Dignified, Blameless, Faithful in All Things First B Jackson 2018-05-06 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- Good morning, everybody. How are you? Yes. We're going to try to start on time because I know how long this thing lasts. So, we're already a couple minutes behind. Would you stand with us and we're going to sing. He keeps me singing. Hymn number seven forty six. We'll sing em in from the lobby. Yep. It's a beautiful day out there. Should make you want to sing. Amen? Jesus whispers sweet and low fear not I am with thee peace be still in all of life's heaven Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. All my life was reckless sin and strife. Discord filled my life with pain. Jesus swept across the broken strings, stirred his lumbering cords again. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know, fills my every longing keep me singing as I go feasting on the riches of his grace resting in the sheltering we always looking on his smiling face that is why I shout and sing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know. Fills my every longing, keeps me singing as I go. Though sometimes he leads the waters deep, trials fall across the way. One more verse of that. Do you hear that? They're just holding that note out. That's a good one. Alright. How about there's power in the blood? Hymn number three twenty nine. Are we united in heart and spirit this morning? Amen. Worshiping in truth and spirit. Amen. Great to be here with you all. We're going to go into a time of communion at the end of the service but there is power in the blood of Jesus. Amen. You be free from your burden of sin there's power in the blood power in the blood. Would you or evil a victory win? There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be free from your passion and pride? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide. There's wonderful power in the blood. Here we go. There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb. There is power, power, wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb. Would you be whiter, much whiter than snow? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow. There's wonderful power in the blood. There is power, power, wonder working power the blood of the lamb there is power power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb would you be service for Jesus your king there's power in the blood power in the blood would you live daily as praises to sing there's wonderful power in the blood there is power power wonder working power in the blood of the lamb there is power power wonder working power in the precious blood of the lamb Amen. Yeah. Thank you, Scott. Announcements, there are a few today. We have Monday nights happening every Monday night at First B is meal, music, and a message down the hall in the Fellowship Hall. Carl, what's it going to be about tomorrow night? 06:00 down the hall in the Fellowship Hall. At the same time that Iwana is meeting in this room. Iwana is a kids club. We actually have the kids club, Iwana here on Monday nights and then Boy Scouts meet here, been meeting here for eighty five years. A lot of churches do one or the other but we house the Boy Scouts but we are really investing in the kids lives in Awana. So, that's happening right here pouring scripture into the minds to get it into the hearts of the kids who come from around the community. We have a youth group that is happening on Tuesday night at 06:30 and Mike said this morning in the first service that they're starting a new series, one about boundaries, healthy boundaries for the youth group. Have you all met any teenagers lately? Are they over programmed? I told them I think I might come to that one. Setting up healthy boundaries. 06:30 to eight, Tuesday night youth group and this is a big one. Y'all probably have not heard this yet but we are doing an all church church cleanup. It's happening Saturday, May 12. So, this is the only time you'll hear this announcement from upfront because next week, next Sunday, it will have already passed. You got it. Church cleanup, it probably won't be the only time you hear this. I might mention it two or three more times but Saturday, May 12, nine to twelve. It's just three hours. We're trying to get as much of the deep cleaning, spring cleaning type stuff done at one time. So, bring your own cleaning supplies and rags and buckets and stuff like that, ladders, and stuff and we'll try to sweep out the cobwebs and get this thing cleaned up. Nine to twelve, next Saturday. Everybody hear me. Yeah. That was the most lackluster amen I've ever ever heard. Yep. That was one person. Yep. Alright, my sister's closet. This is an event that Casey McCooey usually sets this one up. My sister's closet is a clothing swap that happens by everybody bringing in the clothes that you think these are great. They just don't fit me anymore or I don't like em. These are good things but they bring em in Friday night and then, people will help by hanging em up and getting things all ready on Friday evening and then on Saturday from ten to twelve, you swap. You leave there. It's a $10 donation at the door and then you leave there with clothes that do fit and do look better. New to you type stuff. So, Clothing Swap, My Sister's Closet, that's coming up not this Friday but the following Friday, May eighteenth and nineteenth and after that, Tuesday, May 29, this is the Tuesday after Memorial Day. The Bar J is hosting again the Turning Point Fundraiser. It's a benefit for Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center. That's a lot of fun. Y'all know how the Bar J works for the most part. I see two or three folks in here who've never been there before, maybe five or six. If you are going to be here May 29, plan on being at this. The gates will open at 05:30. Dinner will start at seven, but there are silent auctions and other festivities that will be happening in between. And then you get the full on Western RJ Chuckwagon show that they're known for. Scott who helps out with the