Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP210626S
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00:10 ♪♪ 00:27 >> Good morning. Church, welcome to PMC. 00:33 Welcome to our communion service this morning. 00:35 Welcome also to those who are watching and are following us 00:39 online, on live stream. Please read, with me, the call 00:44 to worship. It's taken from Isaiah 53. 01:21 I invite you to pray with me. Gracious, heavenly Father, we 01:27 come, this morning, together at the foot of the cross to the one 01:34 who bore all of our inequities. We come because we are 01:39 sin-stained from a tough week. We are bruised. 01:44 We are marred. We are scarred. 01:47 And we ask, Father, that you cleanse us. 01:49 We ask, Father, that you heal us. 01:52 And we ask, Father, that you renew us. 01:56 Today, Father, as we are looking at the sacrifice that you have 02:01 given for us, that you, in Jesus Christ, reconcile the 02:06 world to yourself. We thank you for that offering 02:10 that you have made, that you have taken us in, that we can be 02:15 your children. Please help us to always value 02:20 the great, infinite sacrifice that you have given for us. 02:24 To sacrifice, to offer the best heaven had to give so that we 02:29 human beings can be saved. In the name of the mighty and 02:34 powerful Lord and savior Jesus Christ, we pray. 02:38 Amen. >> Amen. 02:40 ♪♪ 07:01 >> The next song we'll be singing is "Let Praises Rise." 07:04 Why this song is so important to me is especially a part in the 07:07 chorus when it says, "All I want is for you to be glorified." 07:11 And that part really sticks in my heart, and I hope that it 07:14 will reach out to you, too. ♪♪ 11:42 ♪♪ 11:51 >> ♪ Little lamb, who made thee? ♪ 11:56 ♪ Dost thou know who made thee? ♪ ♪ Gave thee life 12:04 and bid thee feed ♪ ♪ By the stream and o'er the mead ♪ 12:15 ♪ Gave thee clothing of delight ♪ ♪ Softest clothing, 12:26 woolly, bright ♪ ♪ Gave thee such a tender voice ♪ 12:40 ♪ Making all the vales rejoice? ♪ ♪ Little lamb, who made thee? 12:55 ♪ Dost thou know who made thee? ♪ 13:13 ♪ Little lamb, I'll tell thee ♪ Little lamb, I'll tell thee ♪ He is called by thy name 13:29 ♪ For He calls himself a lamb ♪ He is meek and He is mild ♪ He became a little child 13:51 ♪ I a child ♪ And thou a lamb ♪ We are called 14:07 by his name ♪ ♪ Little lamb, God bless thee ♪ Little lamb, God bless thee 14:47 >> Thank you, Chloe Lewis-Murnighan. 14:51 That great William Blake poem, "Little Lamb." 14:56 Thank you, Ken Logan, for composing that music. 15:01 I was just reading, on my phone, as she -- as Chloe was singing, "Little lamb, who made thee? 15:08 Dost thou know who made thee? Little lamb, I'll tell thee. He is called by thy name. 15:15 For He calls Himself a lamb. He is meek and He is mild. He became a little child. 15:22 I a child, and thou a lamb. We are called by His name. Little lamb, God bless thee. 15:31 Little lamb, God bless thee." Let's pray. 15:37 O Lamb of God, we are all called by Your name. What does that mean? 15:47 How, then, shall we live? Speak to us in these moments in Holy Scripture. 15:53 We pray in Jesus' name. 15:56 Amen. So, I saw a headline on BBC, on 16:03 their website. Boy, it caught my eye. 16:05 Maybe it will catch your attention, as well. 16:07 Let me put the headline right here. 16:18 Come on. Are you talking about sheep? 16:20 Like, the sheep I know? I mean, come on. 16:23 This is the sheep I know, right? And we're all wrong? 16:27 Well, what is it that you think about sheep? 16:29 I think most people, when they think about sheep, think about a 16:31 dumb, defenseless creature that spends all day, 16:35 "Num-num-num-num-num-num." Most people think that what 16:40 sheep are good for is -- you either eat your sheep or you 16:43 wear your sheep. That's what the sheep are for. 16:46 Wrong. Turns out, highly intelligent. 16:51 In fact, a scientist in China -- his name, Keith Kendrick -- in one of the universities there 16:56 found that sheep can recognize -- Hold on to your pew. 17:00 Sheep can recognize and remember at least 50 individual faces for over two years. 