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Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP191012A
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07:21 ♪♪ >> ♪ On a hill far away 07:35 ♪ Stood an old, rugged cross ♪ The emblem of suffering and shame ♪ 07:48 ♪ But I love that old cross ♪ Where the dearest and best ♪ For a world of lost sinners 08:01 was slain ♪ ♪ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross ♪ 08:13 ♪ Till my trophies, at last, I lay down ♪ ♪ I will cling to 08:24 the old rugged cross ♪ ♪ And exchange it someday for a crown ♪ 08:43 ♪ Oh, the old rugged cross ♪ So despised by the world ♪ Has a wondrous attraction 08:56 for me ♪ ♪ For the dear Lamb of God ♪ Left his glory above 09:07 ♪ To bear it to dark Calvary ♪ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross ♪ 09:23 ♪ Till my trophies, at last, I lay down ♪ ♪ I will cling to 09:33 the old rugged cross ♪ ♪ And exchange it someday for a crown ♪ 09:51 ♪ To the old rugged cross I will ever be true ♪ ♪ Its shame and reproach 10:03 gladly bear ♪ ♪ Then he'll call me someday to my home far away ♪ 10:15 ♪ Where his glory forever I'll share ♪ ♪ So I'll cherish 10:26 the old rugged cross ♪ ♪ Till my trophies, at last, I lay down ♪ 10:39 ♪ I will cling to the old rugged cross ♪ ♪ And exchange it someday 10:50 for a crown ♪ ♪ And exchange it someday for a crown ♪ 11:12 >> All: Amen. >> Oh, thank you, Rob and Bethany Folkenberg. 11:18 That was beautiful. That hymn was sung for the first time just 11:23 a few miles from here, on Pokagon Road. And, boys and girls, 11:27 may I say, you are looking rather fine today. Do you feel as good as you look? 11:34 Yeah, I can tell you do. So my story scouts -- they're out finding stories, 11:39 and this is another one of those -- from Florida just a few days ago. 11:44 I'm talking about a little boy named Oriley and his 11:48 older brother named Orion. They're living down in Florida. 11:52 Yep, little place called Webster, Florida. 11:56 And Oriley and Orion are really excited because they have a brand-new pet, 12:04 and I want to see that pet on the screen. Oh, there he is. 12:08 He's a little pit bull. That is a pit bull. Doesn't look like a pit bull, 12:13 does it? Looks so warm and cuddly. So, this happened 12:17 just a few days ago, and Orion and Oriley are out in the backyard playing. 12:25 And guess who's with them. Little pit bull. His name is Zeus. 12:29 Zeus is with them. And they're roaming. And Zeus is 9 months old now. 12:33 And they're just racing around the backyard, and mother comes out to just 12:37 watch the boys in the backyard with little Zeus running around. And then mother spots 12:41 something very unusual. All of a sudden, Zeus, this pit bull, 9 months old, 12:45 just lunges toward little Oriley. >> Uh-oh. 12:51 >> Uh-oh. He just lunges. He leaps forward, but instead of stopping at Oriley, 12:56 he flies through the air, and, just beyond Oriley, he lands on something in the grass. 13:04 And he takes his pit-bull head and he reaches down in the grass and goes... 13:10 Oh, they're all watching. What's he doing? Oh, good night. 13:15 What is happening here? And Oriley had just looked around, when he thought, 13:19 "Oh --" Excuse me. "Oh, that's just a piece of rope. 13:22 He's just playing with a rope." But as they watched, suddenly, that rope began to move. 13:31 And as Orion starts running over to his little brother, he stopped and he said, 13:35 "Wait a minute. Step back." And they both step back 13:37 just as Zeus, 9 months old, big, little pit bull decides there's only one thing to do. 13:47 "Whatever that is in the grass, I'm going to have to stop it by landing on top of it." 13:52 And so he took his little, big body, and he just dropped it down hard 13:56 on top of that whatever it was that was moving. Oh, my. Let's take a look. 14:03 Let's take a look to see what it was that was moving. Oh! 14:08 Do you know what that is? That is one of the most poisonous snakes in the whole, 14:13 wide world. That's a coral snake. Its venom, when it bites you, 14:16 ooh, adios! Goodbye! You can't live. And when they came -- 14:23 Because they didn't know what it was yet. They didn't know what it was. 14:25 When they came over, there is Zeus lying on top of that whatever it was 14:29 that he was going...with. And they roll Zeus over and they see that coral snake 14:35 and they see four bites on the belly of Zeus. And I'm sorry to tell you -- 14:43 I'm sorry to tell you -- he didn't make it. They raced him to the animal 14:48 hospital, but there wasn't antivenom strong enough to save that little pit bull's life. 14:54 Do you know what? That pit bull gave his life for those two little boys 14:58 that didn't see trouble coming. Oh, I'm thinking about somebody else that came to this world. 