had these silver

and these gold bowls

and they went

and they got the blood

and they ran up

to the temple

and to the altar

and they would pour

the blood at the foot

of the altar

as a sacrifice,

as an atonement

for the sin

and we're told

that in Jerusalem

there was this blood river

that flowed out of the temple

down into the Kidron

and sometimes it got

two or three feet high

because 100,000 sheep

were killed

so that the people's sin

might be passed over

and hidden

for a little while.

Remember,

it's Jesus' last day

and the officials

are out to kill him.

We don't have it

in your bulletin

but please go back

because in Luke 22,

1 through 6,

you see this passage

where the synagogue

officials have conspired

and Satan enters Judas

and Judas says,

I'll get him alone.

I know you're worried

about the crowds.

I know that you're worried

about you grabbing

the temple.

There's going to be

this huge revolt.

I'll get him alone.

I'm the money changer.

I have all the money

so if he has to do something,

I'm going to know

where he's going to be

and the minute I know

where he's going to be,

I'm going to tell you

and so you can go

and you can capture him

in this room

because no one of us

will be there

and it's going to be good.

Jesus, we're told,

knows that.

The officials are out

to kill him.

Judas has betrayed him

but he really desires

to have this last Passover feast

with his disciples.

In Luke 22,

it says Jesus sent Peter and John.

He throws a monkey wrench in there.

So now Jesus doesn't know

where it's going to be.

Only Peter and John

know where it's going to be

and we're told in the passage

that Peter and John

go to prepare a meal now.

I'd like to ask the communion stewards

and the worship leaders

to come forward.

When you're ready,

you'll come up

and you're going to receive

a red band.

Don't do anything with it yet.

You're going to receive

both elements.

Don't do anything with it yet.

But as you think

and as you come forward,

wonder,

what was it like

on Passover?

What was it like

when you went

to get your sheep?

What was it like

when the trumpet blowed

and you slaughtered it?

What was it like

knowing that the only reason

that you're there

is because somebody

had to die

in your place?

After you've received

all the elements,

go back to your seat

and I'll come back up

and we'll take them

together as a family.

The first thing

before we take the elements

that I see in this passage

about communion

and I think it's a challenge

to us

is that when we come

to God's word,

the question is

why?

Why are we taking

communion today?

Have we examined

our lives?

Have we asked the question

that the little kids ask

before communion?

Why do we do this?

Why is this any more

special than today?

The passage

in verse 21,

which you don't have here

but you have to go home

and look at it,

says immediately

immediately after Jesus

did that,

he told his disciples

that one of them

was going to betray him.

Immediately the questions

round out the same

in each time in Greek,

surely not I,

surely not I,

surely not I,

surely not I

and then Judas

looked him in the face

and he said,

Master,

surely not I

and there was

a big question

and we're told

that they examined

their hearts

and they examined

their lives

and they wondered

were they the one

who was going

to betray him?

Were they the one

who was going

to run away?

Were they the ones

who were going

to fail him?

The meal represents

a covenant.

It's a relationship

between God

and us.

The Old Testament

says that the

sacrifice of sheep

do not forgive sins.

It just covers them up

and points to the future

where someone else

will have to come

and forgive their sins

and when we come

to the communion elements

and we take them,

what we are saying is,

what we are acknowledging

is that we need Jesus.

What we're saying

is that Jesus

is the only way.

What we're saying

is I can work hard,

I can do all these things

but in the end

I'm still broken

and sinful

and I need Christ.

I mean,

every other religion,

every other philosophy,

every other thought

of mankind

is going to say

that you get saved

because you work hard

and you do the right things

and you're a good person

but when we come

to the communion table,

what Christianity

is saying

is that none of that

is true.

That we're here

as a gift

and the question is

are we going to make

that gift ours

or are we going to eat of it

and to realize

what it means?

The passage says

that when we come

to the table

we're called

to continually examine

our lives

and to see

if the grace

that God has poured out

upon us

has it changed us.

Do we think differently

now in light of the cross?

Do we act differently

in our homes?

Do we act differently

in our work?

Do we act differently

among our friends?

Do we understand

the massive cost

it costs

to forgive us?

I mean do our actions

change?

Are our hearts different?

Do we ask the question

maybe

in light of what God

has done for me

is this a good thing

for me to be doing

right now?

In light of the sacrifice

that Christ has made

for me

is this the right choice

for me?

Do I understand grace?

Have I allowed God

to change me?

Do I live today

as if it cost Jesus

his only son

but it cost God

his only son?

Do I live that way?

When we come

to the communion

it challenges us

to think about ourselves

but also challenges

to think about

our relationships.

