Psalm 121 - Pastor Kyle Taylor

We find ourselves here in this particular chapter.

It's considered part of Book 5 of the Psalms.

And this book, the hymn book and prayer book

of Israel... It gives us one of the most complete

revelations on the person of God, His character,

that we find throughout all the scriptures. When

we look in the book of Psalms, we begin to see

who God is, what He has done, and how we should

respond to Him. And this psalm is defined as

a song of ascents. Now, we do not know the author.

What we do see, though, is there's a split. Verses

1 and 2 are a pilgrim going towards Jerusalem

to worship. Verses 3 to 8. is a priestly group

responding. Now, as one of these Song of Ascents,

that's chapter 120 to 134 in the book of Psalms,

this psalm would be sung by God's people as they

were traveling to Jerusalem several times a year

for particular feasts, including Passover and

a couple others. And through this psalm today,

just eight verses, it's not very long, we'll

see that God is portrayed as one who helps, one

who keeps, one who protects, and one who preserves.

And we will find two words, help and keep, used

multiple times each throughout the psalm to leave

us in no doubt that it is the covenant Lord who

helps and keeps each member of his church. And

I believe together we'll find this psalm a great

encouragement. Charles Spurgeon, when reflecting

on this psalm, said, None are so safe as those

whom God keeps, none so much danger as the self

-secure. Let's look into verse 1 together and

we'll see, first of all, our help this morning.

The psalmist writing, I will lift up my eyes

to the hills from whence comes my help, or where

does my help come from. Now, as a pilgrim looks

towards the hills here, traveling towards Jerusalem

to worship, perhaps the mountains that they must

cross on this journey to Jerusalem, they ask

the question that every human eventually has

to answer, and that is, where does my help come

from? Now, one interesting fact, no matter how

you want to approach Jerusalem, from the north,

from the south, from the east, from the west,

you have to travel through the hills. There is

no flat entry into the city. Now a lot of these

mountains or high places, as they're often referred

to in the Old Testament, were associated with

idol worship, pagan gods, Baal, Asherah, Poles,

things like that. And also this hill country,

as you had to come into Jerusalem, was a place

filled with bandits. There were only particular

roads and paths to get into the city, and during

these times of festival, There would be an influx

of people traveling and therefore an opportunity

to rob and to harm. And either way, with this

question, where does my help come from, we do

sense a little bit of anxiety. This word help

in verse 1. It means to aid, to support, to give

relief. But this is a specific word of help.

And it does not mean, will you help me do this

little job? It's different than the way that

we use the word help. Help here specifically

is not used to describe one who just assists

you to get something done. This word help is

one who leads the way. One who rescues you from

a crisis that you cannot overcome. That's very

different than the way we generally use the word

help. Help here, used in this context, is to

protect you from danger, to give you strength

for burdens, and to deliver you from trouble.

H .B. Charles Jr. said in his commentary, he

said, this question of where does my help come

from confronts us all with the fact of life.

You need help. The journey is long. The road

is tough. The burdens are heavy. The climb is

steep. The dangers are many, and it is impossible

for you to make this journey alone. You need

help. But yet the question remains, where does

my help come from? Now, the worshiper here does

admit that he is not able to help himself, which

in our flesh is quite a large admission. We are

inclined to believe that if we grit our teeth,

if we try hard enough, if we work enough hours,

we can help ourselves, we can get along just

fine. But none of us can provide the true help

that we need. We see that going through this

journey of life, the help that we will need comes

from God alone. There is no other source. You

or I cannot do enough to help ourselves. And

that is a humbling place, I believe, to get to

as we start. to realize that as believers in

Jesus Christ, there must be a deep dependence

on Him as our help. Let's look into verse 2.

The psalmist answers his own question. He says,

My help comes from the Lord. And then adds, Who

made heaven and earth? Now, the psalmist lifts

his eyes and answers the original question from

verse 1 and directs the attention away from the

creation that we see in verse 1 to now the Creator

here in verse 2. My help comes from the Lord.