15:04 He saw a snake coming and he said, "I'm going to have to stand 15:07 between these children and that snake," and he ended up throwing himself 15:11 atop that snake, and who is that somebody's name? >> Jesus. 15:15 >> And what's the name of the snake? Oh, it's the enemy. 15:19 Shh! Don't even give his name. Shh! Don't even mention his name. 15:23 Jesus stepped between us and that enemy, and do you know what the serpent did? 15:27 Pssh! And he put all his venom and poison into Jesus. And guess what. 15:33 Jesus died to save us from getting -- pssh! -- that venom from that 15:41 wicked snake. And so when mother and father today -- 15:45 They're going to take a little bit of bread and they'll take a tiny little cup. 15:47 They'll eat their bread and they'll drink from the cup. Do you know why? 15:50 Because we're celebrating that Jesus took the poison and became our savior 15:55 on that cross. That's what we've come to celebrate today. 15:59 Aren't you glad Jesus stepped between us and a snake? Oh, we're not talking about Zeus 16:03 and the little coral snake. We're talking about the king of the universe 16:08 and the fallen Lucifer. Jesus stepped between us and took the poison 16:16 and died our death. Aren't you thankful? How many want to put a hand up 16:19 and just say, "Oh, Jesus. I am so thankful. What Mommy 16:23 and Daddy celebrate today, I celebrate, too. I thank you." 16:28 Who would like to thank Jesus in prayer? You're going to pray a prayer, 16:33 and that prayer is going to thank Jesus. Do I see a hand up close by? 16:39 I see a hand, sissy, right there. You want to come here? 16:42 Come on up. You come on up here, sissy. What's your name? 16:48 >> Eva. >> Eva, okay. Eva is going to come and pray. 16:51 Everybody close your eyes. Fold your hands as Eva thanks Jesus for being our savior. 16:57 >> Dear Jesus, I thank you for this day. Thank you because 17:00 you're our savior. Thank you because you died on the cross for us. 17:04 In Jesus' name, amen. >> Amen. Eva, that's a beautiful prayer. 17:08 As you go quietly and reverently back to your seats, you say, "Thank you, Jesus," and we're 17:11 going to sing the first stanza of that beautiful hymn, "On a hill far away, 17:18 the old rugged cross." Mommy and Daddy will sing that as you're going back 17:22 to your seats. >> ♪ On a hill far away ♪ Stood an old rugged cross 17:33 ♪ The emblem of suffering and shame ♪ ♪ But I love that old cross 17:44 ♪ Where the dearest and best ♪ For a world of lost sinners was slain ♪ 17:56 ♪ So I'll cherish the old rugged cross ♪ ♪ Till my trophies, at last, 18:09 I lay down ♪ ♪ I will cling to the old rugged cross ♪ 18:22 ♪ And exchange it someday for a crown ♪ >> Oh, Father, we've come to do 18:36 just that. Unbelievable that someone would jump between us 18:42 and the destroyer of the planet and take our poison in his own body. 18:50 Make it clear as we reflect together, let it come alive in our 18:55 worshipping hearts and minds. 18:57 We pray in Jesus' name, amen. So, how much are you worth? 19:06 I saw a little piece long ago, and I finally tracked it down 19:10 in Google. Journal of American Medical 19:13 Association -- the magazine JAMA -- 19:16 back in 1922, ran an article on somebody's estimation 19:23 of the worth of the human body. 19:26 So, they took all the compounds and chemicals, put a price tag to it. 19:32 Here's how the piece summarizes our net worth, assuming an average man, 19:37 alright? Here we go. We have enough sugar in us 19:41 to fill a shaker, alright? So we all have sugar in us. Enough iron in us 19:45 to make a medium-size nail. We got that. Enough phosphorus in us 19:51 to make 2,200 match tips. [ Imitates match striking ] Enough fat in us 19:58 to produce seven bars of soap. Enough potassium in us to explode a toy cannon. 