It Begins with Beholding

We're especially glad if you're part of our family.

I'm so glad you're here.

And we're gonna we're we're gonna dive uh we're gonna dive in a little deep over the next few weeks.

And this is this is maybe a little different.

This will be a little bit different for you, but I hope it'll be meaningful.

Um and it'll really kind of give you, hopefully, um, it'll give you really our heart as a church as we as we move forward.

Um and this series is called Behold.

Behold.

And that's that's not a word that we probably use in our everyday language, but but it does come up in Scripture, and it comes up primarily in the King James Version, uh, which is certainly not the translation that we use on a regular basis.

Nothing wrong with it.

I love the King James Version.

It is a good translation, uh, other than the fact that it just has a lot of words in it that are that are that are hard to understand in certain parts.

Um but but as we move into the series, I want to I want to kind of give you this idea about about how often we can uh become captivated by something new in our life.

Um let me just share, for example, in my in my own life, you know, uh I uh I graduated high school and I worked construction uh full time and went to college part-time.

Um I ended up in Savannah where my brother and his wife lived, and I and I I moved into a sales job.

And um and and working out and exercise has always been part of my life.

It's always just been, you know, going back to school, working out and exercising, preparing for a sport.

Um I played baseball and football primarily, wrestled a little bit in high school.

And so um when I moved into adulthood, I wanted to, I wanted to kind of maintain, you know, I I enjoy.

I I I used to run some, I used to uh you know do uh I do a little bit of weights, but but I but I always kind of found some kind of new trend.

There's always a new exercise device or a new exercise program or a new diet that would help me become, you know, the the physical specimen that I wanted to be.

I mean, you know, you don't become like this overnight.

And so um, and so even in it and I I moved into ministry.

I started ministry in 1995.

I got I got married, uh, I started full-time at a church in January of 95.

I got married in June of 95, and and I up until then I was a certified exercise instructor.

And so I taught, I taught and trained, I taught and trained.

And so, but when I moved into ministry and I moved into marriage, I left that and and I left working out, kind of it kind of was put on the back burner, and I went from you know 175, 180 pounds to you know 220 pounds over the course of the next five years, and I was just unhealthy and I was sluggish.

And so I began to go back to my regimen and to go back to eating better, and I I knew that that I would it would be healthy.

And the older I get, the more I the less I care about how I look, the more I care about just my health.

But when I, how many of you ever heard of P90X?

How many of you ever heard of P90X?

So P90X, there's a guy named Tony Horton uh that that was the lead guy that would lead the workouts on P90X, and I got caught up in the P90X, and our church had been planted, and we were meeting at Walnut Grove High School, and I was doing P90X, and and it was, you know, my goal was to look like Tony Horton.

I mean, I wanted to look like him.

And so not only did I work out and follow his workout plan, I wanted to take all the supplements that he was selling.

Now that that that was not good for our budget.

Um, and and it really didn't affect me at all because I did not end up looking like Tony Horton.

And I and I know that surprises some of you.

Um but but I but uh I had I have a little bit of a personality that will jump from one thing and really throw myself into it, and then along comes something else, and I'll jump to that and I'll really throw myself into it.

And that's the way it's been with my exercise and physical life.

And I know some of you are the same.

We all kind of sometimes we move from one thing to the other, we become enamored, and and we we as a result, we go in all.

We throw everything in to something.

And then and then what happens over time that the it loses its luster and it begins to fade away.

It might be a sport, it might be golf, it might be, you know, the the what's the what's the new biggest sport, fastest growing sport in the world right now?

Pickleball.

Pickleball.

I've got a 19-year-old son.

That's what he he works full time and he plays pickleball full time.

I mean, he that's that, I mean, you know, he didn't come home till about midnight.

What are you where have you been?

I've been playing pickleball.

I thought, well, that's okay.

Jill and I, we're kind of blessed.

Our son's out, it says he's out till midnight.

What are you doing?

Playing pickleball.

I hope that's what he's doing.

Um and so, you know, it can be cycling, it can be running, it can be a new diet, it can be it, it can be, you know, uh, you know, hairdo, clothing, whatever it is.

You know, our hearts are rather fickle.

The human heart is so fickle and it and it leads to things and it shifts from one thing to the next thing.

And then the thing that we love and we care about and then we pursue loses its luster and we move on to the next thing.

