Called to Community: A Sharing Community

Good morning, good morning, nice to see everybody this morning.

Hopefully, everybody's high and dry at this point.

So this morning is our March Madness championship.

I guess, if you will, we're going to reveal the songs that we all selected as our favorite songs.

So we're going to get started this morning, coming in at number eight.

Drum roll, please, woody.

Thank you very much.

Our God is alive, so will you stand up and sing with us, please?

There is beyond the azure blue, a God concealed from human sight.

He tainted skies with heavenly hue and framed the worlds with His great might.

There is a God.

He is alive in Him we live and we survive From dust.

Our God made in man.

He is our God, the great I am Our God, whose Son upon a tree A life was willing there to give, that he from sin might set man free and evermore with Him could live.

There is a God.

He is alive.

In Him we live and we survive From dust.

Our God Created man.

He is our God.

The great I Am.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Good morning folks.

Glad you're here with us this morning.

Welcome everyone, guests and members.

If you're a first-time guest, you're very special to us.

We ask everyone please fill out an attendance card located in the back of the pew in front of you.

It gives you an opportunity to make a prayer request, a suggestion or anything like that.

We're excited that you're here.

We want you to come back all the time.

We want to keep in our prayers our brother, ralph Schenkel.

Ralph is having some health complications, as well as Al Wharton.

Want to keep Ralph and Al in our prayers.

Also Tammy Turner.

Tammy's having some complications after surgery, so please keep her in your prayers.

And also Angie and my son Luke.

Many of you all know our son Luke.

Luke was taken yesterday to Genesis Hospital Got some symptoms of a stroke.

He's 40 years old.

They ran some tests and stuff and nothing is showing up like a stroke.

But you know how when you go to the hospital they poke at you until they're done.

So keep our son Luke, as well as others, in your prayers.

We're going to go after we leave here and go get him riled up a little bit.

So also we have a new sister in Christ, karen Hogan was baptized yesterday for the forgiveness of her sins.

Sister Karen, would you please stand here right back.

We welcome you, welcome you, fantastic, thank you.

Thank you, we always love to honor and when somebody does good part of the church family, that is good.

And also our brother Reed Love, sitting over here in the Love Corner recently, was promoted to supervisor.

He was honored with his work.

He works at Patriot Welding.

Congratulations, reed, that is good.

We are proud of you.

I talked to him earlier.

He's learning how to walk fast and carry a clipboard.

When you do that, they don't ask you any questions, so that's good stuff.

Birthdays today I've been asked to say some birthdays.

Today's birthday, artie Stage.

We love you, sister.

Happy birthday to you.

Star Wharton today.

Bev Bates today.

And then Miss Nancy Hall has a birthday on the 9th and we're excited about that.

Folks, we do want to keep in our prayers, of course, the people coming in for the eclipse and all that stuff and just be cautious.

We're thankful that we didn't have injuries with the flood recently and all that, but it's going to be a busy day tomorrow, busy week, so just be careful.

Of course, we always remember our troopers, our deputies, our police, our law enforcement, our military.

Keep those folks in your prayers as well.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you, Mark.

And coming in at number seven Days of Elijah, why don't you stand up and sing with us?

Oh, so these are the days of Elijah Declaring the word of the Lord.

And these are the days of your servant Moses' righteousness being restored.

And though these are days of great, trials of famine and darkness and sword still we are

the voice in the desert crying.

Prepare ye the way of the Lord.

Behold he comes riding on the clouds, shining like the Sun, at the trumpet call.

So lift your voice.

It's the year of Jubilee and out of Zion till salvation comes, and these are the days of Ezekiel, the dry bones becoming as flesh.

And these are the days of your servant David, rebuilding a temple of praise and these are the days of the harvest, the fields are as white in your world, and we are the laborers in your vineyard declaring the word of the Lord.

Behold he comes riding on the clouds, shining like the sun at the trumpet call, so lift your voice.

It's the year of jubilee and out of.

Zion's hill salvation comes Amen.

And coming in at number six, glorify thy name.

Worship and adore you.

Glorify thy name In all the earth.

Glorify Thy name.

Glorify Thy name.

Glorify Thy name in all the earth.

Jesus, we love you, we worship and adore you.

Glorify thy name in all the earth glorify thy name, glorify thy name, glorify Thy name.

Glorify Thy name In all the earth.

Spirit, we love you, we worship and adore you.

Glorify thy name in all the earth.