20:07 Enough sulfur in us to rid an average-size dog of fleas. And one more ingredient -- 20:12 enough lime in us to whitewash a chicken coop. Total back there in 1922 -- 20:20 the total cost of the ingredients -- 98 cents. So, come on. 20:26 How much are we really worth? You know, the reality is, we live in a time, 20:36 thanks to social media and its culture, where the assault 20:40 on our self-worth is absolutely massive. You want to talk about 20:46 cyberbullying? Unbelievable. Where anonymous kids, who don't remain anonymous 20:54 for long, take ahold of some social-media platform, pick on one person, 21:01 and then they gang up, and everybody is now shooting just venom at this little girl 21:07 or this little boy or whomever. Cyberbullying just takes that fragile self-concept 21:16 and just crushes it, and we have kids who try to survive that crushing. 21:21 And it's not just cyberbullying, because nobody's ever picked on you in social media, 21:25 but the reality is that social media offers something we adults do, 21:35 and that is, we curate ourselves. You know what I'm talking about. 21:41 We go to social media and we make the picture of us hardly even look like us. 21:46 It is the ideal us that we want the world to see. We tell stories about ourselves 21:51 that, when I read it, I'm feeling so bad about myself. Number one, 21:55 I don't look like him. Number two, that's never happened to me. 21:59 And your curation, which really is not you, comes to me, and I think it is you. 22:05 And now I'm feeling bad for me and I turn around and curate myself. 22:10 And you don't have to be a child to have a fragile self-concept that just gets fractured 22:15 thanks to social media. How much are we worth? [ Chuckles ] 22:19 Boy, I tell you what. It really isn't social media. It's the enemy of us all. 22:25 Every one of us has heard his whispering. "You're nothing. 22:29 You are a loser, reject." We've all heard that voice. It's the... 22:34 [ Hisses ] ...the venom of that serpent. So the big question is, is there 22:42 an antidote for this venom that pretty much the entire culture suffers from today? 22:48 I want you to open your Bible. Come on. Go to the little book 22:51 of 1 Corinthians, New Testament. 1 Corinthians 6. We're looking for an antidote. 22:55 We got to get this. If we can somehow find healing for our fractured self-worth, 23:01 our just broken self-concept, if we can find healing for it, oh, today will have been 23:06 a high day in the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6, please. Alright. I'm in the NIV. 23:13 Listen, this is familiar. It's not like I'm introducing a text you've never read before. 23:16 Some of you could repeat this by memory, 23:18 But let's just read it out loud. We'll read it out loud together. 23:20 We'll put it on the screen. "Do you not know that 23:24 your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, 23:28 who is in you, whom you have received from God?" 23:31 It's a question. "Do you not know that?" 23:33 Now, come on. Little louder. 23:35 Let's read the answer. "You are not your own." 23:39 Here comes Verse 20. 23:40 "You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your bodies." 23:48 Now, what kind of an antidote is that? Who bought us, 23:50 and at what price? We have been trained from childhood -- 23:53 We already know the answer. Of course we know who bought us. We know what the price was. 23:56 We learned how to sing it. "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." 24:01 We got it down. The problem is, it doesn't get very far inside of us. 24:07 It's not deep enough to stick. Now, who bought us? How much did he pay? 24:11 Paul has already given us the answer. Let me put 1 Corinthians 2:2 24:14 on the screen for you. This is Paul talking. "For I resolved to know nothing 24:19 while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Paul declares, "Look here, guys. 24:26 It's the cross of Christ. That's the place. Calvary is the place where 24:31 you were bought at a price." Hmm. We've heard that all our lives, so big deal. 24:39 No, no, no, no. Think about it. Think about it. Come on. Come on. 24:43 Do you know how much Jesus paid for you? 98 cents? That was '22, 1922. 