Notice in your Bible, you will see capitals L

-O -R -D. That is there for a purpose. All caps,

Yahweh, the covenant God of His people, is not

general, but personal. And not only does the

worshiper list the covenant name of God here,

but adds, He who made heaven and earth. And that

phrase is used three times in the Psalms of Ascent,

but this is its first. It also has long -reaching

implications in Scripture. This is a reference

that does not only include creation as the start

of recorded time as far as we are concerned,

but it also includes the ongoing providential

work of God in sovereign direction and protection

over His people. Not just a one -time event,

but the ongoing work of God for His people. There

is no one in whom we could turn to and be more

confident in as the giver of help. This expression,

who made heaven and the earth, is a reference

that's quoted several times in Scripture. Isaiah

includes this expression. Jeremiah quotes it

also. The apostles even, when they were under

great duress in Acts 4, for preaching the name

of Jesus Christ, said, so when they heard it,

they raised their voice to God with one accord

and said, Lord, You are God, who made heaven

and earth and the sea and all. All true. Let's

take a deeper dive here and see that the Lord

is more than just a general source of help. He

did not just create, but He also sustains His

creation. In fact, it is God who sustains our

very lives. When we think of help, there is a

difference between a means of help and a source

of help. Those are two very different things.

A means of help, for example, would be you get

sick and you go to the doctor. That is a means

of help. A means of help could also be... You

want to retire one day, so you seek out somebody

for financial planning. That is a means of help.

God is the source of all help. All true help

comes from Him. He's not just one of many means

that we can access in this particular world that

we live in now. He is the source of all help.

And the psalmist speaks here as the Lord being

the one true source, the one true help. In fact,

Psalm 46, we read verses 10 and 11 earlier. Here's

verse 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very

present help in trouble. Since God is the creator

of all things, the maker of heaven and earth,

not just creating them but sustaining them, there

is nothing greater than He. We can deduct this.

We conclude that there is no situation in all

of creation that you or I are going to encounter

in which the Lord's help would not be sufficient.

He is all -knowing. Nothing can ever catch Him

off guard. Friends, that is good news because

He is not just a means or one of many means of

help. He is the ultimate source of our help.

Look at verses 3 and 4. We see now the one who

keeps. It says, He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel shall neither slumber

nor sleep. As these pilgrims were traveling to

Jerusalem annually to worship, they're crossing

rough terrain. And on these paths, the road was

not easy. Injury was always a possibility. It

was rocky. There were crevices and things like

this. And the psalmist says here, though, the

one who walks with God need not fear slipping

in places of rugged terrain. Why? Because he

will not let you slip and fall. It's not because

you or I are so good that that just couldn't

happen to us. It's because God's hand is upon

us. As opposed to the false deities associated

with those high places, the one true living God

is unlike them. Look at the things He has said

He will not do. First He says, He will not allow

your foot to be moved. Now in the Scriptures...

This idea of your foot being moved is associated

with the idea of misfortune, to slip, to stumble,

to be shaken up. And the idea here is that after

one comes to saving faith in Christ, we enter

this lifelong journey of sanctification. This

process in our lives where, as we encounter Scripture,

we sit under preaching, we go through a routine

of prayers and things like this. We are conformed

by the Holy Spirit of God more into the image

of Christ. But what happens in that process is

this. As we are sanctified, we gain spiritual

maturity and stability, that we are not so easily

shaken as we once were. There's a long -reaching

promise in this psalm that finds its fulfillment

in Jude 24. It says, Now to him who is able to

keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless

before the presence of his glory with exceeding

joy. Is the psalmist saying here that God will

never allow you to sin? Of course not. You and

I and every single person on this earth stumble

into sin every single day. MacArthur called it

our unredeemed humanness. So long as we are in

this flesh, we cannot ultimately avoid sin. despite

our best efforts trying to put it to death and

fight against it, we still encounter it. The

old preachers used to say that Christ was a rock,

that He was our foundation, and that when we

think about this verse, that you might slip and

slide all over the rock, but you were still on

the rock. That God has you, that He has a hold

of you, and He's not ultimately going to let

you slip and find your ultimate demise. You are

still planted in Christ. In this earthly life,

we're going to let each other down. But notice

the next part of the verse. He says, He who keeps

you. This is how he's going to fulfill the first

part of that verse. We see a beautiful truth

that finds its fullest expression in the New

Testament doctrine of the perseverance of the

saints. It is this, that God's people are kept

not by their own efforts, not by their own performance,

not by behavior modification, but by God. When

we think about this idea of perseverance of the

saints, it is this, that those whom God has truly

saved will never be finally lost. We won't slip

and stumble and lose our footing permanently

because their perseverance does not rest upon

the strength of their own faith, but upon the

faithfulness and preserving grace of God. As

Christians, the reality is we are going to stumble.