Glorify thy name.

Glorify thy name.

Glorify thy name In all the earth.

Amen, coming in at number five.

When we all get to heaven, sing the wondrous love of.

Jesus, sing his mercy and his grace In the mansions.

Bright and blessed, he'll prepare for us a place when we all get to heaven.

What a day of rejoicing that will be.

When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory Onward to the prize before us.

Soon His beauty will behold, soon the pearly gates will open.

We shall tread the streets of gold when we all get to heaven.

What a day of rejoicing that will be.

When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory.

Amen, please be seated Amazing grace.

How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

But now I'm found was blind, but now I see that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.

How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed.

Any dangers, toils and snares.

I have already come.

Tis, grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

When we've been there ten thousand years, bright, shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.

Amen.

Love one another, for love is of God.

He who loves is born, does not know God, for love is of God.

He who loves is born of God and knows God.

Who does not love, does not know God, for God is love.

God is love.

God is love, for love is of God.

He who loves his boy, god is love.

God is love.

God is love.

Does God know God, for God is love.

God is with all that's love, with all that's love with all that's love.

God is love Love the Lord, our God, with all thy heart.

For God is love God is love.

God is love.

God is love by God, with all, all thy life, with all thy soul, with all thy strength.

All thy life.

God is love, god is love.

I'm God with all.

I'm God with all.

I'm God with all, for God is love, for God is love, for God is love.

God is love, god is love.

God is love.

God is love, amen.

Please be seated.

Good morning everybody.

Glad you're here this morning.

What's tomorrow, monday?

But it's also what have you been hearing about?

It's stinking eclipse.

Tomorrow's the eclipse day, right, and it's.

Everybody's coming in.

It's going to be crowded.

There's people driving from everywhere, all the hotels.

I read this past week that they said they expect over $100 million to be spent in Ohio tomorrow because of the eclipse.

That's pretty amazing that all these people are coming here.

Also, this week is the Masters in Augusta, georgia, and it's crazy down there at times.

When Phil and Lauren lived in Augusta, I asked them.

I said what do the people who live in Augusta do during the Master Week, in Masters Golf Tournament Week?

And you know what they said people do who live in Augusta during the Masters Week they leave Augusta, they get out of there because there's people that come from everywhere.

In fact, there's people that will rent their homes that week, sometimes up to $4,000 or $5,000 for the week, because there's so many people that come to Augusta.

They have companies that all they do is go around and try to get people to rent out their homes for the week, because so many people go to Georgia to watch the Masters, the golf tournament.

It's crazy, but could you imagine if all of those people came to Augusta?

Or could you imagine if all of the people came to Ohio to see the eclipse and they didn't leave?

That would be a mess, wouldn't it?

And they're there, they run out of money, they run out of food, they don't have a place to stay and they didn't leave.

Then what do you do?

That's sort of what happened in what we're going to look at in Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

In Acts chapter 2, there was the Feast of Pentecost.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It was a feast that celebrated the late harvest of the year, and everybody was expected all the Jewish men were expected to go to Jerusalem to celebrate that feast, and so people from all over that part of the world would come.

A lot of them would come 50 days early because they would come during the Passover feast.

You remember in Passover feast in the Old Testament, where the death angel came and God freed his people from Egyptian slavery, and they celebrated that every year for the Passover.

That was during the time when Jesus was crucified that we're going to read about in Acts 2.

Three days later, they celebrated another feast called the Feast of Lights, where they celebrated the early harvest, the barley harvest, and then, 50 days after the Passover they celebrated what was called Pentecost, 50 days, and they would celebrate the harvest and people would come from all over the world the Jewish people and they would stay there, sometimes for those entire 50 days.

You got to understand.

There was no Holiday Inn Expresses in Jerusalem.

There was no what do you call it?

R&b's or B&B's, there wasn't any Verbo.

You just go and if you slept in the street, you slept in the street and the whole population of Jerusalem would just explode during those 50 days.

Well, in Acts, chapter 2, something special happened on that day of Pentecost and, if I recounted correctly, there were people from 16 different countries, speaking all types of different languages, that showed up.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Imagine if thousands of people from 16 different countries, speaking 16 or 17 different languages, showed up in Guernsey County and stayed for two months.

Would it get a little crazy?

And that's sort of what happened there.

There's the eclipse, that's what's going to be happening there and you know school's out, we're 98%, whatever coverage there's.

