Built on Justice

[music] Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Good morning, Cross Church Phoenix. How are you? >> Good, good. Happy New Year. >> Everyone's like, "Yeah, happy new year." Uh, well, welcome in. Um, pray that you are your new year is going [sighs] well. Um, I am Pastor DJ. I'm the pastor here at Cross Church Phoenix. And, uh, if I haven't met you yet, welcome. Come find me afterwards. I'd love to, uh, hang out with you, get to know you. And at this time, I want to invite you to open your Bibles to Nehemiah 5. And if you don't have one, there are Bibles in the seat back in front of you. You can use that, keep it. It's our gift to you. You can uh, highlight it or mark it up or underline things, whatever you want. Um, but bring it back next week. Um, and even if you uh don't live here, you can use take the Bible home and we'll replace it and take it back to where you where you're from. Uh, but [clears throat] I hope you had a great Christmas and a safe New Year as we look forward to what God will do in 2026. Um, I have a couple things I want to share with you before we head into it. Um, but we just didn't have further details, but I want to put this on your radar. Um, okay. some upcoming things. As you know, like our mission is plastered all over the church. It's on the glass. It's painted on the walls. Making Jesus known. That is what Cross Church is all about. Making Jesus known in our community where God has placed us. Um often times though, we don't know how to make Jesus known. Um you know, what does that look like in our lives? I mean, of course, on Sunday mornings, we will come worship, exalt Christ, and we'll uh do different ministries, and we'll preach and sing praises to the Lord, and perhaps somebody who comes in and doesn't know Christ will come to Christ in church, which is wonderful, and of course, that is possible and does happen. But how do we make Jesus known in the community when I go to work or with my family? How do I share the gospel? A lot of people um I've talked to a few people who who are kind of like I don't know exactly how to share the gospel. What if I do it wrong or what if um they ask me a question that I can't answer and I feel embarrassed or something and um you know number one we're not called to have all the answers right we are called to be his witnesses first of all and all a witness does is bear bear witness give testimony right to what they've seen heard and experienced. Um, but we want to equip our church in making Jesus known by doing some specific evangelism classes. Um, and now Josh, who's not here for 10:30, he was here earlier. He had to go. Otherwise, I'd call him out and point him out. Um, but he is going to be heading this up. It's going to be an 8week training. We don't have specific dates and times yet, but I want to put that just out to you. um that we will be doing that as well. Also, um another announcement, I know it's kind of getting long, but [snorts] um back on December 21st, we had our Christmas party and we had some gifts for our kids min from our kids ministries to our children and their families. Uh we had like a we gave out a daily bread for um children that are in the prek. And I want to challenge our parents of prek, if you receive that, um, to take your children through it. I am a firm believer that parents are the primary disciplers of children. I did the math one time at a previous church, and I forget it, but it's like 90. were if you if you came to everything the church offered, which would be Sunday morning, and that the church I was at was Wednesday nights, but if you came to church on Sunday morning, stayed for both services, and you also came to a Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday night Bible study, and then you came to this, and you came to that, you're at church still about 3% of your week. It's about 96 point something% of the time, um, your children, if you have them, or your family, your husband, wife, or whoever, you're home. you're either sleeping, working, or doing your thing. But the church is not the primary discipler of families. Um the families are. And so for our first two sixth graders, you you received, and if you didn't, we have extras, but you received this book. It's called Listen Up. There's another one called Wise Up. Um but we're doing Listen Up. And it is a u there are 10minute family devotions on the parables. And so my family, we're going to pause the study that we've been doing and take our family through this. And I want to issue a challenge from the pulpit to those of you who are parents of first through sixth graders to join me in taking your children through this book. You can ask me if you have questions about that. And then to our preschoolers, please, I challenge you, take your kids through uh the preschool daily bread. I think it'll be a blessing to you. Uh we also shared this on our Facebook page this week and I wanted to share it with you this morning. We in 2025 we baptized 13 people and so I'm very excited for that. We can um praise God for that. Um yeah [clears throat] and I want to uh also ask our church to pray for those whom we baptize. We have pictures of of them on our