24:47 We're worth a few pennies more. How much did Jesus pay for you? Do you understand this? 24:52 That when Jesus died on Calvary, he actually mentally, emotionally, and spiritually 24:58 embraces the reality that when He dies, it will be a forever death, 25:03 and He will die that forever death so that little old you, 25:07 little old me, might live forever instead. He will exchange places with us. 25:13 That absolutely blows your mind when you think about it. That's why we need to come 25:16 to the cross often, just to -- "You mean he was willing to die forever 25:21 so that I could live forever?" Yep. You were bought at a price. 25:26 What price? "Willing to pay eternity." Man, somebody must love me. 25:35 Come on. For somebody to pay a price like that, you would have 25:38 to be loved to the max. Brennan Manning tells a story about a friend of his named 25:43 Ed Farrell, who's going over to meet his family in Ireland. He's never been over to Ireland. 25:49 And he's over there for 2 weeks, summer vacation. And he meets his uncle, 25:53 who is going to turn 80 while Ed is there. In fact, on the day of his 25:58 uncle's birthday, Ed and his uncle get up early, and they walk the distance 26:03 to Lake Killarney, and they stand there together, side by side, for 20 minutes 26:08 not saying a word, just body-to-body as they watch the sun raise up 26:13 over Lake Killarney and the Irish sky. 20 minutes later, 26:19 they're heading home. Ed happens to look down at his uncle, 26:22 and he sees his uncle's face just breaking out into this huge grin, 26:27 and he says, "Uncle Seamus, you must be happy." And his uncle replied, "I am." 26:35 But why? And then his uncle speaks these words -- 26:39 "Because the father of Jesus is very fond of me." "Because the father of Jesus 26:52 is very fond of me." 26:55 And then Brennan Manning comments. 26:57 I'll put his words on the screen for you. 26:58 This is good. "If the question were put to 27:01 you," worshippers, right now, "'Do you honestly believe 27:04 that God likes you' -- Not loves you, because, 27:08 theologically, He must -- so, how would you answer? 27:11 If you could answer, 'The Father is very fond of 27:13 me,' there would come a relaxedness, 27:17 a serenity, and a compassionate attitude toward yourself 27:21 that is a reflection of God's own tenderness." 27:25 If we really believed that the father of the universe 27:28 was fond of us, all the belittling 27:31 efforts of the enemy, all of those fragile 27:36 spirit-crushed taunting that we receive from him, 27:40 it would be for naught. We'd just blow it away. 27:42 "I don't care. The father of Jesus 27:45 is very fond of me." 27:52 Because we all know. Cognitively, intellectually, 27:56 we know it's at the cross where that love is poured out. 28:01 Doug Cooper, in his wonderful little book "Living God's 28:03 Love" -- Douglas Cooper puts it this way, on the screen. 28:06 "Nothing in human history has demonstrated more vividly 28:08 the value of a human being than the death of Jesus Christ 28:12 for each person." And to that, 28:14 everybody here says, "Amen, amen, we got it." 28:16 No, no, no, no. Now, notice his next line. 28:19 "When a person begins to see that God loves him that much," 28:26 to exchange places forever and ever -- 28:28 "You'll be dead forever so I could live forever." 28:30 When God loves me that much, even while I am yet a sinner, 28:37 when I hear the voice of Jesus Christ 28:40 addressing me from the cross and gently calling me 28:41 'beloved,' I come to see myself 28:46 in a new light." That's what Cooper is writing. 28:49 "She gains -- a woman who does this, 28:51 a man who does this -- "He gains a new sense of his own worth. 28:55 He sees the value that God places on him. 29:01 Now, listen, folks. The cross that we've come to celebrate today 29:05 is the story of God so loving the world that we finally get it. 29:12 All our crushed and wounded self-concepts not withstanding, it finally dawns on us, 29:20 like that Irish sunrise. Oh! "The father of Jesus is very fond of me." 29:27 In fact, you know what? I wish you'd say those words. Come on. Put them on the screen. 