We are going to trip and fall, and sometimes

that's even tripping and falling into very serious

sin. and experience possibly even seasons of

doubt, but God will not abandon those who He

has redeemed. The God who has began a work of

salvation in you will preserve His people in

faith and bring them safely to glory. We would

say this very succinctly, we persevere because

it is God who preserves us. The psalmist goes

on to say, not only will the Lord not allow you

to slip, stumble, and fall ultimately, but he

says he will not slumber. Now that seems like

a very interesting thing to have in this verse,

but why is it important? It shows us that God's

always available. And that's one thing to say,

but it's a whole other thing to sort of live

the implications thereof. I'm not always available.

You are not always available. God is never...

Unreachable is what the psalmist is trying to

communicate. He has never taken a day off. We

are never going to bow the knee to him in prayer

and get forwarded to a voicemail. We are never

going to get an out -of -office reply to an email.

It's not going to happen because God has given

us access, infinite access to him. He will not

be caught asleep is what the psalmist says. He

is one who helps. He is one who keeps. But that

word keep in the Hebrew is the word shemar. Meaning

to protect, to guard, to watch over, to take

care of. God will never slumber as opposed to

all the false gods, the pagan idols that Israel

chased in the Old Testament. We can reach Him

day or night. Whenever you have hit the wall

in your personal life and you don't know what

you're going to do next, God is available. He

is not slumbering. He is not sleeping. He is

not unreachable. That is three in the morning.

That is three in the afternoon. And every minute

in between, God is available to His children.

Remember Elijah on Mount Carmel? He was in a

standoff there with the prophets of Baal. And

what did he accuse the false god Baal of? They

had worked all morning trying to get these sacrifices

consumed and Elijah and Jess says, he mocked

them. The Scripture says, cry aloud, for He is

a God. Either He's meditating or He is busy or

He is on a journey or perhaps He is sleeping.

And He must be awakened. In contrast to all of

these false gods, we find a God who is watching

over us and will never be caught sleeping. He

who keeps Israel, It's a very special title that

gives reference to the faithfulness of God throughout

their history. We could consider a lot about

Israel here in the Old Testament, but one thing

we would come to very quickly is they were certainly

not a perfect people. They were a people as a

nation who were quite far from it. At times they

chased after false gods. They had kings that

led them ultimately into exile, that agreed to

bad policies, that made bad alliances with foreign

nations, and at times led the nation even into

religious ruin. Yet God was faithful. Now that

does not mean that they did not experience justice

due to their own actions, their own sin, but

it was always brought upon them by God with the

idea and the hope of repentance, that they would

see their sin, that they would repent, and that

they would be turned back to God from where they

had strayed. This is a wonderful reminder to

us that God is faithful and will always be faithful

to His children. We cannot judge, it would be

a very dangerous crime if we did, to judge God's

faithfulness on our present. God moves as He

wills. The things that He allows come into our

lives, even though they can be very hard for

us, very difficult, are for our greater good

and for His glory. And that can be incredibly

hard on us at the time when we are hurting or

we are watching those who we love very dearly

hurt all around us and we're not getting answers

and things are very rough. All the while, we

can't see it. We're being sharpened. matured,

and grown. He who has started a good work in

His church will see it through to a good completion.

And even in the hardest days and seasons of our

life, we can close our eyes and find rest because

we have a God who will not slumber watching over

us as we do so. Let's look at verses 5 and 6.

He who protects. The Lord is your keeper. The

Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun

will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

Now this is very personal. It says the Lord is

your keeper. And while it's true that God watches

over His children in a general sense, it means

much more to us that if you are someone who has

came to faith in Christ, if you are a believer,

if you are saved, God watches over you individually.

Isn't that something? That in the eyes of God,

it's not just that He takes care of His church.

That would certainly be enough. But it's that

He takes care of us individually. We are not

one of billions in the eyes of God. It is so

encouraging. That God cares about us that we

are one of one. That He has created us wonderfully,

beautifully, fearfully, and uniquely. No one

like us in all the world. God created you one

of one and cares for you on an individual basis.

