Matthew 16:1-12

sang it through for us. I wanted to get in the

repertoire of songs that we sing because the

words are just, I think, so powerful with such

a good song. I think about the situations that

confront our church. This morning, by the way,

Bryce and Susanna had their little baby boy,

born at 8 .01 this morning. So we thank the Lord

for that, and I know they're rejoicing in the

sweetest picture with Susanna, you know, those

happy tears of a mama who's just given birth,

and so very hopeful and excited for them. But

I was thinking, as they had their baby boy, what

are they doing? No doubt they're praising God,

but they're fixing their hope on Jesus for him.

And then I think I was talking to Mike about

our brother George, George Fuller. You know,

you've got one coming into the world and you're

one trying to stay in it, fighting for life.

And what's George doing? He's setting his hope

on Jesus. What do you do? Where else do you go?

I thought about this week, Rick Hankins, he went

in last Monday for open heart surgery, a difficult

surgery. He was setting his hope on Jesus. Chrissy

Davis is going to Columbus each week, finishing

up radiation treatments, hoping and praying that

this treatment protocol will produce the desired

outcome. What is she doing? She's setting her

hope on Jesus. What are we doing as we gather

on this Wednesday this morning? That's why I

want this song to be in our repertoire, because

no matter the season of life, no matter the station

we find ourselves in, the only thing that we

as God's people do is we set our hope on him.

He's the only one who will never disappoint.

And with that, this morning, we're going to read

the text and ask God to help us and to set our

hope on him as well. In chapter 16, we begin

with verse 1. It says, Then the Pharisees and

Sadducees, they came, and they were testing him,

asked that he would show them a sign from heaven.

He answered and said to them, When it's evening,

you say it'll be fair weather, for the sky is

red. In the morning, it'll be foul weather today,

for the sky is red and threatening. You hypocrites.

You know how to discern the face of the sky,

but you cannot discern the sign of the times.

A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after

a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except

the sign of the prophet Jonah. And he left them.

Jesus left them, and he departed. Now when his

disciples had come to the other side, so they

got in a boat, they're headed across the Sea

of Galilee. They had forgotten to take bread.

Then Jesus said to them, Take heed and beware

of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It

is because we have taken no bread. But Jesus,

being aware of it, said to them, Oh, you of little

faith, why do you reason among yourselves because

you have brought no bread? Don't you understand?

Remember the five loaves of the 5 ,000 and how

many baskets were left over? Don't you remember

the seven loaves of the 4 ,000, how many large

baskets you took up afterwards? How is it you

don't understand that I did not speak to you

concerning bread, but to beware of the leaven

of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Then they understood

that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven

of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees

and Sadducees. Let's ask God to help us. Father,

you are good and kind. It is a mercy from heaven

that we can meet this morning. Lord, there is

nothing else that is priority. Lord, we seek

first the kingdom of God and your righteousness.

And we do so on this Lord's day, this one day

out of seven, that is consecrated to your holy

use because of the resurrection of your son.

It is in Jesus. that our hope is placed. Father,

speak to us this morning, we pray in Christ's

name. Amen. We're halfway through this gospel.

It's been a good study in my estimation, but

anytime that you're reading through the scriptures,

it is always important that you keep before you

authorial intent. In other words, why is Matthew

writing this gospel? And that's important to

do because if you get just lost in verse after

verse, you're going to miss the bigger picture.

You're going to understand the flow of his argument

if you understand the purpose of why he's writing

the gospel. Matthew, or Levi as he's known, he's

a Jew, writing primarily, not exclusively, to

his Jewish countrymen. For what purpose? He wants

them to see that Jesus is the promised Messiah.

And in order to prove that claim, Matthew has

recorded many, but not all, of Jesus' miracles.

Excuse me. The sick were healed. Blind received

their sight. Lepers have been cleansed. Even

the dead has been raised. But apart from the

miracles, Matthew also recorded how Old Testament

prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus. So by the

time we get to chapter 16, which is where our

text is this morning, there is no reasonable

excuse for unbelief. There has already been enough

evidence presented to prove the claim that Jesus

is the Christ. Yet, despite the preponderance

of evidence, there were many leading religious

leaders in Israel who refused to believe in him.

Jesus said this in John 3 .19, and this is the

condemnation. This is why they're going to be

condemned. Because light has come into the world.