And sadly, this happens in our spiritual life.

Most of us who have been followers of Jesus can identify with this, that we can get fired up.

We have an experience or we have a revival in our heart, or maybe even back when we first got saved or we first came to Christ, man, we we our hearts were were on fire for Jesus.

And then over time, because of the fickleness of our heart, and you know, I talk about these enemies, the enemies of the dead, the devil, the world, and the human flesh, human nature, we it Jesus can lose his luster in our hearts.

Why is this?

There's a number of reasons.

We can argue about how we are we're we're we're caught up in a consumeristic mindset.

For some of us, the gospel, the gospel of Jesus, this good news, it's defined in more of a transactional way rather than a transformational way.

And we were taught or we bought into a preacher that says, hey, Jesus died on the cross for your sins and for you to get to heaven.

And so we think, man, that's great.

He died to take away my sins so I can get to heaven.

But that is a transactional perspective of the gospel.

Jesus didn't die just to remove your sins so you can get to heaven.

He died and he removed your sins so you could have a relationship with him so you could behold him, so you could be caught up in him.

And I know that I know things, I know that we can, you know, we can have, we can be excited about Jesus one day, we can be caught up with something else the next day.

That is part of the human fickleness and the human heart.

Um, but but here's the problem: this transactional mindset is that it is not something Jesus ever taught.

Jesus taught us to follow him, not just to believe in something.

He taught us to follow him.

Yes, we turn, we repent, and we believe and we trust.

That is the simplicity of the gospel, but we start moving.

We start moving toward Jesus.

We follow the teachings of Jesus, we follow the person of Jesus, we worship Jesus, the person of Jesus.

We behold him as we sing about him.

Open the eyes of my heart that I might see you, that I might know you better.

John Mark Comer says Jesus is not looking for converts to Christianity, he's looking for apprentices in the kingdom of God.

Jesus said this in his great commission.

He came and told his disciples in Matthew 28, 18, 19, and 20, he says, I've been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you and be sure of this.

I am with you always, even until the end of the age.

And so he says, he says this.

He says, Go and make disciples.

That's our that's our commission, is to go and make disciples.

We are caught up in beholding and the teachings and the person of Jesus because he's changed us.

And he says, go and make disciples because of how you've been changed.

Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Teach them all that I have taught you, all the commands I've given you.

And he says, I will be with you until the end of the age.

This is what Jesus is after.

Not converts of faith, but disciples or apprentices that follow and become like Jesus.

This is not transactional, this is transformational.

How do we become like Jesus?

How does this happen?

And this is what we're talking about today and over the next few weeks.

Discipleship begins with beholding.

Discipleship begins with beholding.

And I'm gonna, you know, listen, this series is a few weeks long, so it may be one of those series where you you really you really pick it up and get it by the second or third week, which is why you need to keep coming back.

Because this idea of beholding or gazing or looking intently at the person in the presence of Jesus, look and beholding what he's done and who he is, uh is something that may take us a few weeks to really understand.

We will never be transformed in the image of Christ if we don't behold who he is, gaze upon who he is.

There's this simple but profound truth that you become what you behold.

You become what you behold, you become what you worship.

And so we want to chase after the person of Jesus.

We want to behold the person of Jesus.

We want him to light up our heart, to capture our heart.

We want to gaze upon his beauty.

And for some of us in the room, this is this is not we've probably never experienced this.

What I'm talking about here.

And I want us to experience it together as a church body, you individually, you as families, but especially us as a church body.

The goal of this series is to lift our eyes up to the Lord, to get a picture of Jesus deeper, deeper, more in depth, more profound, more clearly, to get a picture of Jesus more than we've ever had before.

There's a quote here, listen to this quote.

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.

And twine descent exuberate.

Now, did I pronounce that the right way?

I'm really not sure.

But do you get the quote?

Hey, don't, don't, hey, if you want somebody to build, if you want to build a ship, you want to travel the seas, don't tell people to collect wood, collect supplies.

You get them to fall in love with the sea.

And to capture the beauty of traveling on the sea.

To get caught up into something.

You get them to fall in love with the experience of what they're about to go on a journey for.

So as we look at scripture, we're going to be in Exodus chapter 19 and Exodus 20.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

We're also going to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 a little bit, but Exodus 19, primarily right here.

