Shameless Persistence First B Jackson 2023-03-05 Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record. ---- I was driving. Oh, man. I was in. In. In thirty seconds. That's funny. I don't know about that. Good morning, everybody. I should probably get started here at five after. Would you stand with me? We'll sing together a worship in song. Here's an encouraging word from first Peter five seven to lead us into worship. It says, give all your worries and cares to God for he cares for you. Let's start by singing leave it there. That's fun. Blake, is this thing on? There it is. Ah, Monday night's at first b. What's happening, Carl? We're on tomorrow, meal, music, and message. Felix in Guadalupe for dinner. Well, not them for dinner. They're making dinner. That'd be weird. And then we're in Mark 9. It's one of my one of my favorites where the the father cries out, Lord, I believe, but would you help me in my unbelief? Oh, yeah. That's great. Such a good so many wonderful things to learn from that little chapter in in Mark. So know that you're invited down the hall tomorrow night at six. 06:00. Same time as Awana is happening starting out in this room and then spreading out all over the church. Awana is a great program for pouring scripture into the minds of kids to reach their hearts. Just to give them a give them a a pool to draw from too. We have this thing's not clicking. Blake? JC has a real comment too. Oh, I just wanted to say tomorrow night is duct tape night. Tomorrow night for Awana is duct tape night. That sounds really good. Duct tape for things that move that shouldn't and WD-forty is for things that don't move that should. Duct tape night tomorrow night at one of that's good. Connect hour is happening between services. There's a ladies fellowship that meets Thursday evenings down the hall. There are a couple of folks who call into that, but it's mostly on in person down the hall. All ages are welcome, 6PM in the fellowship hall. That was really good. And there's a ladies one day retreat, Saturday, March 18. The way of love. Amy Litzelman is part of that and Nancy Terraziano is the one who's been setting it up. If you need to contact Nancy, our number is up there, (307) 699-9789 for information and to register. That's one a one day retreat. It's a Saturday, right? March 18. So that's coming up. The way of love. Thank you, Amy. Sunday school volunteers are needed. And I'm gonna ask Glenn if he'll make that. Grab either one of those mics right there, and I don't think either one of them are on. So push the button till the green light comes on. Alright. I'll be brief. But we really have a lot of kids in our church, which is awesome. But what we need to do is split the older class that's downstairs. So there's a kindergarten and first room, and then right now, it's second through fifth. That second through fifth room, really need to split. And to do that, we need some more volunteers. We've had about 20 to 25 kids in there for the last couple months, which is awesome. For a lot of people, probably the most sustainable way to do that is if you've got one Sunday a month, you're willing to commit to either teach or if you're not feeling comfortable with that, if you can just be a helper in there. We need two adults in each room. So for a lot of folks, one Sunday a month is doable. Appreciate if you think about that. Contact Liz. Her number is right there. She and I do that together downstairs, so we appreciate your help. Thanks so much. Thank you. And may I add to that? These two will set you up to to win. Amen. Yeah. Really, just once per month, and they will have everything prepared for you. And also, can we give them, Liz and Glenn and the volunteers, a a hand for all the thank you, guys. You're doing a great job. Crystal, two. Our next weekend, so the eleventh, Saturday the eleventh, Monique, would you stand up for a second? This is Monique Ibarra, if you would. She's going to have she's heading to the mission field and she would like to tell you more about it. So if you would, it's a meet and sweet with Monique. Dessert and discussion about the upcoming trip to the mission field. So it'll be six to eight in the fellowship hall next Saturday. Is that right? This coming Saturday. Yeah. That's the same thing. Sorry, where I'm from, where I'm from it is anyway, sorry, that's regional. I didn't mean to say that, so sassy. Sorry. Sorry. Here's Nick. Let the professionals take over. It's fine. Get the hook. It's like, don't know about you guys, but it's it's hard to share your faith sometimes. And we don't feel super practiced at it. We don't feel ready for it. Well, we have an opportunity with the Bill Graham Evangelistic Association. They're doing classes right here, May fourth, eleventh, eighteenth from seven to nine. I encourage you to bring your small group, bring your friends and family. It's a great way to get equipped to learn about your faith, how to share it in very practical ways. They came on March 3 on Friday, and I can't tell you what a blessing it was to be here to to hear their mission, how they wanna serve us, and help equip us to be ready to to to talk to our friends. And there's a card in the seat in front of you. On the back, there are slots for you to if you want, this is all voluntary, to write a name, to take home, to pray over your list. Take this card home. Put down the the names of the people you would like to be able to witness to or that you wanna pray for. And that way, once you commit it to a piece of