In the Fullness of Time: The Perfect Plan | Dr. John Ewart

Hey everybody, this is Pastor John Ewart from Englewood

Baptist Church in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina.

Thank you so much for tuning in to our podcast.

You're going to hear from God today as we share from his word

about important issues facing your life that can guide you

according to the Bible. Well, good morning, Englewood.

I hope you all ready for Christmas.

Just wait a minute. I know some of you hung up your

lights about Halloween right now, Paul.

Paul here, he didn't hang up lights at his house.

He just hangs his coat out in the yard and shines a light on

it. Then he has to wave off the

helicopters from Landon there. What a morning.

Amen. I was when I came out of the

first service, I was telling everybody out there, I said one

of the blessings of growth is it takes longer to do the Lord's

Supper. So that's a good thing.

Appreciate you all being here. Thank you so much.

I don't know where he went. He's here somewhere.

Thank you, Doctor Clover, Pastor Mike, there you are.

Thank you. Thank you, Tabith.

Whole family bless you. Thank you for being here so

much. What and and your knee surgery

moving along. Good, that's good.

Let me share just a couple words.

Take your Bibles, turn to Galatians 4.

I'll catch up to you in a minute.

Couple of words tonight. Tonight we're having a special

meeting. It's on the front of your

worship guide. This is not a business meeting.

We're no not voting, we're not discussing.

I am presenting. I need to have a shepherding

moment with you or I just want to share from my heart.

Doesn't make sense to do it on a Sunday morning.

Need to do a members only kind of meeting.

Just sharing about Stewardship Mission Vision 2026, several

things. So you want to be back here.

I promise it'll be worth it at 6:00 right in this room.

So please be there. Also, you heard the Guffey's

mention the trip coming up. Many of you, over 220 of you,

expressed interest or filled out interest forms for our mission

trips for 2026, which we appreciate.

You can still do that. Go out, go to the, go to your

right, go down that hall, you'll see a poster, QR codes.

You can still sign up. You're not obligating yourself.

You're just going to come to an information meeting.

The first one of those is next Sunday.

If you signed up for Uganda, that's at 4:00 next Sunday.

You signed up for Central Asia, that's at 4:45 next Sunday.

OK, And we'll talk about that next Sunday morning for New York

and all the other international trips January 4th.

So get ready for that, including where the guppies are.

So you'll enjoy that. Thank you so much for doing

that. Looking forward to incredible

year of that work and appreciate you also being here this

morning. This Wednesday night we're back

with Midweek in our personal evangelism training.

It's the last session, perhaps the most important session.

What must be shared, what gospel portions must be shared in order

for a person to be saved? We're actually going to talk

about that this Wednesday night. Going to be very, very

important. Appreciate all of you who have

been there. All right, enough of that.

I do hope you're ready for Christmas.

I hope that over these next few weeks that we can focus on on

the real why of Christmas. I mean, amid all the movies,

amid all the sales, amid all the decorations, all the family

gatherings, all the food, etcetera and gift giving.

It can be easy to get distracted obviously during the the season.

So I want us to examine over the next few weeks, the first coming

of Jesus, what really happened. So today we're going to be in

Galatians 4, which may seem odd, won't in a minute.

We'll be in the Gospels throughout the next week.

So this is a great time to invite friends and family who

who might be open to coming to hear about Christmas and who

might need to hear about Jesus. So you bring them here because

really what we're going to do, especially this morning, is

we're going to celebrate the sovereignty of God.

That's what we're going to do this morning because I want you

to see why Christmas really is and why it happened when it did

this morning. So we're going to celebrate his

his sovereignty. We're going to see the full

display of the triune God at work.

We're going to recognize the perfect plan that God had from

before the beginning. So we're going to see the

perfect plan of God the Father. We're going to see the the, the

inspiring work of God, the Holy Spirit.

We're going to acknowledge the true identity of God the Son.

And so these are important messages for us to trust in him

and to think about him. Now, whether you accept Christ

or reject Christ, I pray that you can't deny his influence.

Now, over the years, people have tried.

I think back in history a little bit to a long deceased president

of the American Atheist Association named John Murray

and listen to what John Murray once wrote.

He just said he said this. There was no such person in the

history of the world as Jesus Christ.

There was no historical living, breathing, sentient human being

by that name ever. The Bible is a fictional, non

historical narrative. The myth is good for business.

