New Life In The Kingdom

Now it's sending those disciples and those citizens out into the world. The blessings are the foundation. And now in Matthew 10, he's telling us what it means to be sent out into the world to make new disciples, to declare who would be new citizens. Now, there's a way in which this is unique for these 12 disciples, because they will have a unique authority as a foundation of the church. And obviously, there's some uniqueness in the time, because he says only go to the house of Israel. But there's some clear principles that we would see continued throughout the rest of the teaching of Jesus, even in the epistles.

Importantly, we see Jesus as the good shepherd here. Remember, he saw the sheep, and he had compassion. He sent out his disciples to help his sheep. And when he sends out those disciples, there's no bait and switch. He's a good king. He's a king of truth. He's giving them clear expectations of what is ahead of them. He's a king of truth.

They need to know the danger that's ahead. We're called to walk by faith, which means we're constantly depending upon him because we don't necessarily know what's coming, but he's letting us know there's a danger. Jesus wants us to be confident in the midst of that danger, not anxious. Jesus wants us to be bold in that danger, not fearful. This morning, as he tells us of really the most intense danger, the most painful dangers we'll experience within the family, There's three things I hope we see today.

First, Jesus calls us to understand the cost. Understand the cost.

Second, choose Jesus's worthy way. And third, receive the reward of salvation.

Understand the cost

First, understand the cost.

He's concluding. And he's continuing to repeat a few themes. Verse 34,

do not think that I've come to bring peace to the earth. I've not come to bring peace, but a sword.

He's wanting us to understand something about his mission and the mission he's come to do and the mission he's sending us out on. Again, there's not some way in which Jesus is trying to lure us in into discipleship and then all of a sudden we realize how dangerous it is. No, up front, he is really clear. He's telling us how dangerous it's going to be. And the danger is danger within our own family. There's a significance there, we'll keep coming back to.

Now, Jesus is not trying to draw a big crowd. This is not the kind of discourse and speech that draws a big crowd, right? He's calling faithful disciples. He's not considering what they want to hear. He's telling them the truth. The natural man, he's not gonna wanna be a sheep let out of the wolves. The natural man is not gonna wanna lose his mama.

Maybe have a child turn against him. Lose his own life. Be hated by his own family. Be dragged before courts. Jesus is stating very clearly, you are going out into danger and I'm with you. He gives them promises in the midst of that. And I just gotta back up a little bit. There's a principle here I wanna make sure we understand. Clear expectations are necessary for healthy relationships. That's just a universal principle. Jesus, who's reconciling us to himself, who's calling us to be his ministers of reconciliation, he's giving clear expectations, and they're pretty difficult to take in. But he's helping us see what is ahead. He wants us to count the cost.

I remind you, in the midst of the many dangers, He's told us He's sending us as sheep to the wolves. He's told us over and over again, there'll be those who oppose you, what the wolves will do, what your family will do. I want to remind you of, He's given us promises and exhortations. He's promised us if we will acknowledge Him before the world, He will acknowledge us before His Father. He has promised that if you endure to the end, you will be saved. He's promised us that in the moment we have, before the courts even, the Holy Spirit will give us the words we need to be his witnesses. And based upon those promises, he's given us the exhortation, do not fear even what is truly frightening. Do not be anxious about what is actually worrisome.

Now, if we look at 35 and 36, again, notice,

I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

It's one thing to think the wolves out there and being dragged into a foreign court, but here it's touching at the most sacred place, the home, the family. It's significant, we could go back to verse 21, he's already alluded to this. There it's your brother will hate you, your father will turn over his child and the child his father, but there the agency was on the family member.

We have to see here something a little challenging. Jesus is saying, I have come to set a man with his family in opposition. We have a wonderful opportunity to wrestle with God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Great conversation to have while you're doing hospitality later in the day or this week. There's a comfort here in that Jesus is saying he is setting this animosity.

He is the one who is sovereign over it. It's not outside of his control. There's a comfort that no evil is outside of God's sovereignty. He is not the author of evil. He cannot be tempted with evil. He does not commit evil, but he's sovereign over it.