paper, it it's actually a lot easier to pray for them. It's not for us. It's not for us. We're not data mining. We're not trying to get information from you. We don't even need to know. Yeah. Don't have to tell us. And I I've been doing this, and it's amazing how how that other name will come up. Oh, that other name. I can invite that person to the September 24 look up tour, or I can talk to them about my faith. I And invite you to throw one name on their one wild card. This person will never come to the Lord. You think that God is more powerful than that. He can do anything. Amen. It's totally voluntary. Would you would you pray for them? Would you bring them to the Billy Graham event or the Will Graham event, sorry, on September 24? Thank you very much. If you have any questions, let me know. I've got posters. I've got cards, all kind of stuff. They really wanna equip us for success. Thank you. So thank you. Thanks, Nick. Is there another one? Know that I have one. Come come on up. Come on up. This is not about Natalie. This is about God. Sorry. How great thou art. I no. I don't have a slide. I just wanted to say thank you to First Bee in leadership for being a YES Church because for the second year in a row now, we've hosted If Gathering, which is a women's conference that was broadcast in 35 countries to hundreds of thousands of women simultaneously this Friday and Saturday. And we had over a 120 women representing almost every church. This sanctuary was packed with round tables and flowers, and it was such a lovely weekend. It was so filling and refreshing for my own soul. And for those of you, I know a lot of you are here, I know you've shared the same. So thank you for coming next year. You don't want to miss it for sure. And I also just want to say that there is one teenager that gave her life to Christ this weekend because of it. Praise God. That's wonderful. Thank you, Natalie. Would you stand with us and we'll sing How Great Thou Art? Beauty I see. Along with that, what we've just sung here, here's a little something to be proud of from second Thessalonians two. It's God chose you to experience salvation. Praise God. A salvation that came through the spirit who makes you holy through your belief in the truth, in the truth. And now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus. Thank you, Lord, for that good news. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the the worship through giving part of the the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward, and and we get to sing Psalm 34, taste and see. Verse three says, glorify the Lord with me. Let's exalt his name to together. And I'd love to do that. But before we do, Ray, would you pray? God, I thank you for all the gifts that you've given, Lord. Overwhelmed, the tasting and the seeing that you are good, Lord. You have rescued us out of the kingdom of darkness. You brought us into the marvelous kingdom of light, Lord. I pray that we would be reflecting your light on others, that we would be, living our lives before you, an audience of one that is witnessed by others. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that you would do, your work in us, your transforming work in us, that you would, do what only you can do. I pray, Lord, that we'd be leaning leaning that direction. We'd be open to it. We'd be humble. But, God, I pray that you just use us to do whatever it is that you want done in our sphere. This sphere right here close at hand and to the very uttermost parts of the earth. In Jesus' name, I ask that you would bless this offering, Lord. Everything that is put in these plates really in time and space and materially, but also metaphorically, The person in the seats that says, I'm I'm gonna give my time. I'm gonna give my understanding. There are folks here, Lord, that just have a a wealth of information of having walked with you for a long time, that other folks just don't know it. God, I pray that you'd use, us however you see fit. If you've given us wisdom, Lord, I pray that we'd be willing to share it. If you've given us, whatever you've given us, Lord, I pray that we'd have an open hand with it. In Jesus' name, I pray your blessing on this, that we would be doing your will and your way. Amen. We have been in an ongoing Testament study, kind of chronological order, walking with Jesus and the disciples through the synoptic gospels. So we're up to Luke eleven:five-thirteen. This is just in Luke. This part right here is just in Luke. And I want to go through it today, kind of getting us back into it. But since we, have been away from it for several weeks, context is king. Consider where we are in Luke. Just in Luke, where we are, what's been going is the Good Samaritan story. So the Good Samaritan story happened, and then right after that, Mary and Martha. So Good Samaritan does a lot of good things, and it could be construed that, wow, Jesus is almost endorsing a workspace thing here. But then Mary and Martha says, nope. That's not the case. That's not the case. Mary has found that one thing, sitting at the feet of Jesus, understanding and listening to him, leaning in and listening to him. Good Samaritan is not works based. He was doing what he was doing out of true motivation and care for his neighbor. Good Samaritan, Mary and Martha, and then the Lord's prayer. And we'll go through it. This is the short form of the Lord's prayer. This is not Matthew's version of it that's a little bit longer. So we covered both of them together three