He Himself Is Our Peace
First B Jackson
2017-06-25

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

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Hey. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. It's good to see you. What a gorgeous morning.

And we owe it to our creator. He's created everything. In him, we live, we move, we have our being. So what do you say we stand up, we give him praise? Alright.

All creatures,

all creatures of sound great. Let's sing more. And let all things their creator and worship him in humbleness. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Praise, praise the father,

Few announcements this morning. It's a busy, busy summer. Have you noticed? Yeah. This town's kind of full too, isn't it?

So, we have announcements. Carl, we have a night of worship tonight. You wanna explain a little bit about that?

Yep. So few churches, Presbyterian Church, our church, tribe church, and we're all getting together at the Presbyterian Church from seven to nine just for an all church worship night. It should be a lot of fun, and we'd love to love to have you. So now the door's open. Seven to nine.

Seven to nine. Alright. Child care provided for kids zero to four. So that's happening tonight, seven to nine at the Pres Church, and we actually got a chance to sing out at the Hootenanny this past week. And Alyssa Hunter joined us and Kenny from the Prez Church joined us, and it's it's great.

That church unity thing really is cool. You know, it's fun. So we have Monday nights going on at First B. Monday nights at First B happening tomorrow night.

Yep. Meal music message. So, no, the door's open for that too. There's burgers and dogs on the grill and

Burgers and dogs on the grill. We're having the kitchen remodel still going on, but we're not stopping. We're going forward with everything that normally happens. I've got a few more announcements for things upcoming. One is Run Ministries with Eric and Becky Watt.

This is one of the most fun evenings of the year, I promise. 07/09/2017, he'll come out here and they'll share. He and Becky together will share what's going on in the world, Reaching Unreached Nations Ministries with Eric and Becky Watt, and that'll be July 9 in the evening. There's a gala for Turning Point on July 13. That's a Thursday evening.

It's up at the top of Spring Creek Ranch, so it's up on top of the Butte there. It's a beautiful, beautiful time. If you have not already made arrangements for being there, there are a lot of us here who have tables, and there may be some spots left at the table. So just contact Diane or me or Alyssa or Judy Bacy, and we should be able to find you a spot.

Am I supposed to do? Talk to him. Talk him out of joining the marines. Just say to him, Ralph, I was wrong. Wrong?

The Fonz is wrong. You got your boss. I don't gotta do nothing.

But I

tell you what, I mean, I'll think about it. I'm even gonna have to practice this. Ralph, I was willing. It's kinda stuck in my throat, dear. Stuck in my throat.

Ralph, look. I was with him. I was not. So

the speaker that's gonna be at Spring Creek Ranch for the Turning Point Gala is also gonna come here on Saturday after that. So July 15 here. It's gonna be from nine in the morning till like three or 03:30 in the afternoon. We'll have lunch provided. If you wanna come here, Relational Wisdom three sixty is Ken Sandy's ministry and Ken Sandy is the guy and right now or this week at least, he is talking to congress.

Think about that for just a second. Relational Wisdom three sixty, they've invited a man to come teach them how to get along. I'm that actually encourages me on a lot of fronts right there but Relational Wisdom three sixty, it's happening here nine to 03:30 on July 15. I want to say a huge thank you. It it is not decorated like Vacation Bible School right now.

It was last Sunday when we were here. The volunteers, y'all did a great job of being here. Blake is going to flip through some pictures. We cannot get the video to do what the video wants to do but we're going to flip through a few pictures here. They had Hero Central in this building for the past couple of days.

So, Friday night and Saturday. Hey, that's good. There's music too. You want to watch that for a little while? It's been fantastic.

Volunteers, there they are leading upfront. Geraldine and Melissa, they did a great job. Lots of kids. We have volunteers with every class all around. Guys, girls, young, older, not old.

And it was a lot of fun. So thank you very, very much. I thank you to Liz and everybody that volunteered and we had everybody there. Like, I am gonna go forward in with the other, if you can do that. Liz is our new children's ministry director.

Y'all know that. But our outgoing children's ministry director is Christa, and I want to just say thank you. Can I invite Christa up? I gave her fair warning. There she is.