17:08 [ Scoffs ] Most of us can't even remember them for a year, and the sheep 17:13 got them down for 50. Wow. In his tests, they would hold 17:19 the faces up -- faces the sheep knew or they didn't know. And by the sheep's 17:25 vocalization -- "Baaa!" -- somehow, that little "Baaa" indicated how they responded to 17:30 the face that they're seeing in the picture. Turns out sheep are actually 17:36 quite emotionally attached kind of creatures. They did another bit of research 17:41 down here -- out there in the University of California. They studied rams. 17:45 That would be male sheep, okay? They studied rams for three years and discovered, 17:50 number one, they build friendships; number two, they look out for one another in 17:53 times of need; and, number three, they stick up for one another in fights. 18:01 This is an animal with a heart. And, by the way, they found out these sheep -- they can tell the 18:08 difference between a smile and a frown. And they prefer smiles. 18:13 Didn't your mother tell you that? "Come on. Smile more, girl. 18:16 Smile." Yeah. In fact, they've even learned 18:21 that sheep feel sad when their friends are sent to slaughter. I mean, wouldn't you be sad if 18:26 your friends were sent to slaughter? Mm-hmm. 18:31 And, of course, Holy Scripture, we know, is replete with sheep. Sheep, sheep, sheep -- they're 18:35 everywhere. But, today, we've not gathered to think about the animal sheep. 18:42 For a few moments, let's consider together the human sheep. 18:48 We've got a heartbreaking tale that we must relive with a life-saving truth. 18:58 A tale in three acts. Act 1 starts right now. 2 Samuel 12:1. 19:05 Not putting a verse on the screen, so you're gonna have to follow along in your Bible or 19:09 your device. 2 Samuel 12:1. Are you finding it there? 19:15 It opens with these words. 2 Samuel 12:1. "And the Lord sent Nathan --" 19:25 that would be the prophet -- "to David --" that would be the king. 19:32 Very interesting about that little word "sent." Intentionally placed right there 19:37 in that line. You know why? Because the first half of this 19:40 heartbreaking tale has "sent, sent, sent." A dozen times, "sent" appears. 19:44 In fact, let me run a handful of them by you. David went up on the palace roof 19:49 one evening, and he saw a woman taking a bath. And he sent for her. 19:58 A few weeks later, she sent the king a message -- "I'm pregnant." 20:05 So David sent a message to the battlefront with this order -- "Send Uriah the Hittite home 20:11 for R&R." After Uriah comes home, the king sent a gift to the house to 20:19 welcome him there. Because David's commander, Joab, dutifully sent the woman's 20:30 husband home. But Uriah didn't spend the night with his wife. 20:39 He spent it at the entrance to the palace, where the other king's servants were sleeping. 20:44 He slept there. For two days and two nights, David desperately needs this man 20:51 to sleep with his wife so that this baby will be assumed to be his. 21:00 Finally, David sends the unsuspecting husband warrior back to the battlefront with 21:05 clear instructions to Joab to have him killed "accidentally." It worked "intentionally." 21:16 Joab then "sent" word to the king that his order had been obeyed and the Hittite warrior 21:23 had been killed in battle. Then David sent for the widow, pregnant with his child, and 21:35 married her. The very next line -- "And the Lord sent." 21:42 "Because if you're sending, I can send. "And the Lord sent Nathan to 21:50 David. And when he came to him, he said, 'There were two men in a 21:56 certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large 22:02 number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb --" That's a 22:08 little female lamb. "One little ewe lamb he had bought. 22:13 He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food and it drank 22:21 from his cup and it even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him." 22:28 You see, David knew what researchers found -- that the sheep have very emotionally 22:33 aroused hearts. They attach to the human that owns them, that shepherds them. 22:40 And that little lamby -- it was like a daughter to him. Robert Alter, in his one-man 22:48 translation of the Hebrew Bible to English, points out that the three actions of the poor man -- 22:53 He feeds the sheep, the sheep drinks from his cup, and the sheep sleeps in his arms. 23:01 Alter points out that, in fact, those were precisely the three actions that David ordered Uriah 23:07 to take. "Go home. I want you to eat with your 23:09 wife. I want you to drink with your wife. 23:11 I want you to sleep with your wife." Same three actions subtly 23:15 embedded in the tale, and David has no clue that the tale's about him. 23:23 Have you noticed that when you have a guilty conscience -- Surely you notice this. 23:27 I have. You try to overcorrect in the area of your failure. 