29:30 Let's just say them out loud together. Sometimes, when our ears 29:34 hear what our lips say, our mind actually starts believing it. Let's say it out loud together. 29:39 "The Father is very fond of me." Now, the way the uncle put it is, "The father of Jesus," 29:44 so we'll add, "of Jesus" this time. "The father of Jesus 29:49 is very fond of me." Do you believe that about yourself? 29:53 Huh? Do you? Do you really think that God is fond of you, He likes you? 29:58 I know He has to love you, but that He likes you? Listen to Cooper again, 30:02 because how does this work? Okay, we're looking at the antivenom to crushed self-worth. 30:06 How does this work? One more line from Cooper. 30:09 "Individually coming to believe in and comprehend 30:12 the magnitude and intensity of that sacrifice on the cross 30:16 is the one and only experience which can instill in a person 30:21 the necessary foundation for healthy self-worth." 30:27 Trying to grasp the magnitude of that. Our GROW group -- 30:30 I hope you're having a great time in your GROW group. We're having a wonderful time 30:32 in ours. We're looking at Neil Anderson's book, 30:35 "Victory Over the Darkness." And here is the subtitle -- "Realize the Power 30:41 of Your Identity in Christ." And I've been brooding on this for a few days, because 30:44 we'd just been reading this, and it's that little line, "In Christ," and he just 30:48 goes to work on that line. I'm not going to try to summarize him. 30:51 I'll put Neil Anderson on the screen, and you just kind of brood 30:55 over this with me. "Understanding," he writes, "your identity in Christ" -- 30:59 That's the big theme of the New Testament. When you accept Jesus, 31:01 you are in Christ. We are in Him. 31:03 "Understanding your identity in Christ is essential 31:06 for living the Christian life. People cannot consistently 31:09 behave in ways that are inconsistent with the 31:12 way they perceive themselves." Lookit -- and this is good -- 31:15 "You don't change yourself by your perception. 31:19 You change your perception of yourself 31:21 by believing the truth." Did you get that? 31:24 There are a lot of positive-thinking books 31:26 out there that say, "Just change the perception, and you'll be 31:28 fine. Just change your perception." 31:30 No, no, no, no, no. You have to believe the truth. 31:32 That's what will change your perception of yourself. 31:35 And then he gives an example. "If you perceive yourself 31:40 wrongly, you will live wrongly because what you are believing 31:44 is not true." Keep going. 31:46 "If you think you are a no-good bum, 31:48 you will probably live like a no-good bum." 31:52 If you think you are an inferiority-complex-ridden 31:55 wallflower, guess what. You'll behave like an 31:59 inferiority-complexed wallflower would live. 32:03 If you think there's no -- I could stand up in front 32:05 of people and say anything. If you live with that 32:09 as the picture of you, that's the reality you get. 32:12 Now he says, "Turn it around." Watch this. 32:14 There's one more sentence here. "But if, however, 32:18 you see yourself as a child of God who is 32:20 spiritually alive in Christ" -- now, that's the key, "in 32:23 Christ" -- "you will begin to live accordingly. 32:27 Next to a knowledge of God, a knowledge of who you are 32:30 is by far the most important truth you can possess." 32:35 So, here is the question. How do you perceive yourself right now? 32:39 Hmm? How do you perceive yourself right now? 32:45 What Neil Anderson is suggesting is that if we will simply grasp the truth of what it means to be 32:51 in Christ, the identity that the New Testament, that the Bible gives us, starts 32:56 to become our own perception. And, in fact, this is worth the whole price of the book. 33:00 He has a page and a half of what he calls his little "I am" statements. 33:05 "The Bible says I am, therefore I am." A page and a half. 33:08 Let me just run some of these by you. "I am a child of God." 33:11 True or false? Oh, yeah, I am. But why don't I live 33:14 like a child of God? Why do I get beaten down? He says, you know, "You read 33:20 this page and a half every morning for two weeks." I think that's great counsel. 