Good News for the Sinners in This Room
First B Jackson
2024-09-29

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Alright. Good morning, everybody. How are we? Very good to see you. Would you stand and join me in song, if you're able?

And I've got a yes. I've got a a a a Psalm 92 to lead us in worship. It's good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the most high. It's good to proclaim his unfailing love in the morning and his faithfulness at night. Would you join us in singing all creatures of our God and king?

Okay. All creatures.

Let all things all things their creator and worship him in humbleness. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Amen. Come thou fount.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements here. We'll see what they are together. We actually have Awana tomorrow night.

We know that one's happening. Awana, regular club night. Don't let the crazy hair fool you. It is regular club night tomorrow, 05:45, starting out in this room. Kids club for ages three through fifth grade, Awana, right here.

And if you are a volunteer, you bring yourself and your family and there'll be supper ready at 05:15 for that for y'all. Jackson Hole Men's Alliance. This is a men's gathering. A lot of us from first b come to this, but also guys from other churches too. So the Jackson Hole Men's Alliance, we meet on the first Wednesday of the month at 06:30AM in the fellowship hall down here at the end of the hall.

That's a good time. Usually, there's a great meal, good fellowship, and then somebody gives a testimony or a little teaching. It's really good. Precept Bible study is Mark. It's what they're studying together.

It's an inductive Bible study allowing scripture to interpret scripture. Mark, Thursdays 9AM down the fellowship hall. Bring your sharp colored pencils with you. It's good. Heidi Groesch is in the seat in charge right now for that.

That's her number if you wanna know more about it, but they're they're getting going on the book of Mark. Sunday school group, most of y'all in this service probably know that there is sort of a small group. It's a Sunday school group for adults that meets at 9AM in the fellowship hall. So during the first service down here, there's a group that meets in the fellowship hall. And on Wednesdays, again starting out in this room, but then they'll worship together and then have a teaching and then break up into small groups.

10AM to noon, this is the place to be on Wednesdays. 10AM to noon, it is hopping in here. There's a lot a lot of ladies in here encouraging one another and studying God's word together. 10AM to noon. This, do you all know what a QR code is?

This is a QR code. If you take out your phone and you look through your little camera, it'll take you to a place. If you wanna get signed up to be in a small group, to start a small group, to have a know more about the groups, this little QR code will take you to that place. And you can fill out the survey on our website too. You can go there.

It's up until October 13. It's only up for two weeks. We're trying to kinda inspire and get this thing going. And then it's gonna be down and we're gonna just let the groups go on their own. Is there anything I forgot about that?

Okay. Youth group. Does that look like fun or what? A flaming dodgeball. Oh my goodness.

Youth group, they're gonna be playing dodgeball today right here. It might start out in this room, it might end up out there depending on weather. Two to 4PM dodgeball youth group right here today. And this is a directory. We are gonna have an actual paper directory and maybe even an electronic component to it too.

This is for this year, 2425 church directory. We would like to have a high quality horizontal photo with more of your face than anything else so we know and can see who you are. It helps for us to be able to keep up because there are a lot of new folks around. Name, phone, email address, mail address, that sort of stuff. You can send it to assistant at first b jackson, that is Nick's, Darren's email address here at work, assistant@firstbjackson.org.

And you can get him to take your picture out here in the lobby, he'd be glad to do that. We want to say good. The picture on the top is good, whether you think so or not. Okay? That's the good picture.

And then the bad picture, you can barely tell who Nick's parents even are in that, but you can see the Rendezvous Park statue thing. So what we want is a picture of your face so we can recognize you. Good and bad photos. Horizontal, not vertical. Horizontal is this way.

Vertical is this way. Okay. Horizontal like horizon, it's this way. Connect hour and Monday night for the Awana volunteers, kitchen helpers are needed. So if you'd like to help with making the breakfast between the services, connect hour or on a Monday night.

We have volunteer sign up sheets down there. It's the same sort of stuff. It just keeps on needing to happen. So if you wanna sign up, there's a way to do that. Does anybody have anything else that I've forgotten?

We heard this morning from Monique Ibarra. Monique Ibarra has been serving on the line between South Korea and North Korea, interceding for all kinds of difficulty, I guess is the best way to put it. She's an intercessor and she's been there to help. She's moved through six countries in the last year and a half on a role of she's on a mission, a rescue mission of love. And so what she shared with the service this morning was, God is teaching her more and more and more how to step into and to choose love.