And He is involved in the intimate details of

our lives. If we're not careful, we can almost

form a very bad theology that God is off distantly.

sitting in the heavens, and certainly while he's

watching over this world and his church and the

cares of it, we can almost get this idea that

God only cares about the very big things in our

lives, the very loud things in our lives. Scripture

says that's not true. Jesus said that the very

numbers of the hairs of our head are known and

numbered, and God cares about the very small,

intimate details. of our lives. Nothing will

He ever scoff at and say, that's not important

enough. Don't pray to me about that. No. Friends,

you or I were never meant to carry the burdens

that we carry in this life. We have a God who

wants to hear those things, who is truly concerned

about every single detail of our life, big or

small, and tells us to cast those burdens on

Him. But we see the Lord is our keeper here.

He is a place of protection and a place of shelter.

A place of shelter from harm is what the psalmist

is really driving at there. And verse 5 says

he's a shade. We see that word a few places in

the scriptures. Remember, these were people who

were traveling to Jerusalem. in a very arid climate,

and they were being scorched by the heat. The

shade was their only defense. And if you've ever

been out working on a very hot day, it's humid,

you're sweating, that shade can be a place of

relief. You can catch your breath and sort of

regroup and start again. It's almost saying that's

what God is for His children. That he is our

keeper, he is our shelter, he is a place of shade

under the hot sun of life, and he is a refuge,

a place where we can run. When life feels overwhelming,

when we encounter very hard seasons, in our flesh

we are tempted to kind of make it on our own,

to almost gut it out, to pull ourselves up by

our bootstraps. We're very inclined that way

in our flesh. Friend, the reality is you were

never created to make it alone, and neither was

I. We are finite beings in a broken, fallen world.

Yet God is infinite. He is the Creator. So when

we begin to feel anxious, when we begin to feel

stressed, when we begin to feel worried, when

we're overwhelmed, when we are scorched by life,

just feeling like we're getting one blow after

the other, that is when we run to Almighty God

who has promised He is a refuge, a place of shelter,

a place of safety for His people. In fact, Psalm

91 .1 would say this, He who dwells in the shelter

of the Most High will abide in the shadow of

the Almighty. Now we must be very careful here,

because we don't want to veer off on this idea

that nothing difficult is ever going to enter

our lives. That's not true. That might be a westernized

American idea of a prosperity gospel, but that

is not what the Scriptures tell us. The psalmist

is not saying that nothing bad is ever going

to enter your life. Notice the text does not

promise that the Lord is going to cool you off

all the time or that He's going to brighten the

darkness of the moon. Life will have its challenges.

We live in a broken, fallen world, one that is

dominated by sin. But God's promises are long

-reaching because what we do see the Lord promise

here is that He will not strike us down. These

terms, day and night, and sun and moon, are used

to cover all forms of possible danger. It is

the Lord who is our keeper against any form of

danger. And He gathers us as His children, almost

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.

That's the language that's being used here in

this particular psalm. And we look to Him for

shade. We abide in Him for these things, for

strength, deliverance, and encouragement. Lastly,

verses 7 and 8, we see this idea of now and forever.

We see that the Lord will keep you from all evil.

He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your

going out and your coming in from this time forth

and forevermore. Now, if we're not careful, we're

going to miss this, and I think it's very important.

There's a change here, a verb change in the word

keep. All up to this point, you will see the

Lord keeps, keeps, keeps. But now we are going

to see the verb keep change from one. who keeps,

present tense, to one who will keep. And that's

presented three times here in these two verses.

The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will

keep your life. The Lord will keep your going

out and your coming in for how long? From this

time forth and forevermore. Now, this allows

us to look into the future with confidence because

we don't know what tomorrow will bring. It's

scary. Our lives will change in an instant. If

it's never changed with the phone call, it very

well could. Many lives have been changed with

the ringing of a phone. It just takes one piece

of news, and what we thought was so normative

and so steady and so regular has changed. It

is no longer the same. Life can be that way.

It just takes one moment, one instance, one thing.

And it's not what it was before. Based on God's

faithfulness all through the entire Scriptures,

we can continue as His children looking forward

into the future knowing that He is working behind

the scenes for our ultimate good. But let's take

a quick deep look at how He's going to keep us.