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

It's one of the passages, greatest, greatest passages of scripture where we see God as a people.

As a people, behold the glory of God.

And so this picks up after the nation of Israel has been rescued from the oppression by the Egyptian.

Moses had led them out of Egypt.

And God shows up as his people are crying out to him.

He rescues them with a series of plagues to set them free.

And he takes them out of Egypt.

He parts miraculously parts the Red Sea.

And on the other side of the sea, we see the Lord miraculously provide for his people with bread from heaven and water flowing from a rock.

And then we come to Exodus 19.

This is a turning point for Israel.

Up until this point, they have seen the works of God's hands, but here at Mount Sinai, we're going to see the Lord's presence come near his people.

So verse 1, Exodus 19, exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.

After breaking camp at Rephedim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp there at the base of Mount Sinai.

Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God.

The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, Give these instructions to the family of Jacob.

Announce it to the descendants of Israel.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians.

You know how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.

Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth, for all the earth belongs to me, and you will be my kingdom of priest, my holy nation.

This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.

So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the Lord had commanded him.

All the people responded together, we will do everything the Lord has commanded.

And so the Lord wants to bring transformation into the lives of this whole nation of people.

All of God's people.

Something will be different about them.

What will it be?

It will be the presence of God with them.

He is ultimately saying, because I saved you, I will now show you how you are to live your life.

And here's what he's saying.

He's saying you're called to be a people of presence.

You're called to be a people of presence.

We are called to be a people of presence.

That's what the church is called to be.

So Moses reports these words back to the elders of the nation, and they all respond, hey, we're in.

We're in.

It's like the last night of youth camp.

We're in.

We're in.

It's like the last night of revival.

If you've ever been a part of a revival meeting, everybody comes to the altar.

Man, we're in.

We're in.

We've seen the miracles of God.

We've seen how you've moved among the Egyptians.

We want whatever you have for us.

So Moses brought the people's answer back to the Lord.

Into verse 8.

Then the Lord said to Moses, I will come to you in a thick cloud.

Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you, then they will always trust you.

Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

Man, that's good news, right, by the way?

When the church says, yes, hey, we believe the word and we're with you.

That is a good thing.

That is a good thing.

But but remember how I started the sermon?

We're human.

We have fickle hearts.

Let's just kind of keep that in mind because this is a good thing, but we remember our fickleness.

And so the so Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

Then the Lord told Moses, go down and prepare the people for my arrival.

Consecrate them today and tomorrow and have them wash their clothing.

Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.

Mark off a boundary around all around the mountain.

Warn the people be careful, do not go up to the mountain or even touch its boundaries.

Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death.

No hand may touch the person or animal that crosses the boundary.

Instead, stone them or shoot them with arrows.

They must be put to death.

However, when the ram's horn sounds a long blast, then the people may go up on the mountain.

Now, do my best to explain.

Moses goes back up the mountain, reports back to the Lord what the people have said, and Moses is told he knows to go, he needs to go back down the mountain.

He's getting all his steps in.

And prepare for the arrival of the Lord.

The people are told to consecrate themselves.

What do we mean by consecrate?

What does consecrate mean?

That's a Bible word.

That is not a word that we use on a daily basis.

Children, consecrate yourselves before you go to school, right?

Consecrate yourselves before you go to church.

We don't use that, but he says consecrate yourselves, and it means it is synonymous with holy, to be holy, to be set apart, to be cleansed.

He says, wash your clothes.

Set yourself apart.

Have a holy heart.

Make sure your sin is confessed.

Consecrate yourselves.

And be consecrated.

Was to be holy.

It was to be set apart from the corrupting influences of the world.

It means you have a special purpose.

God has something for you.

And so the people had been living in this foreign pagan land in Egypt.

And the Lord's presence, and so, and for the Lord's presence to be a part of their life, they had to be holy.

They had to be consecrated.

God cannot coexist with sin.

God cannot coexist with sin.

So if we want to become like God and we want to behold Him and we want to walk with Him, we want to journey with Him, then we've got to be forgiven of our sin and constantly be aware of our need to be consecrated.

God is saying, listen, you don't approach me in a casual way.

You don't approach me in a casual way.

I remember one of my seminary when I went to seminary.

My seminary professors, if they saw me dressed like I am today, they would think that I've just absolutely lost my mind.

You tuck your shirt in.

