The Inheritors: How Christ Redefines Strength as Meekness

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[00:06:01] We are so glad you're here. My name is Sarah Black. I have the privilege of being the communications coordinator here at Story Hill.
[00:06:10] And we are so glad that you're here. If this is your first time joining us, if this is your 300th time joining us, and also for those of you online, we're so glad you're here.
[00:06:20] For anyone new here, you are about to hear a lot of different ways to get connected.
[00:06:23] But as you exit the sanctuary, there are little connect cards that you can grab.
[00:06:28] You can either scan this QR code up top and get connected, or if you are a, I need to listen process, take home later, you can take those little cards from the comfort of your own car, your own couch, you can scan that QR code, you can get connected, at least, the very least, sign up for the weekly newsletter, so you know about events and things that will be coming up in the future, here at Story Hill.
[00:06:50] And who might you be?

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:06:51] Hey guys, my name is Maggie Pope. I'm also on staff. I lead the kids ministry.
[00:06:57] And we're going to come back and tell you a little bit about what's happening in the community of Story Hill.
[00:07:02] But would you guys pray with me to kick off our time of worship?
[00:07:08] God, we love you and we thank you for this place to come and gather and worship you and grow closer to you and ultimately to serve you, Lord.
[00:07:17] We pray that this time would just be a sweet offering to you.
[00:07:22] and we pray for our hearts that they would just be at rest in you we love you we submit this hour to you in jesus name amen amen please stand and sing with us

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[00:07:34] while he was still speaking judas one of the 12 arrived with him was a large crowd armed with

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[00:14:57] swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him. Going at once to Jesus,
[00:15:13] Judas said, greetings, rabbi, and kissed him. Jesus replied, do what you came for, friend.
[00:15:22] Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus, and arrested him.
[00:15:28] With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
[00:15:39] Put your sword back in its place, Jesus said to him, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
[00:15:46] Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
[00:15:55] But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?
[00:16:01] In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, Am I leading rebellion that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?
[00:16:10] Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me.
[00:16:15] but this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled then all the disciples deserted him and fled

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[00:16:25] opportunities and experiences we've had as individuals this past week to become more like you whether those experiences were hard or even scary joyful and comforting and peaceful we also thank you for the ways that we can experience you
[00:23:02] that only happen when we're here together talking to each other singing together and now hearing your word opened up and so this morning may the words of our mouths and meditations of our heart be acceptable in your sight
[00:23:20] the lord our strength and our redeemer amen amen hello again story hill church i'm maggie pope i

[00:23:29] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:23:29] have the privilege of being on staff leading the kids ministry i'm up here with my friend and colleague Sarah Black who works in communications whether this is your first time or your hundredth time whether you're here in person or joining
[00:23:42] us online we're glad you're here we want to tell you a little bit about what's happening in the community of Story Hill at Story Hill we deeply desire to love God and love people and keep Christ at the center and we do that through
[00:23:55] worshiping together growing together and serving together today during the community moment we want to take a glimpse at what it looks like to serve together and how God meets you in your willingness to say yes to what he's
[00:24:07] doing here at Story Hill in fact I heard that that's a big part of your story would you like to tell everyone about that hi as she said I'm Sarah Black I

[00:24:18] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:24:18] work in communications here at Story Hill and it's one of my biggest joys I am going to take that has not always been my story so I'm gonna take my work hat off and I'm gonna put my ministry partner hat on literally for those of
[00:24:32] you that can't see, it is a Story Hill youth hat, which is actually where I started serving. So I started coming to Story Hill when it was Lake Forest Davidson about four years ago after a
[00:24:43] really tough heartbreak. I knew literally not a single soul in this town and showed up to Sunday morning one time and quite literally didn't know the people to my right or next or my right or left
[00:24:53] to me in the circle. And so that was a big first step, but it was the tail end of COVID. People weren't really doing things still. And I have a history of serving in youth as growing up in the
[00:25:07] church and also as a young life leader. And so I just kind of thought, well, let me just dive right on in and let me start serving. So I met Lindsay and I started serving in youth. I actually started
[00:25:18] serving in Pathfinders, which is our middle school youth. And I met some awesome sixth grade girls then um and they um I met some incredible people um kids middle schoolers high schoolers um I met
[00:25:32] an incredible family who is practically my family here in Davidson um the alls if you know them um I have little brothers and sisters now because of them um but fast forward to three years my
[00:25:44] middle school girls um are actually became freshmen in high school shocker um and so I actually moved from Pathfinders in middle school to high school youth that meets on Sunday nights.
[00:25:57] If you know me at all, you know that I love babies. And so I wanted some baby snuggles. And so I started serving in the nursery at kids. One of my dearest friends is actually the elementary
[00:26:09] kids coordinator upstairs here. And so it didn't take long or she didn't have to twist my arm pretty hard to get me to sub in elementary or work or serve actually summer nights here at Story Hill which is the kids camp we get to do I also
[00:26:25] love to talk if you can't tell and so I have jumped in as a greeter on Sunday morning when needed and so there's just a lot of different ways that you can get connected here and serve I actually met one of that dearest friend who's
[00:26:42] elementary coordinator in my community group and now have my other dearest friends and all of my best friends are my community group which is amazing and that is something that you can get connected in here at Story Hill I now
[00:26:56] serve on the communications team and it is truly one of my greatest joys and my greatest story to tell but if you look up there we have a bunch of different serve teams and that you could join would you mind telling them a little bit