We get this idea from the verse here. He says

He's going to keep us from all evil. Evil cannot

ultimately destroy the believer or separate him

from the love of God. We don't have time to get

into it, but Paul would say that nothing can

separate us from the love of God. He lists everything

that he could possibly think of in the book of

Romans. He's also going to keep your life. Now

that word life, when we get into the scriptures,

really your soul. All that you are is an embodied

person. All who the Lord has called, he keeps.

The son has not lost one. whom the Father has

given him. He said he will keep you and you're

going out and you're coming in. Those aren't

phrases we use anymore, so what does that mean?

That means in every sphere of your life... God

is keeping you in your personal life, in your

private life, and everywhere we go, God is keeping

us. Why? Because there's nowhere you're going

to go that God is not going to be. There's nowhere

you're going to make it to that God has not already

went out before you, before you even got there.

And that just should give us such peace as we

go through our day -to -day lives. That no matter

what we encounter, nothing has ever caught God

off guard. Remember, He doesn't slumber. He cannot

be surprised it would be a violation of His holy

nature. For how long is He going to do this?

The psalmist said, From this time forth and forevermore.

As long as this earth shall stand, in all time,

in all that you seek to do, God is keeping His

children. At no point will someone who is one

of God's children, someone who is saved, is God

just going to put out on their own and say, I've

had enough. Try it your own way. God will not

abandon His children. When life is hard, we must

acknowledge that we cannot be kept by ourselves,

by self -will and determination and trying hard

and just doing more and all these things. That's

what we try to do, but we are kept by the power

of God alone. And there are seasons in our life

that we do hit the wall. And we get to a very

desperate point that we put our hands towards

God. We lay prostrate on the floor and we say,

God, I cannot do it anymore. I'm tired of trying.

I can't fix this situation. It is too hard for

me. God, help. Lord, give us your tender mercies.

I cannot fix it. Church, this is good news. Not

only does the Lord keep our lives, He preserves

our souls. The repetition of the words help and

keep as we work our way through these eight verses

leave us in no doubt that the covenant Lord helps

and keeps each and every member of his people,

his church. Listen to the calming words of Jesus

in John chapter 10. Jesus said, My sheep hear

John 10 · chapter mention

my voice, and I know them. They're not strangers

to me, and they follow me. And I give unto them

eternal life, and they shall never perish. Neither

shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. My Father

who has given them to me is greater than all,

and no one is able to snatch them out of my Father's

hand. I and my Father are one. Friend, not even

your spiritual adversary, the devil, has the

power to snatch you out of the care of the Father's

hand. So many times we've moved right past verse

30, and it's the one I want to explain for just

a moment. I and my Father are one. The Lord who

guards His people is God made known to us in

Christ. I and my Father are one. Christ, He is

our help. He is our guardian. It is Christ who

is the great keeper of the church in every age.

Every age that has been and every age that is

still yet to come. It is Christ the Lord who

bought for the church, paid for the church, was

laid in the grave for the church, and resurrected

for the church. And yet in His own life, He knew

what it was like to be helped by the Father.

H .B. Charles again, He says, we are too short

-sighted. We want the Lord to keep our health

and strength and help us to fulfill our goals.

However, your health is not your life. Your job

is not your life. All of these things may fall

apart, yet nothing can change God's saving love

for His people. Churches, we're gathered here

this morning on top of Kitts Hill. We ask, what

about us? What are the takeaways this morning?

First of all, the Lord protects our every movement.

Yet as we experience this life and all of its

fallenness, in betrayal of friends and family

and some very hard days, in heartache, in hard

diagnosis, in prolonged health issues, in the

care of ourselves and the care of loved ones,

it's easy to feel vulnerable. In those seasons,

we naturally feel very small. We can feel weak.

We can almost feel defenseless. If I just don't

know what else to do, And when we don't know

where to turn next, when life is spinning so

very fast, those are the moments that we must

look into the promises of Scripture as we've

seen this morning in Psalm 121. That to be a

child of God is a great privilege. It means that

the God of heaven and earth has set His affection

upon you, one of one. He has drawn us to Himself.

He has saved us from our sins, even in our rebellion.

As sons and daughters of Adam, He has shown great

mercy. And the God who has created the universe

will never cease to watch over you and actively

protect you. This God is not just a God in a

general sense. He is our God. And He is not one

of many, but the relationship to our God is intimately

very personal. If you are saved and you trust

in Christ, you just don't say, He is our God.