There she is. And if you wanted to encourage her in that, the next slide is has her email address on it, but by this everyone will know that you're my disciple. If you love one another. She's had the chance to live in close community. I'd say 13, she said 13 ladies living in the same house with one bathroom and they are living and ministering together there.

Monique ibarrahotmail is her address. And she's been doing a great job. She reported for the missions team this morning, but I don't see her in here so I don't expect her to report to you. I just did. Anybody else?

Did I forget anything? Hey. Thank you, Jeff. Moving us right along. Would you stand with us?

In Christ alone, our hope is found. What a great modern hymn.

In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace? When fears are still,

Before we sing this song, I wanna share a verse. First John four nine through 11 that God showed how much love, excuse me, God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It's not that we love God, but that he loved us and he sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. God, thank you for your self giving others focused love that you made the first move toward us.

Lord, may we know more of it, but also experience more of it. And, God, may your love overflow in us too. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Hey, man. Can go and have a seat for a moment.

Ray, I'll let you. Hey.

Thank you. This is normally yours. Yeah. This is normally the norm. Yeah.

Lord, thank you for that you mix up the normal norm. You just do. Every day, Lord, is different. I'm so thankful to be here this morning with people who recognize your goodness, recognize your grace. I pray lord that we would be helpful in helping other people recognize your goodness and your grace to see transformed lives.

Lord, there's no theological argument against the life that's been transformed by you. In Jesus name, I pray that you'd connect with us and that we would connect with others in a way that is just truly by your spirit. Holy Spirit, would you direct us? Would you empower us to do exactly what you would have us do? Your will, Lord, done in your way.

Thankful for the beauty of the mourning, the beauty for the of the gathered people of God. I ask you that you'd use that, Lord. I think of Psalm 19 where it says that creation every day it pours forth speech. There's not any language where it can't be understood. Lord, if if we can be helpful in in pointing it out, we wanna be.

Your will, your way, lord. In Jesus name, amen. That was fun, Carl. Not bad for a fill in. Pretty good, Carl.

Thank you. So if you all had not heard already, Judy Basie who's been playing piano here for nearly fifty years had a granddaughter get married this weekend. I went up and got to do that service in Chico Hot Springs, Montana, and Judy is still coming this way. She's not back yet, but I made it back last night late late last night, and I'm glad to be here this morning. Thank you.

That's sweet. So I I mentioned last week, I said, many of y'all feel like you could preach this message because it has been super repetitive for the last eight sermons that I've preached? How many of y'all feel like you could do it? I'm gonna give you the opportunity. Here we are.

Here we are with the blanks and then step one, we admitted that we were Powerless. Powerless. Very good. Over our problem, whatever it is, and it's sin that our lives have become unmanageable. Did I start with this last time or did I start with the song last time?

You start with the song? I'm gonna start with the song this time too. Forget I even did that. That's a problem I can't do anything about. I I went up to that wedding and it's five and a half hours to get there if there are no buffalo in the way and there were.

So it took a while to get there. On the way home, I came through to see Renzi and Sheridan and saw a few other people that have moved away to court and different folks. And it was really really good for me to just drive and have a little windshield time, and I had a CD. Do you all remember CDs? The car that I was in had a CD player, and I put this in and I just listened to it on the way up there.

I listened to it over and over. Now, this is a CD that I gave a bunch of you all a copy of this. When I first got here, Alan Levi is somebody that grew up in the same county I grew up in. He was good friends with Tanya's whole family, all of her uncles, aunts, and his name is Alan Levi. Good good guy.

He went to he went to undergrad and then law school, and he graduated and had his degree, passed the bar, did the full deal, and he got into law and he said, woah, this is terrible. This is an under this is an underhanded business. I don't like it at all. I don't wanna have anything to do with this. Forgive me, lawyers.

But he said, I gotta get out of this. So, he got out of it and he started really seeking what God wanted for him and it was to be a singer songwriter and he did a full career as a singer songwriter. Twenty plus years, probably closer to thirty years, long time. And he inspired a lot of younger musicians, Bebo Norman and a bunch of other guys. And just a good good guy and a good friend.

The very first trip that Tanya went on to Mexico where we would later serve in Mexico, Alan's whole family was there as a family reunion. They were serving on a mission trip for a week. And I let Allen close out the service about a month ago with a statement on the gospel. This is where I got that. This CD.