[00:27:10] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_06]
[00:27:10] more but before I tell them I just want to tell you as a mom of someone who has two youth in story all you thank you your willingness to say yes to the Lord's prompting your willingness to say yes to what God is doing here is just
[00:27:29] making a real big difference so thank you um so you might be sitting there and thinking hmm I want to be an active participant just like Sarah maybe I want to join a serve team or a community group well we're gonna make it really
[00:27:44] easy for you okay so if you want to join a serve team as she kind of gave you a sneak peek at there's a QR code up on the screens and on the chair backs and
[00:27:54] on those connection cards you can scan the QR code and there will be a link to fill out a serve together form you're gonna notice there are a lot of opportunities outside of kids and youth to serve we have lots of options but
[00:28:10] unapologetically we do need help in kids ministry and we actually if you hate forms have an orientation today at 3 o'clock but you are welcome to just show up at the building but yes fill out that form if you want to join a serve team or
[00:28:27] maybe you want to join a community group or a Bible study we want to make that easy to Amy and Caitlin have some tables set up in the lobby and they would love to talk to you about joining a community group or a Bible study they're there and
[00:28:42] they're ready to talk about that big idea Story Hill there is room for you in all that God is doing at Story Hill and we want to make it easy for you to take

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:28:51] that next step meet and greet yes you can look stay and greet your neighbor and you can tell them what you're going to serve at your Super Bowl snack party watched show and then where you want to serve in Story Hill. Good morning, good morning. A lot of

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:30:53] friendliness. Good morning, everybody. All right, good morning. Good morning, good morning, good