I know that you're you're kind of you're much more behind the scenes. Yes. Gal. Thank you. For five years.

Thank you. You, Ray.

We love

you. Thank you. So

for five years, she was the coordinator, and that's probably as long as she's been up front this time. She does everything has been done pretty much behind the scenes and thank you very much for just being a faithful servant and going with the direction that God's given. Amen. Gonna make me cry again. So, looking ahead, there's a Guatemala mission trip that is forming now.

Tanya and Mike D are in charge of administrating this trip. So Tanya McDaniel, my wife, and Mike D, our youth director, are forming this trip right now. This is a Copa Guatemala for Hope of Life International. We sent a twenty twelve team, and that was it. We sent a twenty fifteen team, and that was it.

We sent a twenty seventeen, and that was it. So the twenty eighteen team, who is it going to be? All right? We are we have been going with another group that has been doing most of the administrative heavy lifting. We're going on our own this time and can take a much bigger team.

So if you want to be a part of that, talk to either Tanya or Mike B, or you can email me. All right? So that is going. Looking ahead, Guatemala mission trip, forming now. That is going to be the first week of spring break.

Do you all remember what it was like the first week of spring break this year? Would you rather be in Guatemala? Okay? Think about that. Connect hour is still happening between services, and that is down in the fellowship hall.

That's happening. And I would like for you would you all stand up for just a second? This family right here. Oh, that's everybody. Goodness, what power I have.

That's crazy. Just this family right here. That's Andrew and Christina Garner, and these are two of their three boys, Micah and Xavier and downstairs is probably Ephesians. They are headed back to Western Asia as missionaries. They've been there before.

They've been home on home assignment and now they're heading back. So I'd love for y'all to get to know these people. Andrew is my Greek partner. You can blame him. All the way through seminary, he was in all of the Greek classes with me and we kind of exchange homework, did our, you know, checking each other's translation and that sort of stuff.

He's a good, good guy, great linguist, and he's going back to work in Western Asia. Y'all can meet them during the time. Y'all can have a seat. Thank you. And there's also going to be an official meet and greet.

Some of y'all, I think, might have been taken by surprise, although Mike has been here for a long time, that he is our new youth director. And so I'd like for y'all to get a chance to talk to him. So he's gonna be also during the connect hour available to kind of meet and greet and talk. It's this guy. He was on that team in Guatemala, he was on this team in Guatemala.

All right. But y'all of y'all, if y'all are from here, most of y'all know Mike Demetrius. But I want to have a kind of an official time where you can get together and hopefully encourage him and ask questions about plans and all that sort of stuff. And he is around here somewhere. Right here.

Yeah. Yellow and blue. That's good. Thank you very much and I think that's all. If y'all would greet one another, y'all can find somebody near you to love on and we'll bring you back together with a song.

It's formed from the clouds, a strange and lonely sound. I can beared in the thunder and the rain. It's ringing in the skies like cans in the night. The musical and the universe plays are singing. You are holy.

Let's sing. You are holy, great and mighty. The moon and stars declare who you are. I'm so unworthy, but still you love me forever my heart will sing of how great you are. Alright.

Beautiful and free. A beautiful and free song on galaxies. It's reaching far beyond the Milky Way. Singing you are holy, great and mighty, forever the stars declare who you are. I'm so unworthy, but still you love me forever my heart will sing of you in our glory.

Our glory, you. Great in my hand, the moon and stars be there you are. And I'm so unworthy, but I can't see Waters raging at my feet. I can feel the breath of those surrounding me. I can hear the sound of nations rising up.

We will not be overtaken, we will not be overcome. And I can walk down this dark and painful road. I can face every fear of the unknown. I can hear All God's children singing out, we will not be over and taken, we will not be overcome. Listen, the same power that rose Jesus from the grave.

The same power that brought Jesus from the grave. The same power that commands the dead to wait lives in us, lives in us. The same vow that moves mountains where he speaks. The same vow that can conquer agency lives in us, lives in us. It lives in us, lives in us.

And we have hope. His promises are true in his stray. There is nothing we can't do. Yes. We know.