There's no excuse. Light has come. And men love

darkness rather than light. And we'll see that

this morning. So what's the context? Jesus has

just returned to Israel after he spent some time,

we don't know how much, some time in the land

of the Gentiles. And it was there that he received

a very warm reception. In fact, while he was

in the land of the Gentiles, do you remember

that Canaanite woman that we looked at a couple

weeks ago? She came up begging him to heal her

daughter, but she called him Son of David. That's

a messianic title. So what you have here is a

Gentile woman, Gentile, Canaanite, and yet she

recognized that Jesus is the Messiah sent from

heaven. In fact, during that trip, Jesus healed

multitudes of Gentiles, and we were told that

they were praising the God of Israel. But now

we're in chapter 16. We're back in Israel, his

own homeland, with his own countrymen. And here

we find profound unbelief, particularly among

the ruling class. Now, the irony here that Matthew

doesn't want you to miss is that Gentiles receive

him while his own people reject him. Now, the

Lord has already performed quite a few miracles.

But the religious leaders, the Pharisees and

the Sadducees, they came to him. And what are

they asking? Show us some sign from heaven. Give

us some sign. Now, Matthew wants you to feel

the irony of this. In chapter 14, we had the

feeding of the 5 ,000 with 12 baskets left over.

Chapter 15, we had the feeding of the 4 ,000,

seven large baskets left over. Jesus has fed

thousands upon thousands of people with a few

fish and a few loaves of bread. And now they're

saying, just give us some sign. Come on, just

show us some sign. It's irony. But these all,

these feedings were signs pointing to the arrival

of the Messiah. Now, word of these miracles spread,

and it spread broadly. But it spread also down

to Jerusalem, to where the Sanhedrin, the ruling

body of Israel, met. And it was causing some

concern, because the religious leaders believed

Jesus was a fraud. Therefore, they came to him

to test him, or to trap him. Verse 1. You have

the Pharisees and Sadducees came. Stop right

there. We're used to reading the scribes and

Pharisees. Scribes and Pharisees were really

the same group. Many of the Pharisees were scribes.

The scribes were the experts, the lawyers. When

we talk about lawyer, not in a court of law,

but rather in religious law, the Torah. So you

have scribes and Pharisees, pretty much the same.

But the Sadducees are not the same. And we're

not spoken of often about them. Now the fact

that the Pharisees and Sadducees are working

together shows there is a mounting hostility

to Jesus. Because Pharisees and Sadducees didn't

like each other. They're not friends. They're

certainly not allies. They have no alignment

politically nor theologically. But they were

united in the rejection of Jesus. The Pharisees,

as you know, because they're the ones most often

mentioned, they're the strict adherence to the

law and to tradition. They believed in an afterlife.

They believed in angels and demons. They believed

in the resurrection of the body. The Sadducees,

on the other hand, believed in none of that.

They did accept the first five books, the Pentateuch,

as inspired, as authoritative. But they did not

believe there was life after death. They did

not believe in an afterlife. They did not believe

in any angels or demonic realm. And they certainly

did not believe in a future resurrection of the

body. By and large, the Sadducees were the wealthy

aristocrats and politicians. They wielded considerable

political power. And they were happy to work

with Rome, by the way, because they wanted to

keep their own comfortable lives. Most of them

were of the priestly class. In fact, at the trial

of Jesus, the chief priest and the high priest

were Sadducees. And that will make sense when

we get there. Now, the Sadducees mostly ignored

religion. They didn't have much use for it. If

you don't believe in afterlife, you really don't.