The masters, but I want you to know what happened in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

The masters, but I want you to know what happened in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

It says in Acts chapter 2 that Peter preached and the other apostles preached and 3,000 people were baptized and they didn't want to go home.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

There was just all these good things happening and they were all excited and they just all realized and were told that Jesus was king and the Messiah was here.

And everybody's excited, excited, and nobody wanted to go home.

And that sounds like a great thing, exciting.

Nobody wants to go home.

We're so excited.

Give me a J, give me an E, give me an S, give me a U, give me an S.

Jesus, we don't want to leave, but it was a logistical nightmare.

What are you going to do with an extra four or five or six thousand people that don't want to go home?

And it's all from different cultures and they're speaking different languages?

What would you do if about 50 people from Japan just showed up on your front doorstep and said we want to stay with you and we're not going home?

That's what was happening and I want you to notice what they did.

It says this new group of Christians there said they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold their property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad, sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord kept adding.

More people kept being baptized Every day, those who were being saved.

It was a great thing.

But notice what these group of new Christians did.

They said we've got to do something.

And so they said we've got to feed these people.

You know what?

I've got an extra chariot in the garage.

I'll sell it so I can feed these people.

Some of them said you know what?

We'll just sell our house because we got these new brothers and sisters in Christ that we need to take care of.

And you read that and you start thinking okay, everyone was filled with all the believers, everything was in common.

They sold property and possessions.

You read that and you think, okay, does God expect me to sell my property and possessions to give to the needy?

I know there's somebody in our church that needs something and I'm supposed to be like the New Testament church.

Am I sinning by not selling my property and giving to someone in need.

I mean, we're the church of Christ, we speak where the Bible speaks.

I don't know where the Bible says.

I don't know.

I mean, we're the church of Christ, we speak where the Bible speaks.

I don't know where the Bible's at.

When's the last time you sold something to give to a brother or sister in need, and does God expect you to do that?

Is this a command to do that?

And all of a sudden it's like, hmm, I guess there's more to being a disciple than sitting in my same pew on Sunday morning.

Shazam, Is that what God's saying?

I mean, you read that and you think now, what am I supposed to do with that passage?

If I claim to be a follower of Jesus, what am I supposed to do with that passage?

Look at that today, huh.

Look at that today, huh.

So let's look at what we're supposed to do about it and how we're to take that and apply it to our life.

And what does that have to do with us being a sharing community?

Because we've talked about the church is to be community.

Does that sound like community to you?

It does to me.

So let's see what we can learn how to be a sharing church community, and does that passage teach me that I need to start selling my possessions and giving them to the poor and giving them to the needy First?

We need to determine this.

We have to determine if this passage of Scripture is descriptive or prescriptive.

Okay, we need to determine that when studying the Bible, it's important to determine whether you're reading a passage that's describing something that happened or is prescribing you to do something.

Does that make sense?

We need to understand that.

So is this passage a descriptive passage of what happened or is it a command?

Acts the book of Acts is a history book written by Luke, and it describes what's going on in the early church, and so it gives us a lot of the story.

There's a lot of things in Scripture that describe what happened that doesn't prescribe.

For example, how many of you know the story of David and Goliath?

All right, what did David do with Goliath?

Killed him, Took a slingshotoliath, killed him, took a slingshot, remember Killed him, chopped his head off, held his head up and said dun-dun-dun-dun.

And you read that passage Is God commanding you to go kill a giant and chop his head off and hold it up for everybody to see?

I hope not.

Either Descriptive or prescriptive.

Is God prescribing that?

He's describing what happened there, and so I need to understand that.

When I read Scripture a lot of times, when I give you another example, remember the rich young ruler.

And Jesus told the rich young ruler.

He's telling him.

He says you need to go, sell everything you have and give to the poor.

Is he describing what he told the rich young ruler or is he commanding that we all do that?

It's a descriptive passage.

So I want you to understand that when I read a passage of Scripture one of the things in Bible study when I'm reading it I need to decide is this passage describing something or prescribing something?

I need to do, I should do.

Acts 2 is a descriptive passage.

He's describing how these people were devoted to the apostles' teachings and to the fellowship with each other and to community.

But while it's a descriptive passage, there are some eternal truths that are taught there.

So I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that if you want to go to heaven, you got to sell everything that you own and give to the poor.

In fact, not everybody in Acts 2 did that.

I'm not telling you that, but there are some eternal principles that we learn from that example.