[00:31:23] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_04]
[00:31:23] morning, good morning. So those are the winning lottery numbers I just shared. Hope you wrote those down. Good morning. I'm Michael Flake, part of the pastoral team here. Great to be together As a church family this morning as Sarah said we would love for you to grab one of these small connect cards from the tables
[00:31:46] As you enter and exit the sanctuary so at the very least you can use the QR code to get signed up for the weekly newsletter But today is a great day as they pointed out to take to say your fresh
[00:31:56] Yes, whether that's a Bible study community group or finding a way to serve on one of the 26 something teams That serve inside and outside the walls of this church. We would love to have you take that fresh step today
[00:32:08] because whether you're cautious about Jesus curious about Jesus or committed to Jesus there's room for you here this is a place where it's safe to learn to grow and to change so long as you don't have it all together you'll fit right in
[00:32:21] as we look to the center of these circles we remind ourselves as we look around these circles even the round is a great reminder that we are all on this journey together we are pushing the hope and mercy of Jesus further out and I
[00:32:35] hope you find your way to be part of that here in this community as we push the hope and mercy of Jesus further out. Today we want to continue our series of sermons called Blessed or Blessed.
[00:32:48] We are starting the year. There are so many voices in the world, in our minds, telling us who to be, how to live, what matters. And so we start the year by amplifying the voice of Jesus, the most
[00:33:00] important voice. Specifically, we're looking at the Beatitudes that come at the beginning of His sermon on the mount the beatitudes are statements that will reorient our reality some of them will turn the world upside down as jesus reveals there's a blessing a goodness a rightness
[00:33:17] in things we would have never imagined so as we now keep walking through the beatitudes keep listening for where jesus joins virtues of god's kingdom to promises of god's kingdom and as we read the beatitudes this morning i will again invite you to listen for if there's one or
[00:33:36] two that really jumps out to you that you would take the time to memorize it during this series so that you will always have those words with you wherever you go but let's begin the sermon
[00:33:46] by reading the beatitudes together all right jesus taught this blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are those who hunger and thirst
[00:34:08] for righteousness for they will be filled blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy blessed are the pure in heart for they will see god blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of god blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness
[00:34:30] for theirs is the kingdom of heaven thank you today we want to focus on this beatitude blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth when i was growing up in the 1900s
[00:34:48] as the young people like to say. We had a brand of t-shirts called No Fear. Does anyone remember these shirts? And they'd say things like, it's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size
[00:35:03] of the fight in the dog. No fear, those kind of things. Well, at our middle school, and I lived in a very culturally Christian city, Memphis, Tennessee, at our middle school, someone had a shirt that said, the meek shall inherit the earth. Yeah, right. No fear. And people love that shirt,
[00:35:23] man. They would give it a lot of compliments like that's so cool saying yeah, right to some weird old saying. I'll see you at youth group tonight, right? Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength kept under proper control for the mathematicians in the group meekness equals
[00:35:47] strength plus self-control and there are people today and maybe some of us who still say yeah right to the words of Jesus because we don't like the strength part or we don't like the self-control part some today have become very suspicious of anything that looks like strength
[00:36:07] that looks like power. Others have become very suspicious of putting any restraint, any controls on the use of power. The former generally follows the thinking of Marx and assumes that people with less power are powerless. The latter follows the thinking of Nietzsche that people with less power
[00:36:29] are pawns. My hope this morning is not to listen too much longer to either of those two jokers, but to amplify the voice I think we should be listening through try to cut through the algorithm
[00:36:42] cut through the echo chambers and listen to the voice of Jesus as he says blessed are the meek the original greek word there is pros p-r-a-u-s pros blessed are the meek for they will inherit
[00:36:58] the earth to get to the heart of this beatitude I'd like to look at how it played out in one of the lives of Jesus earliest followers specifically we want to look at Matthew chapter 26 verse 47 to 56 this is what Georgia read for us earlier and it
[00:37:15] describes the arrest of Jesus now if you don't have a physical copy of the Bible we also have those on those tables as you enter and exit the sanctuary we would love for you to take one as a gift before we get to the Matthew 26 passage
[00:37:30] though, I would like to show you the three other places in the New Testament, that's the second half of the Bible, the three other places in the New Testament that use the word pros, which is
[00:37:43] the word translated meek in the Beatitudes. I'm going to show you the three other places it gets used, all right? The first one is Jesus offering an invitation. He says this, come to me all you
[00:37:55] are weary and burdened and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle underline gentle I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find a rest for your souls here Pross is the word translated gentle and
[00:38:14] Jesus applies the word to himself to a world that is weary to your soul that is weary, Jesus says, come to me. If you are weary and burdened, come and rest. You will be okay
[00:38:32] under my care. You will be okay under my leadership, for I am gentle, meek. I am gentle and humble in heart. So part of the goodness, the rightness, the blessing of being meek is that you and I are
[00:38:49] becoming more like Jesus. We are following him. We are being molded more into his character. If you are a follower of Jesus, or if today or sometime in the future you become a follower of Jesus, actually today we are going to receive communion, those of us who follow Jesus. And if