or four weeks ago, a while back. And so I want to just kind of recap by going through it. And then consider the context of where the next section, what we're covering today, five through 13. I think if you consider the context, it might help it to make sense. We are, well, we are pretty good. I hope not to be. I hope I'm not. But we, as a people right now, Christians are pretty good at cherry picking verses and grabbing whatever is the most convenient handle to hold on to. And so I don't wanna be doing that. I want you to know what the context of this is. It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, doesn't say where, it's kind of vague. When he had finished praying, one of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray. Teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciple. This could have been one of John's disciples that when John said, that's the guy. That's the one. He's the one that takes away the sins of the world. Follow him. He must increase. I must decrease. It could have been one of those. But this disciple said, Lord, teach us to pray. Just as John also taught his disciples, and he said to them, When you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name, exalted, lifted up, revered, in the proper and good sense feared. It's your name should be lifted up and exalted, Lord. I'm doing that right now, but I also pray that others would be joining in with the praise that you deserve. Father, starting off, I just wanna say, you are incredibly good, and, your name is hallowed. Your kingdom come. Now in Matthew, it's followed up, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. I think that's the same sense here, your kingdom come. It's certainly not smithereens, right? When we hear kingdom come, a lot of times we think, oh, they're gonna blow it, the kingdom come. Your kingdom come. It's I am hallowing your name as the king, and I am praying that your kingdom will be the one that truly reigns on earth as it is in heaven. Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Matthew adds on earth as it is in heaven. I I do too. I think that that's the sense here. I want for your rain to increase here on earth. Give us each day our daily bread. Now, I told you last time that it daily, people argue over what exactly it means, but daily can mean needful bread, what I need for today. Would you give me, Lord, what I need? I'm not asking for extravagances. I just want to have what I need to be able to survive, to be able to go forward. Give us each day our needful bread. I love the word quotidian and I'm just going put it in there because that's the best definition for this. Who cares if nobody knows what it means? Give us each day our needful, our quota. That's where we get the quotidian bread. Give us each day our daily bread, Lord. We are conscious that all of the resources are yours, Lord. We are asking for you to give us what we need to be able to do what you want us to do. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins. Oh, because we do sin. Right? We're not instantly perfected. We are forgiven, and we are justified because God has said so through belief, but we still mess up. We still fall short. Forgive us our sins. The nice thing about this is first John one nine, Bob Wells sits right here in the second service, this is his favorite verse. This is the mechanism, he says. This is the mechanism. If we confess homo logao, say the same thing. If we confess our sins, if we are agreeing with God about our sins, he's faithful and he's just or righteous, such that he will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He will take what you give him and throw it as far as the east is from the West and remember it no more. He will throw it into the sea of forgiveness and remember it no more. He will, though your sins be as scarlet, make them as white as snow. Make you as white as snow. That's good. That's a good promise. If we confess our sin, he's faithful and he's just or righteous, that he will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So, God, we pray that you would be forgiving us. For we also, ourselves, also forgive everyone who's indebted to us. Oh, That is necessary. That's needful that we since we have experienced the forgiveness that we did not deserve, we should be forgiving those who have sinned against us. Luke says it, for we ourselves also forgive. Please be forgiven us, Lord. We're forgiving everybody else. We're doing everything we can to let it go. And do not lead us into temptation. James said, don't let anybody who's tempted say that God did that. We do have an enemy. We do have our flesh. We do have, temptation. But, Lord, get us out of that place of temptation. Lead us not into temptation. That's the Lord's Prayer in Luke. Then this is the next thing we see. And he said to them, right after he's teaching them how to pray, he says to them, suppose that one of you has a friend. And that friend, he goes to him at midnight and says, friend, lend me three loaves. He's not even asking for it forever. He's just saying, can I borrow? Can I borrow? Can I borrow a pencil? Can I borrow a piece of paper? This is what every time I hear lend or borrow, I think of school. I have terrible ADD. I never had a pencil. Never had a piece of paper. I have never paid those things back. God forgive me. Friend. It's a friend now. It's a friend. Suppose one of you has a friend and he goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend, lend me three loaves. Just three loaves