And they were focused on politics, but really

just keeping Rome happy and away from them. And

so they had long ignored Jesus. They were happy

to ignore him until they couldn't. He had become

too popular for them. Because now you have some

people in Israel saying that Jesus is the Messiah

and... wanting to make him king of Israel. That's

not good news for the Sadducees. The Sadducees

feared that Jesus and his popularity might bring

unwanted attention. If word gets back to Rome

about there being some Jewish king, well, then

they're all going to be in trouble. So the Sadducees,

they knew they had a good thing going. They had

money. They had power. They didn't want anyone

upsetting that, least of all Jesus. For these

reasons, the Pharisees, or the Sadducees, decided

to join league with the Pharisees and oppose

Jesus. Let's put our differences aside. We hate

each other. But let's trap Jesus. Because the

Pharisees didn't like him either, for different

reasons. Now, verse 1 says they came testing

him. The word actually means they tried to trap

him. How are they going to do this? Well, they're

going to request something. Give us a sign from

heaven. That's all we need. Now, keep in mind,

friends, these are not sincere seekers wanting

to be led to the truth. They already have their

minds made up about Jesus. They're going to trap

him. They don't really expect a sign. They don't

really want a sign. Besides, keep in mind, up

to this point, Jesus has already performed many

signs and miracles. We talked about him casting

out demons, raising the dead, restoring sight

to the blind, and so forth. The problem is not

a lack of signs. The problem is their hard hearts.

So here they come. Jesus, give us a sign from

heaven. Now what's that mean? They believed an

earthly sign could be counterfeited by Satan,

but if you had something directly coming from

the heavens, it must be divine. Something like

Elijah calling down fire from heaven. Something

akin to that. We want something dramatic, over

the top, just absolutely incontrovertible. What

are they trying to do? They want to discredit

Jesus. Because the moment they ask for it, and

Jesus does not oblige, he does not give them

the request, they're going to say, oh, he's a

fraud. See, he can't do it. And by that, they're

hoping that crowds will stop following him. That's

what they want. But the great irony is, they're

requesting a sign from heaven, and the one who

came from heaven is standing right in front of

them. They just can't see it. Jesus Christ himself

is heaven's great sign. Always. So what was Jesus'

response to their demand? Is he going to say,

oh, you want a sign? You want to see that I'm

the Messiah? Well, watch this. No. He's not at

their beck and call. He's not going to oblige

them. He's only going to do what his father told

him to do. That's it. Nothing else. He's not

some circus sideshow performing miracles anytime

someone requests to impress people. It's not

who he is. Instead, he rebukes them harshly.

Verses 2 through 4. And he answered, and you

can read the text there. Basically, he calls

them hypocrites. Far from performing a miracle,

he called them a wicked, adulterous generation

full of hypocrites. Now, when he said they were

adulterous, this means they're unfaithful to

God. That language was used in the Old Testament

when Israel was unfaithful to Yahweh. So what

Jesus Christ is doing to their face, he is saying,

you Pharisees, you Sadducees, you are in the

same category as apostate Israel. And he says,

you're so hypocritical. You can discern weather

patterns, but you cannot discern the Messiah

who's standing right in front of you. Now he

gives that old adage. I've always heard it. Red

sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the

morning, sailors warning. Well, that's what it

is here. So these men, they could look at the

sky. They could tell, is it going to be good

weather? It will be bad weather. But they could

not look around them and see that God was at

work among them. That's the hypocrisy there.

He says, you cannot discern the signs of the

times. What are those? That's the day of their

visitation. This refers to the coming of God's

kingdom. In the person of Jesus, God had come

to Israel. And these religious leaders failed

to see it. Don Carson, he says, the proof that

they cannot discern the signs is that they ask

for a sign. Because so much has already gone

on before this that there is no reason to ask

for more evidence. To ask him for a miracle after

all the miracles he's already done is just willful

unbelief. You don't want to believe. It's just

hard -heartedness. Because everything Jesus did

were signs pointing to him and the arrival of

the Messianic king. Signs were happening all

around them. But these men were blind. They failed

to discern them. Do you remember when John the

Baptist was in prison? And he was confused and

he began to have a little doubt. He was wondering,

is Jesus really the one who should come? Is he

really the Messiah? Do you remember how Jesus

answered John's doubts? In Matthew 11, we read

this. Go and tell John the things which you hear

and see. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers

are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised

up, and the poor have the gospel preached to

them. Now why didn't Jesus just say, go and tell

John, yes, I'm him. Yep, tell him yes. Instead,

he says, go and tell John these things that are

taking place. Go tell John what you see taking

place. Why? Why do you do that? Because he's

showing John how he is fulfilling all the messianic

prophecies. Many of these came from Isaiah. Even

Isaiah chapter 35, we looked at this last week.

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

The eyes of the blind shall be opened. The ears

of the deaf shall be unstopped. The lame shall

leap like a deer. The tongue of the dumb shall

sing. We looked at that last week. This is when

God visits you. I mean, there's zero excuse for

unbelief. Jesus didn't simply say, yes, I'm the

Messiah. He proved it through his many miracles.

