Remember Me

Well, if you have your Bibles, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

The message today is entitled, Remember Me.

And as you're turning, imagine for a moment what your life would be like if you lost the ability to remember things.

Some of you are probably thinking that process has already begun in your life.

Well, there is such a thing.

Some people suffer from this, and it's what doctors call Korsakoff syndrome.

And if you have this particular disease, what happens is you get to a point in your life, and then you wake up one day and you cannot remember what you did the previous day.

And it repeats itself every day.

You wake up, you can't remember the previous day.

As a matter of fact, you could be reading a magazine, and before you finish the magazine, you've already forgotten what you've read.

And you could literally read it over and over again, and every time would be fresh and new.

Well, there are many of us that have those amnesia experiences, not quite that severe, but the reality is our minds are amazing pieces of creation.

We can forget things that we did last night and remember something that happened 25 or 50 years ago.

As a matter of fact, I remember a couple years ago, my parents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, and I had put together a video tribute with hundreds of pictures going all the way back to when they were children, all the way through all seven of us children and their marriage, and it was just a great time.

And also I had included some of their special favorite songs.

And as they are watching this video, there comes a certain song that starts to play in the tribute, and I looked over at my parents.

My father took my mother's hand and he had that look in his eye, and she looked at him.

And as that song played, it was as if 50 years melted away in an instant.

There were no wrinkles or age spots or bifocals.

There were just two kids deeply in love.

She a blushing young teenage bride and he a handsome man back from the war.

All because of one song.

And it wasn't even a very good song.

It was Louie Louie.

No, it wasn't Louis Louie.

Well, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is addressing a problem that's taking place in the Corinthians church.

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

This is a church that's really a mess.

And one of the areas where they're struggling is in this expression of communion.

As they would gather for the Lord's table, they were abusing the table.

Some would eat and feast before some of the other brothers or sisters ever could make it to the Lord's table.

And so Paul speaks to them because they had forgotten the purpose behind the celebration of communion.

And he writes to them and he says, For I receive from the Lord what I also pass on to you.

The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.

And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way, after supper, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.

For whatever you eat, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

Whenever you eat this bread, Jesus says, remember me.

To his closest friends on that Passover night, the night that he was betrayed, he takes the cup and he says, When you drink of this cup, remember me.

Now let me ask you a question.

These are the same men who had traveled with Jesus for over three years.

24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Do you really believe Jesus was concerned that they would forget him?

I don't mean forget him like Jesus who, but forget him one day.

Forget what he had done, why he came, the message he preached, and the mission he came for.

In an answer?

In a word?

Yes.

Jesus understood that we were all very forgetful people.

As a matter of fact, this was proven on that very night.

Because he went to his friend Peter and he said, Peter, before this night is out, you're gonna deny knowing me three times.

Peter said, No way.

Jesus, I'll die for you.

No way.

I'll remember you forever.

Well, we know what happened.

Before the night had concluded, three times Peter, this friend of Jesus, denied even knowing him.

And then in Luke chapter 22, it records, after the third denial, the rooster crows, and the word says, Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said.

Luke 22 · chapter mention

It had only been a few hours.

So Jesus knows that we have this ability to forget what we should remember, forget God.

As a matter of fact, when you look at what Jesus says and he says, Do this in remembrance of me, that word remembrance in the Greek is the word anamnesis, from which we get the English word amnesia.

What Jesus was concerned with is that somehow we over time would have a kind of spiritual amnesia.

And communion would be served, and when we forget the meaning of communion with no recollection of Jesus.

You see, remembering helps remind us of who we are.

But we have this tendency to forget.

In fact, I found that men are particularly affected by this condition.

The fact is, women are superior to men in almost every single way.

Well, I thought if I was ever gonna get applause line from the women, that would be it.

But it's true, women are better looking than we are.

Women have a better ability to adapt to social uh situations, they live longer, they're healthier, they have better memories.

I mean, a woman can remember a conversation she had with her husband from weeks ago.

Man, she can remember what you said in detail, living color.

She knows where you were standing when you said it.

She knows what your posture was, what you were wearing, she knows the tone of voice you used, she knows the expression on your face.

Yeah, that you know that expression, that dumb expression.

She knows that.

And she can recall that from memory without thinking.

And we men go, I don't even remember the conversation.

And there's a reason why that happens.