Facebook page. Um, I would say most are still with us, but some, you know, sometime some are not. Um, and I want to ask us as a church family to pray for those that we've baptized this year. Um, because we want their walk with God to be strong. We want to uh come alongside and disciple them and help them grow. And if for those that are no longer here, that they would find a church to grow in their faith. So, with that, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for your word. Lord, I pray that you would help us uh as Cross Church Phoenix to be about making Jesus known. The great commission, go make a disciples. I pray that we would be about making disciples, not just Christians or converts to Christianity. That is the beginning. But our great command and commission is to make disciples, which is um more than just believing. It is growing in the faith. God, I pray that you would help us to understand Nehemiah 5. God, I pray that your word would speak to your people this morning. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Well, we are back in our series, Build X. Uh we're going through the book of Nehemiah talking about um this building project. Um and this morning, we're in chapter 5. Now, we haven't been in Nehemiah since the end of November. So, I'm going to do a quick bring you up to speed uh thing and then if you've got more questions, you could always read the chapters previously. But the Israelites, big picture, the Israelites had returned from exile to Babylon uh from exile in Babylon and were sent back to Jerusalem and have returned from that exile in Jerusalem for a number of years now. But not every single Jewish person went back to Israel. Some stayed behind and would serve Persia. That is Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a Jewish man, not living in Jerusalem, but as chapter 1 says, he's the cup bearer to the king. So he's a servant in uh King Arduk Xerxes uh kingdom in the kingdom of Persia serving as his cup bearer. The Israelites who did return out of from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem were to go on a mission so to speak. Our mission is making Jesus known. There was rebuild Jerusalem. It was to be brought back to life so to speak. They were to rebuild the temple. That's the book of Ezra. They were also to rebuild the walls and the gates and become a respectable nation once again. And that is our book here Nehemiah. However, they have not. They are slacking. And so, a report comes to Nehemiah in chapter 1. Hey, the Israelite brothers and sisters are in trouble. The walls are still broken down. The gates are burned and the city continues to lie in shambles. Even though they're not under occupation anymore, they have permission from the king to rebuild, they have the green light to rebuild and they're not doing it. So when Nehemiah heard this, he was broken, right? He mourned. He cried out to God over it. You say, "Well, why does Nehemiah care so much? He's hundreds of miles away in Persia and he gets a report in Jerusalem. He could just be like, "Not my problem. I ain't there." But he doesn't. Why Nehemiah cared so much? Because Jerusalem is the place where God chose to have his name dwell. Jerusalem is supposed to be the center, the hub for Godhonoring worship. It is to take off from there. Israel is to be a light to the nations. But right worship of God is supposed to be happening in Jerusalem. And because the city lies in shambles, that's not happening. And so Nehemiah makes this courageous request to the king. He has to be sent back to Jerusalem to help them rebuild the city. And the king says, "Yep, sure. Go. See you later." And he actually gives him a bunch of stuff too along the way. So then Nehemiah now becomes this great leader of this building project organizing and strategizing getting the work done trying to get the wall gates and everything rebuilt. And so we left off in chapter 4 now where Nehemiah dealt with opposition from the outside. So you remember these dudes uh these guys Samotaya and some others are mocking the Jews. They're heckling and insulting them, trying to use scare tactics, trying to discourage them from rebuilding Jerusalem. And it's working somewhat. And so we saw how Nehemiah dealt with that external opposition. Here in chapter 5, Nehemiah will face what I will argue to be something worse than external opposition, and that is internal strife. within God's people. There's external threats from ungodly people. Chapter 4, there's internal strife within God's people. Chapter 5. And so, we'll see in our text today how Nehemiah responds to the injustice and the division and the conflict within the camp. I'm going to read the whole chapter if you'll read along with me. Nehemiah 5:1. There was a widespread outcry from the people and their wives against their Jewish countrymen. Some were saying, "We our sons and our daughters are numerous. Let us get grain so that we can eat and live." Others were saying, "We are mortgaging our fields, vineyards, and homes to get grain during the famine." Still others were saying, "We have borrowed money to pay the king's tax on our fields and vineyards. We and our children are just like our countrymen