Signs. You want signs? Just look around. They're

all pointing to the rival of God's kingdom. But

they would not see them because they chose not

to. Andrew Farley, in his commentary, he says,

they did not want to know the truth about the

appointed times. Any humble heart could discern

that the time had come for the kingdom to arrive

and that Jesus' miracles were signs that the

Messiah had come. But these aren't truth seekers.

That's not what they want. They're seeking an

opportunity to embarrass and silence and discredit

Jesus. Jesus did say, okay, I'm going to give

you one sign now. You want a sign? Yeah, I'll

give it to you. It'll be the sign of Jonah. Sign

of Jonah. What's that? Well, you know who Jonah

is. He was a prophet that God had called to go

to the wicked Assyrian capital of Nineveh and

preach repentance to them. Jonah said, no, I

hate the Assyrians. I hate the Ninevites. I don't

want to go. As a result, Jonah spends three nights

and three days and three nights in the belly

of a great fish. After three days, he reappeared

on land. In mentioning the sign of Jesus, It

is a cryptic reference to Jesus' own death and

resurrection. Like Jonah, Jesus will spend three

days and three nights in the heart of the earth,

in the grave. Afterwards, he will reappear, having

risen triumphantly from the grave. The Pharisees

and Sadducees, they're like, hey, prove you're

the Messiah. And Jesus said, oh, you want proof?

Okay, I'll give you proof. When you kill me,

I'll rise from the dead. How's that? How's that

for proof? That's exactly what Paul said in Romans

1 .4. Jesus declared, proved, vindicated to be

the Son of God. How? By the resurrection from

the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is

the greatest sign ever given to man, proving

that Jesus was the Messiah and Savior sent from

heaven. This is why we worship on this day. The

resurrection of Christ. Now notice the last part

of verse 4. And he left them and departed. They

come seeking a sign. They leave empty handed.

I wonder. I'm just wondering here. Is there something

that is meant perhaps more ominously by that

phrase he left them. Jesus leaves them. To me

I think there might be something. to be unpacked

there. But he's leaving Israel, by the way, physically.

He's departing Israel. He has this discussion

with the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He gathers

his disciples. They get into a boat. They're

crossing the Sea of Galilee to go back into Gentile

territory. And that's where we pick up verses

5 through 7. Now, this is almost comical. This

part, I mean, really, if you look at it, you're

like, oh, come on, good night. So it appears

that they left in a hurry. We don't know. But

for whatever reason, the disciples forgot to

grab some more bread to take with them. Now Mark

in his gospel details one important event. They

have one loaf of bread with them. Now there's

at least 13 grown men. You've got the 12 disciples

and Jesus. So at least 13. We don't know if there's

other. 13 adult men in their party. One loaf

of bread will do a whole lot. Now it's at this

very time that they realized. We forgot to bring

more bread. At that time, Jesus says, beware

of the leaven of the Pharisees and scribes. Beware

of the yeast. Beware of the leaven. Christ had

been grieved by the conversation he just had.

Christ loved his people. He loved Israel. And

her leaders were hard -hearted. So he's grieved

by that. He's still thinking about that. And

he's warning his disciples, don't fall into their

same error. And he talks about leaven. a piece

of fermented dough from last week's batch that

would be placed in this week's batch to make

it rise. Yeast or leaven would permeate the whole

batch of dough, which is why leaven or yeast

was often used as a metaphor for any pervasive

influence. But in this case, the leaven of the

Pharisees and Sadducees is a metaphor for hypocritical

religion. Because if you would have looked at

the Pharisees or the Sadducees, you would have

looked on the outside and seen very pious men.

Seemed devout. Seemed God -fearing. But they're

rotten on the inside. And Jesus is wanting his

disciples, beware of that. Take heed to yourselves.

Now they assumed, when he mentions leaven or

yeast, that he's talking about the fact that

they forgot to bring more bread with them. Now

I imagine, this is my imagination, this is not

inspired text, that at this time you see Jesus

do like a sanctified eye roll or a face palm

like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

You think I'm worried because you didn't bring

bread? Look at verses 8 through 11. But Jesus

being aware of it, he said to them, I imagine

a little exasperated. Oh, you of little faith.