Well, I can guarantee you one thing.

I can guarantee that John has a different opinion now.

And so one of the things that we have to recognize is an honest,

intelligent investigation of the Bible.

And frankly, history reveals eyewitness encounters and the

reality of Jesus Christ, yet his presence still divides humanity.

Jesus shocked the world when he came.

He forced people to decide about him, and he still does that.

When you honestly consider him, you can't remain neutral.

In fact, one of the most famous writings probably about that was

by CS Lewis. Let me just quote Lewis for a

minute. He said among these Jews, there

certainly turns up a man who goes about talking as if he was

God. He claims to forgive sins.

He says he's always existed. He says he's coming to judge the

world at the end of time. Now let's get this clear.

Among pantheists, anyone might say that he was a part of God or

one with God. There'd be nothing very odd

about it. But this man, since he was a

Jew, could not mean that kind of God.

God in their language meant the being outside the world who made

it, and was infinitely different from anything else.

And when you've grasped that, you will see that what this man

said was quite simply the most shocking thing that has ever

been uttered by human lips. Then he goes on later and he

says this. He says Jesus presents a

trilemma. Now some of you have probably

heard this. This trilemma is Jesus is either

#1 Lord, he was who he said he was and his life, death, and

resurrection prove it to be so, or he's a liar.

He was not who he said he was and he knew it, or he was a

lunatic. He was not who he said he was

and he didn't know it. Now Danny Aiken adds another

one. He says you could add legend

where he was not what others later imagined him to be.

So the Apostle Paul helps us in Galatians 4 to understand this

in a much bigger way. I feel like this is one of the

most interesting Christmas passages that are often found on

Christmas cards. I think there is.

Now you got to understand the background here just for a

second. He's talking in Galatians 4

about our relationship with God. But after we're saved, we become

children of God. We become joint heirs with

Christ. That becomes really important.

You'll see it again later. So just kind of remember that

backdrop. But then he shares a passage

that is very often used at Christmas, a passage that I

think helps us to understand the perfect fulfillment the birth of

Jesus brings to history and to us.

Because there's much more to this story than simply a baby in

a Manger, All right? And his coming had cosmic and

eternal ramifications. And this passage is, frankly

always fascinated me. This is a passage, especially

this first verse, that I always find interesting.

Galatians 44. But when the fullness of time

had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under

the law. I want to share a few things

about this, and then we're going to be sharing in the Lord's

Supper. And so use this time to examine

yourself, to prepare your heart as we talk about the coming of

Christ, to make sure that you're ready to take the Supper in a

worthy manner. We'll talk more about that

later. But the first thing we see here

is simply God's perfect preparation.

It says but when the fullness of time had come, and that always

fascinates me. The perfect time designated by

the Father. It's so significant that time

itself gets divided by it, AD and BC.

So what does it mean the fullness of time?

Why then? Why there?

Why at that moment in history, 1st century Palestine, Middle

Eastern culture, Why was that the moment the Messiah came?

The word itself, that idea of perfection is the word pluroma,

which means completion. It means whole.

It means all the parts are there.

It means full, it means perfect. It can talk about a child

becoming an adult. It can talk about maturity.

So something mature, something perfect, something complete is

taking place right here in this mature time, the full time for

the coming of the Messiah. And I just want us to watch a

sovereign got to work for a few minutes.

Is that OK? Why was this the perfect time?

It was the perfect time. First of all, prophetically,

this was his plan was perfect. Prophetically, over 300 Old

Testament prophecies referring to the Messiah are fulfilled by

Jesus Christ, pointing to Him as the only way for redemption,

pointing to Him as the only way for salvation.

So beginning in Genesis 3, right after the fall when God

basically condemns and judges the satanic serpent all the way

through the gospels, we see this being played out.

In fact, we Jesus knew this about himself.

Jesus knew the Bible was 1 grand story.

Worry about himself even taught his disciples that, especially

after the resurrection. Sometime read Luke 24.

He knew that the Old Testament was pointing to him.

This is one story and perhaps at the centerpiece of some of these

Old Testament prophecies are those by Isaiah.

We often see these on Christmas cards.

These are written some 600 years before Jesus and yet we see this

in Isaiah 9. For to us a child is born, to us

a son is given, and the government shall be upon his

shoulder, and his name shall be called.

Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of

Peace, of the increase of his government and of peace.

There will be no end on the throne of David and over his

Kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with

the righteousness. From this time forth and

forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts

will do this. Or or another one that's very

familiar sometimes at Christmas. Isaiah 714 Therefore the Lord

Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall

conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Emmanuel,

Emmanuel, God with us. So we see the promise throughout

this prophetic utterance, these promises of the Incarnate deity.

So the coming of Jesus is the coming of God Himself.

It was the Father's sovereign, perfectly prepared timing in the

fullness of time, but it was also God's perfect plan.

Historically, God ordered the world and ordered world events

so that everything would be ready for the coming of Jesus

Christ. You've got to understand,

looking back at the early church, it's amazing,

astounding, miraculous to see how quickly the gospel spreads

all around the Roman Empire in less than a century.

And it's because God was and is completely in control and and

Rome was in power and the days of separate chaotic tribal

nations were over for that time period.

In fact, during this time, God used Rome to create 100 years of

peace, referred to as the Pax Romana, in which the

Mediterranean in the European world had a historic unity and

stable peace that it never had before.

So the Prince of Peace comes during this incredible time of

peace. A century earlier, there would

have been war and piracy. A century later they would have

been conquered by Barbarians. Conan and them came down and

took over Rome. And so we see this incredible

period of time. Even though Rome was oppressive,

God used them as a tool. He uses Caesar to give an edict

to move Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem to fulfill another

prophecy. Only Caesar could give that kind

of edict. So don't miss the hand of God in

history. Don't miss the hand of God even

in your life today, because even in your life today, during

life's difficulty in this fallen sinful creation out here, he

orchestrates, he orders, he's in control, He's absolutely

sovereign. His plans also perfect

linguistically. Just pay attention, just follow

for a few minutes. This is miraculous what he does.

He uses Alexander the Great of all people to bring a common

language, Koine Greek, to the known biblical world.

He used the Romans to bring Latin for the first time since

Babel. For the first time since the

Tower of Babel, most people could speak a common language,

either Greek or Latin. Even the common man spoke Koine

Greek. It was the language of business.

It was the language of trade, It was the language of war also.

And so around the biblical world, it was spoken by almost

everybody. And this language is one of the

most rich and expressive languages ever created.

And so it's a wonderful language in which to write a gospel, to

write epistles, and to share the truth of God.

But the key part of this is, think about these early

Christian missionaries. They could travel around the

entire Mediterranean world and Europe, and everybody could

understand for the first time in the fullness of time.

His plan is also perfect philosophically.

God used Greek philosophers to create a list of unanswered

questions for humanity they hadn't been asking before.

For the first time, man was asking about the meaning of

life, about purpose, about why. You've got to understand.

These old religions didn't work that way.

They were based on fear. They were based on appeasement

and not purpose or truth. They didn't answer anything.

The whole goal of the old religions was to do your best to

escape the wrath of the false gods by making sacrifices and

observing Pagan rituals in their fatalistic.

I hope so. Maybe so.

Don't know. So were theologies.

It's just like many false religions today around the

world. The world was searching.

The world was longing for truth. They hungered and thirsted for a

truth that would answer these difficult and real questions in

in their lives. And the answer would come in the

fullness of time. This plan was perfect

intellectually. You see, God used education in

schools built by the Romans. It was common for scholars to

travel and to teach. That wasn't always true.

A teacher would come, people would, that would be common.

People would gather to listen to the teacher teach.

And Jesus and the early missionaries used this method

and would readily find places to teach and and and to be heard by

crowds so they could teach about forgiveness and salvation in the

fullness of time. His plan was also perfect

physically. God used Rome to build paved

roads and secure the seas so that missionaries could travel

with relative ease. A huge network of roads was

built to quickly transport Roman troops and their and their

resources and and also to conduct trade.

Many of these roads are still used today, and so the for the

first time in human history, people could travel with

relative ease by ship or by Rd. And then think about it.

Palestine is the geographical center of three major

continents, Europe, Asia and Africa.

If you're going to start a global movement, Palestine's the

place to start it, and you can touch the known world.

Tell me who overseas history who knows and controls the fullness

of time? Finally, his plan was perfect

spiritually. The world has sunk to a new

moral low under Rome. Even the pagans wrote about it.

Even the pagans cried out against it.