23:31 "At least now I'm gonna get it right." And that's what's going on here. 23:35 David is going to overcorrect. He has what Alter calls "compensatory zeal." 23:42 I mean, after all, the king is supposed to protect his subjects. 23:45 He is the defender of justice. But he has done precisely the opposite. 23:49 He has killed one of his subjects and he has impregnated the other subject. 24:01 Verse 5. "David burned with anger." You know why? 24:09 He's a shepherd boy -- that's why. "Little David, play on your 24:12 harp. Hallelu, hallelu." This is the little David. 24:15 He knows his sheep. He burns with rage. "Give me that man, Nathan. 24:21 Give me that man. I'll take care of him. Restitution first, and then I'll 24:27 kill him." The prophet looks into the agitated countenance of the 24:34 king. And he leans in and he says, "You are the man." 24:45 And before David can catch his breath or recover, quickly, the prophet goes on with a message 24:51 from God then. Verse 7. "Nathan said to David, 'You are 24:55 the man. This is what the Lord, God of Israel says -- "I anointed you 24:59 king over Israel and I delivered you from the Saul, did I not? I gave your master's house to 25:04 you and your master's wives into your arms."'" The custom was to do that. 25:09 He did it because Saul only had one wife. God is saying, "I took care of 25:16 you. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too 25:20 little, I would have given you even more. Why didn't you come to me? 25:25 Tell me what you need." "You are the man. You killed. 25:37 You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword. You did it. 25:41 Don't tell me others did. You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword and you took his 25:48 wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 25:51 That's how you did it. Now, therefore, listen to me, O king. 25:54 The sword will never depart from your house, because you despise me and you took the wife of 25:58 Uriah the Hittite to be your own." She is never called Bathsheba. 26:02 In this message from God, she is never Bathsheba. She's "the other man's wife." 26:08 There is no name for her. "She didn't belong to you. You are the man." 26:18 "'Listen to me carefully.'" Verse 11. "'This is what the Lord says -- 26:22 "Out of your own household, I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes, I will 26:28 take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in 26:33 broad daylight."'" And guess what -- that's exactly what Absalom did. 26:37 He went onto the very same palace roof in the middle of the day and he brought in the king's 26:43 wives and he slept with them in front of a gawking nation to prove "I am the king now, and 26:49 these women are mine." "You are the man." "'You did it in secret.'" 27:01 Verse 12. "'But I will do this thing in broad daylight before all 27:07 Israel.'" Act 1 -- condemnation. "You are the man." 27:15 Act 2. Verse 13. "And David said to Nathan --" 27:21 The king who has collapsed in his throne realizes, "It's over." 27:28 It's all over." [ Sighs ] What does he say? 27:36 "'I have sinned against the Lord.'" Not against Uriah, not against 27:44 Bathsheba. "I did this to God." "You're right. 27:50 You are the man, and you did it to me." Act 2 -- confession. 27:58 And in this three-act tale, here comes Act 3. Nathan replied, "'The Lord has 28:05 taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because, by doing this, you 28:13 have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.'" 28:19 "You will not die." Commutation -- Act 3. "But an innocent one will die in 28:26 your place." And you say, "Wait a minute. God, God, please, time-out, 28:32 time-out. Give me a break. You can't be serious." 