But one of the one of the things they said is they said, you don't preach with your hands in your pockets.

Now, uh occasionally you'll see me put one hand in my pocket.

I don't think that's wrong, but their point is you are standing in the pulpit.

You are standing in the spot that represents the voice of God.

There's nothing special about me, but there's something special about standing and delivering the word of God, and we don't come to God in a casual way.

Now it's not about dress, it's about your heart.

It's about your heart.

You dress how you want to.

If, if, you know, I mean, the trend, you know, things change, things change.

Trends change.

In ten years, we'll be, you know, we might be wearing suits and ties and wearing dresses to church.

I mean, who knows?

Trends come and go.

But but our heart is always the issue.

It's always the appearance of the Lord was for their good, but it was not for their comfort.

It's not our comfort.

If we pursue our comfort, it will cost us the presence of God.

So when you and I behold the Lord and experience his glory, it will cost us.

This is serious business.

When the church gathers, we should come with a posture of holy reverence and awe.

We don't come casually in our own amusement and entertainment, but we come for transformation.

That's what we come for.

Verse 16 on the morning of the third day, the thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain.

There was a long, loud blast from a ram's horn, and all the people trembled.

Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on the mountain in the form of fire.

The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently as the blast of the ram's horn grew louder and louder.

Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply.

The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain.

So Moses climbed the mountain.

So the Lord comes down the mountain.

And it must have been an absolutely, I mean, frightening, scary experience for God to come in power and his presence.

When the people, verse 18, when the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram's horn, when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance trembling with fear.

And they said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen.

But don't let God speak directly to us, or we will die.

They get it.

They have beheld the glory of God.

And He is holy.

He is set apart.

He is other than us.

He is other than us.

He there is a reverent fear.

A reverent fear.

And we've lost a bit of that reverent fear.

We've lost it.

We've lost it.

You want me to tell you how I know we've lost it?

It's because there's nobody in this room hardly, but a few people at 9 o'clock.

There'll only be a few handful of people that'll be sitting in this room at 11 o'clock.

You know why?

Because we just come casually to church.

We just come casually.

We're not rushing in because, man, we get to meet with God.

It's just a casual thing.

You know, I'm going to put my hand in my pocket, preach with one hand in my pocket.

That's casual.

God doesn't want casual.

God wants us to be reverent.

He wants, listen, he wants us to get a glimpse of his glory.

He wants us to see him as he is.

They're overwhelmed.

They're trembling.

And I don't listen, I don't necessarily want you trembling and overwhelmed and fearful.

I want you to feel welcome and warmth and friendship.

But there needs to be a time.

There needs to be a place where we get a biblical, accurate, clear picture of the presence of God, and it moves us so much that we are transformed and changed.

They got a glimpse of God's glory and they're invited in for more, but the people allow fear to stop them from beholding more.

Fear, listen here, fear makes us retreat from God's presence or run towards it.

When we get a clear picture of God, man, I I can't, I can't handle that.

If my heart's not right, if I'm not prepared, if I'm not dealing with consecrating my heart, I'm fearful.

I want to run from it.

But when we really surrender and we say, God, consecrate my heart, cleanse my heart, then we, hey, I can't get enough.

I can't get enough.

So the people are afraid.

They don't want to go near the Lord.

So the fear gets to them and they nominate Moses to be their representative before God.

We are afraid, so let's send Moses.

Hey, Moses, we like you going up there for us.

So we're going to let you do it.

But fear makes them retreat.

They pull back.

They're willing to settle for mediocrity spiritually.

Verse 20, don't be afraid, Moses answered them.

For God has come in this way to test you.

God wants, he tests, God, listen, God can.

God is God.

He can test our hearts.

And so that you, he says, for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning.

And as the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

Moses goes into the abyss.

He goes into the dark presence of God.

And so was Moses perfect?

No.

This is the same Moses that had murdered an Egyptian soldier.

He had hid his body, fled into the wilderness.

When God first appeared to him in the burning bush, Moses argued with God and said, I can't go speak for you.

I've got a speech problem.

And so, but Moses had tasted and seen the glory of God's goodness, and he knew that he wanted more.

He didn't have a worldly fear, he had a godly fear.

Paul Tripp says this He says, the fear of the Lord is such a reverential awe of God that grips your heart that you're willing to listen to his wisdom.