They cried out against the immorality of Rome.

Spiritual hunger was everywhere. And the Jewish people were

searching for answers as well. Their interpretation of the

Judaic law failed them. The weight of the law had made

it almost impossible to serve and to worship and to know God

well. They needed something

fulfilling. They needed something hopeful.

They needed something true, and then in addition, their constant

persecution and oppression forced Jews to disperse all

around the Roman Empire. Think about how God used this

when the early missionaries went out, just like I've preached in

the last, in the last month, when the early missionaries,

when Paul would go out and others would go out, they could

find a Jewish community. They could find a synagogue

where they could begin to share the gospel in that city.

But they needed a deliverer. So it was the perfect time, it

was the Pluroma, it was the mature time for the Messiah to

come. So God was at work perfectly

preparing the time for Christ to come and this great cosmic

culmination of prophecy of people, of nations and events

working it all together in His sovereignty.

So don't be distracted today. Don't allow doubt to enter your

heart today by the current earthbound evil that you see

around you out there. That same God is still

orchestrating history. Listen.

Believe that God reigns even when you face this world.

Listen to what 1 theologian said.

I love this. He said evil's not something

that has an existence of its own.

Rather, it's the corruption of something that already exists.

It's like rot. It's like rust.

It's the corruption of good. It all started back in Genesis

when sin entered the creation. God created us for this love

relationship with Him and that, but man willfully chose not to

follow that. But but love can't simply be

programmed. It has to be freely expressed

so. So God didn't just create

robots, He created humans. We have a choice.

We have to choose to sinfully disobey Him or willfully obey

Him, and we have chosen sin. So Adam and Eve passed on a

sinful nature to us, and that results in what we call the

moral evil of man. You wonder why this world's

morally evil? That's why.

But we also live in a natural evil because even the creation

itself fell. There were no natural disasters

or disease and Eden. So don't blame God for the

presence of evil. Blame us for our willful moral

sin and choices. Now He allows sin and he allows

Satan to continue for a time, not because he's trying to

punish us, but he's trying to give us time to believe in him

so he could just destroy us all. I mean, just with a whim.

But he's given more time for more people to be safe, for more

people to testify about a life that's changed, for more people

to go overseas and share with others who don't know him.

So take joy in his active will. God will end evil one day.

We can bank on it because God's not finished yet.

He's always had a perfect plan. His perfect plan is the whole

point of Christmas. The world's tragically lost,

though. The world's tragically dark.

The world's tragically sinful. So what did God do when the time

was perfectly just right? Here, the miracle.

Second thing we need to see is look at His intentional

intervention back in verse 4. But when the fullness of time

had come, God sent forth His Son.

Born of a woman, born under the law at the perfect time.

God didn't just do something. God didn't.

God didn't just do do anything. God did the one necessary thing.

God sent forth his Son. There's no accident here.

There's no mere act of fate here.

This is God conducting the orchestra of history and

eternity. The incarnation is the

fulfillment of myriads of prophecies and the culmination

of a plan devised within the eternal counsel of the Triune

God before the creation of the world.

And we get to celebrate it. Jesus is the only begotten Son

from eternity. This is the story of a living

God who intentionally chose to intervene and live in this

sinful world. So God didn't just send a son

from Galilee to Jerusalem. He didn't just send him from a

Manger to a cross. He sent him from heaven to

earth. Now I'm not sure the full

implication of that can be grasped.

I'm not sure we can get that completely.

We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of

Christ and the greater truth is his deity more astonishing than

a baby in the mangers, the truth that the promised baby is the

omnipotent creator of the heavens and the earth.

See. And so yet this, this central

message of Christmas, the, the child of Christmas, it we need

to recognize that this, this child of Christmas is God and

the king is here. I mean, the world might be

willing to leave Jesus in the Manger.

They might be OK with that. It's some cute nativity scene,

but they're not willing to let him be sovereign King and Lord,

and that's the story we have to tell them.

So in sending Jesus, God didn't send a substitute.

He didn't send some surrogate. He came Himself right,

intentionally intervening in human history in the fullness of

time, because He's the only solution to our sin and death.

He's the only true source of truth and hope.

He is the only answer. And so his coming represents

God's perfect preparation and intentional intervention and

intervention. But we also see he's doing this

by the miracle, thirdly, of God's incredible incarnation.