There are greater things in store. We will not be old and sick, and we will not be overcome. The same power that prawns Jesus from the grave. The same power that commands the dead to wake lives in us, lives in us. The same power that can conquer rage and see lives in us It lives lives in us.

It lives in us. And let's sing greater sea. A greater sea is living in me. He's conquered our enemy. No power on darkness, no weapon prevails.

We in me. He's conquered our The same bow from Jesus from praise. The same bow that commands in dead to wait lives in us, lives in us. The same power that moves mountains when he speaks. The same power that can conquer rage and sea lives in us, lives in us, lives in us, lives in us.

God, we wanna take a moment just to to pause and thank you that really the same power that raised Christ from the dead, this lives in us, and we acquire that through belief. It's nothing we've done. It's what you've done for us. And by faith, we have your Holy Spirit living inside us, working in us to do your goodwill and your pleasure. But then we reap the benefits of that too, the hope and the peace and the joy that we have in you.

And I just I'm very,

very

thankful for that, God. And I pray that you'd fill that this church with the fruit of your spirit so that the world can know that you're a good God and truly you've created us. You've you've given us purpose and meaning and fulfillment. And in you, there is life and life to the full measure. So don't let us forget it, God.

Don't let us forget it. In Jesus' name, amen. Would you all be seated? And I'm gonna invite the frontline frontline team to come up forward as we participate here in the worship through giving. God, I thank you for giving us just a a glimpse and and just a real tangible sense of your presence through through song and through worship.

And I I just pray for more of that, for your presence to fill your church. And I thank you, God, for blessing us with every gift, not only every spiritual gift that you give, but every gift to just to meet our our everyday needs. And, I thank you, God, that we can, that we can we can give too. And I pray that that as we as we pass these plates, it's it's more of us saying, here's me. Here's me with an open hand, and I wanna thank you for your generosity.

And I I pray God that you would use these these gifts and multiply them and use them just to make to make you known. In Jesus' name. Amen.

So last week, the sermon, I abbreviated. I cut it in half. This was I was planning on doing 11 through 22, and then I abbreviated it that night, and I came in here and it was really short, which surprised me. Not because I don't do that sometimes, but because when it was really short, it was really impactful. It was like, stop now.

And I've been dealing with some of what I said last week all week myself. Has anybody else been doing that? So 11 through 16, we went through Ephesians two eleven through 16. I'm going to go forward from there and go all the way through eleven twenty two, but I am going to go back and read the other. This this chapter is amazing.

So we have in Ephesians so far a lot of kind of statements of fact about you were like this and now, in Christ, you're like this. There's in sins or there's in Christ. If we took that seriously, we'd be less tempted to sin. We are getting to a place now where it's talking about past and present and then he's going to talk about the church. He doesn't mention the word church right now.

In fact, he doesn't use the word church until the tenth verse of the next chapter but what he's building towards is individually and then corporately how God is going to get his message out of love and forgiveness. How he's going to do this. For he himself is our peace is one of the quotes from today. But Ephesians two eleven through 22, if you want to turn in there in your Bibles or if you want to flip through screens, you need to get to to get there on your phone. Ephesians two eleven through 22.

We're going to look at these three separate ideas that all build off of each other. Distance from God until you're made near in Christ and I covered that last week. Peace with God and his people in Christ and that's the only way. Only way to have peace with God is the only way to have peace with other people is in Christ and then, this last, Paul rather quickly a lot of times, he he mixes his metaphors and he switches metaphors like that and so the last part is going to be the people of God as the dwelling place of God and I want for us as a church to think about that that that is where God dwells. We're just going to go straight from the text.

Y'all know how we do. So, first of all, distance from God. Therefore, remember that at one time and you know what? In the first three chapters of Ephesians, there's only one imperative and he says it twice. The imperatives, you know, are the the commands.

They're the things that he wants for us to do. So, the first three are really about being. Being in sins or being in Christ, they're about being. There's only two imperatives and they're both the same word and it's remember. I want you to remember what it was like when you were lost.

I want you to remember what it was like before you had peace with God and man. Therefore, remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands. Actually, there's a sarcasm font. Have you heard of this? I've mentioned it a time or two.