and their children. Yet, we are subjecting our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters are already enslaved, but we are powerless because our fields and vineyards belong to others. Verse six, I became extremely angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. After seriously considering the matter, I accused the nobles and officials, saying to them, "Each of you is charging his countrymen interest." So I called a large assembly against them and said, "We have done our best to buy back our Jewish countrymen who were sold to foreigners, but now you sell your own countrymen and we have to buy them back." What is he saying? You're doing the exact same thing. pagan unbelieving nations do. They remained silent and could not say a word. Verse nine, then I said, "What you are doing isn't right. Shouldn't you walk in the fear of our God and not invite the reproach of our foreign enemies? Even I as well as my brothers and my servants have been lending them money and grain. Please let us stop charging this interest. return your fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses to them immediately along with the percentage, or some might say the hundth of the money, grain, new wine, and fresh oil that you have been assessing them." They responded, "We will return these things and require nothing more from them. We will do as you say." So I summoned the priests and made everyone take an oath to do this. I also shook the folds of my robe and said, "May God likewise shake from his house and property. Everyone who doesn't keep this promise, may he be shaken out and have nothing." I like Nehemiah's character, you know, like nice pleasantries from our friend. The whole assembly said, "Amen." And they praised the Lord. Then the people did as they had promised. Verse 14. Furthermore, from the day King Art Xerxes appointed me to be their governor uh in the land of Judah, from the 20th year until his 32nd year, 12 years, I and my associates never ate from the food allotted to the governor. The governors who preceded me had heavily burdened the people, taking from them food and wine, as well as a pound of silver. Their subordinates also oppressed the people. But because of the fear of God, I didn't do this. Instead, I devoted myself to the construction of this wall, and all my subordinates were gathered there for the work. We didn't buy any land. There were 150 Jews and officials, as well as guests from the surrounding nations at my table. Each day, one ox, six choice sheep, and some fowl were prepared for me. An abundance of all kinds of wine was provided uh every 10 days, but I didn't demand the food allotted to the governor because the burden on the people was so heavy. Remember me favorably, my God, for all that I have done for this people. Amen. If you have a handout um which are in the back, if you don't, you can grab one if you'd like, but we have the handouts. The main heading you'll see is this, the indispensability of church unity. Now, indispensability is a fancy word that means absolute necessity. So, what I'm trying to say is that church unity is absolutely necessary for a church's health and mission. Because when a church is divided, when God's people turn against each other, bad things happen. So the first thing I want us to see from the text when God's people turn against each other, the mission suffers. The mission suffers. The people come to Nehemiah with four specific complaints that are both reasonable, right? For one, there's a famine. That's not their fault. For one, they're reasonable. And number two, they're actually very similar to what we deal with today. For example, number one, we got a lot of mouths to feed and we got to eat. Number two, cost of living is so high we're taking out loans just to survive. Number three, taxes. Taxes are high. I got to pay them now. I have to uh mortgage and give away stuff just to pay the king's tax. And number four, children are suffering as a result of it. And in that day, it meant literal slavery to others to help pay and live and survive. So all of this combined to create this internal crisis for Nehemiah and the Jewish people. And all it did was distract and take away from the mission to rebuild the city. And so Nehemiah is extremely angry over it because if God's people are divided, the mission suffers. The same thing is true in the church. If our church is divided, it negatively affects our ability to make Jesus known in our community. Satan's primary work in the church is to seow division. It's primary. Division can split a church a lot faster than going around telling everyone Jesus isn't God. Notice a lot of Satan's arguments are not going to be very theological. They're going to be manipulative, deception. But if somebody walked in here and said Jesus isn't God, it's pretty easy to be like, "Yes, he is." And we can prove it with the scriptures. And that's not really going to divide within the people. That would be like an external threat that we could just theologically say no. But internal strife destroys the work of in the mission of the church a lot better than blatant theological arguments. The first problem if you remember in 1 Corinthians we went