28:36 An innocent baby pays the price for a guilty king? That is not fair!" 28:43 And you're right, of course. It's not fair. An innocent baby dying for a 28:50 guilty king or an innocent king dying or his guilty children. The Gospel is not fair either. 28:58 It's never been about fair. It's been about guilt and deserving to die and an innocent 29:08 one stepping in and saying, "I will die for her. I will die for him." 29:16 Well, that's why they call the Gospel "good news," ladies and gentlemen. 29:21 The undeserving guilty having their sentences commuted through the deaths of an innocent 29:27 substitute. Here they are, the three acts, in the Gospel according to 29:31 Nathan. You have to move through these three, and so do I. 29:35 Nobody gets a get-out-of-jail-free card. Here are the three acts. 29:39 Act 1 -- condemnation. "You're the man." Act 2 -- confession. 29:46 "I have sinned against the Lord." And Act 3 -- commutation. 29:51 "You are not going to die, but an innocent one will for you." Wow. This is how it works with 30:01 you and me. Conscience comes in and says, "You're guilty. 30:10 You are the man." Confession, hopefully awakened in a desperate heart. 30:18 "I have sinned against God." And Act 3 -- "Okay, you're not gonna die, but an innocent one 30:26 will for your judgment." Wow. Isaiah 53:6. 30:34 "All we like sheep --" There's that animal again. "We like sheep have gone astray; 30:40 we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us 30:47 all." Who is this "we" that the Gospel prophet speaks of? 30:53 Who is this "we" who have sinned and whose sins have been placed on the innocent one? 31:01 Who is this "we"? It is you and it is I. F.B. Meyer, in his book 31:10 "Christ in Isaiah," gets uncomfortably pointed. "We all know," he writes, "the 31:17 sense of sin --" oh, don't we all? -- "the sense of discord, of distance, and alienation from 31:23 God." We feel it. We existentially experience it. 31:29 "Behind all our suffering --" isn't this true? -- "we feel there is a secret, which somehow 31:34 must explain and account for this feeling." There's something behind this. 31:39 "We have scorned and we have perverted that which was right. We have done things we ought not 31:45 or have left undone things we ought to have done." Men try to evade this, women try 31:50 to evade this consciousness of sin. They plunge into affairs," like 31:54 David and Bathsheba. "They travel from land to land. They go far afield in search of 31:59 adventure and ceaseless change." Self-medicating taking place, trying to hide me from this 32:06 tormenting conscience. "They give themselves up to gaiety and to dissipation. 32:11 In fact, they are ever eluding the fixed gaze of conscience." That never blinks. 32:17 It never blinks. It just stares at you. "They adopt any subterfuge which 32:28 promises a moment's cover." Some sort of distraction, please. 32:32 "But it comes back again and again. The prophet-voice arraigns us; 32:37 the inerrant sleuth-hound," the bloodhound, "runs us down." "I got you." 32:42 "'Thou art the man!'" "You are the woman. I'm talking about you." 32:52 Whew! "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every 33:00 one, to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of you and the iniquity 33:11 of me." Who is this "He"? If we are the "we," who is the 33:19 "He"? The very next verse -- Isaiah 53:7. 33:22 "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to 33:29 the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth." 33:34 We know who the "He" is. Not only are we like sheep, He is a sheep. 33:42 And we know what to do with a sheep like this. They did long ago. 33:46 They would place their left hand on that woolly head and then lean, lean with the left hand. 33:55 And while they would lean against that innocent creature, they would confess the sin. 34:00 They would admit the sins that have brought them to the sacrifice. 34:05 And then, with that hand -- with the free hand, they'd take the knife and slit the neck. 34:12 And while that innocent creature dies, they pin it to the ground until it is deceased. 