music right here is the tenor singer in that band and proprietor, part proprietor, I guess but that's the Knights of Columbus and a bunch of of other folks get together. Do you know what that is? Do you want to go? There are tickets available. Diane will be selling those tickets here. $25 for adults and $12 for kids 12. Anything else? Vacation Bible School, yes, twenty fifth, twenty sixth, and twenty seventh. It's three days of the Rolling River Rampage from nine to noon. You can sign up children on the webpage, the church website or you can see Liz Owings who is right there in the back. Wave. There she is. That's Liz Owings. If you would like to be a part of it by putting having a child in it or if you want to volunteer, please talk to Liz and if there are any other announcements or prayer quest, they should be in your bulletin. I don't know of any others. Am I missing something? Okay. Church cleanup. Might might hear it again. You can stand up and greet one another and we'll bring you back together with a peppy song. No more clouds in the sky day no more tears to dim the eye all is peace forevermore on that happy golden shore what a day glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. There'll be no sorrow there. No more burdens to bear. No more sickness. No pain. No more carving over there. And forever I will be with the one who died for me. What a day, glorious day that will be. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon his face the one who saved me by his grace when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land what a day glorious day that will be Amen. Amen. That's right. That's a good. They're all good ones but that's a good. 33. Open our eyes lord. Simple chorus but profound words. We want to see Jesus to reach out and touch him and say that we and help us to open our we want to see Y'all can have a seat. Now, we'll invite the frontline team to come forward Would you pray with me? Lord God, I do pray that you would focus our attentions on the goodness, the greatness, the perfection of Christ, the anointed one, Messiah Jesus. Who came lord and lived a perfect life. He lived all of the qualities we're going be studying today. Lord, he lived out these attributes of God in the form of man and we see him as a great example but also our sinless savior, the blood that was shed. God, would you impress upon us the necessity of the gospel for those who do not know and have not accepted it? Would you impress that upon each of us personally and with all that we have and all that we are, would you accept us, lord? As a part of the continuation in advance of your good gospel, the free gift of salvation. God, would you take the offerings, the tithes and offerings that we place in these plates right now? Would you multiply them to do your kingdom's work here on earth? May it be done as it is in heaven, lord. Would you do your will and your way through these resources as we give back a portion of what you've entrusted us. In Jesus name, we ask your blessing. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Carl has worked that song up for us to play some thank you oh my father for giving us your son. What a beautiful, beautiful song. We are up to in our in our chronological study of the New Testament. How many times have you heard me say this? In our chronological study of the New Testament, we're up to first Timothy three eight through 13 and what we've been doing is just progressing through scripture giving kind of equal weight as it were going forward about a paragraph at a time and last week, I did first Timothy three one through seven and we're going to review that because this bears a lot of the same verbs and things continue throughout this whole paragraph. So, this list is the attributes of deacons whereas last week, it was attributes for overseer. He calls him overseer and Timothy, he calls him overseer and elder and gives the same list in Titus and so, we call them elders. At this church, we have elders and we have a board of trustees and the board of trustees serves as our deacon body here at this church. So, we're going to go over the attributes of deacons and the women slash wives who serve. So, first Timothy three eight through 13, I'll start with this. This was the whole enchilada last week. This is what I did as far as the sermon was. Just one through seven. I know you can't read that but I want you to see, we're going to go through this. One verse at a time but it started off this way and the saying is trustworthy. If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, then he desires a noble task. So, there's a nobility to the task of leading the church. Therefore, an overseer, whoever they would be, if they would seek the office of elder, they must be above reproach. That does not mean sinless because we know there was only one sinless one. That was Jesus. We're not him. So, we do have some sin in our past but to be above reproach means that you're blameless in general as it goes forward and I think I didn't really hammer the point home last week but when you confess your sin, God says, he's faithful and just to be forgiving you of your sin and you can. It is possible to walk in victory. It's possible to walk in victory and to be leading a life, submitted and yielded to God and be above reproach. He list above reproach and then he explains that this way. A one woman man, not someone who cheats. Sober minded. It has the idea of temperance. Temperance, it does mention not intoxicating drinks or drugs, but it is sober minded. It's a soberness about this overseer, whoever they would be. One woman man, sober minded, self controlled, someone who is able to regulate based on what God puts in his heart, self control, respectable, respectable as he does have an air about him of someone who is trustworthy both inside and outside the church, respectable, hospitable. Remember this one, Phylo Zenon, a friend to the stranger, a one who has brotherly love for the outsider, hospitable, able to teach, able to teach is listed for an overseer but it's