Does that make sense, does it?

What are some eternal principles you learned from David and Goliath?

It's not rhetorical.

God will help us when we're facing big things.

Anything else, where'd my stool go?

I could have sat here and we could have waited until the Baptists had done it, bob Evans, until we figured out.

What do you learn from David and Goliath?

Don't count out the little guy, the bigger they are the harder they fall.

I mean, there's all types of eternal principles we learn from David and Goliath.

God isn't commanding me to go out and kill a giant and chop his head off, but we do learn that God is with us when we face big obstacles and that if we trust him, we do learn.

There are times we have, there are things that we learn All through scripture.

We can learn from examples that aren't exactly commands.

We have to put everything in context, and that's true with Acts 2.

We read that passage where these people voluntarily chose to sell their possessions to give to all these other people that were out of town and they needed help, and so we can learn a lot of things from them.

But I'm not telling you, god's not telling you you need to sell everything you have and give to the poor, but he is showing us the type of heart that we're supposed to have.

Does that make sense?

And so we do learn from that first church community of what we're supposed to do.

So the second point is this we need to discover what made that community one that shares.

What was it that made these group of Christians say you know what?

We've got brothers and sisters that are in need.

What motivated them to sell their possessions and give to the needy?

What was it that caused them to do that?

Because in our culture I'm going to tell you, you don't hear about that a whole lot.

We may give out of our abundance, but I don't know many of us that sacrifice and sell to give.

What did they have that made them want to be a part of that community?

And so that's what we need.

We need to discover what they did.

That Number one they accepted God's grace.

It says in verse 41, after Peter told them that this Jesus whom you crucified, he's the king.

He's the king, he's the Lord, he's the Christ.

And once they realized, oh, my Jesus was, we killed the Messiah because the Jews had been looking for the Messiah for a hundred years.

We've killed the Messiah.

What do we need to do?

It said once he said what do we need to do?

He said you need to be baptized.

Repent, be baptized.

Repent of the fact that you treated Jesus just like somebody else when he was the king.

And when you realize Jesus is king, they said, oh, man.

And then they accepted the message and they were baptized.

But once they realized Jesus was king, everything changed for them.

Instead of being worried about themselves, they started being worried about others, because that's what people who submit to King Jesus do.

Their priority is how can I help those that are in need?

So the first step that they did, the first thing I need to do in being a sharing community is to understand that he's king.

They devoted themselves to what was best.

What did they devote themselves to?

Apostles' teaching?

What is it Jesus wants us to do?

Not what I want.

What does Jesus want me to do?

They devoted themselves to what was best.

We devote ourselves to what's important.

I know what you devote yourselves to by where you spend your time and where you spend your energy.

I wrote in my Bible, and I don't know where I heard it, but in this passage here devotion is when I stop doing things because I have to and I do them because I want to.

Devotion is I'm going to make sure my kid gets to every t-ball practice because he's going to be a major league baseball player, because I want to.

I want to.

Devotion is when I'm here this morning because I want to celebrate the King.

Not well, I better go to church or I'll go to hell, and nobody better set my pew.

There's a difference.

And so they devoted themselves to what was best.

They devoted themselves to what was best.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

They devoted themselves to learning God's will.

What is it God wants me to do?

They spent their time and energy saying what does God want me to do in my marriage?

What does God want me to do with this situation?

What does God want me to do with that person at work that drives me nuts?

What does God?

I'm devoting myself, spending my time and energy, saying what does God?

I'm devoting myself, spending my time and energy saying what does God want me to do to help me fix that relationship, to help me overcome that addiction, to help me.

What does God want me to do?

They devoted themselves to the fellowship.

They devoted themselves to caring for God's family.

They wanted to spend their time and energy saying how can I take care of that, that brother or sister who?

Saying, how can I take care of that brother or sister who's sick?

How can I take care of that person that's going through that tough time?

What can I do to encourage, how can I share?

That was their devotion.

It's not devoted themselves to what makes me happy.

They devoted themselves to God's family.

They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread, they devoted themselves to remembering God's Son and they devoted themselves to prayer, seeking God's guidance.

That's what they spent their time and energy doing.

So you accept God's grace, you devote yourself to what's best and you come together as a community.

You come together as a community.

Now, we said a couple of weeks ago here's what makes up a community.

You are a member of a lot of communities.

How many of you are a member of the Meadowbrook cult community?

How many of you are a member of the Cambridge Bobcat community?