As you wrestle with it, what does it mean that he sets the father against the son and the daughter-in-law, the mother-in-law? A category to give you to wrestle with is the language from Exodus. God hardens the heart. God removes his grace from the heart that would then cause this animosity. And again, the key is, even your own family might hate you because you have believed in me. He clarifies his mission for the disciples.

Again, verse 34,

do not think I've come to bring peace in the earth. I've not come to bring peace, but a sword

At some level, the disciples are regularly not getting it through the Gospels. And I believe one of the ways we, again, a tool here to recognize why, they often conflated his two missions into one. Jesus has two comings, right? He comes once being born of the Virgin to die on the cross, rise again, and then he'll come again to bring about the end of his kingdom, the fullness of his kingdom. But the disciples seem to conflate these two. They did not yet get what we saw in Psalm 22 and you can see in Isaiah 53. Suffering precedes glory. That is the pattern of God's gospel after the fall. Suffering precedes glory for Jesus and for us.

I believe that's why he's simply saying, understand the mission. I haven't come to remove Rome over Israel. I have not come to bring about the peace and the family unit here on earth. No, I've come to bring a sword to that which is most important to your earthly life here. Now, let's wrestle with that. I have not come to bring peace. That should be a little startling.

Jesus is the prince of peace. Anybody know the first words Jesus speaks after the resurrection to his disciples?

Peace be with you.

You can study Ephesians 2 later. He is the peace of God. He came to proclaim peace to those who are near and peace to those who are far off. He is the very peace of God. So how can he say he did not come to bring peace and yet he is the one who declares peace be with you? Notice the end there of the first sentence of 34. He did not come to bring peace to the earth. He came to give us peace with God.

He came to give us internal peace so that we know we are forgiven, washed, beloved of God. There is a great confusion if we think everything is supposed to be peaceful here on earth because we believe in Jesus. No, he's very clear so that we do not misunderstand. The peace he gives is greater than anything we experience on this earth.

It's peace with God, to know God as Father, to be declared a friend of God. No, the peace on this earth will be in the future, when there's a new heavens and a new earth, but the peace he has come to give is with God, with this most basic foundational institution that God ordained the family, he's bringing a sword. I don't believe it's a literal sword, I believe this just represents destruction, division, devastation. Pretty intense, your own family will hate you. Now, this is significant in two ways.

One, these are Jewish men of the line of Abraham. They are physical descendants of Abraham, and they're told to go to the house of Israel only. Well, the covenant of Abraham has a family aspect to it. It's a tribal covenant. It, in many ways, is based upon the tribal relationships, the kinship descendants.

We can already see here there's something different happening with Jesus. It's not that the Abrahamic covenant is now perfected so it's just the born into descendants and family. No, there's a different kind of kingdom he's bringing about. Matthew begins the gospel with the last genealogy. Jesus is the son of Abraham, the son of David. Now there's a whole new kind of people and the people of faith.

This is encouraging because God blesses the family that he ordained in creation, but he's also bringing about a new family where we're adopted in Christ by the Father. But for them, this will be confusing because they would understand this family structure from the Amendment Covenant. Let me be very clear, this is not God stepping back and saying the family doesn't matter anymore. We can see in the New Testament there are instructions now for husbands, wives, and children.

God's good creation order continues, but Jesus is bringing about destruction, even with that family unit, as he is building a whole new kind of people. The Declaration of the Household is struggling, especially for us, because the household is supposed to be where you have love, security, protection, where you have room to grow.

A different kind of family

In the midst of this pain, pray for help to persevere. Jesus making it clear, there is a cost to following me. Those who you have depended upon for most of your life up until Jesus, they may not accept Jesus and therefore they may reject you. The conclusion should be count the cost, understand what he is doing. Young children of the church, stand up if you're 13 and younger. I haven't done this in a while. Let's get some exercise, move around a little bit. There you go.

If your parents are teaching you the gospel of Jesus Christ, be thankful. If you regularly hear the gospel of Jesus Christ from your parents and they want you to believe, be thankful. That is an obstacle you don't have to wrestle with. But I challenge you, what is the obstacle that keeps you from believing? Your parents want you. You don't have the obstacle Jesus is warning you about. You can have a seat now. Keep listening. What keeps you from believing in Jesus?