The passage says here

and we all know

that communion

was a family thing

and you did it

among your family

but here for the first time

Jesus is separating

these men

from their family

he's bringing

them together

and basically

what he's saying

is that

there is a new family

it's not a DNA family

but it's a

it's a spiritual family

and he's going to tell us

throughout the scripture

that this spiritual family

brought together

by his blood

and his sacrifice

is stronger

than our biological families.

I mean we looked at it

last week

last week

the disciples got together

and they were arguing

over who's going to be

the greatest

and who's going to serve whom

and Jesus said to them

that's not how we act

in God's family.

That's not how we treat

each other

and the only way

that we can treat each other

the way that God wants us to

is if we trust him.

I mean at the Passover meal

we're called to examine

our relationships.

I mean are our relationships strong?

Are we a part of God's family?

Are we a part of God's family

and people here?

Or do we just drop by

because we want to feel good

about ourselves?

Are we plastic people?

communion calls us

to examine

our relationships

with others

and to ask us

how are we doing

with the person

next door to us

because they are

our family.

They're who we're going

to be in heaven with

forever.

Father, I just

come before you

and just confess

my sin

and selfishness.

So often

the focus

and thought

is of myself

and it's not on you.

Father, we come to you

as your people

and we confess

our brokenness

and our sin.

we ask you

to change us,

to redeem us,

to fix us,

to bring us back

the way we are

supposed to be.

Help us to think

of ourselves

in the right way

in light of communion.

Help us to realize

what it means

to have this person

die for us

and the only reason

that we are here,

the only reason

that we have hope,

the only reason

that we have a future

is because someone

else died for us.

Father, I confess

the way I treat

my brothers and sisters

sometimes.

I have to admit

that often

I'm like the disciples.

I'm looking for people

to serve me

instead of

me serving them.

Father, I pray for us

as a church.

I know that there are

a lot of people here

who struggle

with these things

and I pray, Lord,

for your forgiveness.

I pray for your mercy

I pray that your grace

would change us

and would make us

a different people

and people would look

at this congregation,

your family,

and say,

something's different here

and they would ask questions

just as they did

the early church.

Father, in the midst

of all this,

we need you desperately

and we know that you know

that we're going to fail.

So we thank you

for your son

whose blood brings us life

and erases

our sin.

We love you.

On the night

that Jesus was betrayed,

he took a loaf of bread

and he broke it.

And what he said next

would have freaked

everybody out

because for 1,500 years

he said this bread

represents the bread

of haste

and the bread of pain

and the bread of suffering

and the bread of wandering

in the wilderness.

But this time

what he says is

this bread

represents me.

The pain

and the suffering

the brokenness

that I will face for you.

The body of Christ

broken for you.

We're told a little while later

he took a cup

and no one knows

which cup it was

out of the four.

Maybe it was the third one.

The cup of redemption.

The cup of payback.

A buyback.

And this time

he said

instead of

this blood

this cup represents

the blood of lambs

that were shed for you

to cover you

so that you'll have

to do it again

and again

and again

focusing towards

when it's going to be finished.

This time he says

this is my blood.

This is what all the lambs

for 2,000 years

have pointed to.

And in my life

your sin

is forgiven.

You have a new relationship now.

You're brought back

to the Father.

You're my children.

The blood of Christ

shed for you.

One final thought.

As we come to communion

and we think about the wine

we think about the bread

we think about the sacrifice

we think about the lamb

we think about Jesus.

In verse 19

we're told something

very special.

He said he had come

and taken some bread

and he had given thanks

and he broke it

and he gave it to them

saying this is my body

which is given

which is paid out.

It's actually

it's a banker's term

he just

he is paid in full

my body's spent on you

do this in remembrance of me

and that word remembrance

means to

continually

continually

continually

put it before your face.

The Greeks would say

that time is like an eraser

and it gets into our mind

and it erases us

and we forget things.

Jesus is saying

that basically

in our lives

we're going to become

so busy

that Hong Kong

is going to get out of control

and he's saying

that sometimes

we're going to

we're going to forget him.

And we're called

to come to the communion table

and to remember

and to remember

his goodness.

Verse 15 says

that we'll remember

his desire

to be with us.

The word actually means

I desire to desire.

It actually means lust.

The passage says

that God lusts after you.

He wants to be with you

so much.

He wants to be with you

and have a relationship

with you.

And sometimes

in the busyness

we forget that.

But Jesus says

remember.

Remember.

Verse 15 and 19

says we were to remember

because of the suffering.

We were to remember

that Christ is humiliated.

We remember

that he hangs on a tree.

We were to remember

the pain.