I'm not making this up. I try hearing the verse, look at

verse 4 again. But when the fullness of time

had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under

the law. Let's not miss this.

He's born of woman, born under the law.

So having just asserted so boldly the deity of Christ, he

now asserts and affirms the humanity of Christ.

I mean, it's a miraculous one of a type, one-of-a-kind type of

experience. Born of a woman is just a common

phrase. Don't.

There's nothing more to that. It's just means that you're born

as a human being. It was common Jewish expression,

but this is no common event. God became man.

It's the incarnation, and he's not born in a normal way.

It's a virgin birth, and often we overlook that, as we saw back

in Isaiah 7. Sometimes we don't make a big

big enough deal about that. This is a hugely vital doctrine,

a fulfillment of prophecy. It's a testimony to the very

nature of Jesus Christ as to who he really is.

He's not just any man. He's not like every man.

He's not like any man, but he's still fully man.

So an early heresy called Dosatism denied all this.

It said Jesus didn't really come in the flesh like a phantom.

So the apostle John has to fight this in the early church, which

is one of the reasons he writes first John.

So in first John 4 says this. By this you know the Spirit of

God. Every spirit that confesses that

Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every

spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was

coming and is now in the world. So through the miracle of the

incarnation and the virgin birth and the Holy Spirit, he was born

without sin. Yet He was also born under the

Law. So he was, it wasn't just a man,

he was also a Jewish man. So he's circumcised on the 8th

day, He reads the Torah, he attends the synagogue, he

fulfills. This no one has ever done

before. The the precepts and demands of

the true Law, and under the law, but not under sin.

The Word becomes flesh in the fullness of time.

So Christmas is God's perfect preparation and intentional

intervention and incredible incarnation.

And finally, it's also God's redeeming reception.

I'm not making up this outline. It's in the text.

Look at verse 5. To redeem those who are under

the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Remember what I told you at the beginning about the context.

Paul's been talking about this relationship with God.

We're son, we're children of God.

We're heirs with Christ. That's this background.

So he's coming back to it now to say, listen, we are redeemed,

Exo Garazo. That means that we are bought.

Not only are we bought, we're, we're, we're bought out.

We're bought up. In other words, every single bit

of us is purchased. Now, don't miss that.

It's not just he didn't just buy part of you.

He did just to get a portion of you.

You don't get to compartmentalize Christianity in

your life. That's not how this works.

Church is not just an option. Christianity is not just an

option. Being a disciple is not just an

option. This is this is a total purchase

where he's bought all of you. This is your life.

That's what it means to be saved.

We are completely purchased. And for those who are saved, we

are completely saved. So remember this context.

We're adopted with full rights. So this transformation of

position, this transformation of relationship takes place from

slavery to sonship. Here look at verse 6.

And because you were sons, God has sent the spirit of a son

into our hearts, crying ABBA father, So you're no longer a

slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir

through God. So here, here's the true message

of Christmas. We're joined heirs with Christ.

That's the result. So the important issue of this

season is not simply that Jesus came.

It's it's why did he come? There's no salvation in his

birth. There's no salvation in a

Manger, right? He, he was born to die, to pay

the price to buy us completely back, every bit of us, every

single ounce of us from the wages of sin.

And he knew it. He planned on it, right?

And we're going to remember and celebrate that just a second

with the Lord's Supper. But right before we get to it,

which we're getting ready to, right before we get to it, I

want to share one of my favorite Christmas passages.

It's in a weird place. I've learned over the years that

not everybody knows this passage.

I want to share a passage which is the miraculous and mysterious

conversation between God the Son and God the Father on Christmas

Eve right before Jesus comes to earth.

I want you to see this in Hebrews 10.

This is Jesus getting ready to leave heaven to come here, and

it says this. Consequently, when Christ came

into the world, so he's coming, he's leaving.

He said sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body

have you prepared for me, and burnt offerings and sin

offerings you've taken no pleasure.

Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as is

written of me in the scroll of the book.

So just imagine this farewell scene on Christmas Eve as the

Son is bidding farewell to the Father.

Jesus knew exactly why he came. He knew exactly what the

sacrifice was going to be ahead and was willing to do that and

to suffer for us, to pay for us. It's the fulfilment of the

scroll of the book of the Word of God in the fullness of time.