Why do you reason among yourselves because you

brought no bread? Think about this. You guys

really think I'm upset or concerned because we

only have one loaf of bread? Do you really think

that has me worried, guys? Come on. Weren't you

there when I fed the 5 ,000 men in addition with

women and children? Weren't you there when you

took up 12 baskets? I fed 5 ,000, actually 15

,000 to 20 ,000. Weren't you just there when

you were in the Gentile land and there were 4

,000 men besides women and children? And I fed

all of them with just a few loaves of fish. And

there was a lot left over. Guys, obviously, producing

bread is not a problem for me. And by the way,

they're like the leaven of the Pharisees and

Sadducees. I think he's probably, are you kidding

me? You really think that I don't want you to

buy a fair cycle bread? Don't go buy bread from

a Sadducee. How is it, guys? You don't get it.

I'm not talking about bread. Okay, what is he

talking about? We don't have to wonder. Obviously,

Christ was referring to the teaching, to the

doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But

I want you to notice something first. Look at

what he calls them. He says, O you of little

faith. Little faith. They failed to understand.

Why did he say they had little faith? Because

they failed to understand that Christ could have

taken one loaf and he could have fed them all

if he had to. By the way, he had very little

food when he fed thousands. They're starting

out with one bread and he only has to feed 13

men. So he says, you guys don't have faith at

all. Don't you understand? I can take this one

loaf. I can multiply it and feed this. Thousands

if I wanted to. So he calls them men of little

faith, but he did not call them men of no faith.

There's a contrast that Matthew wants you to

see. Back in Israel, Sadducees and Pharisees,

men of no faith. But his disciples at this point

still have a very immature faith. It's not yet

fully formed. Now this is not the first time

Jesus called them men of little faith. In chapter

8, which we looked at. Remember when the storm

came upon the Sea of Galilee and they're like,

Jesus, we're dying. His disciples came down and

awoke him saying, Lord, save us, we're perishing.

But he said to them, this is in the midst of

a terrible storm. Why are you fearful? Oh, you

have little faith. I can tell you why I'm fearful.

Do you see the waves that's swamping the boat

right now? He says he arose and rebuked the winds

and the sea. And there's a great calm. I want

you to see something that Jesus is showing to

them. Fast forward to chapter 14. Peter gets

out of the boat and begins to walk on water.

But he looks around and the wind and seas are

boisterous. Verse 30. When he saw that the wind

was boisterous, he was afraid. Of course he was.

And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save

me. Now you would think the Lord would be pleased

with Peter. He got out of the boat and he knew

where to go. Jesus did save him. He caught him

by the hand, but he said to them, are you a little

faith? Why'd you doubt? I can tell you why I

doubted. I can tell you why I was afraid in the

storm. But here's the lesson for us as well as

for them. Disciples still had not learned to

completely trust their master. They were learning.

They had faith. Their faith was immature. And

we see that because any time a new problem comes

their way, they've already forgotten what Jesus

showed them in the past. So the problem is not

that they forgot bread. The problem is that they

forgot who Jesus was. If they remembered who

Jesus was, fear, worry, doubt, it's no longer

present. Then after he rebuked them, that was

a rebuke. The disciples then they understood,

ah, he's not referring to bread at all. He's

talking about their teaching, verse 12. Then

they understood that he did not tell them to

beware of the leaven of bread. Yeah, Jesus is

not afraid of bread. But of the doctrine of the

Pharisees and Sadducees. Keep in mind, those

are religious experts. They were the teachers

in Israel. And Jesus said, beware of what they're

teaching you. What was their doctrine? It's a

combination of legalism, Pharisees, and externalism,

outward religion that lacks true faith and lacks

love. Again, I said it earlier, but both groups

would have looked apart. But there's nothing

that corresponds in the inward man. There's no

corresponding in reality. It is all a hypocritical

show. The Sadducees love power. The Pharisees

love the praise of men. Neither of them loved

God. And Jesus tells his disciples, beware of

this danger. You think you can't be hypocrites?