not listed for deacon. It's not listed in the list today for deacon. Able to teach whether it be one on one in a counseling type role or to a whole body at one time, able to teach. Not a drunkard, does not linger long over the wine. Not violent but gentle. Not quarrelsome. Not a lover of money, managing his own household well with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. And then, it says, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, then how will he care for God's church? In most versions, that's in parenthesis because it's almost an aside. It is, this is a qualification or I've been saying, attribute of an elder because if somebody don't know how to manage their own household, how are they going to care for in the way the Samaritan cared for the man who had been beaten and robbed. How will he care for God's church? He must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into condemnation of the devil. So, that's actually a merciful gift to the guy himself. It's not putting somebody who's a recent convert in the position of falling into condemnation. And then, he may become puffed up with conceit, falling in condemnation of the devil. Moreover, in addition to that, he must be well thought of by outsiders. So, this is the list and I told you that Christians are aspiring to this list and Christ can cleanse and bring you into it as you submit your will to his but if there's one of these things that's a constant struggle in your life, overseer is not the position for you. So, that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of the devil because if you're setting someone up to be knocked down and it looks bad for you and that's a disgrace like it says but it's also hard and bad for the church and the continuing presence of the body of Christ. What Paul is actually kind of saying to Timothy with these guidelines is you don't want to set yourself up for failure. Does that make sense? As you're examining who would be in these positions, consider it and consider it well because you're setting up how it's gonna go. Alright. So this is the whole enchilada for today. I will not try to read the words that small to you, but it's eight through 13. We're gonna cover all of that and there are couple of em that are highlighted there. A footnote in the English standard and a footnote there. So deacons likewise must be dignified, not double tongue and double tongue, it it is dialogue us. It is say, it's two words. It is saying one thing to one person and another thing to somebody else. Does that mean? They don't need to be double tongue. We would say, they don't need to speak out of both sides of their mouth. Saying one thing that's favorable to this party. It's called politics, okay? They don't need to be pandering, right? They don't, they must be dignified and it's undignified to say one thing to one group and another thing to another group. It is better to say, let your yay be yay and your nay be nay, right? So, dignity, deacons likewise, must be dignified, not double tongued. Actually, double tongued also can mean gossip and so I mentioned that. That's what the the note says there. The marginal note says, not a gossip. Someone who talks about other people when they're not around but usually those people are double tongued, right? They're talking about somebody to their face. Oh, hey, how are you? After they just slammed to them when they weren't listening. So, deacons likewise and it says, likewise. So, it's referring back to that list of overseers. It says, in the same way, then, deacons, those who would serve must be dignified, not double tongue, not addicted to much wine. It's slightly different. The wording is slightly different but it's the same thing as above, not a drunkard, right? Not addicted to much wine, not greedy or dishonest gain. Now, it said earlier, not a lover of money. This takes it a little step further because if you think about it, the overseers, the leaders of the church, the elders. In this case, we've always said they were concerned with the spiritual direction of the church to be Christ word and direction but somebody's gotta paint the fence and somebody's gotta remember to paint the fence and somebody's gotta make sure that the building schedule stays on. Somebody's got to make sure that the treasury is accounted for, all of that. So it's not greedy for dishonest gain. I'll give you an example. Have you ever seen anyone who calls his buddy and says, hey, if you'll take this job and then kick me back a little finder's fee for it, then, I'll give you the job with no bidding involved. That's greedy for dishonest game. It's saying, don't do that. We don't need somebody like that. It is not cool. Not greedy for dishonest gain. They must be, they must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. Now, what have I been saying over and over? Every message that I preached on first Timothy has involved this verse at some point. This is the overarching statement that Paul makes at the very beginning after his introduction of his recipient and of himself. He says, the aim of our charge, Timothy and I'm saying it to you. The aim of our charge, first B and visitors and guests, the aim of our charge here is love, agape, godly love. That issues from a pure heart. How are we who are human going to have a pure heart? God has made a way. That way is Jesus. He's made a way for the forgiveness of sins and he says in first John one nine, it says that if you are confessing your sins, God is faithful and just to be forgiving your sins and cleansing you from all unrighteousness. So, you can have a pure heart for the asking. Turn into the only acceptable remedy and that's Jesus. So, what our charge is is love. Agape, godly love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience. Now, this verse says, they must hold to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. The good conscience or the clear conscience is knowing that you have done everything within your power to do your best, to do your duty as the boy scouts say. Done your