It's called Love Is Something That We Learn and it's a letter to his niece, Aaron. He calls her Aaron and Abo a couple of times in the in the course of this letter to a younger person about things of faith and about love in particular And in the middle of this, there's a song, and I love the song. I listened to it probably 20 times, 15 times for the whole album, but I listened to this one a few more times. I'm gonna start out with this. Well, on weekdays, he fries chicken.

I'm gonna try not to sing it. Well, on weekdays, he fries chicken at his place called Skin and Bones, but on Sundays, he's a preacher, pastor Leonard J Jerome. He stood up just this weekend with a Bible in his hand. The congregation said amen and waved their paper fans. He said, I've got some questions as I start us out this week.

I need to get some answers now before I start to preach. If I ask something of you and you feel that it applies, if you can say yes truthfully, then won't you kindly rise? Because I got good news, good news for the sinners in this room. Has anyone loved everyone the very best they can? Has anyone done all they could to help their fellow man?

Has anyone been perfect since we met a week ago? The pastor looked around and not one single person rose. Well, alright, he said, that's mighty fine. And your posture makes it clear that every single one of us has reason to be here. But just in case there's any doubt how much you need good news, I've got a few more questions that I need to ask of you because I got good news.

I got good news for the sinners in this room. If you've ever lost your temper, if you've called in sick to work, if you've lied to make yourself look good or acted like a jerk, if you've ever cussed your children, won't you get up off your seat? If you've ever been arrested, won't you stand up to your feet? If you cheated on your taxes, if you've ever got a buzz, if you ever broke a promise or you held on to a grudge, if you lusted for a woman or you ever teased a man, let me tell you plainly, you're a sinner. Won't you stand?

Because I got good news. I got good news for the sinners in this room. Well, pretty soon that room was standing and not one soul was sitting down. The preacher said, now everybody, look around. All of us is needy.

We are each and all the same. We are sinners. We need saving. We are the reason Jesus came. He said, don't be high and mighty.

Don't think too much of yourself. Ain't nobody better here than anybody else. Then he prayed, Lord, make us humble, put your mercy in our reach and everybody sit on down. I'm ready now to preach because I got good news. I got good news for the sinners in this room.

I got good news. The greatest news this world has ever known. I got good news and my name is not Leonard J Jerome. I I think that that's helpful as we're going through the steps and I had them up there. We're step one.

I've said this so many times now, you should be able to sing these back to me. So here we go. We admitted that we were powerless over our problem, that our lives have become unmanageable. So that's saying, we've got a problem we can't do anything about. Step two, we came to believe that a power and yes, it is God, but right here it's power, capital p, that is greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Thank you very much. And that's not just mental, that is wholeness. It's a wholeness. That's what God offers to us. Shalom and wholeness.

Step three, we made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, and then the statement of humility I've hit 75 times as we understood it. It's a statement of humility, recognizing that our will got us into the problem, and if we're turning over our will to his, it is a volitional decision that we make to say, I know I can, I know you can, and I'm going to let you? Step four, we made a searching and fearless. Thank you. It is scary to consider.

We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Of ourselves is important because it's really easy to look around and make a fearless and searching moral inventory of everyone else. But when you turn it towards yourself, it can get a little scary. So we made a searching and fearless because you know that the higher power that God can restore you to sanity and you're gonna let him, you need to take inventory. So step five, we admitted to really short blank there, God, first of all, and to ourselves, and to someone else, another human being.

It's really helpful to have someone who's skin on them, who has skin on them that you can talk to. We admitted to God to ourselves to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs. Now, I don't know what your issue is. I know sin is the issue, but I don't know which one or what grouping of sins it is. But if you are willing to admit it to yourself to God and to another person, that is helpful.

Five. Step six, we were, this is two words and one blank, entirely ready. Do you remember John five, Jesus speaking to the man at the Pool Of Bethesda and he said, are you willing to be made well? Do you want to be made well? It's important.

I actually had somebody text me this week and said, what if I get to this point and I'm not entirely ready? It stalls the process. If you're not entirely ready, then it's not gonna be something that comes to pass. We were entirely ready to have God remove what? All of these defects of character.