How many of you are a member of the Buckeye Trail Warrior community?

How many of you are a member of the Barnesville Shamrock community?

How many of you are a member of the Shenandoah Zep community?

You're a member of a lot of communities.

Some of you are a member of the Republicrat community.

Some of you are a member of the Demolican community.

Where you work is community.

Some of you are a member of the Girl Scout community, the Boy Scout community.

Some of you are a member of the pickleball community, disc golf community.

We're members of all types of communities and we talk about.

Church is to be a community, and here's what makes a community?

A shared story.

We're a member of this community and we have a shared story, our shared stories.

We all sinned and we needed the grace of Jesus.

We have a shared identity.

He's a member.

You're holding a baby, you can't stand up, I'm not going to wake her up.

What communities, what identities do you have?

Turn around and let them see that O-H.

You see that identity and you can be walking in Boonga, boonga, africa and you got that O with a whole and somebody's going to shout, ohio, you have a shared identity.

We have a shared identity as citizens of the kingdom of God.

That's what makes a community a shared purpose.

The OHIO, ohio State Buckeye shared purpose.

We got a shared purpose.

Beat that team up north, which we haven't done a really good job at.

We won't go there, right, but we have a shared purpose.

If you're a member of a football team, you have a shared purpose.

If you take your kid to tee ball, you have a shared purpose, a shared.

Take your kid to T-ball you have a shared purpose, a shared identity.

That's what makes community Coming.

And sitting in a building looking at the back of somebody's head for an hour every Sunday is not going to make community and it's not going to change your life.

What we do here on Sunday morning is important, but it really doesn't build community.

What we do before we worship and after builds community.

What we do in our small group builds community.

But that's what they did in the church in Acts, chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

They all shared the same story man.

We thought Jesus wasn't the Messiah and he was.

They all shared an identity Glad Jesus is our king.

And they all had a shared purpose we want to please the king.

That's what makes community.

So I accept God's grace and then I understand the importance makes community.

So I accept God's grace and then I understand the importance of community and we devote ourselves to what's best.

And when you do that, you start sharing.

We become a sharing community.

Does that make sense?

Nobody commanded them to sell their chariot and give to the poor.

They did it because Jesus changed their heart.

They were part of a community that said you know what?

We know.

That brother over there is going through a tough time.

We know what's going on there.

We need to share and it was organically done.

There was no food pantry, it's just what you did.

That's why a small group is so important because it's in that life group where you really build community.

And it's in my life group that when I know that somebody has a need, I'm there to share because we're a community.

God calls us to be sharing people, but it only happens when we devote ourselves to what's best, accept His grace and gather around a community.

Sharing is not the root of our salvation.

You don't share to get to heaven, but it is proof of your salvation.

When I have a heart that wants to share, it shows me that I have the heart of Jesus.

It's proof that I'm saved.

I'm saved by His grace and that's what we're called to do.

They came together as community.

They didn't do it because they were commanded to.

They did it because they wanted to.

And so the lesson for us is not we've got to sell everything and give to the poor or we're going to hell.

The lesson is that, as disciples of Jesus whose heart has been changed, we will share that community.

You're a mean one, mr Grinch who Stole Christmas was written in 1957.

It became a big hit.

It became a cartoon in 1966.

Jim Carrey did his thing whenever he did that With the Grinch.

We all know about the Grinch, right, but the Grinch, his whole life was changed.

Dr Seuss told the story that there were two people and this was in a story written in the Dartmouth, a magazine at Dartmouth College that it was two guys, two brothers, bob and Dave.

Bob and Dave's last name was Grinch Imagine being growing up with the name Grinch.

And they wrote a letter to Dr Seuss saying would you please change the name of the Grinch that Stole Christmas, because it is brutal.

We're getting made fun of all the time, especially at Christmas time, and they were kids.

Dr Seuss couldn't change the name.

It was too late.

It was too late.

It was too late.

And if you know the story of the Grinch that stole Christmas, he went from that to that right.

I mean it says that you know he went down to Whoville Yahoo, yahoo, yahoo, yahoo, yahoo, yahoo, yahoo, yahoo.

He stole all the stuff, he took it up there.

You know he went down to.

Whoville.

He stole all the stuff.

He took it up there.

Cindy Lou, who comes out?

There's nothing there, there's no roast beefs to eat, there's no gifts, and the whole town starts singing, gathers around and sings just like it.

And the Grinch says what's going on?