You're willing to submit to his commands.

You're willing to surrender your will to his will, and you're willing to rest in the awesome promises of his grace.

The fear of the Lord makes you run toward him, not away from him, and causes you to live in a way that you would not live apart from him.

It's the fear of the Lord that has propelled all his saints to live as soldiers of light in a darkened world.

So Moses had a godly reverential fear.

He had a transformational perspective of God, not a transactional perspective.

And so discipleship, apprenticing, following Jesus as an apprentice or a disciple begins with beholding the glory of God.

So we wanna, we wanna we wanna come to God with the with the the heart of Moses.

And so next week we'll continue to talk more about this.

Let me conclude with this this passage, and I'm gonna try to explain beholding.

What does it mean?

You know, what what what is it really?

I'm gonna try to give you something practical.

2 Corinthians 3, 7 through 13, and then 16 through 18.

Here's what the apostle Paul says.

Paul's writing a letter, his second letter to the church at Corinth.

Corinth is an ungodly metropolitan city.

It's Atlanta, Las Vegas, New York, you know, and the church is struggling to become what they know Jesus wants them to become, but deal with the darkness that they in the city in which they live.

And so Paul says this.

He says in verse 7, the old way, and what does he mean by the old way?

He's talking about the law, living according to the religious law.

The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses' face.

That there, right where it there says, where it says, look at Moses' face, and I'm reading out of the New Living Translation, where it says look right there, it would be in the King James, behold.

He said, he says, he says, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to behold Moses' face, for his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away.

Shouldn't we expect far greater glory under the new way now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?

If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way?

Here's what he's saying.

He's saying God's people experienced something special and significant with Moses out in the wilderness.

But now God has come in a new way through the person of Christ.

Up close and personal.

If the old way which brings condemnation with glorious, how much more glorious is the new way which makes us right with God?

That's talking about salvation.

In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way.

So if the old way which has been replaced was glorious, how much more glorious is the new which remains forever?

He's talking about the new covenant that brings us into the presence of God.

Not at a mountain, not in some experience that happens just kind of once in a lifetime.

You have the opportunity every day of your life to walk in the presence of God and to behold him and to gaze at him.

He says, since, verse 12, since this is this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.

We're not like Moses who put a veil over his face, so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away.

But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Yeah.

One person, one person excited about that.

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord, and the Lord who is the Spirit makes us more and more.

Listen to this.

The Lord who is the Spirit makes us more and more like Him.

That is the purpose for our salvation.

Not to get to heaven, to make us more and more like Him, like Jesus, as we are changed into the glorious image that He has for us.

So under the new covenant, after Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection, the new way is so much greater than the old covenant.

We stand in the righteousness of Christ and we come boldly before Him and we get to see the Lord in all of His glory.

Listen, every day of our life, Sundays is extra special because we're together corporately.

And we can say it this way.

Fascination, beholding is being fascinated with the person of Jesus.

Fascination produces transformation.

So what does it mean to behold?

What am I talking about?

So there's a point.

So I'm I'm I'm married to an incredible woman named Jill.

And we met at a youth camp.

And I'll never forget the first time I ever laid eyes on her.

I went into a leadership meeting of all the leaders at this youth camp.

And she was one of the worship leaders.

She is so gifted with her ability to sing and to play the play the keys.

Some of y'all need to need to tell her that she is disobeying God by not sharing her gift with Church at the Grove.

Because I don't want to tell her that.

But I saw her for the first time.

I saw her worshiping the Lord, and I thought, man, that girl can sing, and she looks good.

I beheld her beauty.

And so over the next couple of years, we developed a friendship and a relationship.

And then and then she she comes to Savannah and I asked her out on a date, and she said, you know, she said, I already have a I already have a date.

Somebody set me up with this guy.

She said, but but but I I can cut that one short and meet you for dessert.

And and so we we met later that night.

That's really I know that's that's the truth.

That's the truth.

And and so we developed a relationship.

And I I I was I I was just overwhelmed by her beauty, by her character, by her love for Jesus, by her convictions.

And and so you know what?

I began to to change and reorient my life just a little bit.

You know what?

I started calling her on a regular basis.

I started calling her on a regular basis.

I started spending an unusual amount of time talking to her on those phone calls.