Step seven, that's a lot of blanks up there. Step seven is kind of a restatement of step five, but it specifically says we humbly ask because God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. So in humility, recognizing our shortfall, we humbly ask him to remove our shortcomings. I've said it a few times. I said in counseling all the time that the one of the goals of modern therapy is to remove the guilty feeling, but the goal of God is to remove the guilt.

The guilty feeling eventually goes away. We do have an enemy who's constantly on us trying to convince us how wrong and condemned we are, But God is removing guilt. That's what he does in Christ. We humbly ask him to remove our shortcomings. Step seven is humility and I presented it as rebirth.

That's from the early literature of AA. Rebirth is required for you to grow through this. And so in step eight, having asked in humility for God to remove these shortcomings, we made a list. This is also fearless. It's almost like a statement of step four again, but it's step four with an eye towards who we have harmed in our sin.

We made a list of all the persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all, and willingness is really the important portion of this step as we get to the place of recognizing we've harmed someone else and we're willing to make it right. In step nine, we made two words, direct amends to such people whoever's on that list, wherever it's possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. It is possible that you feel convicted about something and you feel like I gotta unburden myself and you go to the person and you cause a greater harm. We don't wanna do that. The spirit should not lead you into that.

You might want to do it on your own. It's good to have a sponsor. It's good to have a pastor. It's good to have an elder, a friend that you can talk to about it that would kind of advise as to whether that would be injurious or not. But that's step nine and we are up to step 10.

No blanks in this one because it's the first time you've seen it from me. Actually, last week, Carl in the first service, we hit something. Who knows what happened exactly? But Carl just made a statement. He goes, that sounded like a trash can rolling down the hill with the band.

You know, the last few chords were kind of clunky. And I said, no, Carl, wait till next week. That's step 10. It's when we continue to take personal inventory. It's a lot like step four, but it also includes when we were wrong, we promptly admitted it.

And the promptly is important. Do you want to confuse somebody? If you're arguing with somebody, do you want to really, really confuse them? I'll tell you how to do it. Have you ever been arguing and in the midst of your argument, you realized you were wrong?

No. Did somebody say no? If you're arguing and you can make whatever points you want to, it could be personal, political, it could be anything, and while you're in the midst of your argument, you see that, wait a second, I don't have a leg to stand on. If you admit that right there, it will confuse the other person to no end. And it's really helpful to you because continuing to take personal inventory and when we're wrong promptly admitted.

I have a friend. I've told you all that I've been going through these steps with him for six and a half years and we were talking yesterday on the phone and he said something then immediately said, you know what? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend. I said, you hadn't offended me.

He goes, no, but what I said was offensive. It wasn't offensive to me because he wasn't talking about me. But he said, no. But what I said was, I was looking on someone else and I was considering them and their motives and I wasn't considering mine. And I caught myself.

I'm like, that's great. When we saw that we were wrong, we promptly admitted it. It's really helpful. Now, I'm also resisting the temptation up here today. When I preached through the book of Acts twelve years ago, almost twelve years ago, I got to the last four chapters of Acts and I did it in one sermon because I was so tired of preaching from Acts.

And I'm trying not to do step ten, eleven, and 12 all at once. 10 should not be overlooked especially when we're considering communion. When we're considering our way and we're considering Christ perfect way and then we are to partake of this. It says, in fact, Paul says, that we're not to take it unworthily and what does it require? It requires that we approach the table with humility, having confessed our wrongs, having taken personal inventory and seen where we were wrong and laying that before God.

So step 10 is this. Now, I when doing a sermon whenever I was before I was a pastor, occasionally I get asked here and there as a missionary or even before that as a youth group that found it harder to say no than any of the other youth group. When they asked for youth Sunday. Would you preach? I usually just went to a concordance and I said everything the Bible had to say about whatever the subject was.

And I can't do this with this step because it's all over the whole Bible. It's Old Testament. It's New Testament, it's about the spirit, but I've picked about five or six places that I think are helpful. Daily corrective action. One of the axioms of the program, if you work the program, it'll work, you know.

One of the ones is about daily corrective action. One day at a time is the only way we can live life. In Lamentations, it tells us that God's mercies are new every morning. In Psalms, it says, when we breathe in in the morning, may we breathe out. Lord, I long to do your will.