We were to remember

as we walk through life

and we feel broken

and lost

and forsaken

and useless

that we have a Savior

who died for us

and through his death

were given

ultimate value.

Jesus said remember this

because you're going

to get busy

and you're going

to forget this.

He says remember

throughout the whole passage

that I am in control

of all things.

I know they're looking

for me at the house

and so I go

to a different place.

I know they want

to grab me

before the Passover

and get it done

and kill me

but I have a different plan.

I know what's going on

in your life.

You're living life

and it's terrible

and it's hard

or it's great

and you're wondering

if he's there

and you're wondering

if he's in control

and you're wondering

if he's in our life

and he's working

through our lives

and when we look

at the cup

and when we look

at the cross

and we look

at God's word

we're called

to remember

that he's with us

that he'll never

forsake us

he never gives up

on us

he's the God

of second chances

the question is

are we going

to take him up

on that

are we going

to try to be

and live life

the way we want to

I'm going to ask

the worship team

to come back up

they're going to

finish this up

with one or two songs

when you came up

you got a band

a red band

as Jeremy leads us

in worship

what I would like

you to do

is I'd like you

to turn to the person

next to you

your family member

and I would like you

to have them

tie that band

around your wrist

nicely

not too tight

no blue fingers

my hope

and my prayer

is that this

piece of thread

around our wrist

is a reminder

it calls us

to memory

of all that God

has done

and all his goodness

I'll come up

and close this

in a minute

we are the people

of God

purchased by his life

his blood

shed for us

the passage says

he just gave it all

in the blood

he gave it all

in his body

he gave it all

because he knew

that we

we needed it

all

my prayer

is as you walk

away from this

communion time

that you'd realize

that as God's people

we need to start

thinking differently

about ourselves

maybe some of us

need to start acting

like God's people

as God's people

we need to start

thinking differently

about the people

around us

maybe to realize

that they're our family

and somehow

God supernaturally

brought us together

by his design

he knew

that we needed

each other

maybe we need

to start acting

like a family

my prayer is

as we leave here

that our focus

our thoughts

would always be

about remembrance

would always be

about remembering

God

Christ on a tree

what he's done

for us

how he's purchased

our life

how he cares

for us

there's nothing

we need to fear

there's nothing

we need to doubt

because he's in control

of everything

even his own death

will we start

living like that

will we trust him

because he's good

my hope is that

you would carry this band

with you

for a day

or two

or however long

and every time

you look down

on it

you remember

a savior

broken for you

you remember

that your only reason

that we're here

is because somebody

died

for us

who didn't deserve it

we'd ask God

to use those thoughts

in his spirit

to change us

and to make us

his people

more

Christ's body

broken for you

God

in control

of everything

in your life

God

passionately

pursuing you

and wanting to have

a relationship

with you

a God

who says

he's going to do it

to the end

that I'm going to be

with you

until the end

until the kingdom comes

we eat it together

in the kingdom

I'm going to bring you

all the way

if you trust me

Father we thank you

for this day

we thank you

for your words

that are so powerful

but Lord

we pray that we would

eat them

we would eat you

we would eat your word

we would allow your spirit

to change us

help us to be in awe

of your grace

help us to be in awe

of your mercy

help us to be in awe

of goodness

and Lord

we just confess

when we're not

because the passage

says that we're going

to forget

we're going to become busy

help us to remember

help us to help each other

remember

help us to come

alongside each other

when we're in the midst

of the junk

and we bring to memory

for our brother and sister

the Savior

who died for us

because he did

everything else

is going to be okay

everything else

is going to be okay

Lord I pray for those

who didn't receive

a band in here

today

we have a band

ready for them

my prayer is that

they would ask

a lot of questions

and try to understand

what does it mean

that Christ had to die

for them

what does it mean

to have a sacrifice

pay for their

their rebellion

their bondage

their idols

I pray they would ask

people

they would come up

and ask the elders

ask myself

so we could talk to them

about the most wonderful

thing in our life

it's a Savior

who loves us so much

and he pursues us so much

and he never gives up

on us

and he's in control

of our lives

and we could trust him

we can trust him

Father help us

to be a church

that acts

like your people

loves like your people

is a community

like your people

and we know

that the only way

this is going to happen

is you change us

so Lord

we're thankful

that you continually

do things in our life

to take our eyes

off of ourself

and to put them on you

sometimes you use a song

sometimes you use

a piece of metal

junk watch

but more often than not

you use the body

and the bread

broken for us

Lord we love you

we need you desperately

we pray all these things

in your son Jesus name

amen

God bless you

we'll see you back here

next Sunday

you

do

we

you

you