Part of that redemption was the journey of the incarnation from

heaven to become one of us, to sacrifice to us, to pay for us.

And so Christmas is a key part of His gift of eternal life for

us. Again, the writer of Hebrews in

chapter 2, you know this verse, it says this.

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the

angels, namely Jesus crowned with glory and honor because of

the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might

taste death for everyone. So He comes with the purpose of

redemption back in Galatians verse 5, to redeem those who are

under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Remember in the Greco Roman world, when when you were

adopted, an adopted son had all the rights of a natural son.

In fact, an adopted son of Caesar later becomes Caesar in

their history. And so we recognize that this is

more this is this is a true relationship.

Look at verse 6. And because you were sons, God

has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying ABBA

father, so you're no longer a slave, but a son.

And if a son, then an heir through God.

So God also sent his son into our hearts just as he sent his

son into the world. Listen to what Paul later listen

to what he says to the Romans in verse in chapter 8 of Romans.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back

into fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption to sons

by whom we cry, ABBA, Father, the Spirit himself bears witness

with our spirit that we are children of God.

And if children then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs

with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we might

also be glorified with him. So the Holy Spirit is the pledge

of our adoption, the assurance of our adoption, and we get to

call him this term, ABBA. And you know many of you that

that term can mean daddy, that it's a very intimate family

term. But you also need to know that

it's also a legal term, that the, that that word also appears

in legal texts like in wills. So when the children go to get

the inheritance of the Father, it's Abba's inheritance that

we're receiving. And so as as children of God in

this miracle, we have this opportunity this Christmas to

receive this adoption, to live as his children and faithfully

share his story with everyone we know and and then to receive

this inheritance. So God the Father planned from

all eternity to redeem His people and then the fullness of

time send His Son. God the Son Jesus Christ became

fully human and yet retained his deity, suffered, died and rose

again to pay the price for our sin and free us from the bond to

death. God the Holy Spirit brings

forgiveness and brings a new relationship, a new status with

the Father. He came.

We desperately needed Him to come.

And because this is true, I am a Son of God.

Now that is the true Christmas gift.

So the perfect gift of His grace.

And my friends, He's offering that gift to you.

If you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as

your Lord and Savior, he's offering that gift of grace to

you. And the question is, will you

receive that gift this morning? You've heard testimonies, you've

seen people willing to serve. Will you receive that gift this

morning? Who do you know that needs that

gift? If we really understand

Christmas, our immediate response needs to be worshiped.

Anything else would be inadequate.

We need to worship like the shepherds that died in Bethlehem

who left everything to go attend the birth of Jesus with a sense

of urgency, a sense of determination.

They rushed to get there to see. And I challenge you with a sense

of urgency and determination to rush to that same Jesus today.

Receive his gift, receive his adoption.

Remember what Christ has done for you on the cross through a

sacrifice. We're getting ready to do that.

He gave His body. He gave his blood to pay the

price for our sins because we couldn't pay for it ourselves.

Only He was perfect enough, sinless enough to satisfy the

payment. So we owe Him everything.

It's not this Christmas. I pray about everything we're

going to get. I pray it's about everything

we're going to give. We owe Him everything, and as we

celebrate the Lord's Supper, this is a time for remembering.

It's a time for renewal. It's a time for revival.

It's a time for recommitment of our appreciation and also our

participation. Just like these new members

showed us a participation in a covenant relationship with him

and his body, now the Supper doesn't make that happen.

There's nothing supernatural about this bread and cup.

It doesn't transform in some way for you to receive grace.

These are symbols of grace that you've already received if you

have. And it's also the opportunity to

proclaim what Christ has already done.

So only the one who has experienced true salvation can

prepare to take the Supper in a worthy manner.

Only those who've been saved by grace through faith can

recognize the sin that might create unworthiness.

So the Supper, just like baptism is just for believers.

A non believer hasn't experienced yet the saving grace

that the Supper remembers and proclaims and so and so

therefore they can't remember or celebrate what they haven't

experienced yet. So for those of you who have not

personally trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

I just encourage you strongly not to take the supper with us.

It's OK, you're not going to be judged for that today.

We would rather you be honest about that today, but but what

we do want you to do is observe how we participate in the supper

first, be saved, then share in the supper to remember and

proclaim what then has also happened to you.

So let us prepare to celebrate this celebration of remembrance.

So here's what we're going to do after I pray.