34:19 And when it is deceased, then the carcass is placed on an altar and it is burned as a 34:27 substitute for the sinner who has just confessed her sin. I want to suggest, maybe, that 34:36 if we had to perform this ritual every time we morally melted down, we would surely think 34:42 twice about that sin that is our favorite. Why would I want to keep doing 34:48 this? Because, like David, we are as guilty as sin. 34:59 And, like David, we need the son of David to take away our sin and commute our death sentence. 35:14 Somebody came through line after first service. Her name is Ruth. 35:19 Ruth Hood. She came through the line. She said, "You know, I've been 35:22 just brooding on that since we did this little study together. Isn't that amazing, Dwight? 35:26 I never thought of this before. Isn't that amazing?" David had two sons who died for 35:35 him, and they were both innocent. Two sons who received his 35:44 judgment in his place. Both innocently dying for his guilt. 35:53 The baby... and the savior. Both of them died for David. 36:03 Whoa! What are the words of that preacher? 36:13 "All we, like sheep, have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the 36:20 Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Who's this "He," this "Him"? 36:28 John the Baptist thunders from the wilderness, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the 36:36 sin of the world." [ Chuckles ] I would love to hear an "amen" 36:42 right about now. >> Amen. >> Come on. You got to mean it. 36:48 "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." 36:51 And that's why we've gathered this morning -- to have Him take it away, purge it away, wash it 36:59 away, what is stained in our conscience. 37:04 Welcome, fellow sinners. Welcome to the Lord's table. 37:09 We are about to experience, in multimedia, the salvation we 37:19 seek so desperately. That's why I want to invite you, 37:24 with me, is the last part of this homily now. 37:28 Before it ends, let's read the prayer of David together. 37:32 Psalm 51. You have read it before, but 37:34 we're gonna read it out loud together now. 37:37 Yes, we are. Psalm 51. You may never have read it the 37:40 way you're gonna read it now because of the backstory that is embedded in your mind. 37:46 Psalm 51. We're gonna read it out loud. I'll put the words on the 37:51 screen. Psalm 51. It begins with a preface, the 37:59 longest preface in the psalter. "For the director of music. A psalm of David. 38:12 When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba." 38:18 Nathan leaves the throne room. The king has melted down in tears, a broken heart. 38:26 He cannot forestall the judgment. It will still fall. 38:30 But he cannot bear the thought of being cut off from the God who has gone on loving him. 38:41 "You will not die." Mercy. Let's go and read it out loud 38:47 together. Please, out loud together. "Have mercy on me, O God, 38:54 according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my 38:59 transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 39:06 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I 39:15 sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when 39:22 you judge. Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother 39:27 conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me 39:33 wisdom in that secret place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I 39:42 will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed 39:49 rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. 39:56 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 40:03 Do not cast me away from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 40:08 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." 40:19 "Patriarchs and Prophets" ends this heartbreaking tale with this promise of hope. 40:28 Oh, I love this. "Whoever under the reproof of God will humble the soul with 40:35 confession and repentance, as David did, may be sure that there is hope for him, there is 40:45 hope for her. Whoever will, in faith, accept God's promises will find pardon. 40:52 The Lord will never cast away one truly repentant soul." To which I say amen and amen. 41:03 Never will He cast away your repentant heart, if you'll give it to Him. 41:14 Let us pray. O God... hear the prayer that we have 41:25 just prayed. Here, at the foot of the cross, our plea is simple. 