You say, He is my God. Very personal. The psalmist

told us that He never sleeps. He never takes

a nap. He's never distracted. And He will never

turn away from His people. We see through the

Bible that God kept the patriarchs of Israel.

He preserved them as they wandered in the wilderness

for 40 years and promised that He would keep

them in priestly blessing. Finally, He guarded

His Son, the true Israel, and now protects all

those who belong to Christ. But how can we know

these promises are true? I mean, they sound really

good. There is proof on a hill called Calvary.

And it was there that Jesus died. Jesus Christ

became truly vulnerable and willingly defenseless

against all the powers of hell hurled all around

Him. He received the judgment that we deserved.

He was overcome so that we could walk through

life with certain knowledge that as God's children,

He is ever watching over us. God passed the judgment

of sin, the full wrath of it, on His Son. Christ

bore the full penalty of your sin. and my sin,

and all those who would ever truly come to know

Him. Why? So that we would never fall under God's

condemning judgment. So that we could preach

this morning that He is our help. Not that He

is one who condemns, not that He is one who will

cast us off, but He is our help. The one who

helps us, the one who keeps us, the one who preserves

us, and the one who protects us. Even death itself

has been swallowed up in the victory of Christ.

So that we could proclaim what? That the Lord

will keep you day by day. Sometimes we get way

out ahead of ourselves in life and we start thinking

about the next month and the next quarter and

the next year and five years and ten years and

certainly we should plan. We should be wise.

But this life, there are seasons where it's so

rough you have to take it day by day. You cannot

get ahead of yourself. We have to take what the

Lord has given us. Thank Him for the mercies

of that day and the strength just to get through

one more sunrise and make it to sunset. How long

is the Lord going to give us that grace? He said

forevermore. From this time forth, whatever is

going on in your life, the Lord will keep you

forevermore. What does that mean? He is your

keeper and he will get you safely home to glory.

He has never sat down and taken a nap on the

job yet. The Lord will keep you for all eternity.

Not for this life only, but for all eternity.

Why? Because he's a good and gracious God. who

keeps all of His promises, and we get the distinct

privilege of looking to God in hope, regardless

of what's going on all around us. If you are

a child of God this morning, I would encourage

you to just praise Him this morning for the wonderful

truths found in Psalm 121. Maybe you're here

and you've never trusted Christ. Maybe today

you're realizing for the first time that you've

never felt that kind of help, that you've never

felt that type of protection. Friend, I would

just... Encourage you to run to Christ. Run to

Him. Confess your sins before Him. Ask Him to

be the Lord of your life. Scriptures clearly

proclaim that all who call on the name of the

Lord shall be saved. Last word, church. Our confidence

is not in the fact that we are strong enough

to make it home. Our confidence is that our God

is faithful enough to bring us home. It is He

who watches over us eternally. We are safe in

His everlasting arms. live and rest with our

eyes fixed on Christ. All whom the Son has been

given, He has never lost one. And He will not

start now. Good word from the Psalms this morning.

Psalm 121, very interesting. Maybe a well -known

psalm to you, maybe not so much, but one that

I think we can mine out a lot of very practical

truth. It certainly helps us no matter what season

of life we are going through because if we are

not in hard times, they are certainly on the

horizon and will be coming. Life is full of seasons

and we all go through them. As we transition

this morning from this time of preaching to the

time where we've appointed each week to come

to the table, we've set aside the bread and the

cup as a... means of grace this morning and we

do want to invite you to the table. We invite

you to take that with us. We believe the Bible

gives two provisions to take this Lord's Supper

as we refer to communion as and that is that

you are a believer in Jesus Christ, that you

have confessed your sins before Him and asked

Him to be your Lord and Savior and then also

that you've been baptized in the name of the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and if

you've done those things we certainly want to

invite you. to take part in this sacrament this

morning. As we come to the table, it is a memorial.

We do look back on the bloody death of Christ,

but we look forward also to a home going we will

have with Him, but we are refreshed by this bread

and cup each week, reflecting on the fact that

everywhere that we have fallen short, Christ

never did. Every sin that I've committed, Christ

never did. And while we are not enough, He is

more than enough, and we find that in this cup

week by week. So at this time, we'll have the

deacons come, and we'll have them start distributing

the bread in the cup. Please hold them until

the end, and we'll take them together.