33:24 "I am a child of God." Here is another one. "I am Christ's friend." 33:27 How do I know I'm Christ's friend? Because Jesus said, in John 15, 33:30 "You are my friends." I'm Jesus' friend today. When you head out of your 33:36 dorm room or you head out of your apartment or trailer, you head out with the concept, 33:40 "I am His friend." Here is another one. We're just reading this one. 33:43 "I am a temple of the Holy Spirit." I'm his temple. Wow. 33:48 He's inside of me right now. And then I love his last one. Oh, this one is good. 33:51 I'll put it on the screen. His last one goes like this. "I am not the great 'I am,' 33:57 but by the grace of God I am what I am." Isn't that good? Yeah. 34:03 He's just quoting Paul there, in 1 Corinthians 15:20. Paul says, "Listen, I know 34:07 you got expectations from me. I know you're kind of dissing me. 34:10 I don't care. I am what I am. I don't have to 34:13 live up to your self-concept. I don't have to live up to your picture of me. 34:17 I am what I am. I have been wired this way, and this is the way I live. 34:21 If you don't like it, talk to God. He's the one who made me. 34:24 I am what I am." What are you? What are you? 34:33 Could it be that once we know what we are in Christ, we will live accordingly? 34:39 Look, look, look, look. If I am a child of the King, then can't I live 34:45 with a quiet confidence that comes from recognizing -- Hey, what are children 34:49 of the king called? So, what's a boy child of a king called? 34:52 What's a boy child of the king called? It's a prince. 34:55 What's a girl child? A princess. If I am a child of the king, 34:59 can't I live like a princess? Can't I live? Can't I go through the day 35:02 like a prince? I mean, please. I'm not taking your word for it. 35:05 I know who I am. I'm a child of the king. You may not be as wealthy 35:11 as the Queen of England, but you are a child of the King of Heaven. 35:16 Hey, listen. You may be looked upon in social media as the scum 35:20 of the Earth, the detritus of society, but guess what. You and I were 35:26 bought with a price. Somebody paid an infinite price to have you with him. 35:33 Wow. You were bought with a price. What's the price? 35:39 Let's let Peter throw in his 2 cents worth. Peter on the screen. 35:43 1 Peter 1:18-19. "For you know" -- sure you do -- 35:47 "that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold 35:50 that you were redeemed," which is another word 35:52 for bought, "bought from the empty way of life 35:55 handed down to you from your ancestors." 35:57 No, no, no, no, no, "But you were bought with 35:59 the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish 36:04 or defect." Man, does somebody 36:08 really love you that much? Did somebody really pay 36:12 an infinite price to have you in his heart? 36:19 Give me a break. 100 years ago, 36:24 these words on the screen. "The soul is of infinite value. 36:29 The worth of the soul can be estimated only by the price 36:32 paid to ransom it." And now notice this -- three 36:35 exclamation marks in a row. "Calvary! Calvary! Calvary! 36:40 will explain the true value of the soul." 36:44 Son and daughter of God, that is you, 36:47 isn't it, out there? Son and daughter of God, 36:50 you're a child of the King. Somebody sacrificed everything 36:55 to have you and me back. Then shall we not live as sons 37:03 and daughters of the King? Speaking of the King, 37:08 John Stott, in his commentary on Romans, 37:10 tells of how King George V -- and so this is over in 37:13 England -- how King George V used to admonish his son Edward, 37:16 Prince of Wales -- This is the king that abdicated 37:18 eventually, alright? 37:20 Young Edward -- he later, Edward, recalled how his father disciplined him. 37:26 Now, these are his words, Edward's words. "My father was a strict 37:29 disciplinarian. Sometimes, when I had done something wrong, 37:33 he would admonish me, saying, 'My dear boy, you must always remember who you are.'" 37:40 Stott then writes -- put it on the screen, John Stott -- 37:43 "It is my conviction that our heavenly Father 37:46 says the same to us every day: 'My dear child, you must always 37:51 remember who you are.'" 37:55 "I'm a child of the King. I'm a child of the King. With Jesus, my savior." 