best to do your duty and where you've fallen short, you're quick to say, lord, forgive me and he does. Does that make sense? So, good conscience is knowing that there is nothing willfully between me and God in my mind, in my conscience. I have done all that I can do and if I see myself falling short, I admit that, agree with God about it, and go forward. Are we together on this? Pure heart, good conscience, and then, a sincere faith because if you sincerely believe that the cross of Calvary made a difference for every sin, sincerely, then you have no reason to hold on to any pet particular sin. It is possible to walk in victory. This points to it and this verse, they must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. How does God do it? I don't know. I don't have any idea exactly how he does it. It is what Paul calls a mystery and right there, that word mystery or mysterion in Greek, mysterion, it's a mystery, a secret of which initiation is necessary. How many of you all read mysteries? It's okay. I don't think it's a sin. How many of you all read mysteries? So if I read one, I don't know what's going on until way into it. If Tanya reads one on the first page, if they've introduced the character, she knows they're guilty. I don't understand that. But we're different. We're different, okay? We are different. And there is a mystery I know at the end of that book, I'll figure it out. Or in the case of some movies, it might be the next movie before you figure it out, You know, but there's a mystery, a mystery, a secret of which initiation is necessary. In the New Testament, it is the councils of God. How are we to know all of the whole council of God? Well, we have his word. It's once hidden but now revealed in Ephesians three, it says, and God has taken that which was once hidden and has now chosen now to reveal it to the world. The things that were hidden in the Old Testament have been revealed in the new, in the gospel or in some particular fact thereof. The Christian revelation generally is a mystery. It is a mystery how we do that. Now, study to show yourself approved. By all means, do that But when you get to the point of saying you've got every single little thing figured out and it is this way, although there have been two thousand years of a divide in Christianity between these two possibilities, if you're saying, I figured out that it's this one and I'm certain of it and you must believe this or your anathema. I think back up for Matt just a little bit and say, you know what? I don't understand exactly how God does it. It seems to make sense to me that it's this way but I understand that you're reading the same Bible and you're getting this and I love you as a brother in Christ. Maybe God needs mercy people. I tend to be a mercy guy. When people come in, I'd usually feel merciful towards them usually. Occasionally, I, justice is where I am but there are other people who tend towards justice and when someone did not have a plan, when they rolled into town and they don't have any money and they don't have any gas and they didn't have a plan. When they got here and they say, well, you deserve to spend the night on the street. That's the just thing to do, right? Well, consequences for every action. I like to be able to say, yeah, that's a terrible thing. I feel for you. That's awful. It's going be 17 degrees below zero tonight. Let me see if I can find you a hotel room. You know, do they deserve it? No. But God uses both of these things. Sometimes, when I've been mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy. I call a guy that I know is justice and I say, so and so needs a kick in the behind. Will you do it? Please, it's beyond me. But I trust that they will, you know. So, mystery in the Bible, a mystery is not something unknowable. It is knowable. It's what can be known through revelation, through God's word, through God's people, through your circumstances at times because God is the one who reveals it. He says, if you earnestly seek after me, you will find me, okay? Alright. So, there's something else. That might have been made what made the first service run over. Mysterion, mystery. I answered a seminary question one time. It was a two zero four point doctrinal survey and I got to near the end and I lost it. A 186 points in, I lost it on the computer and I was not able to recover it. So I had to start over. 186 points back in, about a 190 something I hit. List in detail the Ordo Salutis, the Latin phrase for the order of salvation. Now, in scripture, it says that some people repented and were saved and up and Paul was knocked down before Jesus spoke to him directly And then he had the choice and he repented and was saved. What order do they happen in? Really? You're gonna ask me that in a 190 questions into a, you know, doctrinal statement? And so I put this word in Greek, musterion. I listed all of the places in all of scripture where the order of salvation appears to be different and then at the end of my answer, I put, if you have to take the points for this one, take em. Because I think it's a mystery. I don't think we can say for certain and he took the points and I held on to that for two whole years. Like, how could this guy, this guy who looks and sounds like Gomer Pyle, how could this guy I don't care if he is a research librarian and the smartest man that I know. How could he take those points? I had a great biblical argument for it being a mystery. And so I held on to it for two years and every time I thought about it, I said, I cannot believe he took that away. It was my doctrinal snake but not his but I did put, if you have to take the points, take the points. He took em. Two years later, I saw him. I wasn't even in school at the time and I said, Doctor Hodges, I've got something that has been bugging me for the last couple of years. I said, I I found it odd that on the order of salvation in my doctrinal statement, you know, and I'll go back and I've I've replayed this in my head. I know everything about it and when I got to the end of