through 1 and 2 Corinthians in 2025. The first problem Paul wanted to address in the Corinthian church dis in the Corinthian church's dysfunction is their disunityity. In 1 Corinthians 1:10, he says,"I appeal to you brothers by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment." Remember the church at Corenth had these factions, right? uh I follow Paul and I follow Apollos and I follow Peter. There was even a faction that said I follow Jesus, which sounds pious and holy. Wow, he follows me. But really, there was an issue because there were they were dividing Jesus from Paul, Peter, and Apollos. And Paul's point is we're all on the same team. So, you can't like be like, I'm all about Jesus and hate Paul because Paul is Jesus apostle called by the will of God. So, you can't divide those. So, you can sound pious and say, "I only follow Jesus." But that was causing division in the church. Yes, Paul wants everyone to follow Jesus, but not at the expense of unity with other brothers and sisters. There's no lone wolf Christianity. We're not called to that. A unified church is what Jesus prayed for in John 17. Before he is betrayed, nailed to the cross, dies, and resurrects. He prays this with the disciples. I do not ask for these only, the disciples, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. Who's that? That's us. Jesus is praying for us in John 17. You we realize that that they may all be one just as you father are in me and I in you that they also may be in us. So that and that's a purpose statement. So that why does he want the church? Why does Christ want his people to be unified? So that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory verse 22 of John 17. The glory that you have given me. I have given them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me. That they may become perfectly one. So that another purpose so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me. Jesus gives two purposeful statements. Here's why I want the church, my people, to be one. So the world will believe that you have sent me. It's a witness that the father sent the son Jesus Christ into the world when the church is unified in him. Uh so that the world may know that you sent me again that the father sent me and love them even as you love me. Our unity is a testimony the father loves us. And so the impact of the church's internal unity goes out into the world. It shows the world that Christ was sent into the world by the father and the father loves his people when the church is unified and has mutual love for each other. The impact of a church's disunityity is exactly the opposite. The church becomes the laughingtock of the world and our testimony, our witness, right? What we're communicating to the world is division and strife rather than unity and love. And so that leads us to number two. When God's people turn against each other, godly confrontation is necessary. The Bible says, "Be angry and sin not." That means it's possible to be angry and not sin. However, often times our anger leads us into sin. And I like what Nehemiah does with his anger. It says it led him to serious consideration. And that's a decent translation, but I actually like what others say. Other versions say he consulted with himself. I like that the NIV says he pondered it in his mind. He had a conversation with himself. He's angry. He's furious, right, at this whole situation. He sits down. He says, "You know what, self? we need to talk, right? He has a conversation self. He thinks it through. He's praying it through. He's preparing himself before he responds. Then an accusation comes. The accusation. Then he calls out the nobles and the officials. But before an accusation comes, he carefully pers the situation. Only when he is ready does he bring the accusation. And the wisdom here is that he took some time to think and pray it through. He consulted with himself before he brought the accusation. But notice, an accusation still needed to be brought. Sometimes it leads to like, I still got to do something about this. Other times it might be as you're praying through your anger and consulting with yourself, maybe it's like, this ain't a big deal. I shouldn't be worried about it. Other times maybe there does need to be something called out and I pray that we would handle our anger the same way. But the underlying issue is that God's people are mistreating, abusing, and hurting each other. That is the underlying issue. They're charging their own people interest. And here I I prefer King James which says uses the old word usery. And usery is a little stronger almost sounds worse than interest, right? And that's why I like it usery because that's what this is ultimately. It's taking advantage of others. It's using people for selfish gain. And God's people shouldn't be uh doing that at all, right? But especially among themselves. And what would lead Yes. So like what would lead God's people to mistreat, abuse, or even extort fellow brothers and sisters who are also God's people? I'll give you an easy answer. It's ignorance andor you know slash blatant disregard for God's word. That's the issue. Notice what Nehemiah says. What you are doing isn't right. Verse 