Beware of the hypocrisy of these men. And there

was one among those 12 who heard Jesus. If only

Judas Iscariot would have taken heed. Sadducees

loved power. Pharisees loved praise of men. Judas

loved money. None of them loved God. Because

their hearts were defiled, the Pharisees and

Sadducees were unable to discern the signs that

Jesus performed. But on the other hand, you have

the disciples. And yet they understood in part,

but as soon as they heard, it's almost like they'd

forgotten what they'd just heard. And this is

what I want us to focus on the last five minutes

here. Aren't we the same as the disciples? Don't

we often forget? I mean, truly, I'm being serious

here. Jesus looked at these men who were going

to perish in the Sea of Galilee in a boat, and

he says, why are you afraid, little faith? Peter's

now walking in water. He begins to drown. And

Jesus says, why are you fearful, man of little

faith? One moment, we're gathered in the church

on a Sunday morning, singing the doxology, praising

our Heavenly Father, praising that he loves us,

praising him that he provides for us. And the

next minute, we're in a trial, and fear grips

our hearts. That's us. That's us. We are prone

to forget who God is. And Jesus told the disciples,

remember what I've already done. Remember how

I've already provided. You're thinking about

bread? Don't worry about bread. Look at all the

bread I've provided in the past. Church, we need

to remember. Why do you think that the early

church took communion every Lord's Day? Why have

we decided to take communion every Lord's Day?

Because we need to remember what God has done

for us. We must remember. We need to recall.

It is good for our faith that we recall the body

of Christ that was broken for us and the blood

that he shed for us. Why? Because when fear begins

to grip, when doubts begin to assail, we need

to remember the sacrifice that Jesus gave for

us. There have been many times in my personal

life when I've been in the hospital waiting for

a test result. Sometimes it might be for my wife,

Sandy, when we went through that difficult trial.

Terrible trial. Didn't know if she'd live or

not. Or one of the kids, and I've shared this

before, when Ezra had to have an MRI at two and

they saw that cyst on his head and didn't know

what it was. Gabby, 2 pounds, 7 ounces, 38 days

in NICU, telling us that she wouldn't live. All

throughout Sandy's pregnancy. With that third

child, they said she'll be born and she'll die

in your arms. She won't be able to breathe. So

I was told, do you want to abort her? She will

not have quality of life. Sandy and I were afraid.

We're like, we're not doing that. The darkness

of the moment often overrides the memory of God

providing for us. Which is why We need to recall

God's covenantal promises sealed by the blood

of Christ, signified in the sacrament. We need

to remember. We need to remember he's not going

to forsake you. George, he's not going to forsake

you, George. He knows that. He's not going to

abandon you in this trial. We need to remember

he's going to be with you until the end of this

age. So this is why we remember what God has

done. We remember what God has promised. We know

the promises are sealed in the sacrament. And

when I recall that and I begin to preach to myself

those things, fear begins to settle. Doubt begins

to vanish. And peace begins to return to my soul.

What did Matthew want us to conclude from this

passage? What's the central thing? To whom is

he writing? He wants you to know, church, that

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God,

and you are to fully trust in him, fully set

your hope upon him. You want a sign? The sign

of Jonah has been given. The death, the burial,

and the resurrection of Jesus Christ has taken

place. Just as he has provided bread for thousands,

so he's also providing bread for us. But it's

the bread of life. God has already provided for

your greatest need, church. What was your greatest

need? You needed to be reconciled to the Almighty.

Christ has done that. So now you can trust him

with any lesser need that you may have, whatever

it is. So today, come in faith and commune with

that glorious, crucified, yet risen Lord. He

awaits us at the table of the Lord. Let's fellowship

with him. Father, I thank you for your word.

Lord, life is hard. Lord, I think of my brothers.

Lord, I think of those who are struggling. And

Lord, we're not immune or impervious to it. We're

not super. Jesus was the only one who was perfect

inwardly and outwardly, fully trusting in God

the Father. Lord, help us to grow in faith, to

grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,

to be fully conformed to him so that, Lord God,

that we might not be men and women of little

faith. We just trust you. God, I'm not there.

Forgive me. Truly forgive me, Lord. Forgive me

for my unbelief. Lord, grow me. Mature me, Lord.

I thank you for these brothers and sisters. I

love them. Thank you for these dear saints that

are gathered here. Work by your spirit in their

hearts. Lord, help them to set their hope on

Jesus, Lord. Fully. And Lord God, that we would

grow in this grace and it would produce a beautiful

fruit that would abound for your glory. Lord,

we thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. Deacons,

will you come and prepare the table for communion?