41:36 Purge us, cleanse us, wash us whiter than snow, because of Jesus, our lamb, and restore to 41:49 us, please, the joy of your salvation. In Christ's name, let all of the 41:56 people say "amen." Amen. I've got to tell you, you have 42:05 truly chosen the right moment to be worshipping in the Pioneer Memorial Church today. 42:11 It doesn't get any better than this, because we move from the story that has convicted us to 42:20 see the emblems of divine love and grace operationalized in front of us and inside of us as 42:29 the son of David steps in and says, "We start over right now." Yes! 42:39 So you're in the right place, and I'm glad you are. This is the last of our pandemic 42:44 communion celebrations, by the way. And I second, by the way, it's 42:48 great seeing your faces. I didn't know that was you. You've been here all these 42:52 months. This is the last, because last night, we did foot washing 42:57 together. Karen and I had a beautiful experience, just the two of us. 43:01 I mean, who else is gonna be there? Washing each other's feet. 43:05 The foot washing is behind us now. Jesus says what he said to His 43:10 12. He said, "Listen, you are all clean." 43:14 So become cleansed by the act and the grace of our Lord Jesus. And, so, the pandemic emblems 43:26 are already -- And I've been watching you come in, and you've been grabbing a handful and 43:29 you're sharing it with your family and you're up in the balcony and you've grabbed it. 43:33 And you couldn't get in here without passing it. But it's possible that you were 43:36 so excited to be in church, you didn't even see that little table by you as you walked by 43:40 it. So if you'll just put your hand up right now -- I'm telling you 43:43 the truth. They're fast. Here come our ushers. 43:45 And you get to have one of these, as well. Nobody goes home today without 43:50 operationalizing the good news we have just discovered in this ancient story about sheep, of 43:57 which you and I are one, as well, alright? So just put your hand up. 44:03 In the balcony, as well, alright? There you go. 44:07 And, by the way, if you need gluten-free, then we've got gluten-free. 44:12 So at that table there and right here, I see the sign. It says "gluten-free." 44:16 Help yourself. So, they're carefully packed for you and wrapped, your emblems. 44:26 And those of you watching online, it's good to have you. Many of you -- many, many -- 44:31 came to get emblems this week. And we're glad you have them. You already know the drill if 44:35 you've done this before. If this is your first time online, then you just do what we 44:39 do in a moment, because we're gonna be standing here -- We have to move the furniture 44:43 around. We need a communion table right here instead of this pulpit, so 44:46 our ushers are gonna scramble right now, and this goes out and the communion table comes in. 44:50 And while they're doing it, I want you to mediate, please. Just close your eyes, put your 44:55 head down. Our praise team has just the perfect, perfect song. 45:01 "Beautiful, Merciful Savior." Sing of His mercy. Meditate on His mercy as they 45:08 come now. Come on, singers. Let's go. Come on. Let's go. 45:11 Let's get that music going. ♪♪ 48:09 ♪♪ We've come to do what the 48:32 prophet thundered for us to do. 48:37 Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 48:45 Jesus gave these emblems so that we would never forget the 48:50 sacrifice He exchanged places with us for. 48:57 The bread for the body. The cup for His blood. 49:02 Karina Prestes is going to read the sacred account of that 49:06 Thursday night, so we go there in our minds, and then her 49:09 husband, Flavio, will lead us in prayer. 49:14 >> "When the hour came, Jesus and his Apostles reclined at a 49:18 table. And He said to them, 'I have 49:21 eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I 49:24 suffer.' And He took the bread, gave 49:28 thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my 49:32 body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' 49:36 In the same way, after the supper, He took the cup, saying, 49:40 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out 49:45 for you.' >> Let us pray. 49:50 Dear Father in heaven, thank you so much for your love for us. 49:55 We ask that you bless these emblems of the sacrifice of 49:59 Jesus to save us. 50:01 We pray in His holy name. Amen. >> Amen. 50:06 >> Amen. 50:23 Karina. 