38:02 Don't we sing that? "I'm a child of the King." How much are we worth? 38:10 The full and deep healing of our fractured self-worth, our broken self-concepts. 38:21 No, no, no, no, no, no. You're not that. You are a child of the King. 38:28 So that we would never forget, Jesus gave us the Lord's Supper. He put emblems out on the table 38:33 and He said, "Every time you do this, I want you to remember 38:39 my death for you. I exchanged places with you in eternity with all my being. 38:46 I want you to remember. I bought you back, and you are worth all of this to me." 39:54 >> And, so, we gather as redeemed sons and daughters of 39:58 the King. That's who we are, 40:03 without apology. We've been to the cross 40:10 in our minds, and now, through physical symbols, 40:15 we go to that cross. 40:18 Jesus said, "I'm giving you this so that you will never forget, not until I come. 40:24 You will never forget who you are." So with joy and a quiet spirit 40:31 of receiving his gift, let's sit back. Wanda Ferguson is going to read 40:37 the record of that sacred night that has become a dear, dear Thursday to us, 40:45 and then we'll kneel with her husband, Duane, all of us together, as we ask 40:49 God's blessing on these symbols that they might come alive in us. 40:54 Fractured self-concept, fractured self-worth healed at the foot of the cross. 41:05 >> Reading from NIV, 2 Corinthians 11. 41:10 "For I receive from the Lord what I also pass on to you. 41:18 The Lord Jesus, on the night that He was betrayed, took bread, 41:26 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is my body 41:35 which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after supper, 41:45 He took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in remembrance of me' -- 41:54 the new covenant' -- excuse me -- of my blood. Do this, whenever you 42:02 drink it, in remembrance of me. For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, 42:07 you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.'" May we all be blessed. 42:19 >> Kneel. >> I'd like to invite you to kneel as we pray. 42:36 Father, we've just gone through the process 42:38 of washing each other's feet. 42:43 It reminds us of the fact that you have said, "Blessed is the meek, for they 42:51 shall inherit the Earth." Lord, give to us meek and humble spirits 42:58 that are willing to be used by you to be a blessing to others. 43:06 We're also reminded that it is a miniature baptism. Lord, we love beginnings, 43:16 and as we come now to your table, we feel brand-new, recommitted. 43:25 Lord, make this a conversion experience daily and just now for us. 43:34 Renew us not just with water, but with your Holy Spirit. And as we come now 43:42 to show honor to Jesus because we love him and are so grateful 43:49 for what He has done for us, as John Newton said once, "We remember for ourselves -- 43:58 we are great sinners, but he is a great savior." As we accept the wafer 44:09 as a symbol of his body, tortured and broken on the cross of Calvary for us, 44:21 and as we drink the grape juice, we remember that he said that he would not drink it again 44:30 until he drinks it with us in heaven above. Oh, Lord, we look forward 44:36 to that day when we can drink it with you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. 44:44 ♪♪ 49:28 >> Hey, guys, that was beautiful. Thank you both. 49:34 Don't you just want to stand up and say, "Jesus, that's my prayer. 