it, said, I I I found it hard to believe that you took the point for saying it was a mystery. And he goes, must have been my grader. He hadn't even read it. See, the groaning right there was the way that I felt, but it taught me something about holding on to stuff because I was holding on to something that did not matter to him at all. Right? It is it is a mystery, by the way. But anyway, this says and let them be tested first. The them right there. Who is it them? Them is the deacons. So, let them before they serve as deacons, let them be tested first. Let them who would serve. That's what means. That's what means is let those who would serve be tested first and by the way, there's a church cleanup next Saturday, nine to twelve, alright? It's happening. Nine to twelve. Bring your own rags and buckets and stuff. Let them serve. It says, let them also be tested first and then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless and when I say blameless, I see people shutter. They're the people who are serving as either elders or deacons and they go, oh, above reproach, blameless, makes me nervous. It doesn't mean sinless. It means that at in general, that you are surrendering what you know to be wrong and sinful to God and he keeps you with a pure heart and a good conscience because of your sincere trust in him, your sincere faith. So, give him a job to do. Let him do it. When they prove themselves as being faithful, let them serve as deacons and this is the office of deacon in this church. It's the board of trustees. We typically serve a couple of years at a time. The elders do a three year term and we have cycled through several elders. We always say once an elder, always an elder. Let them also be tested first. Then, let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. So, next, thing starts off this way. Verse 11 says, their wives, likewise, this is the English standard version of the Bible. English standard says, their wives, likewise. So, the wives of deacons. In a marginal note, you see the B out there? In that marginal note, it says, they're women, likewise and that's a reasonable, good translation because means either women or wives depending on context. Well, the context here is up for debate. There are different people, well meaning Christians who believe that it should be women and they're well meaning Christians that believe it should be wives. Hence, the marginal note in the English Standard Version. The there is not there. There's no there there. It's there when we put it in from English because we're determining that it is wives. So, I think women, likewise, is a reasonable translation because it is what it says, exactly what it says. Pure fidelity to the text gives us women likewise. I'm going to put wives slash women. I believe that both are reasonably justified. I haven't made this an absolute that it must be this. It can't be that because it can be either. I'm just trying to be honest about that. So, wives or women, likewise, and in this church, our elders are guys and our board of trustees may be either. The deacons maybe either. Wives, women likewise. Must be dignified. That's the same word as he used when he said deacons must be dignified, not slanderers. That is people who talk ugly about other people. So, slanderers but sober minded. Now, that is actually new in this whole path. It wasn't an overseer, wasn't an deacons but it's in general, obviously, something that you would want but sober minded, that's the same word that was used above for overseers. Deacons, faithful in all things. Faithful in all things sounds a whole lot like blameless, doesn't it? Absolutely faithful in all things. That's above reproach. So, it has given this list. I want to put this up here. If you remain sticking with the King James translation or some of the other translations that say, that it's got to be wives, then, I want to put this before you. Romans sixteen one, NIV says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Century. I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people and to give her any help she may need from you. For she's been the benefactor of many people, including me. In the marginal note there says, or servants, they're trying to be honest about it too. It says, deacon because the word is diacona. You know, which is in that case, it was female. It should have been deaconess. The word deacon refers here to a Christian designated to serve with the overseers and or elders of the church in a variety of ways. Philippians one one says the same thing. Bring this message to the overseers, elders, and the deacons. NLT, New Living Translation. I commend to you our sister Phoebe who is a deacon in the church at Century. The ESP says, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant that has a marginal note or deaconess. Okay? Do you understand what I'm saying? It's either or, but it does depend on your interpretation on it. I want for you to hold your interpretation with great humility because the term is ambiguous, musterion, alright? It's a mystery. Hold to it but hold loosely. Alright. Faithful in all things. Here we are. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife. Now, the best argument for it being wives is that sentence right there because it says, let deacons each be the husband of one wife. It jumps from deacons and then goes there and then comes back to deacons. Managing their children in their own households well, patriarchal society makes sense that that would be the case for the deacons as well as the overseers. For those who serve well as deacons, gain a good standing for themselves. It is nice when you serve well and people recognize that. Not that you're trying to do it for the show of it but it is nice when you serve well out of the right heart. It does gain a good standing for you but it also further than that gives great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Does that make sense to you? How many of y'all have served in either a deacon role or an elder role at some time in this church or in another