Male babies during the time in our mother's womb go through what's called a testosterone wash.

And during this bath, it helps turn us into boys.

But what happens during the testosterone bath is that there is a neurodisconnection between the left half of our brain and the right half of our brain.

So what happens is this all men end up half brain dead.

That's why we can't remember.

It's not our fault, ladies.

God made us this way.

It's God's fault.

Men are brain dead.

And so that night Jesus calls his 12 male friends to dinner.

And Jesus says, remember me.

And this word remember is a rich word in the Old Testament.

Time and time again, God says in his word, remember this, remember that.

Don't forget what I've done for you.

Don't forget the past.

Remember the rainbow, because the rainbow reminds you that never again will I destroy the whole earth.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

As the people of Israel cross the Jordan River on dry land to conquer the promised land.

God said to Joshua, Find twelve men, one from every tribe.

Have them gather a stone and then place the stones in a pile on the other side of the banks of the river.

As a remembrance of what I've done this day in leading you across the Jordan.

And later on, when your children ask you, Father, why are these stones here?

Tell them of what I have done to bring victory to you this day.

Well, that's what was happening during the Passover meal.

During the Passover meal, it's a time of remembrance.

And God says, every time that you eat of the unleavened bread for seven days, and your children ask you in the Passover, Father, why do we eat of this bread like this?

Tell them about what I did when I brought you out of Egypt, took you out of bondage, and brought you into freedom.

You see, when we remember what God has done in our lives, we remember who God is.

And when we remember who God is, we remember who we are.

So Jesus knew if we forgot what he did, if we forgot why he came, we would forget who we are.

Now, there's two memory problems that each of us face.

The first one is this we remember what we should forget.

We remember what we should forget.

And this is how it happens.

This is what we need to do.

Many of us in this room, what we need to do is we need to forget what others have said and done.

We need to forgive.

If we're going to celebrate Jesus' life and death, we need to forgive.

Isaiah 43, 18, this is what it says.

Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past.

There's some of you here today, and you can't remember what you had for supper last night, but you remember what someone said to you 10 years ago, and you won't let them forget it.

You need to let go of that.

I remember uh before I came to Gateway, I was a senior pastor just not far from here, a few miles down the road.

And many of you know it was a difficult church situation, and the church had been in turmoil for some years, and there was a lot of infighting and so forth.

And so I had arrived, and uh, in the midst of all that, I'd been in the church for a few months.

And one day I opened the mail, and there was a letter there from a lady in the church.

And uh she was explaining to me that she was uh upset, she was leaving the church, and she'd listed all of her grievances, and then at the end of the letter, she put this She said, Pastor John, I just want you to know.

And in big, bold letters she said, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.

And I looked at that letter and I read it a few times, and I especially found myself dwelling on the last sentence.

I had never received hate mail in my life.

And this woman was voicing all of her frustration, and she said, I hate you.

I don't know why I did this, but I folded the paper, I put it in my Bible, and I went on with my day.

But I found myself for the next few days, as I opened my Bible, finding my way to that letter and rereading it.

And rereading it and rereading it.

And the more I read it, the angrier I became.

The more I read it, the more I was seeking God's vengeance.

I started to ask God to do Ananias and Sapphira kind of, if you will just smite them, God, I'll preach her funeral, but but just and I said, she obviously doesn't understand what I'm going through, trying to lead this church.

And in that moment, God said to me, Maybe you don't understand what she's going through.

And in an instance, my thoughts began to turn to her.

God gave me this passion and this desire to forgive and to love her.

And so I called her up and I said, Listen, I received your letter, I understand some of your frustrations, and uh, I've read the whole letter, and I just I just want you to know that I love you and I'm praying for you.

And just through that conversation, she turned and she changed.

She said, Pastor, I know I said some terrible things.

I'm just so frustrated and mad that I just can't stay in the church.

I just, I'm so upset about this, but I do appreciate the phone call.

I appreciate you sharing this and praying for me.

I don't I don't think I can come back to the church.

I said, Oh no, no, no, I'm not asking you to come back to the church.

I just wanted to pray with you.

But I had to let that go.

I had to forget something that I was remembering: the pain of someone's words and their offense.

In Scripture, there's one thing recorded that God cannot or will not do.

Anyone know what it is?

God cannot or will not forgive you unless you're willing to forgive others.