49:38 I'm giving it all. I'm surrendering everything. You can have all of me, 49:41 all I possess, all to you." 49:48 It's what happens when you come to the foot of the cross. The Spirit has access to us 49:54 in ways -- He cannot reach us any other method. Jesus turns to us as he did 50:03 to His Disciples that night. He said, "This is my body, the symbol of my body, 50:10 broken for you. Eat this in remembrance of me." 50:24 ♪♪ 50:40 Jesus turns to us again and He says, "This, this is the symbol of my blood 50:47 which is shed for you. I'll never drink of the fruit of the vine again 50:56 till you're home with me, son of the King, daughter of the King. 51:01 Until we're all home together around the throne, I'm not touching this. 51:07 So when you do this, please do this again in remembrance of me." 51:18 ♪♪ 51:30 Our hearts are full. Our spirits are at rest. We sense a deep joy in Christ, 51:42 and I'm going to give you a reason to be really happy today, 51:45 because it's just been brought to my attention and I need you to know 51:50 that a man that we've been praying for a lot, a lot -- Robert Fusté -- praying for him 52:00 a lot here at Pioneer and every other church in town, I'm sure -- Today, right now, 52:09 Robert Fusté is here. And I say we put our hands together 52:14 and let him know how grateful we are for what God has done. [ Applause ] 52:25 Robert, I see you just behind the cameraman there, but we praise 52:28 God for what He's done. Yep. And our praying has not stopped. 52:33 We're staying with you and your little family every step of the way. 52:38 God wins, and your presence here is such a poignant reminder of that. 52:44 They had two traditions. One was they received an offering at the end 52:47 of Passover supper. They would receive an offering for the poor, 52:51 and we're going to do the same. When you leave today, there will be ushers at these doors 52:54 ready to receive a love gift. You have so -- If God has blessed you 52:58 over the last three months -- We only receive this four times a year. 53:01 If God has blessed you over the last three months and you'd like to pass that 53:05 blessing on to someone, just drop it. Straight for emergency. 53:10 They come from all over this county. They know. 53:12 Pioneer is their first stop. They come here from Benton Harbor. 53:15 They come here from St. Joseph. They come here from Buchanan and Niles. 53:18 They come from Berrien County. Why? Because here is a church that says, 53:22 "If you're in trouble, let us know, and we'll help you." 53:26 So, freely. We receive freely. Thank you for freely giving. Then the other tradition 53:31 they had -- and we love this one -- they sang. They sang one of the great 53:36 psalms together to God Himself, and so we're going to sing. It's not a psalm. 53:40 It's number 407 in your hymnal right now, "Sent Forth by God's Blessing." 53:45 The supper has ended, and a world awaits us now. We go, 53:50 sons and daughters of the King, our self-worth and self-concept intact in Christ right now. 53:59 We go together. Let's stand as we sing this beautiful hymn. 56:18 And, so, great Father King, we go forth sons and daughters of the King, 56:26 children of the most high God. We go forth into a world desperate to know you, 56:34 desperate to know that the father of Jesus is very fond of me, too. 56:40 Let us go with that sense of who we are. Make us bold for you. 56:46 Love strongly through us. And like children, sons and daughters of the most high King, 56:53 we live in honor of our Lord, Jesus. And now, to Him who loves us 57:00 and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom 57:06 and priests to serve His God and Father, to Him be glory and power 57:11 forever and ever. Let all the people say "Amen." And amen. 57:18 I want to take an extra moment to thank you 57:20 for joining us in worship today. It's by the continued support 57:22 from viewers like you that we're able to bring you this program. 57:25 Today, I want to invite you, though, to share with us how 57:28 this ministry has blessed you. I get inspiring notes, 57:31 e-mails from viewers literally all over the world, 57:33 telling me, "Look, Dwight. God has been blessing me 57:35 this way. He's been doing this." 57:36 I would love to hear from you, as well. 57:38 Just visit our website -- you know it, newperceptions.tv -- 57:43 and click on the contact link at the top of the page. 57:45 Send me a note. Let me know what God has been 57:47 doing right now in your life. Once again, thank you 57:51 for being with us today. I hope you'll join us right here 57:54 next time, and until then, may the God of grace journey 57:57 with you every step of the way. 58:01 ♪♪ |
Revised 2024-01-22