Show me your way and I'll walk in it. In the program, in step 10 in the big book, it talks about how you take inventory early in the morning, you ask for God to guide your day, the spirit of God to guide your day. During the day, you take inventory of everything that you say and everything you do while you're doing it, and then at the end of the day, you take a moment and you look back on the places where you fell and the places where you succeeded. You're thankful to God for the mercy provided for where you fell and your shortcomings, and for his goodness and grace in showing you the way. And we pray to do better tomorrow.

Daily corrective action is what step 10 is about and promptly admitting it. It helps if we can be prompt. If you carry all of your receipts in a trash bag to an accountant at the end of the year and you hand them over once a year, hey, do my taxes. Is that the best way to do that? If you're able to take them and put them in a folder every week, and they're laid out and the things are classified.

Daily action, short account make it much much better. If you just check-in rarely with God, there's gonna be a lot of build up and you're gonna forget. So do it daily. Morning, evening, there are plenty of times. For me, I think of this, Galatians being a book about some folks who had accepted the gospel of grace and then had stepped back towards the law.

And when Paul is speaking to them, he speaks this is very personal to him. I mean, so is the, oh foolish Galatians who has bewitched you. That's pretty personal too. But when he thinks about it, he says, this is how I have to reckon things. I've been crucified with Christ.

It's no longer I who live, but Christ is living in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. That's his example, that's the life, that's the payment for the penalty and I have been crucified with him. The word there in Greek is which means to have been crucified into I have been crucified in tandem. I looked out in the first service and I saw a few people that do the paragliding thing and I was like, when you started, did you go out on your own and did you go out paragliding in tandem with someone?

Said, oh, yeah, it's in tandem to begin with. To reckon yourself as linked to Christ upon the cross, he died for that sin. His example of laying down his life for the ones that he loves is something that we can emulate. We could not die for other people's sin, but we can put down our own will and our own way and follow after Christ. And for Paul, says, have been crucified in tandem.

I've been co crucified. I need to think that my will didn't get it done. His will can get it done and I'm gonna allow that. I'm reckoning myself as co crucified. I want to see everything that is not Christ like in my life.

Thank God he does not reveal all of that at once. I think he'd kill us if we did. Matthew 26, and this is a very specific example for Peter, James, and John when he is in the garden about to be betrayed. Same night where he institutes the Lord's Supper and he tells them to keep on watching and keep on praying so that you will not come into temptation. The spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak.

We all know the weakness of the flesh and we know that fatigue makes cowards of us all. We know that the stress of life and exhaustion which is the circumstance that they were in and it does say they still fell asleep by the way. I love what Luke says though. Luke says, they fell asleep from anguish. They were so anguished that they were were worn out.

Keep on watching, keep on praying. This is about the continual nature of step 10. It is continuance. That's what they call it in the early literature. Actually, they called it conservation.

You've got these other nine steps. Now, this tenth one is holding on to it, conserving it or continuing it is to keep on promptly admitting it when you recognize you're wrong, doing personal inventory regularly. Keep watching and praying so you don't come into temptation. John 16, same night, upper room discourse. Jesus is saying and we have said here, step one, step two, step three, step four, step five, step six, step seven is humility and rebirth.

It is the place where God takes our humility, accepts it, and gives us his spirit in regeneration. And Jesus says, this is his promise for what the Holy Spirit will do in the life of the believer. When he, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. And the Holy Spirit will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears from the father, he will speak and he will disclose to you in a still small voice what is to come. The Holy Spirit will glorify me, Jesus says, and the Holy Spirit will take from mine, my father, I believe, and and he will disclose it to you.

Do you know that in the spirit, you have access to the mind of God and that mind of God is very different from our own human intellects. All the things that the father has are mine. This is what I said that he takes from mine and he will disclose it to you. I've promised to put my spirit within you and I will allow you if you will be humble, you will hear that still small voice. It'll allow for daily corrective action.

Colossians, oh, a whole book of Colossians. So good. So so good. Colossians speaks of, and although you were previously alienated hostile in your attitude and you were engaged in evil deeds, I don't know what they were, but this is the way. Step one, you realize your life had become unmanageable.

You're engaged in evil deeds yet now, he has reconciled you in his body of flesh through death in order to present you before him holy and blameless and above reproach. And Paul talks about the continuing action that is involved and the continuing humility is involved. If indeed, you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast and not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you've heard which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I, Paul was made a minister. This good news works. Work it.