of bread. They're this big, know. Lend me three loaves. Because a friend, different friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to serve him. Showed up. He's a guest in my home, and I don't have anything right now. And from inside, he answers, don't bother me. What kind of friend is this? Well, it does say, he goes to him at midnight. Says to a friend, lend me three loaves. Friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him. And from inside, he answers, come on, don't bother me. The door has already been shut. This, every time I read it, I think about an airport. Have you all ever seen one of those doors that shut ever be opened? You know what I mean? You get there for your flight and there's that door and it's FAA rules or whatever. FFA? No, that's future Farmers of America. FFAs. Yes, sorry. I shouldn't have admitted that ADD thing, should I? The door has already been shut. It's been shut. Night's over. My children and I are in the bed. Come on, people. Really? I can't get up and give you anything. Anything is added. I can't get up and give you. I just can't get up and give it to you. It's added just to make it make sense in English, anytime you see an italics in the New American Standard, that's what it is. I can't get up and give you anything. I tell you, Jesus says, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he's his friend. Friendship means something. If he doesn't do it just because he's a friend, listen to this. Yet because of his shamelessness, the first guy's shamelessness, he will get up and give him as much as he needs. Shamelessness. That's not something we generally think of as a good thing. Right? Shamelessness. But this is what it means. Shamelessness or better yet, shameless persistence without embarrassment properly. It is shameless persistence. It's only used one place in the Bible, and this is it. Luke eleven eight. It is literally shamelessness. It relates to carrying out God's plan with unembarrassed boldness. Isn't that good? Don't, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed. That's why we're just saying that. Awana, you know it means approved workmen are not ashamed. Unembarrassed, shameless, Unembarrassed boldness. In the dignity of faith, there's already dignity because we're looking to God, and he has the resources, and he has said, come to me and ask. Any of you thirsty, come to me. If of you are weary, come to me. I'll give you rest. No shame without embarrassment. It is the shamelessness of a faith led believer who is not to be who a faith led believer has, who has not been halted by human fears. Now, I'm not saying go out and be a jerk, stand on a public square with a sign that forces yourself for what you believe. This is a shamelessness of asking God. Even when others cry overdone, Job, curse God and die already. Why do you keep on turning to him? It just gets worse and worse. Don't be embarrassed. Even though he slay me, yet will I serve him. Right? Boldness to keep on asking. It was restored to Job even when others cry. This is overdone. Come on. Why do you keep on doing that? Because of what comes next, actually. He'll get up and give him as much as he needs. That that's the the outcome of this guy's persistence. Think about this too. The first guy is trying to serve a friend. When he goes to the next guy and says, hey, I need help in serving this friend. Will you give me what I need so that I can be a blessing to him? We just covered this, Psalm 67. Psalm 67, the spreading circle says, bless us, God. Bless us so that we may be a blessing to this, so that your name may be revered upon the earth, so that your ways will be adopted by those who are without hope. He'll get up, and he'll give them as much as he needs. So Jesus says, I say to you, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. I like that. I like the verb tenses in the Greek a little better. It says, so I say to you, be asking. Be asking. Continual action. Right? Present it's a progressive action. Be asking. Live your life looking to God for your supply. Be asking and it will be given to you. Be seeking and you will find. Stumbling upon something happens occasionally. But when you're really looking for something, that's when you find it, right? It's always in the last place you look. Why? Because you stop looking when you find it. But we've got so much to learn from God. We can keep on asking, keep on be keep on seeking and be knocking, and it will open to you shamelessly. Come on, God, please. I need what? Your righteousness. I need your word. I need your understanding. I need your compassion. I need your mercy. I need your grace. And I need that so that I can share it with other people. Everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be open. That's the same kind of progressive action. And actually four, four is good. I like the intensification of indeed. We're that. Do We're do that. Action. Everyone We're who is seeking receives. Everyone who is asking receives. Everyone who is seeking fines. And to the one who is knocking, it will be open. Now which one of you? So that's the first argument is this friend going to a friend asking for help for a friend. The second is an intensification. Now, one of you fathers, this is a close family relationship, which one of you as fathers will his son ask for a fish and instead of a fish, he'll give him a snake? If your child is asking for something that's good, this is a staple of their diet. Healthy living required eating fish at that