Jesus in his famous prayer said, Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, our sins, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

You see, what happens when we harbor unforgiveness is it's not so much that we hold on to the past as the past won't let us go.

And God wants to do great things in our lives, but we're stuck hanging on to an offense.

As Jesus hung on the cross that day.

Do you remember the words he shared?

Incredible words to me.

As he hung there looking at his accusers, those who had crucified him, those who had caused harm and pain and had ridiculed him and tormented him, he looked at them and he looked at the Father and he said, Father, forgive them.

They don't know what they're doing.

So I've got a question for you this morning.

What do you need to let go of today?

Who do you need to forgive today?

And I know in this place, I know there's some of you, you've been hurt deeply.

You have trusted, and that trust has been broken.

You have loved, and someone has spit in your eye.

You have forgiven, you have loved, you have tried to make amends, you have been wounded, you have been beaten.

And you have a good reason why you want to hold on to it.

But can I just tell you today, as we look at the Lord's table, Jesus is clear.

When he says, Do it in remembrance of me, we need to remember to let go of the offenses of others.

We need to forgive and forget what others have done.

You know what else we need to do?

We need to forget what we have said and done.

Some of us here need to forgive ourselves.

Remember a pastor sharing a story about a woman that he was doing premedal counseling with.

She was going to get married, and uh and so as he was counseling her, and the day of the wedding was approaching, he noticed that she was becoming more and more distraught over the whole ceremony.

And so he asked her the question Is everything okay?

And finally she broke down in tears and she said, Pastor, there is something I need to let you know.

You see, several years ago, I had an affair with a married man, and uh I became pregnant.

And I come from a great Christian family, and they just didn't understand, and they turned their back on me, and this man turned his back on me, and I had nowhere else to turn, and so I decided to have an abortion.

She said, There has been this deep wound inside of me from that day until this day, because I thought about what it would be like the day that I would walk down that aisle on my wedding day.

I thought, would I walk down the aisle and have that memory come back in my mind of what I did so many years ago?

She couldn't let go of it.

It would not let go of her.

And we've been forgiven by the Lord, but so many times, what we need to forget are the things that we have said and done.

In Philippians 3, Paul says it this way: But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.

Now you've got to understand, when Paul looked back on his life, he was no poster child for Jesus.

I mean, Paul was the one who was persecuting Christians, rounding them up as a bounty hunter for God in his own mind.

He was there when Stephen was stoned to death, murdered right on the streets, and it says Paul was there giving approval to what was happening.

This is a man who had a very sinful and checkered past in his own sense of self-righteousness.

But when Jesus came into his life and he knew his sins were forgiven and forgotten by God, he came and he said, Listen, I'm gonna put the past in the past, I'm going to press on, I'm gonna strain for what's ahead, that I might press on and win the prize for which God has called me.

In Hebrews 8, God says this about your sin, the sin you may not be able to let go of today.

He says, I will remember your sins no more.

When I was in college, I made a change when I got saved so that I could pursue a degree as a Bible study major and become a pastor.

And I remember during that season of transition, I was trying to gather the money for college, and I came up$700 short, which I know in today's college economy doesn't sound like much, but back in the dark ages when I went to school, that almost paid for a whole semester.

I remember standing in the kitchen one Saturday morning and my father came in and he said, Well, what's wrong with you?

And I said, Well, Dad, I'm really discouraged because I've done the math and I don't have all the money for college.

I'm$700 short.

He said, Well, what's the problem?

I said, just explained.

I'm seven, I can't go, I'm$700 short.

And he said, Is this really what you want to do with your life?

I said, Yes, it is.

He said, then I'm gonna give you the$700.

I'll I'll let you have the$700.

So I went to college that semester, I came home for the summer, I went to work, and the first paycheck that I received, I remember going to the bank, and I asked the clerk, I said, I want seven crisp, brand new hundred dollar bills.

And so I received them and I went home and I took out the$700 and I went to my father and I laid out the$700 in my hand like that.

And my father said, What's this?

I said, Dad, this is the$700 I owe you.

My father said, Forget it.

Forget it.

He says, I have.

You don't owe me anything.

And I believe our Heavenly Father is saying to you, forget it.

Forget it.

I know what you've done.

I've forgiven you.

Forget it.

You let go of it.

I mentioned to you a few moments ago that there are two memory problems that we face in life.