50:35 Some of you are veterans at this, and I can already hear the cellophane coming off the top. 50:40 And if you're here for the first time, there are two lids that we're gonna lift. 50:46 We're first gonna lift that little cellophane lid, and you have to get it separated from 50:50 the lip beneath it. If you pull that clear cellophane off, you'll find, 50:57 underneath it... And if you can't pull it off, you won't find it. 51:05 You just... [ Laughter ] I'm having a hard time here. 51:10 Oh! Okay. So, you just pull it off. Just pull it completely off. 51:16 Yeah, there we go. It's a trick sometimes. That's okay. 51:20 [ Laughter ] Alright. So, you've got that. Don't pull the next one off -- 51:26 not quite yet. So, this is a wafer. And Jesus, with those who were 51:33 closest in this life to Him, said to them what He says to us. I'm talking to all of you. 51:41 "This is my body, which is broken for you. Take, eat, do this in 51:49 remembrance of me." ♪♪ ♪♪ 52:09 But Jesus was not through. He said, "Now I want you to take the cup, all of you." 52:14 And so just take that lid that's already turned up. Open it up wide enough so that 52:19 you don't have to -- Just... create a vacuum to get that juice out. 52:33 He looks into our faces, just as He did then, again. He says, "This is the blood of 52:39 the new covenant, my covenant, which is shed for you. Do this in remembrance of me, as 52:49 well." ♪♪ ♪♪ 53:09 Hang to the... Hang on... Hang on to the emblem cup. 53:19 We will dispose of that at the end of the service. They sang a hymn. 53:25 It was a custom. It was a time of great rejoicing. 53:28 This is not a time of sorrow now. The victory has been won for us. 53:32 Our lives have been spared death. We are clean in Christ our Lord. 53:39 So it's a time of great joy. We're gonna sing a hymn in just a moment. 53:42 But they had another custom. They thought Judas was going out and doing that. 53:45 "Oh, he's gonna go give an offering to the poor." No. That's not why he left. 53:50 We know the story. But it was a custom to receive an offering, and so, today, when 53:54 you pass by the tithe-and-offerings basket, you will see a deacon standing there 53:59 with the Emergency Fund plate. If God has blessed you these last three months -- and I know 54:05 He has -- and you'd like to share out of the largesse of His bounties, then please put an 54:12 offering in that. Put a handsome offering. Put a generous offering. 54:18 These monies are available across Berrien County, and we have people coming regularly. 54:24 And so thank you in advance for your generosity. We're gonna stand together. 54:31 Charles is gonna come and lead us in this beautiful -- This has been our traditional hymn. 54:35 We haven't been singing this during the pandemic, but here we are moving towards life beyond 54:39 the pandemic. It's number 407. It's sent forth by God's 54:44 blessing. And you'll see the words "the supper has ended." 54:48 That's this. It has ended. And, so, I want you to stand, please. 54:51 And the words will be on the screen. And if you know the tune, you 54:54 sing. 54:55 If you don't, just be blessed by this song. 54:59 ♪♪ 57:06 >> We've been really blessed by the financial support that comes 57:09 from our viewers, and we've made a conscious decision not to 57:12 continually appeal to you for that support. 57:14 The fact is, as everyone in the industry will tell you, we're 57:17 needing to make constant upgrades to our technology. 57:20 So if God has blessed you and you'd like to further the work 57:23 of this ministry, we invite you to partner with us. 57:26 Not a single penny of your donation will go to me. 57:29 Every bit of your gift goes to the mission of blessing your 57:33 community and our world. You can donate on our website, 57:36 newperceptions.tv, or call the number. 57:38 You know the number -- 877-HIS-WILL. 57:41 Again, that number is 877 -- the two words "HIS-WILL." 57:45 And may the God who has blessed you continue to pour into your 57:48 life the gifts of His joy and His hope. 57:51 Thank you. And I'm looking forward to 57:53 seeing you, right here, again, next time. 58:00 ♪♪ |
Revised 2021-07-07