time. Right? Now which one of you fathers will his son asks for a fish, and instead of a fish, he'll give him a snake. Snakes, my goodness. You might not think so. We've kind of equalized everything's just part of nature, whatever. They hated snakes. They hated snakes. Genesis three fourteen, the Lord God said to the serpent, the snake, because you've done this, cursed are you more than all other livestock, more than any other animal in the field. On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall lead all the days of your life. I can't think of a single story in the the Bible where a snake is kinda a good thing. Numbers 21, maybe as an example. Lifting up the bronze snake, John three, when he's talking to Nicodemus, he's saying, people were snake bit, and God said to Moses, make a bronze serpent, put it up on a pole, and the people who look upon that will be saved. That's the weirdest story in the Bible in a lot of ways. But Jesus calls back to it and says, it really is listening to God, taking his way out, or turning away from his way out and dying. Whoo. Psalm, they sharpen their tongues like a snake, the venom of a viper is under their lips. Say la, let that ring. We don't want snakes. We don't want snakes. We want fish. We want what we need. Or if he will even ask for an egg, an egg is not a fish, but it's still good for you. If your kid's asking for an egg, will his father give him a scorpion? No. He's not gonna give him something poisonous instead of something good for him. So what's happening? We've got the example of a friend trying to help a friend, so he goes to a friend and asks for help. And then we've got kids who are asking for good things. They're staples that are necessary for a healthy life. They're not extravagances. They're not asking for a feast. He's asking, in the first story, three loaves and then a fish or an egg. It's your child, and what they're asking for is what they need, daily bread. So if you, despite being evil That cracks me up every time too. The the root there, let me scribble through some paper notes here. That word. Where is it? If you who are at the outset, you start off evil. That's just the way that human beings are. If you who are at the outset are evil, if you know how to give good things to your children, y'all are human and you recognize this fact. In fact, Jesus, fully human, fully divine, he recognizes it both directions. He is making an argument for the divine based on what we know as human beings. Close relationship is a friend. A closer relationship should be a father to a child, and he's arguing from the lesser to the greater here. So y'all are human. He is divine. If you, despite being evil at the outset, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more? How much more will your heavenly Father give? How much more? You recognize this as a good even if you don't want to do it, or even if you just limit it to just me, my four, and no more. If you just limit it to this. He's saying, You recognize that, don't you? And most people would. He'd say, then how much more would your heavenly father, who has created us all in his image, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit? This is what he's given. It's not a fresh new bicycle. It's not a race engine. I don't know why I thought of race engine. He's not asking for extravagances. It's asking for what we need to live. And what do we as Christians need to live? The Holy Spirit. To be able to walk with God, we have to be able to listen to God. We have to have a sense of what it is that he wants to have happen in our lives and in our walk where we can help our friends, where we can help our children. And the Holy Spirit is the way for that to happen. How much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask of him, to those who are asking of him. It's important that it's a continual action. I asked God one time, and he just didn't do it. Really? Did you stop asking? I I know the old thing about if you pray for patience, you're gonna get stuck in line at Walmart. Or if you pray for God to fill you with the Holy Spirit, you might end up as a missionary somewhere, and fear of that is keeping you back from really asking him for what he wants of your life. But I promise you that whatever he asked of you, if you step into it with him, if you listen to the Holy Spirit and you obey, it will be a blessing for you and for your friends and for your kids and for everybody. It's great. God is asking us to keep on seeking him. In Matthew, right after the Lord's prayer, right near the Lord's prayer is the beatitudes. And blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, justice, because they're going to be filled. Every single one of them who's asking for that is going to get it. Every single one of them who is seeking that, every single one of them who's knocking is going to get that open. I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, and the 12 steps are so good. They're so, so, so good. And if you need to be on a 12 step program, start today, for crying out loud. They're so good. We have sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him. As we understood him as a statement of humility. Okay? It's not God can be anything. Woo hoo. It's recognizing I'm finite and he's infinite. And I don't understand him completely, but with what I do understand, I'm gonna act. Okay? Praying only for what? Knowledge of his will, for his righteousness, for his goodness, for his justice, praying only for knowledge of his will