If your parents are telling you of Jesus, if your parents are regularly asking you to believe in Jesus, be thankful. But the key question is, what would keep you from believing in Jesus if your parents are not the opposite of what Jesus is warning of? Secondly, children, of all ages whose parents are opposed to the gospel and therefore have opposed you. We have members who come from a different religious background who have been rejected by parents. We have members, believers here, who decided to follow Christ in a way that is against or opposed to the way their parents follow Christ.

I want to encourage you. There is a lifelong command of God that you honor your father and mother. That doesn't mean you always obey them, but there's a lifelong command that you honor your father and mother. If you're going to disagree with your parents, if you're going to oppose your parents, there needs to be a clear, Christ-centered, obvious teaching in the gospel that would make it clear why you would disagree. To honor means you weigh what they say. There's a way in which if you disagree with your parents, you need to be able to do so in a way that's honoring to them. That means you take what they say with great weight. You're not quick to dismiss, because God does expect us to continue to honor, even if they are opposed to the gospel.

Parents, our goal is to be a freeway to Jesus. We were to be the highway, to pave an easy path for the children to come to Jesus. Not an obstacle, not causing confusion. The best way to lead your children to Jesus is not your righteous, upright life.

It's by asking for their forgiveness. It's by using your own sin to show them how great Jesus' forgiveness is. We get confused by this. Well, if I'm just good enough and righteous enough, they'll see Jesus. I hope they do see that, but I wanna say that the most powerful way you can help them see who Jesus is is by helping them understand forgiveness with your own sin and failure.

Finally, parents whose children have distanced themselves because of your faith. It becomes more and more common and more and more painful with identity politics in a culture that requires affirmation. I encourage you, stay the course of faithfulness. Don't believe the lie that if I compromise and meet them halfway, I can get them a little closer to Jesus. No, stay close to Jesus. Hold the line.

And realize that the one who has that power, the sword that divides, is also the one that has the power to heal, to save. Pray for them. Church, we do have many folks who come from difficult homes and backgrounds in different ways. This is where we are supposed to be a different kind of family. Cannot replace mother, father, brother, sister, but we can be a different kind of family to encourage those in those difficulties.

First, understand the cost.

Choose Jesus's worthy way

Second, choose Jesus's worthy way.

Here, looking at verses 37 to 39, I want you to hear here, there's four statements, there's four declarations, and three of them are focused on more than me is not worthy of me, or is not worthy of me. Verse 37,

whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

There are four declarations.

Choose Christ or any other way. There's only two ways to live. It's in Christ, with Christ, towards Christ, for Christ, and then every other option out there. If you're with Matthew, this sounds right. There's constantly been presented, and again, the Sermon on the Mount is the foundation of what he's saying here already. There's two ways to live. Here, the choice is clearly related to that warning above.

Because if your parents might hate you because you are following Jesus, the temptation will be to love your father or your child more than Jesus and therefore not follow him. There's a way it's clearly related, but the turn now is the principle that you might choose he who is most worthy. It's straightforward. You cannot love your earthly father and mother more than Jesus. You cannot love your son and daughter more than Jesus.

We call that a disordered love. You're loving something good, but in the wrong way. It's important to understand this, because I think this is one of the easiest sins to commit, because it's easiest to justify. It's hard to justify loving something that's clearly sin. It's hard to justify loving something that's clearly prohibited in scripture, adultery, stealing, lying, gambling, cheating. But here, father and mother's good. Son and daughter, good. It's too easy to justify how we would over-prioritize that love, and I want you to understand, the operative word is more. Write down more, everyone, more. That's the operative word.

He's not saying you cannot love your mama. He's saying you cannot love your father, mother more than me. Just like last week, we saw you cannot fear the man who only destroys the body more than you would fear the God who destroys the body and soul in hell. Again, we're pressed in. What love or fear controls you the most?

Now, let's just make sure we understand the word love. Love is not merely a feeling, it's an affection. Love is a promise that determines your direction. It's very important we understand love is a promise we make and keep, a commitment, a priority. So what we see here is, are you over-prioritizing anything more than Jesus? It's easy to make those people who are right in front of our face always, and who we can see and interact with in a real physical way, to over-prioritize them. Is your love for children or parents more than your love for Jesus?