[00:39:08] you'd like to use that to mark your starting of following Jesus, the start of your life as a Christian, we would invite you to come and do that here in a little bit. But as a follower of Jesus,
[00:39:18] Yes, we love Jesus. Yes, we worship Jesus. We also follow Jesus. Imitation is the sincerest form of love. We follow Jesus and we allow his Holy Spirit to mold us more into the likeness of Jesus, more into the character of Jesus. Jesus is meek and it is a blessing to become more like
[00:39:42] Jesus. The second instance of the word pros is from a prophecy Jesus fulfilled. It's Matthew 21, verse 4. This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, say to daughter Zion, see your king comes to you gentle and riding on a donkey and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
[00:40:06] So when Jesus rides into Jerusalem at the beginning of the week that would lead to his murder, Jesus does not ride in on a noble steed, but on a humble donkey This fulfills a prophecy from the first half of the Bible that says the king of God's eternal kingdom
[00:40:26] would be described as gentle and riding on a donkey Again, Pross is translated gentle Well, you may know Mandy and I our oldest child our oldest child has some special needs Um, actually, uh, she and I were, uh, did a daddy daughter date last night.
[00:40:52] This is one of the little habits we have with the kids that, um, on our daddy daughter date, we were talking about how much she, uh, loves the church and she loves all of you.
[00:41:01] And I was just reminding her, yes.
[00:41:03] And everybody at the church loves you too.
[00:41:06] And thanks that I get to tell her that and know that that's true.
[00:41:09] Um, but don't let her extra chromosome fool you.
[00:41:13] she takes her responsibility as a big sister seriously. And so especially the very first thing we had to teach her as a big sister was when her baby sister was born is that you have to be
[00:41:27] gentle around the baby, right? You are bigger than the baby. You are stronger than the baby.
[00:41:33] and so you have to be gentle, gentle, gentle, pros, pros, meek, gentle. Jesus rides into Jerusalem gentle and humble on a donkey, but only a few days later, this is what happens.
[00:41:53] While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now, this gets us to
[00:42:06] the passage that Georgia read for us earlier. But you're thinking to yourself, we just got to the passage we read. We still have communion. The reality is settling in. We are not beating the Methodists to brunch today. Now, even if you don't know much about Christianity, you probably know
[00:42:26] who Judas Iscariot is. Judas is the reason that almost no one is named Judas anymore.
[00:42:33] He is one of the Jesus' original 12 disciples, one of the very first followers, but he betrays Jesus.
[00:42:42] He works with the Roman and the religious authorities to have Jesus arrested. He comes to Jesus with a crowd of people carrying swords, carrying clubs. He walks up to Jesus, greets him with a kiss as a sign that you should arrest the one I kiss. This is a tragic picture of the power
[00:42:59] of this world. And then the men stepped forward, verse 50, the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out, and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Now we're getting somewhere. The
[00:43:19] people arrest Jesus and one of Jesus companions presumably one of his first disciples pulls out his own sword it's not a sword he found in the crowd it's his own sword and he chops a guy's ear off come for my Savior I come for your
[00:43:33] ear no fear but when I read Matthew's telling of the events I want more details and good thing in the Bible there's four books that chronicle the life of Jesus they're called Matthew Mark Luke and John and so often you can
[00:43:54] find the same account in multiple of the books and you can read them alongside each other and sort of piece it together. Like if you were to ask four different people to describe an event
[00:44:05] or four different people to describe a person. Once you listen to all four, you would have a really strong understanding of that person or that event. So here's what we learn about the arrest of Jesus in Luke. It says this, when Jesus' followers saw that what was going to happen,
[00:44:23] they said lord should we strike with our swords and one of them struck the servant of the high priest cutting off his right ear but jesus answered no more of this and he touched the man's
[00:44:36] ear and healed him so the picture starts to come together the people come to arrest jesus the disciples who are there with jesus shout lord should we strike them with our swords in other other words should we prevent you from being arrested should we try to fight
[00:44:54] off the mob now notice they say Lord implying that this is his order to give should we do this they're waiting for his command but one of the disciples at the sheer mention of swords grabs his and swings it and cuts someone's ear off
[00:45:10] so now we've narrowed it down that it was one of the impulsive disciples but we see Jesus say, no, no, no. And he delays his own arrest to heal that man's ear, which is a very
[00:45:28] different vision of power. No doubt who's in charge here. Now we look at the arrest of Jesus recorded in John. It says this, then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high
[00:45:46] priest servant cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. Thank you, John.
[00:45:54] The servant whose ear was lost and then healed is named Malchus, and the disciple at the center of the whole situation is Peter. Now, Peter would go on to become one of the primary leaders of the
[00:46:07] early Christians, but that's not what was happening on this night where darkness reigned. The people come to arrest Jesus. The disciples say, Lord, should we fight them off? Peter says, heck yes, we should fight them off. Probably didn't actually say heck, he was a fisherman. He takes his sword.
[00:46:27] He tries to kill a guy. Jesus stops in, steps in, and stops the escalating violence.
[00:46:35] Because after all, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Let's go back to Matthew.
[00:46:45] verse 52 put your sword back in its place Jesus said to him for all who draw the sword will die by the sword put your sword back in its place what happens if you substitute the word sword
[00:47:01] with the word strength isn't that the beatitude that strength is good that we need strength that God wants you to be a person of strength and he wants that strength to be in its proper place
[00:47:20] because in a world of strength without self-control, we will draw the sword and we will die by the sword. This is where that old expression comes from. Those who live by the sword will die