church? Would you raise your hand? Alright. Did you y'all want to put them down quick. That's funny. After that that list, it's like, oh gracious. I know how you feel. Okay, those who just raise your hand, you could say this in one collective amen if you agree or one nay, really loud nay if you disagree, okay? Did you from the time you started serving until the time you finished serving in that official capacity as either a deacon or an elder. Did you come out of it with a greater confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus? Amen. I heard no nays. Amen. Is it is terrifying to do this job. But I know more about Jesus than I ever have. Does that make sense? I have a greater confidence in who he is and a lot more realistic confidence in who I am since I've been doing it. So, this is what brings us together. Now, this is a representation of what brings us together. The faith that is in Christ Jesus is in the divine sufficiency of the life of Jesus lived perfectly and without sin. Given freely. He did not deserve death but he took the death that we deserved. Given freely by him, he made a way for us to have a pure heart, a good conscience, and the sincere faith in that is how it happens. So, if you're here this morning and you believe in Jesus, we're going into a time of communion right now. I'm going to ask the frontline team if they come forward. And while they're coming up, I want to hit one more verse. For those who serve well, think about Jesus. He was our great example while he was here on this Earth. He is our savior. Don't get me wrong but he was a great example and the first part of this, it's always reminds me the body and blood, the body of Jesus always reminds me that he physically was here and he did the same kind of walking around that we do. He was faced with all the same kind of temptations that we're faced. There's nothing uncommon about the temptations that you're facing but he was able to walk it without sin. And he says, for even the son of man, his favorite self designation, even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and the way that he was serving in every single act of his life submitted to the spirit and voluntarily giving that life as a ransom for many. Would you pray with me? God almighty, would you oppress upon us our need for a savior? And God, for those of us who have accepted that savior, would you give us a deep Thanksgiving and an abiding love for all of the other people on this big blue ball. This planet, the ones who know you, lord, that we have a unity in the spirit with them, whether we in our finite minds understand them completely or agree with them completely. We know that you are what draws us together and for those lord who are lost, who are flat outside of the family of God, would you give us the grace? And the words and the life that mimics our savior and pulls them into your family. It is by Christ's blood alone that we're saved lord but right now, we look at his his body that he gave us. In Jesus name, would you bless this little representation, this cracker in these plates as we distribute it. In Jesus name, amen. And on the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper and he said to his disciples that were there gathered with him. This is my body that is given for you. Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me. Jesus, we thank you for your perfect life well lived. I thank you for every lesson that you ever taught in scripture. The ones I understand well and the ones I'm still confused by. I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for the divine example that you gave us in human flesh but lord, what I'm the most thankful for is the cleansing blood that you gave for the remission of sin, for all of those who believe in you. So, lord, I ask you right now to bless each one here as we distribute this cup, this representation of your blood. I pray that you would bless the heart of each one who partakes. Would you build them up with a feeling of sincere unity with their brothers and sisters in Christ coming together equal at the foot of the cross. But for those who are here, Lord, that don't believe. I pray that you'd use the lives of the ones who do to bring about a change because we stick with the truth of scripture. We hold to it the mystery of that faith. Lord, would you do your will and your way right now in this hour? In Jesus name, would you bless as we distribute this representation of your will. Amen. Same way that he had taken the bread, he took the cup after supper and with the disciples that were gathered there with him. He told them that this is the new covenant in his blood. The old covenant was a covenant of works still based on God and on what he had told him but the new covenant was based on trust in God's anointed messiah. He told his disciples that this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Paul tells us too that as often as we do that, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes again and his death, burial with him, identification with him and his death is what cleanses us from sin and then, raising him up from that. We get to walk in newness of life because of him. It is a great mystery that we hold to. Would you stand up with us and we're going to sing one more song. Take my life and let it be Lead me, lord. Yeah. Take my life. Wait just a second, Judy. Words up there are different than the ones we were going to sing. So, what are we going to do? We're going to sing that one. The one that's on the board up there. You know what? I tell you what, let's just sing the doxology. We'll solve this problem, alright? Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise God all creatures here praise him above you heavenly praise father, son, and Amen. And now finally, finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice and strive for full restoration. Encourage one another and be of one mind. Live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. In Jesus name, I pray for you and those you will come into contact with this