That is a simple, hard question this morning. Now some folks have had to make that decision. Will they be disowned by their parents? Some have had to face that very specific difficulty. Others have done so because they've moved away from their parents' Christian tradition. Some have had to wrestle with just disappointing parents.

That tugs and makes it more obvious when we're making this choice. But I think the way, again, we often fall into this problem is when we just simply over-prioritize our parents or our children in a way that takes us away from Jesus. I think this is especially tempting in our culture with parents, with the temptation to have them so busy in everything that the world says they're supposed to experience, that we never have them here with God's people. We don't sit down with them and teach God's word. A fear of displeasing a child has more control over us than a fear that they would not know the Lord? We have a way of choosing things that are good but not the best. Again, the whole focus here is more. When we say yes to something, we are saying no to something else.

Will we love our parents and children under Christ and for Christ? Jesus is making it clear, you cannot be more devoted to anyone or anything else more than him. You are not worthy of him, he says. Now, that's an unusual statement from Jesus. Let's be real clear here. Jesus does not love you because you love him enough. He loves us while we're sinners. He loves us while we're loving sin. Jesus does not save you if you love him enough. No, he came in love to die for us as sinners.

What he's making clear for the disciples, if you're going to follow me, which as we learn to see him more and love him more, we realize he is most worthy of all our love. He who is most worthy is calling us to recognize we must follow him. We fail to remember sometimes because Jesus came down as that suffering servant to give everything over to us, that he is the high, almighty and holy God. And he is calling us to recognize he is worthy, and he's calling to tell us what it makes for us to be his disciples. He is most worthy.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Have reverence for him. Now, that can be a little abstract, so let me try to make this as clear as possible. If you want to wrestle with it, verse 37, if you have a love for something else more than Jesus, I have two ways for you Figure that out.

It's your calendar and your checkbook. Your calendar and your checkbook. Where do you prioritize your time spent? What are you investing your time, energy, and life in? Those are the tail laws. If you want to really see where your love and priorities are, it's where you are, how you're investing your life, how you're spending your money. What's in pen? What's in pencil? You want to know your loves, your calendar and your checkbook will be a real helpful test to see where your loves are. Coming to the clear context for many, to choose Christ is to defend your parents or children or close relatives. They can make life difficult because they're near you.

The way of the cross

This is why Jesus summarizes this choice again in a different way. Verse 38,

whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

The cross here represents suffering for his sake. We have maybe some confusion about the cross because everyone has, you know, people have crosses on their neck. Maybe you have a t-shirt with a cross. In Rome, cross was a symbol you would never wear. It's a sign of shame.

It's the way they would make the worst criminals suffer publicly. Here, the cross represents the suffering you will endure for the sake of Christ. He's made it very clear, they hated me, they called me the devil. What do you think they're gonna do to you? He has come to bear the cross we deserve, and then he calls us to carry our cross, which is why we're just saying we will carry the cross earlier. Remember, there's a blessing in persecution. Again, this is built on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 10, and 11. The double blessing for those who are persecuted for his name. There is a joy of following him in his suffering that leads to glory.

Jesus does not promise safety here on earth. He promises to secure your salvation. Jesus does not promise you a long life here on this earth with all the comforts. No, he promises you eternal life to behold him in all of his glory. You may lose earthly comforts.

He tells us the way of the cross is the way of being a sheep into the wolves. That's quite a pitch. That only makes sense if you understand who he is as the God who came to die for you. who gives life. This instruction reminds me of the words of Jim Elliot.

He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Look at verse 39.

Whoever finds his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

That first half is somewhat abstract at face value. But the life I believe he's referring to is the life of peace and comfort with your father, mother, son, daughter. The family life that you once had before Christ, whoever finds it and embraces it, you will lose that life.

You cannot hold onto it. People die, you will die. Trying to hold onto this life to delight in it, you will not be able to produce what you think you want. If you're trying to gain all that you can in this world, it will leave you dissatisfied. Notice that whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. There's two ways to live here.