for us, and it doesn't stop there, and the power to carry it out. Ask and seeking knocking. It's not a magic formula. Say it in Jesus' name. Lord, please give me a house bigger than I have right now. In Jesus' name. That's it's not a magic formula. It is it is listening to the Holy Spirit. It is trying to determine what daily bread really is. What is it that I need to be able to serve those around me? What is it that I need, Lord? Or what is it that I have, Lord? What is it that I already have that I could be serving or blessing others with? Is that the last slide, Blake? Preston. Wow. You're doing a good job, man. Paper notes. In my name, is that a magic formula or an incantation? That's really primitive religion to think power of words. I just have to say it just right and just the way. Oh, I forgot to say it in the he's not gonna answer that. No. It's not that. I grew up in a small town. There was a gas station that was not far from us. When I started to drive, gas was cheap. And I had a car that sucked gas. It really did. Race engine. And if I went up there and I went to the store and I filled up my Nova with gas, when I filled it up, I go inside and I would sign a ticket that was not in my name. It was my dad's name. My mom and dad, I'd love to stand up and say, oh, everything I've ever done, I've earned. No. My dad said, if you're going to school, you're making good grades. I'll pay for your gas to get there and get back. And so I go in, and what I did was sign in Billy McDaniel's name. Right? He had the account. I didn't have that account. I didn't have any money. But I go up and I would say, this is on Billy McDaniel. And I was supposed to get only what I needed, gas. If if I started to add more I actually never did that. But I knew of people that go in and they buy gas for themselves and for other people and they get paid cash and all this sort of stuff. I'm like, no. That's on that's on his account. I I don't really deserve this. I know I don't. But he has said that if I'll ask, he'll give me what I need. And so I just signed my name for the gas. Maybe RC and the moon pie every once in a while. My quotidian moon pie. Would you pray with me? We're gonna go into a time of communion. I'll invite the elders to come forward and get ready for the distribution. What's that? Okay. I have a song for us. Okay. God Almighty, I ask that we would recognize what it is to be children of yours. I'd I'd ask that we'd recognize, Lord, that you do have our account. You do have the account, and we're it's in Jesus' name. It's not in our name. It's not because what we have done before, not because what we're doing now or even what we will do. Lord, I pray that you will give us what it is that we need, and we know that you will give us what it is that we need. But we really do need to be acknowledging you. We really do need to be looking to you as our provision. We don't need to be doing things to try to angle and gather our own way. Lord, we pray that we'd do things in your name, your will done in your way. I pray, Lord, that we would recognize your Holy Spirit, that you'd pour it out on us, and, that it would be flowing through us to reach others. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thee as long as thou lendest be breath and say when the death do lies After supper, on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he started something. It was really the culmination of something started long past. But he he said to his disciples there, and his voice rings to us, those of us who are his disciples here. We practice an open table. Anyone who is remembering Jesus' sacrifice for them, anyone who is looking to have him lead is to do this. He started this. He said, This is my body which is given for you. Take this and eat and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you for walking it out. Thank you for having walked out a perfect record. There was plenty of temptation in your life to step aside from the father's will, but through the spirit's leading, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit that is available to us today, you were able to walk it out without sin. Your sacrificial death, your voluntary sacrificial death on our behalf, Lord. We thank you for walking it out, the body, and we thank you for the poured out blood, which this cup represents. I ask that you'd bless it, Lord, as we distribute it, that anyone who would partake would sense your presence. Very, very, very deep down. And God, that anybody that lets it pass, because this is just not what they believe, I pray, Lord, that you'd be moving in their life and that an unashamed or a shameless friend, praying for them, would draw them to you. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing on this cup. Amen. In the same manner that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup, common cup at the time, these little plastic cups of Welch's now. God Almighty, Jesus Christ said to these disciples, this is the new covenant in my blood, sealed in my blood. That which they had longed for and longed for had some background but had no idea. Jesus said, this is the new covenant in my blood. Take this. Take it in. Drink of it, and do as as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Paul says as often as we do this, we recall Jesus' death until he comes again. Would you stand with us? We're going sing what we believe. It's kind of a creedal statement. Thank our Through your Holy Spirit, conceiving Christ the Son, Jesus our Savior. I