The first one is we remember what we need to forget.

Anyone guess what the second one is?

We forget what we need to remember.

Now, I'm gonna do a show of hands on this one.

I'm gonna ask full participation.

If you've ever forgotten something that I'm gonna share, question I'm going to ask, it's kind of mass confession time.

So at the end, I'm gonna ask for anybody who can relate to this sense of forgetfulness.

Here's the first question.

Have you ever forgotten someone's birthday?

Or worse yet, someone you can just hold on till the end.

Appreciate the enthusiasm.

Just kind of mass confession time, and you're all I'm great for your involvement.

But hold on to the end.

Have you ever forgotten someone's anniversary?

Have you ever rented a movie and then realized halfway through the movie you've already seen this movie before?

Last week.

Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten why you walked into the room to begin with?

Have you ever walked out of church and forgotten where you parked your car?

Are you wondering right now where you parked your car this morning?

Have you ever left a church service or an amusement park or perhaps a restaurant and forgotten one of your children?

Have you ever been in a restaurant and wanted to forget one of your children?

If you can relate to any of these, if you've ever forgotten anything in your life, just raise your hand right now.

Let me see.

If you've forgotten the original question, go ahead and raise your hand.

We are amazingly forgetful people.

We are.

And what's the most amazing about us is that at times we can forget God.

Oh, not some sense of where he slips our mind, but we forget how much he loves us and what he's done in our lives.

I do this.

I know who God is, but there are times when I see someone in need, and my first thought is not to just rush out and help them.

I see someone who wants something from me, and my first response is not, oh gee, let me drop everything, let me help you.

I can be a very selfish person, and I can forget for a moment the God who loves me, who gave everything for me through Jesus Christ on the cross.

We forget what we should remember.

In Psalm 106, this is a psalm about the uh exodus from Egypt and the deliverance from bondage, and the psalmist writes, and this is what he says the waters covered their adversaries, not one of them survived.

Then they believed his promises and sang his praises.

Notice this, but they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.

We have this tendency to forget what God has done in our lives.

So when Jesus draws us to the communion table, to the Lord's Supper, he's saying to us today, when you eat the bread, remember me.

When you take the cup, remember me.

Now, in a few moments, we're gonna celebrate communion together.

But it still begs the question what are we to remember?

When we celebrate the Lord's table together.

Well, what you're to remember every time you eat of the bread and drink of the cup is you need to remember, first of all, this is not some nostalgic event.

When we celebrate communion here at Gateway, it's not just some short transition into another part of the service.

It's not just a speed bump along the pathway of a Sunday morning service.

We need to stop and reflect and to think in that moment about the price that was paid for our sins.

Isaiah 53 says that he was pierced for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, and by his wounds we are healed.

There is a price that is to be paid.

So the first thing we need to remember about the bread and the cup is this.

We need to remember it's costly.

Remember when I shared with you at the beginning of the message in 1 Corinthians chapter 11?

1 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

If you don't, you can pretend like you do remember.

But in verse 26, remember what it says.

Paul writes at the end, and he says, Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

And in John chapter 6, Jesus explains the significance of the bread.

John 6 · chapter mention

Yes, it references his broken body and the cost that was given on Calvary's tree.

But he also references something else.

In John 6, verse 48, Jesus says this red letter stuff here.

John 6:48

He says, I am the bread of life.

Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died.

But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die.

He says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

If anyone eats of this bread, notice this, he will live forever.

And he says this: he says, This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

When we take of the bread in communion, we need to remember that the bread symbolizes the flesh of Jesus.

And that flesh was given for you and for me.

For God so loved the world, he gave his son, and he gave his son to die, to die abandoned by all, including the Father in that moment, as he turned his back.

And that sacrifice was there so that our sins could be covered by the blood of the Lamb.

You see, in John's gospel, Jesus says, whenever you eat of the bread, you will go hungry no more.

And whenever you remember by faith and believe in the cup, the blood that covers your sin, you'll thirst no more.

He says, Whenever you take of my body the bread, you'll have eternal life.

That's good news.

So as we remember in the Lord's Supper, what Jesus wants us to remember, we need to remember that Jesus is the bread of life.

I want you to think right now of a need you have in your life.

What need do you have in your life today?

Can I tell you something?

Because of the bread of life, whatever that needs, Jesus can supply the answer.