I think Paul's being sarcastic right here when he goes, but what is called the circumcision? Because the people of God were supposed to be circumcised, yes, but it was their hearts, and he was saying, this is just made in flesh by human hands. If people are making fun of you who have believed in Messiah Jesus, they don't get it. He's frustrated by what is called the circumcision which is which is made in flesh by human hands. Remember, he says it again.

That's another imperative. Remember this, that you are at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, stranger to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world and I used this last week, this slide with a dividing wall between Gentiles and faithful Jews and who were Gentiles? Everybody who wasn't a faithful Jew. Everybody who wasn't racially, they would say ethnically Jewish. There's a big difference separated from Christ while those faithful Jews were anticipating a Messiah, anointed one that would come and save his people from their sin.

The Gentiles are alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and faithful Jews were a part of it. That's what it was made up of. Strangers to the common covenants of promise versus those who are very very familiar with the covenants of God of promise. Having no hope versus placing their hope in God and then without God in the world and they were blessed with God's word and God's presence. They had Torah and they had temple, and they had the dwelling place of God, the faithful Jews.

Gentiles were without God in the world. So this is a little recap. Going forward from there, I want you to look at this, though. So in the past, this is a picture of the past. It says in the flesh, in the flesh, in the world, and we can see that in those first few verses that I just read.

In the flesh, in the flesh, in the world. Remember, remember that that's the way that you were. If you really get that, then you have a lot more empathy for people who are acting a fool as we'd say back home. Alright? But now, amen.

But now, so he's bringing it into the present but now, in Christ, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. It's the message of the cross which we come back to. That's the present. Live in Christ but now, he's already saying, remember the past but don't live there. Press on.

And this is the swap that was made. There's less difference now because Christian overrules the flavor of Christian. Whether you're a Gentile flavored Christian or a Jewish flavored Christian. Brought near by Christ and still, Jews are anticipating Messiah associated with the Commonwealth of Israel, part of it. Grafted into the covenants of promise.

Finally, having a hope, hoping in the savior, the Messiah, Jesus and they may now experience the world with God with the very spirit of God living within them. So, peace with God and his people in Christ is the next section. For he himself is our peace. Amen. When you are anxious, this is a good one to hold on to people.

He himself, Christ is our peace. Was he treated worse than we are treated? Oh, yeah He himself is our peace. While he was being nailed to the cross, he's praying. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

All of our cries about not being understood or misunderstood. Kinda fade right there. He himself is our peace and actually, that's a Old Testament quote. You hardly ever hear anytime unless you're in a minor prophets class or you are coming up on Christmas. When you're coming up on Christmas, you'll hear, but you, oh Bethlehem, Ephesians, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, who's coming forth is from old, the ancient of days.

This is a prophecy about the Messiah from Micah five five or five one through five and then this is where Paul picks us up and he shall be their peace. The Messiah shall be their peace, the anointed one. For he himself is our peace. It's still present right there. Active.

It's in the moment. He himself is our peace. Who has made us both one. So, he has taken from those the Jewish line and he has taken from Gentile lines and he is forecasting taken from all Gentile lines and he's making them into one. He's broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility.

In his flesh on the cross. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, I love a good so that my Greek partner, we were always looking for a henna clause because then you know what the whole thing's about so that he might create in himself, in his flesh, one new man in place of the two and so, like this, making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross. Thereby, killing the hostility, mortifying the hostility. That's as far as we got last week. That's a lot though.

Bringing down that dividing wall. I mentioned last week that if you try to hold on to any us and them, you're staying in the in sins part. You're not going after Christ with everything. I said in this service, I said, if you want to maintain your racism, there is no place in the New Testament for you to hide. Amen.

17 he came and he preached peace to you who are far off and peace to those who are near Christ did that and we see just I thought of the first part of John. John one, his first disciples, he's calling them out and they're coming. They were from a Jewish background. His first disciples at that wedding in Cana, he has a sneaky little miracle for whoever showed up, but it said in his first disciples believed in him because of that. So they were near.

They were Jewish background guys. Nicodemus in chapter three comes at night. Oh, you're a teacher of Israel. You don't know these things? Four, we get a curveball.