I began to reorient my life toward her because I was captivated and I became, I came to a place where I wanted to behold her and gaze upon her and love her and know her even more.

You see it?

You see it.

And so, so all of a sudden, this money that I might spend somewhere else, I'm starting to think, you know what?

I need to start putting aside some money because I want I want to spend the rest of my life with her.

And so I begin to spend less money in these places and more savings over here so I could put a ring on the finger.

And I could I could make this permanent.

I mean, how many of you know what it's like to have a son?

Listen, one day he doesn't even want to take a bath, and the next day he's putting on cologne.

You know why?

Because somebody has caught his attention.

So, so we things change, our schedules change, our orientation changes because we get caught up in something that is valuable to us.

And that is what it means to behold the glory of God and to follow the teachings of Paul, where we can behold.

That's how we become disciples.

Matthew 13 44 says, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field.

Listen, listen.

In his excitement, he hit it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

And so the Lord is calling our church to deeper waters.

The Lord is calling our church to deeper waters.

Our church is moving.

I want our church to move where we behold the glory of God.

Because listen, you become what you behold.

You become what you worship.

That's how He changes us.

And so one of the responses for this morning, if I'm asking you, how would you respond to a message like this?

Some of you, maybe one or two of you, a few of you, you're here and you've never put your faith in Jesus for the first time.

And you get a picture of who Jesus is.

He came and he lived and he died and he was buried and he was bodily resurrected.

We celebrated that a couple of weeks ago.

And so we turn to Jesus.

That's your first step, is to put your faith in Jesus.

For those of you that are here that are already believers, what is your response?

Your response is to say, you know what?

I want to go on this journey.

I want to jump in with this church, and I want to go on a journey where we learn how to grow deeper as disciples of Jesus.

And one of the ways we're going to experience the presence of Jesus is through his body and his blood this morning.

And so we're going to practice what we call the Lord's Supper, communion.

And listen, this is significant.

This is a holy experience.

This is us coming and saying, Hey, I am in.

I'm all in.

I'm all in.

My heart, my heart is consecrated.

I'm checking my sin.

I'm confessing my sin.

I'm making myself right with the Lord so I can come to the table consecrated.

So I can come to the table with a holy heart.

And I'm going to make sure that I'm right with the Lord.

I'm going to make sure I'm right with my brothers and sisters.

And so as our team comes, as Brandon and our team comes and leads us, during this time, I'm going to invite you as the Holy Spirit prompts you to come.

And you, you, if you are a believer, and this is for believers.

This is for believers.

You will take a little wafer that represents the bread of Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples, he said, Hey, this is my bread, this is my body broken for you.

This bread represents my body and it's broken for you.

He said, You are to partake of this.

To remember, to remember what I have done for you.

Until I return and inaugurate my new kingdom.

You are to do this regularly.

And so then you will take the wafer and dip it into the juice, the fruit of the vine.

And Jesus said, Hey, this is this is this cup represents my blood.

You drink of this in remembrance of what I have provided for you in my in spilling my blood for the remission of your sins.

And you do this regularly until I come to inaugurate my new kingdom.

So would you pray with me this morning?

For those of you that need to put your faith in Christ, the Bible says that we're to repent.

We're simply to repent, which means to turn.

We repent and we believe and we trust in what Christ has provided.

And you could say, you could say it as simple as this: Yes, Jesus.

Yes, Jesus, I'm in.

I want you.

I'm saying yes to your salvation that you offer to me.

For those of you that that are here and you're ready to go on a journey, you're ready to go on a journey where we grow deeper in our faith.

I'm going to invite you to come to the table.

And let's come.

Let's come with right hearts, reverent hearts.

Let's come beholding the beauty of Jesus.

The beauty of Jesus, his character, his compassion, his love, his conviction, his ability to reach out beyond the boundaries of the religious leaders and to look for the outcast, to look for those that were that were sick or those that were sinners or those that were lepers or those that needed some type of special touch.

That is the beauty of Jesus.

The beauty of Jesus is that he has changed my life.

He has given me a hope.

He has given me a purpose.

He's given you a hope and a purpose.

And we behold the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world.

So as we come, let's come in reverence and awe.

Gazing, beholding the beauty of Christ in his broken body and his spilled blood.

We love you, Jesus.

We love you, Jesus.

And we thank you.

It's in Christ's name.

Amen.

You come as God leads you.