Work the good news. Dwell on it. Think about it. Humble yourself before it and allow God to transform. James one twelve through 25, I'm not gonna read this morning, but this is about being not just a hearer where you've heard these steps, now I could repeat those back to you, but you actually do them.

Considering your way, considering the goodness of God, allowing for that to fill you, examining yourself in the light of scripture, admitting it where you're wrong, all of that stuff is important. James says that it is possible to look at yourself in a mirror and see a clear image of what it is and then walk away and do nothing about it. Every good and perfect gift is from God. He is the one who is able to make it right. He is the one who is able to make fruitful a life.

In Philippians, before we go to the table, we're gonna go to Philippians. It is the work of God. Sometimes we grind away so hard at trying to do the right thing and force it, force it, force it and just kind of ramrod it. But really, it is God's work allowing him through humility to do it is important. Philippians one six, Paul to his dear Philippian believers says, I'm confident in this, of this very thing that he who began a good work in you, that's God, he will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.

God is capable. He is able. He's mighty to save. He's also mighty to sanctify and transform, and he can do his will. He will resist pride.

So be humble. I think that's the last slide. Is that the last slide? Actually, have step eleven and twelve, but they're for next next week. Carl, would you come up?

And I'm gonna invite the ushers to come forward. We're gonna play a little bit of music between during the distribution of the little cracker and we'll do that at once and then we'll do the little representative sample of the blood of Christ in this plastic cup and a bit of grape juice. Would you pray with me? God, you do give us a heads up in your word. It's it's sort of a warning.

It is a warning not to take of this bread and this cup unworthily. The only way we can be made worthy, Lord, is to be humble before you and to allow you to cleanse us from the guilt and the sin. That's the reason we are sinners, we need saving, we're the reason Jesus came. So Lord, would you accept our humble response before your word. Would you allow us to just feel what it feels like to be free of the guilt that so easily sneaks up and entangles us.

In Jesus, we feel that freedom. Lord, would you forgive us of our sins and as we distribute this for everyone who would partake of this little representative sample of your body, Lord, I I pray that they'd be blessed by it. For those who must let it pass, Lord, I pray that you would that you would work in their lives because of the witness of the people in this room. In Jesus name, I ask you to bless this little cracker as a representative of the body of Christ. Amen.

Self examination. Wow. Thinking about that upper room and I think about Jesus saying that there was gonna be a betrayal and then having those guys say, is is it is it our Lord? Is it me? That's self examination.

Later on in the evening, same night he was betrayed, he took the bread after supper and he said to them there and to us still, this is my body which is given for you. Take this, take it in, eat of it, and do so in remembrance of me. Thank you Jesus for in the truest sense of the word condescending coming down to us. To walk out a perfect life with no sin debt owed, and then to voluntarily go the way of suffering, to voluntarily go on the Via Dolorosa, to voluntarily give up your perfect blood sacrificially. We celebrate that today in this little plastic cup of grape juice.

We pray, Lord, that you would bless each that would partake and for those who let it pass. Lord, I pray that you would move in their life through the people in their circle. In Jesus name, we ask you blessing. Amen. Go ahead, Carl.

That's good.

In the same manner he had taken the bread, he also took the cup. It's a common cup for them of wine, I'm sure. For us, it's this little representative that's still representative of the same thing. He said, this is the new covenant in my blood. It's no longer on you if if if if if, it's on me and it is certain and it is done, the finished work of Christ on the cross.

This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this, drink it in, do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Carl, can we sing the

Doxology?

Yeah. That works. You wanna stand

down if you want a g?

Yeah. Hit me and hit the g. Would you stand with me? As we close this out, I just wanna thank God for this.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise father, son, and holy ghost.

I'm gonna pray for us here, but also for the first service too. Lord God Almighty, since the beginning of these steps and kind of figuring out what they are, Lord, a lot of people have come forward and said, I'm there. I'm just finally realizing this. There are people who are getting sober, there are people who are getting set free from addictive stuff, there are people who are recognizing their own relational sin and I'm one of them Lord. I pray that you would be constantly at work in our hearts, that your mercy and your grace would be so readily recognizable.

When we recognize it and we're humble before you and you remove it, Lord, may we feel the freedom that comes with it. In Jesus name, I ask for everyone who is struggling in sin that they would be led out of it by the only effective savior. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Amen.

That's it. We usually play music. Judy usually plays music, but that's it. If you got Leonard J Jerome, you can play that if you want to. Okay.

Okay.