The Samaritan woman at the well. She was far off. In fact, Jesus said, you Samaritans worship that which you do not know, but we Jews worship that which we know, the Messiah, the one to come. We have Torah. We have that.

And a city official gets thrown in there too, probably far off Gentile. John five, one nearby guy. He was a paralytic who was by the pool. Apparently, in the traditions, folk, Judaism at least. He's sitting by the pool.

Near far, hard to tell, but probably near. And then John six, he's feeding 5,000. Imagine in a group of 5,000, it's not just the near. This is people who have come out to see the spectacle of what's going on. So 5,000 near and far.

That's Jesus. If you go with Paul, he starts in the synagogue because it's easier to talk to people who are near or so it would seem. Until they rejected him. He always started with the assembly in the synagogue. When they rejected him, he'd move on to the Gentiles and take out of those in the synagogue, they would come and they would join in with the Gentiles.

They were called out from one place into another. So, through him, we both have access near or far, Jew or Gentile, we both have access in one spirit to the father. It's the message of the cross. To those who are perishing, first Corinthians one eighteen says, it is mere foolishness but to those who are being saved, progressively brought out. I mean, yeah, at the moment of belief, you're saved but sanctifying work is what God is about and moving us from our sins into the peace and comfort of Christ.

It's the power of God unto salvation for all who believe, Romans says. So, that's the first two sections. The third section, I want to talk about a little more. The people of God as the dwelling of God. That's '19 through 22.

Have you all had this yogurt? I'm not advertising for them, but have you had it? It's a little different than just old yogurt that I grew up with. Oikos is the name of it, and oikos in Greek means house or home or household. It is homestyle.

In Mexico, was estilo casera. It's homestyle. It's like you have at home. So this yogurt is oikos, and it's a Greek word, oikos. So a house or a household, a house can be the material building, but they use it the same way that we do as far as, oh, he is of the house of David, whatever.

It's a household, a family, a lineage, nation. But oikos is this word. And in English, the real only reason I bring this up, and in English you don't see this in the translation very much, but Paul is great with rhetoric, and he nails home a point by using rhetorical features. And when he does it, I think it's cool. So he does about five times in this passage.

I'm only sharing one of them, okay? Oikos. These words are all related to Oikos right there. You see that? And so when they're hearing it, they're like household, household, household, household, and it is of a particular line.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens. No longer aliens. It's people who are outside of the household. You're not outside of the household, first thing he says. You're fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household.

Actually, you go back to that slide where he said you were strangers to the covenant of promise, you were foreigners actually. And when he says you're fellow citizens there, you've been brought in. Fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Built on. This is the word for building up a building.

Built on. Homebuilding. Housebuilding. Built on the foundation. More construction terminology.

And of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. And you all know the cornerstone is that which all other stones in the building have to go back and rectify with that. And in the case of the temple, that stone is half the size of this room. It's ridiculously large, and everything is set off of that cornerstone, built on the foundation of the apostles, prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure, another one of those oikos words, the whole household is built on that. And being joined together we're doing the whole kitchen remodel down the hall down there, and I've been listening to Ray Richards in there sawing up tiles, cutting off a little this way, trimming it so that it fits just right.

And God is actively doing that with people who believe in Jesus. He is sanctifying us and he is fitting us together. That's what it says, being joined together grows into a holy temple. Now, temple, the word for that there is not a Oikos word. It's something that is very specifically about the place where a deity lives, the place where God lives.

So, that's not one of those words but he comes back and he explains it further. He wants for everybody to know exactly what he's talking about. Household, household, household, household, bringing him into the family. He's already mentioned adoption earlier in chapter one. The whole structure being joined together grows into a holy separated, set apart temple dwelling place in the Lord.

You're no longer an alien. You're of the household. You're being built up. You're part of this structure. You're not the foundation.

You're being built on a solid and good foundation with a cornerstone that is exact and precise and properly placed. And in him, you also are being built together. The other one of those rhetorical features is together, together, together, together, together. It says it five times at least, and it's saying it is together. So if you want to remain separated and have an us and them, you have no place to hide.