Whatever you're facing in your life, whether you're living on the top of a mountain or you're in the midst of the valley, whether you're having a good time or you're having a difficult time, whether you have plenty or you're in great want, it doesn't essentially matter.

God can supply that need.

The greater news about the bread of life is that because we eat of the bread, you and I will live forever with Jesus.

That is something to celebrate.

Whenever you eat of the bread, remember that your life is one with Christ.

But the gift of eternal, of eternal life came at a price.

John the Baptist said, as he saw Jesus approaching one day, he said, Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world.

And every time we take of the Lord's Supper, we need to remember that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Lamb that was slain.

We need to remember Jesus' death isn't only a death that we observe.

The second thing we need to understand is Jesus' death is a costly death, but that costly death requires for us to remember.

Jesus that night called his friends to a costly kind of remembering.

The kind of remembering Jesus calls for will demand something from you as well.

Notice what it says in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11.

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

We sing this song from this verse many times in Gateway.

It says in Revelation 12, 11, they came, uh they overcame him, the enemy, the devil, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

Isn't that a great song?

Isn't that a wonderful truth?

Notice there's two parts to this passage.

We overcome.

That's good news.

We are overcomers today because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of our testimony.

But the word testimony there in the Greek is the word martyria, from which we get the English word martyr.

And what Jesus is saying to his disciples that night and to you today is that I want you to remember every time you eat the bread and drink the cup, I want you to remember what I have done for you as the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

But I also want you to remember that not only did it cost me my life, this sacrifice, remember, will cost you your life as well.

You may not die the martyr's death, but Jesus calls every one of us, every time we take communion, to remember that he calls us to die to ourselves as well.

Galatians 2.20, my favorite passage, first one I ever memorized, says, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live.

But it's not I that lives, it's Christ that lives in me.

And the life I live, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

When you take communion in a moment, it is appropriate for us to remember the sacrifice Jesus gave on Calvary's tree.

Jesus desires for us to remember something else.

Every time we take communion, we're to remember not only his death, but we're to remember our death.

That makes it personal.

And so the second thing I'll share with you about what we need to remember that so often we forget is we need to remember that it's personal.

Every time we take of the bread in the cup, we need to see that it's personal.

This was part of the Passover meal.

There's a passage in Exodus chapter 13 in verse 8 that was recited during the Passover evening.

Exodus 13 · chapter mention

And it was a reminder to everyone that was there as they remembered what God had done so many years ago.

It says, On that day, God says, Tell your sons, I do this, I celebrate the Passover, which is the type and a shadow of our Lord's Supper.

I do this because what the Lord of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

Notice the first person there.

Because for centuries after this was written, every year, years and years later, after they had long passed, long since passed over the waters of the Red Sea into freedom, they said, listen, every time you celebrate the Passover, say this.

I remember the day.

I remember when God delivered me from Egypt.

It became personal for them.

They, even though it was centuries before, they put themselves back in the Exodus journey and said, What God did so many years ago in delivering the bondage to freedom, God has done in my life as well.

And so as we celebrate communion, make it personal.

I remember the day that I made it personal.

Second Sunday in December, 1980.

I was a young freshman in college, and on that day, on that Sunday, this Catholic kid walked into a Pentecostal church.

And for the first time that I could remember my life, I came to the realization that Jesus loved me and he died for me, and he wants to be my personal friend.

And it so moved me that on that day I walked down that aisle and I gave my life to Jesus.

And what Jesus did so many years ago when he hung on the cross of Calvary now became personal to me.

Because I remembered what Jesus did for me.

Every time we celebrate communion, Jesus is saying, remember the bread and the cup, not just for what I've done for you, but remember what I'm asking you to do for me.

Remember the day you were saved.

Some of you may not remember a physical day because you were saved at a very young age.

But see, God has called all of us because He saved us, He's delivered us from sin.

And that sin for you may be a sin that you never experienced.

And that's a great testimony.

For some of us who had experienced some sin, we know what it's like for God to deliver us from a life that was going our own direction to a life that's going in God's direction.

That day, as Jesus hung on the cross, there were two thieves on each side.

One of them threw curses Jesus' way.

But the other one, he said, Listen, we're guilty.

I'm getting what I deserve, but this man is innocent.