[00:47:41] used that expression and not paid God royalties, we do have offering buckets on those same tables as you leave. I never know how that joke's going to go over. It won't go over well with 11. I'm
[00:47:55] just telling you. Jesus' point in all this is that we reap what we sow. What goes around comes around.
[00:48:07] Violence begets violence. Hatred begets hatred. Slander begets slander. We reap what we sow. This is a reality of the world but there is good news it is not the ultimate reality of the world because Jesus says one last thing to Peter he says do you think I
[00:48:29] cannot call on my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels but how then would the scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way. Jesus reminds Peter that he is Jesus. He's fully God. He's fully human. The God
[00:48:51] of all creation wrapped himself in human flesh, came on a rescue mission for you and for me. He has everything at his disposal. He could ask God the Father for 12 legions of angels. A legion is
[00:49:04] a Roman military unit that has thousands of people in it. So in other words, God could send tens of thousands of angels to come and disperse the mob. But God's plans and God's purposes have been
[00:49:20] building to this moment. And Jesus says, I'm yielding to that, Peter. I'm yielding to that.
[00:49:30] I'm yielding to God's plan. I'm yielding to God's purposes because I trust him. Think about this beatitude blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth inherit not earn not deserve not conquer inherit as a gift because we are part of God's family
[00:50:00] Psalm 24 begins this way the earth is the Lord's and everything in it the world and all who live in it when Jesus says the meek will inherit the earth is he talking about this earth or the new creation the new earth and the new
[00:50:21] heavens I think the answer is yes both and Jesus is saying that he will exalt the meek in this earth because that's the kind of leadership that we need and that the meek will dwell with him in the new creation when he will set all things right
[00:50:46] and the broader principle here is that jesus is calling his followers to be meek to be strong and self-controlled to be gentle gentle gentle and that his followers will receive as a gift as an inheritance the good things of god his beatitude forces us to ask
[00:51:12] this question do we live in a cosmic accident where we have to fight for everything we get or is there something capital t true something capital u ultimate that we must yield to you You reap what you sow is true, but what is overridingly true is God.
[00:51:40] God's love, God's character, God's plan, God's purposes, and you and I must learn to yield to that.
[00:51:52] We must learn to keep our strength under control, the control of God, God's character, God's purposes.
[00:52:02] And this is not a burden, this is a grace.
[00:52:06] Becoming more like Jesus is a grace.
[00:52:08] God gives good things as gifts to those who love Him.
[00:52:13] God will take care of you.
[00:52:16] As the beatitude says, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth.
[00:52:29] So let me ask you to consider this question.
[00:52:32] As we prepare for prayer, prepare for a time of reflection, a time when Christians can receive communion, my question I'd ask you to reflect on is, where have you seen the grace and truth of Jesus' beatitude, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth?
[00:52:51] Maybe you've seen it in your own life.
[00:52:53] Maybe you've seen it in the lives of others.
[00:52:56] Or you'll keep your eyes open this week to see this grace and truth in action that Jesus wants to cultivate strength in your life and Jesus wants to cultivate self control in your life may we join with Jesus and learn how to yield to God
[00:53:14] yield to God's character yield to God's purposes may we join with Jesus and learn how to yield to God so Peter Peter would come to take his responsibility as spiritual big brother very seriously but it took a while because after Jesus was
[00:53:45] arrested and he had corrected Peter Peter went off maybe a little hurt maybe a little disillusioned that he'd been called out in front of everybody that strength has a place and Peter denied knowing Jesus three times he denied
[00:54:01] knowing Jesus which broke him he was not the person he thought he was Jesus was murdered by being nailed to a cross Peter was not there to see that now most people who were killed on crosses were guilty of being part of a rebellion but
[00:54:22] not Jesus Jesus died on his cross in the place of all of us who are guilty of rebellion rebelling against God some people not Peter he wasn't there some people laid Jesus body in a tomb some people not Peter Peter wasn't there went
[00:54:43] anoint Jesus body for a proper burial but those women did not find the corpse of Jesus they found the resurrected Jesus God had vindicated his sacrifice God had raised him up and into an eternal victory Jesus is the only
[00:55:01] rightful heir of all the good things of God and yet he shares that inheritance with all who follow him the crucified and resurrected Jesus sought out Peter and he asked him three times do you love me now the three times hurt Peter and
[00:55:21] yet in the presence of Jesus it also brought his broken pieces back together Peter became a humble and strong leader of the earliest Christians he ultimately gave his life for his faith in Jesus when all was said and done he became an
[00:55:47] exemplar of these words blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth did you notice i forgot something in this sermon the third time pros was used in the new testament so far they've all been
[00:56:15] in matthew the last one's not in matthew the last passage that uses the word pros was written by peter listen to impulsive old peter encouraging the early christians who were surrounded by people hostile to their faith this is what Peter told them he encouraged them
[00:56:39] to have first Peter 3 he encouraged them to have the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is of great worth in God's sight does that sound like a guy who impulsively cut a guy's ear off thank you Jesus that you're not done
[00:57:04] with me yet either. Thank you, Jesus, that I too am still a work in progress. And thank you that he who began this good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day he comes and we
[00:57:20] understand truly what it means that the meek shall inherit the earth. With that, I will invite Pastor Katie to come and invite you to the Lord's table. Well, now we have a chance for all of us