And here's what he said.

He said maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.

And what happened then?

Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day and the men in his heart didn't feel quite so tight.

He whisked with his loaf through the bright morning light and he brought back the toys.

And the men in his heart didn't feel quite so tight.

He whisked with his load through the bright morning light and he brought back the toys and the food for the feast and he himself, the Grinch, carved the roast beast.

His heart changed and Seuss wrote Bob and Dave Grinch.

And he says this I disagree with your friends who harass you.

Can they understand that the Grinch in my story is the hero of Christmas?

Sure, he starts out as a villain, but it's not how you start that counts, it's how you finish.

See, we become a sharing community and we may say well, you know I started out I'd come to church and you better not get my pew and you better not do this.

And yeah, you better sing the songs I like and those eight songs they picked those over songs in the world.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah but.

But when I accept God's grace and I devote myself to God's purpose and I seek building community by understanding that you and I, we come from all different backgrounds but we have the same purpose, we have the same identity.

We have the same identity, we have the same story.

That's when God works on my heart and that's when we start sharing and that's what God calls us to do To be a sharing community.

We're going to sing song number two, right and during the singing of that song, here's what we want to do.

One of the ways that we can help have a sharing community is we've been encouraging people to get involved in a small group, in a small group setting.

We even have cards here.

They're in the back.

It's called to setting.

We even have cards here.

They're in the back.

It's called to community.

We're encouraging our small groups to take these cards.

It's got eight lessons, because we're going to look at eight different types of communities for the next eight weeks and a sharing community.

Just look at this passage we looked at today in your small group this week and talk about how we can become a better sharing community.

My homework for you is this Share something with somebody this week.

It could be a hug, it could be a pie sent to 306 Sequoia Drive, it could be anything, anything.

Share something with someone this week.

But the other thing is let's focus on being devoted to our community, look for opportunities to share, to let you know about the life groups as we sing together, we're asking the life group hosts and our leaders to come up front and Jeff's going to pray for them, so we're asking them to come up as we sing his song and then.

So if you host a life group that way, you'll know, you'll know, hey, here's some people, and then afterwards, if you want to know information about that life group, you can come and do that.

So let's do that.

Let's, together, we stand and sing.

Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee.

To Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come as.

I am and waiting not To rid my soul of one dark part To Thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot O.

Lamb of God.

I come, I come I come.

Will you pray with me, God?

We are humbled and encouraged by a community of your people who are willing to put themselves out there and be vulnerable and share their story and their houses and their hearts with each other.

We thank you specifically, Lord, for the people before us who have chosen to do just that, to draw closer to you, who have maybe done that for years or just recently started.

We pray that you'll continue to lead them, allow them to grow in hospitality and love for each other and allow them to continue to influence lives for your kingdom.

We thank you for your son, who died so that we could experience what real community is.

It's in his name we pray.

All right, we're going to sing one more song together, Number one that we all voted on, Psalm 34.

The kids will probably barge in any minute now as we're singing this and hopefully they'll join us in a rousing chorus Join us in a rousing chorus.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from every fear.

Those who look on Him are radiant.

They'll never be ashamed.

Sing with us kids, They'll never be ashamed.

Sing with us kids.

They'll never be ashamed.

This poor man cried and the Lord heard me and saved me from my enemies.

The Son of.

God surrounds His saints.

He will deliver them.

He will deliver them All together now.

Magnify the Lord with me, come exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me, come exalt His name forever.

Oh, taste and see.

Wow, look at those kids.

That the Lord is good.

Oh, blessed is he.

Wow, look at those kids that the Lord is good.

Oh blessed is he who hides in him.

Oh, fear the Lord.

All of you saints, we're going to need a bigger stage.

Who can do everything?

Who can do everything?

Magnify the Lord with me, Come exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me, come, exalt his name forever.

Let us bless the Lord every day and night, never ending praise may our incense rise let us bless the Lord every day and night, never-ending praise.

May our incense rise.

Let us bless the Lord every day and night, never-ending praise.

May our incense rise.

Let us bless the Lord, o my soul.

Worship His holy name.

Bless the Lord, o my soul, o my soul.

Worship His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me, come, exalt His name forever, all together now, magnify the Lord with me, come, exalt His name together.

Glorify the Lord with me, come, exalt His name forever.

Amen, god bless you.

Thank you, children.

Have a great week.

Everybody, tell somebody about Jesus this week.