We're just going to have a couple of moments of silence.

The instruments are going to play softly and we're just going

to have a moment of silence. This isn't a time for a public

invitation. Nobody's going to be here to

receive you. You're just going to stay seated

in a, in a spirit of prayer, ask the Lord to show you what is in

your life that might prevent you from remembering Him in a worthy

manner. Do you need to be saved?

Do you need to be committed in a new way in discipleship?

Or is there something use this time to talk to him, More than

importantly, use this time to listen to him?

So let me pray and we'll do that, and then I'll call us back

together for the supper. Father, we thank you so much for

your grace. We thank you for your love.

Father, there's no way, no way we could ever grasp all that

you've done for us. But Father, we can be thankful.

We can be grateful, we can be responsive, we can be obedient.

So Father, I pray right now that you'll guide us as we listen to

you. I pray you'll speak to our

spirits. Father, show us anything that we

need to confess, anything from which we need to repent.

Anything, Father, that prevents us from walking with you exactly

the way you want us to. And then, Father, I pray that

we'll celebrate and remember well as your body.

Father, thank you for the privilege of being a part of

your body. Now let us celebrate you.

Well, let us remember you rightly as we participate

together and communion with you through the Lord's Supper in

Christ's name, Amen. I'm going to ask the deacons and

the pastors who are assisting with the Supper to make your way

forward and to get into your spots.

So appreciative of these servants.

Aren't you thankful for these men who help us?

Yeah, you bet. We're excited about the

potential of new deacons coming on board and what all that

means. We'll have ordination service

later. New men being willing to serve.

I love these pastors. Wonderful group.

As we prepare to take the bread this morning, I'm going to ask

our worship pastor, Pastor Skyler, to lead us in prayer.

Let's pray, Lord, with grateful and thankful hearts this morning

we come to this moment where we observe and remember what you

did for us, the body that was broken for us.

And Lord, we just want to say thank you.

Lord, thank you for what this means, for what the symbolizes

for us, newness of life. Lord, thank you for this

opportunity to celebrate you and to remember you well.

As Pastor said so, Lord, as we partake of this bread, we

remember your grace and your love for us.

And as it nourishes our body, would it help nourish us?

To your service, in Christ's name we pray.

Amen. Amen.

Thank. You, brother.

Thank you, Sir. The.

The. The.

The. The Holy Spirit also LED Paul to

write to us in Corinthians about the Lord's Supper.

And he said on the night in which Jesus was betrayed, he

took bread. And after giving thanks, he

broke it. And he said, this is my body,

which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

And as we prepare to take the cup, I'm going to ask our

Chairman of Deacons, Tim Looper, if you would, to voice our

prayer, please. Father, your word says that

without the shedding of blood, there's no remission, no

forgiveness of sin. You sent your Son to provide the

perfect blood needed for us to be forgiven once and for all.

As we take this cup, a symbol of that blood, may we reflect,

understand, and fully appreciate the degree of love you have for

us. Thank you, Jesus, for your

indescribable gift. In your name we pray.

Amen. The.

The. The.

The. The Bible goes on to say that

after supper, Jesus also took the cup, and he said this cup,

it is the new covenant. We would probably say New

Testament in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it

in remembrance of me and as we all stand together.

The Bible also says that every time we observe the Lord's

Supper, we're making a proclamation.

We're proclaiming the Lord's death until he comes again, and

he will come again. Amen.

Thank you for being here to help us begin the celebration of His

first coming. I know we've gone long, but

hadn't it been worth it this morning?

Now continue to come. We're going to celebrate that

coming, and we look forward to that second coming as well.

We're going to worship Him before we leave.

Here's what's going to happen. There'll be a couple of pastors

here at the front if you want to come and share with them.

Our next steps room is open. There's also a next steps table

right out in the lobby where I normally stand.

Teresa and I are going to be at the door to greet you because we

want to say hi to as many of you as we can.

So if you want to come, the Lord's laying something on your

heart, a salvation baptism, membership recommitment, you

come and talk to a pastor. Some of the pastors are going to

hang out even in the back after the service, so there are plenty

of opportunities for you to share with somebody.

Let's celebrate him. Let's worship him together.

Thank you so much for listening today.

And I also hope that you'll go to

[email protected] as well as our app and find many

other resources that will bless you and your families.

Thank you once again.