And then he looked to Jesus in the last moments of his own life and he said, Jesus, when you enter into the glory of your kingdom, remember me.

Remember what Jesus said?

This day is your salvation day.

You'll be with me in paradise.

You may be here this morning and we're about to take communion, but but you say, Well, I don't think I can take communion.

I've never made that decision.

It's not too late.

In the last moments that this man was hanging on the cross, Jesus saved him.

What a testimony he had and has in heaven today.

But you can have a testimony as well.

And so I'm gonna invite you in this moment.

Paul said in Corinthians that it before you take of the bread in the cup, pause, examine your life.

Make sure there's nothing that's hindering your ability to take it with a free heart.

That there's no offense against God and no offense against someone else.

And if you've never made the decision to follow God, then in this moment you can make the decision, and you too can share in the Lord's Supper.

I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads and for just a moment.

And I want you to examine your life right now, and then we're gonna take communion, and we're gonna open the altars.

Just take a moment right now.

And examine where your life is.

And I have two questions for you.

As you reflect on your life in Christ right now, not only what he has done for you, but what he's called you to do for him.

First question: what do you need to forget?

Better yet, who do you need to forget?

To forgive?

Is there something in your past that someone has done?

And as hard as you've tried, you've not let go of that.

Then right now is the time.

Just confess that to God and release the past so that you can live in the present.

And you could strive for the future that God has for you.

The second question is: what do you need to remember today?

You see, Jesus calls us the body of Christ.

The body of Christ.

And how we treat others matters to God.

Because of what Christ has done, we cannot walk our own path.

We cannot speak ill of someone.

We cannot have strife in the body.

We cannot hold malice against someone or anger or bitterness.

So right now, the body of Christ, what do you need to remember?

So that God can let it go.

If you look this way once again, I want you to take the emblems of communion and open them.

The top one, the first layer, if you'll peel that back, you'll see the little wafer that symbolizes the unleavened bread, the body of Christ, and then carefully the second layer which will open up to the cup.

And I want you to peel that back.

We spent the last several moments talking about the importance of what we need to remember at the Lord's table.

And now we have the opportunity to celebrate it together.

My hope and prayer is that each time from this day forward that you take of the bread and the cup, it will have an extra special meaning to you.

Because every time we take of the bread and we take of the cup, we are to remember Christ's life and Christ's life in us.

We are the body of Christ.

And as the body of Christ, we are his representative.

Thank you, Jesus, for your body.

Thank you, Jesus, that by your stripes we are healed, physically, spiritually, emotionally.

God, thank you that you sent your son and gave us the greatest sacrifice in all of history.

And now we take as partners in the body of Christ.

Let's take it together.

The blood.

And all the years that they offered the blood of goats and calves and heifers, it never satisfied.

It was only a veiled substitute for the sacrifice.

Jesus says, I come as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.

I am the reason why you live as an overcomer today.

It's by the blood.

Because of it, we are washed clean.

Let's receive the cup of his redemption.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

Would you just say thank you, Jesus, in your own way right now?

Would you thank him right now?

Just thank him in your own way.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus, for the sacrifice.

Thank you, Jesus, for remembering me.

Thank you, God, for delivering me and setting me free.

Hallelujah.

Now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, in just a few moments, I'm going to pray a prayer and then I'm going to ask you to stand.

And then I'm going to invite the altar ministry team to come forward.

There's some of us today that we need to get some things right with God yet.

And you have a need, you have a problem, you have a burden, whatever's going on in your life, we want to pray with you before we close today.

Whatever need you came in with today, God is here to meet your needs, and we want to have the opportunity and privilege of praying with you.

But with head bowed and eyes closed in these last few moments, I want to pray with you.

That as we have talked about and seen through Scripture the miracle and the promise of God through his son Jesus, and that we are to remember all that he has done and who we are and to let go of what God asks us to let go of.

In this last moment, let me ask you one more time.

What do you need to forget?

And what do you need to remember?

Heavenly Father, I thank you for what you're doing in this place and the lives of everyone gathered.

Father, it is our desire to live to the fullness of all that you have for us, to live every day as an overcomer.

Would you work in our lives, meet our needs, and help us to respond to a higher calling in you?

We take up the challenge today to live for Christ, to die to ourselves, that we might gain eternity with you, to live with you forevermore.

This is our prayer.

In Jesus' name.

And everyone said, Amen.