[00:57:42] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:57:42] have a time for prayer, a time for reflection, and a time for Christians to receive communion.
[00:57:49] And so if you're here this morning and you are a follower of Jesus, no matter what branch of the Christian family tree you come from, then we invite you to come and to receive. And whether
[00:57:58] or not you feel like you do a good job following Jesus, we invite you to come and to receive.
[00:58:04] And if you're here this morning and you're a really new Christian, or today you would like to take the step of becoming a follower of Jesus, then we invite you to come and to receive communion
[00:58:13] to demonstrate your newfound dependence on and to be strengthened by the crucified and resurrected Jesus.
[00:58:23] And if you're here today just exploring the Christian faith, then we're honored to have you with us.
[00:58:28] We hope you'll take this time for prayer and for reflection.
[00:58:31] You can even ask the Lord to reveal himself to you.
[00:58:34] And we hope you'll be able to join us next time for communion, which will be the second sunday in february and that's something for all of you to know we're now taking communion on the second sunday of the month each month and so in a moment i will
[00:58:46] pray but before and then at the conclusion of the prepare of the prayer you'll be able to move around to the different stations around the room but a few instructions first if you're in the
[00:58:56] risers then you go up and you make all right hand turns to go up to your station and then come back down unless you're in these two sections and then you just go up and come back down and figure it
[00:59:07] out um if you're you'll be great you got it um and then we will also have multiple sections on the floor stations on the floor as well if you're in the risers and you're not very comfortable
[00:59:21] navigating the stairs then just get the attention of one of our two roaming stations and they will come and bring communion to you and for everyone to know all the bread at all the stations is
[00:59:31] gluten-free and all the juice is juice. And so when you come to the station, you can take a piece of bread, dip it into the cup and receive it there. And so now hear the words of scripture when it
[00:59:44] says, for I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it. And he said, this is my
[00:59:57] body which is broken for you do this in remembrance of me and in the same way after supper he took the cup and he said this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for many for the
[01:00:14] forgiveness of sins do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes so now let's examine ourselves
[01:00:30] before we eat of the bread and drink of the cup join me in prayer Lord we take this time to humble ourselves before you to reflect on the things that we've done wrong and on the right things that we've failed to do to remember the ways we've
[01:00:50] been focused on ourselves at the expense of you and of those around us to remember the ways in which we have let our strength run outside of our self-control or lacked the strength that we should have had and we remember too the ways in which
[01:01:06] we've run away from your sacrificial lay down your life love for us so now take a quiet moment to humble yourself before jesus and seek his forgiveness lord you have called us into true fellowship with god and with one another through the forgiveness of this of our sins which you
[01:01:56] promised to us and you call us from death into life everlasting the story of the life you lived and of giving your body and blood on the cross is the greatest story and now you offer to redeem
[01:02:08] our stories as well so now hear this invitation that the lord jesus christ crucified and resurrected has prepared for you all good things and he invites you to come and to feast to receive through him and through his work, the life that is truly life. He invites you to come. Amen.