That word lose, that's the same word that is used for destroy in verse 28. If you're trying to hold on to this life in the way you think it should be lived, if you're trying to control what your life will look like based upon your expectations, we're sinners, we destroy things. We don't trust God and follow him. But if you trust God, if you give Him your life, you will receive His life. If you give up your expectations, if you give up whatever you would leave for His sake, you'll find true life.

Suffering precedes glory. That's the principle. Jesus is promising if you are giving up Something of this life, to follow Him, you will gain true life. That's challenging, especially when He's already told us what's gonna happen. There's a choice. Will you trust Him who created you, saw how you rejected Him and still came down to die for you, rose again to give you new life, sits at the right hand of the Father with all authority? Will you trust Him and follow Him or are you trying to keep, have control over this life we keep messing up? There's a choice.

There's a choice every day, Christian. Will you draw closer to Christ or will you draw closer to your own control? If you're a believer, will you trust Christ to be your savior or will you keep trying to fumble along and figure this life out? Let me say this. There's a choice. Will you believe and follow Jesus? If you choose Jesus, buckle up.

God is with you. You'll go through suffering, but it will never be meaningless suffering. You'll go through trials and hardships, but God will care for you and give you a joy that is inexpressible. There is difficulty, but that is the arena in which God shows you his great power, love, and peace.

Receive the reward of salvation

Our final section is 40 to 42. Receive salvation. Receive the reward of salvation. Again, we see some repeated statements and patterns, but the key operative word is receive.

Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

Now, we gotta do a little math here. How many people are in verse 40? You receive a disciple, and by receiving the disciple, you receive Jesus, and by receiving Jesus, you receive the Father. Make sense? There's four people in verse 40.

This is the great line to know God. The Father has sent his Son into the world to save sinners. That Son then saves disciples, and those disciples go out and proclaim Jesus as the great Savior, and all who believe in him become a new disciple. If we're going to talk about apostolic succession, this is it. Four steps. The Father sends the Son, the Son sends disciples, and the disciples, when they're proclaiming Christ, they make Jesus known and knew Disciples are made as they receive them.

That's why we read Acts 242, the only church that are devoted to the apostles' teaching. There is something unique about the apostles in that they are the foundation of the church. They're the ones who produced the words of the New Testament. This book is Christ's word. If we want to be devoted to the apostles' teaching, we're a people of the book.

In Christ's church, has always recognized the Father has sent the Son, and the Son sends disciples, and those disciples proclaim Christ. And as receiving that disciple and his message, we receive the Son and the Father. The whole point of the Christian life is to know him and make him known.

It's not that you have the right kind of priestly line all the way down. No, this is it. The church now has the very words of God. This is the apostle's teaching. We're simply disciples who are seeking to make the Son known so that the Father is known. This is the great line to know God.

And the beauty of it, at first, you're the fourth person. You're the person who would hear the gospel and you would believe, you would be the fourth person that you were once not a Christian, and then you heard that message, and then you received that message, and in doing so, you received the Son and the Father. I heard that gospel from my grandfather when I first received. I had heard it many times before, but it was actually a letter my grandfather wrote me. I hope, if you're not a believer, there's many witnesses who are sharing with you the message you must receive that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. What a joy and blessing it is to hear the things of God from the people of God. This is a great advantage if you are of home where your parents are teaching you of Christ and you're regularly brought to a church where the gospel is taught.

The salvation sent from the Father above and his Son who came to be with us and die again and rise for us. This is the message that disciples, we repeat again, again, and again. I pray whatever I say, and we sing, and we read, and we teach. It's simply the reverberation of the word of God that tells us what we receive, who we receive. By receiving that disciple, we're receiving his message that Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Now, in case you're wondering, there is one more person involved in verse 40. It's the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is with you as you proclaim that message. The Holy Spirit is with you as you hear and receive that message.

If you're not a Christian, hearing is not enough. You must receive Christ. Hearing it is not enough. Hearing will only bring judgment. Hearing and believing Jesus Christ He is the Savior. Confessing with your own mouth, Jesus died for my sins. That is the way you receive the great blessing and reward of God. Christian, let's be clear, we are called to be those messengers. We're called to be that third person going to make God known. Trusting as Jesus Christ already said, the Holy Spirit will give you the words. Pray for opportunities to proclaim this one gospel that will turn sinners into saints.