It is called out from every different culture. Yeah, we've got southern flavored Christians here. We've got Yankee flavored Christians here. We've got Romanian flavored Christians here. We've got folks from all different cultures, but they are being called out.

We have socioeconomically different people in Jackson. Have you noticed? Yeah. It's different but we're here together We meet together with the people of God and I will say, if you're here this morning, you're not a believer, you're not a Christian, this text is primarily to Christians. So, yeah, let's talk about it later but this text is primarily to Christians and if we lived out this text where we were together, it would be incredibly attractive for everybody to come in and taste and see that God is good because he's doing this work In him, in Christ, you also are being built together That is a divine passive right there.

You are being built together Submitting your will to his will, he will move you from sin to Christ. Into a dwelling place for God by the spirit. Now, the dwelling place there is one of those house words. It's one of those oikos words. Into a habitation for God, it says.

Now the habitation or dwelling place or an abode is the place where you hang out, where you find your home. This is where you are at home. And he's saying that we're being built together by God to be a dwelling place for God. The New Testament really knows nothing of Lone Ranger Christians. We are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit.

That's the way that God brings us together is by his spirit and there's one spirit. There's one baptism. There's one body of Christ. God is doing the work. He's telling us.

Paul's telling us. He's telling Ephesians that you are a part of the household of God Now, in chapters four through six, he's going say act like it He's going to put it in the application right now. He's saying, remember what it was like when you didn't have a place in the world but you do Now, you do because of Christ and because of what God has done So, I'm going to use one more word that's not in the text and it's ecclesia and ecclesia means to call out from and into out from and to And kaleo is to call. So ek is just out from. Expel is to take something out from and go somewhere else, right?

Ek and kaleo, to be called out. Now this can be used just for an assembly of like gathering in town. It can be used with that and it is used with that in Greek literature. It's not specifically Christian, does not have to be, but it's people who are called out of their homes into the street to vote or people who are called out of their homes into an assembly to do a particular task Paul takes that word and he builds on that. People who are called out from the world past, right?

And called into the family, the household, household, household, household, household of God and the outcome being ecclesia. That's our that's the word for church. So, the church is made up of people who are called out of the world from every tribe, tongue, and nation into the family of God, the household of God and that outcome is the church and that's the body of Christ. So, the church is the body of Christ. Of the early sermons I did in Ephesians is, if God the father wills and Christ is the one who carries out and the church is the body of Christ, then we are to be carrying out the will of God.

Now, four through six will tell us more how to do that specifically but he's starting with remember. There's also that slide that keeps coming back about, would you rather God work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? Think about it. He does both but to sit back and go, you know what? I'm saved by faith not by works.

I'm just gonna do nothing. Are you sure you believe that? If I understand what God has done, if I really understand that I was dead in my sins and trespasses and he has now lifted me up and put me in the heavenlies with Christ, if I really get that, then I want other people who are dead in their sins and trespasses to feel what it feels like to do that, And I would do anything to get that to happen. When God leads, I thought this was gonna be ten minutes long and it's ten minutes short. Did y'all get it or I need to do it again?

Because I got time. Really? I think that's the last slide, seriously. Come on up, Carl. I might sing an extra song today.

Do y'all get it? Do you understand what I'm talking about? Is does this just light your jets? Does this really do it for you? Because it does for me.

I am so amazed because in chapter three, he's going to talk about the cosmic purpose of the church is to expand on the mysteries of God to to show them, to declare the mystery of Christ. We do not completely understand it. Unity is a lot easier when you'll admit that. Amen. Let's sing.

Alright. I'm seeing the light. Would you all stand up? Sing with us. That this song is what you're talking about.

Amen. This is this is Hank Williams version of, you know, I was this, and now I'm in Christ. And so let's sing it.

Claim for my own. Being like a blind man, we've got you back beside. Reason alone, saw the light. I I was a fool to wander straight, Straight is a gate and barrel away. Now I have traded the wrong for the right.

Freeze alone, I saw the light once more. I Amen. And

now, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. Amen. Come on out and join us at the Press Church tonight from seven to nine. Seven to nine at the Press Church.

If you want to worship some more.