Verse 40 is a grand principle, and then everything else is fleshing that out. Verse 41,

the one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. The one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.

Interesting. still follow the whole great line that those who were sent out with a message, they were sent out as a righteous man to make God known. If they're received for the purpose with which God sent them, you receive that same reward. Another way in which it could be you receive the reward they're bringing, but I think this is receiving their own reward for what they are proclaiming. Verse 42,

and whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

Again, the key in every verse except for this one has been received, that's the operative word. Now 42 kind of turns this. whoever gives one of these little ones. And just to make sure we're clear, little ones is not referring to children. Word is micros here. The disciples are the little ones of the kingdom. Citizens. Because again, notice it's little ones because they're disciples.

As they're being sent out, whoever will receive one of them, even with a glass of water, whoever even give a glass of water, there is a great reward. The smallest gesture of giving a water to the smallest of disciples, Jesus is emphatic.

Truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

What a powerful promise that we've seen throughout. There's a way in which Jesus is keeping something.

Now, 42, we have been encouraging hospitality. You heard Brian pray for it. James spoke of it. I've mentioned it before. We decided this year we're gonna emphasize hospitality and it keeps showing up in the Bible because it's one of those themes that if you look for the Bible, it's everywhere. Implied, assumed, commanded. Here it's the simplest hospitality for a disciple. A simple glass of water. You get a reward. Imagine how much better that reward gets if it's a sparkling water.

Maybe you throw in some bread. meat and cheese, you got a sandwich, you're pretty close to a picnic. There's a reward for receiving other disciples because they're disciples. Food is a significant way in which we give over to one another. The early church, they were committed to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, which includes breaking of bread in prayer, the joy of sharing one's life with each other.

Jesus is saying it's good for you, but there's a reward. There's a reward here. What stands out the most to me in this passage is how God is rich and generous. He sent his son so that we can know him. He promises a reward if you simply receive him. God's rich. He's generous. Good question, what is the reward?

It's at least this, eternal life with God. It's at least this, knowing who God is and having peace with Him. It could be more, but wouldn't that be enough? There could be more reward, just to know God as Father and the peace that He has bought with the blood of His Son. Isn't that enough to want to receive Him, receive others in His name, and proclaim Him?

Will you pray with me? Father, we thank You and we praise You that You do not leave us alone, but You sent Your Son with the promise that we can know You. We can even make You known. I pray that we would rejoice greatly in all you've given us. Receive it in faith. May we walk out in obedience. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Received us into his family

Let us stand and sing together a song printed on page 12, Be Thou My Vision.

We all will soon be saviors of life, Of life restored by day or by night. thou my great father, I thy true son. Thou bid me dwell thee, and I with thee one. Riches I heed not, nor hands and feet praise, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun,

Please remain standing as we confess together the Apostles Creed.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Please be seated. This morning we're partaking together of the Lord's Supper. Christ ordained this. meal, the bread and the cup, to remember He has received us into His family as we have received Him by faith. Christ gave us this bread to remember His body was broken for us. He gave His earthly life for us. His blood washes us of our sin. So it's a way of us remembering we're a new kind of family. a new kind of people, forgiven, known by God to make God known.

One instruction here, if you're a believer, that bread in the cup will pass before you, it will not benefit you if you take it. My challenge for you, consider why you would not believe in Jesus to receive that new life He has come to give you. What is the obstacle? After the service, please talk to someone about what that obstacle is and why it would keep you from Jesus. If you're not a member of our church, but you're a baptized believer, a member of another church, we welcome you to participate in this Lord's Supper together as we are saved by the one and same Jesus Christ.

And there's a call to reflect and personal examination. We'll take a moment to pray, and there's a moment to confess your sins to Him who forgives. I also want to encourage you, it's a time to thank Him for all He has given us. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, and I'll close us. Oh my God, we confess we have loved other people, things, and ourselves more than you. We thank you that you loved us even while we were sinners. We thank you that we can love you because you first loved us. We pray that as we reflect upon your love, as we participate in taking this bread together and drinking of this cup together, you would help us to know all the more your love, so that we would love you more. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.