9. Shouldn't you walk in what? The fear of our God. The reason you don't care about your fellow brothers and sisters is because you don't fear God. How can he say that? Because if they truly feared God and had a desire, a desire to honor his word, they wouldn't be doing this in the first place. Why? Because God prohibited it. Prohibited it in his word, right? Making fun of myself here. God's word strictly forbade this. Exodus 22:25. If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, they're poor. Remember, there's a famine right now in Jerusalem. You shall not be like a money lender to them and you shall not exact interest from him. Leviticus 25:35. If your brother becomes poor and cannot himself uh maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourer and he shall live with you. Get this. Leviticus 25:36. It's amazing how God's word comes together. Okay. Take no interest from him or profit, but fear your God that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor give him your food for profit. We see this whole taking advantage of a brother or sister and exacting this usery, this interest from them tied to the fear of God in Leviticus 25. It's exactly what Nehemiah does. Deuteronomy 23:19, "You shall not charge interest on loans to your brother, interest on money, interest on food, interest on anything that is lent for interest." God kind of just wraps it all up, right? You don't treat your brothers and sisters that way, Israel. Nehemiah says, "Look, you're completely dishonoring God and his commands. No wonder you're so messed up. And who is he talking to? You remember who is the accusation coming against? The nobles and the officials. This is leadership who either a doesn't know God's word. All he's doing is pointing to the law, right? Genesis to Deuteronomy, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy. He's just pointing to scriptures that the Jews should know and have and saying, "Ought you not walk in the fear of God? You who are taking advantage of your brothers and sisters?" No wonder they're so messed up. If you actually fear God, if you actually care for one another, then lend and give to your brother and sister without using them for selfish gain. And it all came down to disobedience to God's word. Whether it's ignorance or a blatant disregard, it's still disobedience to God's word. And that's what Nehemiah called them out for. So he uses himself as an example. If you look at verse 10, he's lending money in grain without interest. They should be too. And this is so serious to Nehemiah that he made them make an oath, right? He calls the priests. Priests, y'all need to come over here and witness this. We're going to make an oath. We're going to shake out the folds of our garment, right? And say that God would shake them out as long as they continue to shake out their brothers and sisters. And to that I say Nehemiah, amen. If I could speak to him, right? If I could tell, Amen. God, vengeance is the Lord's, right? But thankfully for Nehemiah, the people listened, right? They made it right. And though we live in different times, it's it's different. But the church also gets itself into similar predicaments for the same reason, ignorance or disregard for God's word. One of our core values here at Cross Church, right? have the mission making Jesus known, but our value is to be biblical, to take a stand on God's word and let that dictate what we do. And sometimes we need correction. I've needed correction. I've been the recipient of it and I've been thankful for it. Cuz sometimes we might have a preference or an opinion or a belief that needs to be evaluated to see if it's in or out of line with God's word. And sometimes we need to be told we're wrong. I have been and I've looked back and been thankful for that. Sometimes we need to be rebuked or corrected. And it is such a blessing. Let me tell you, it is such a blessing when God when people see the truth in God's word and submit to it. It's not about opinions, though. Notice that it's not about opinions. We don't have to submit to everyone's opinions. If we, you and I, if we can't back a correction or rebuke with whatever you want to call it, if we can't back it up with God's word, then we just chalk that up to opinion and let it be. But if it is sound teaching, good correction from God's word, we would be wise to take heed. Right? All Nehemiah is doing, he's not saying you shouldn't charge any interest um just because, you know, it just doesn't feel right to me. um he's saying, "Ought you not walk in the fear of God?" And while he may not specifically quote an Old Testament passage, the fact that he links those two, the charging of usery with the lack of the fear of God tells me, I believe he is calling them out with their own scriptures. Often times the word of God is ignored. There's no humility, no esteeming others as better than ourselves, no finding ways to edify and bless others, just pride, arrogance, and selfishness. All of which are in opposition to both God and his word. And so, finally, I know I have to move quickly. When God's people turn against each other, leaders must lead by example. And by leaders, I don't just mean the pastor. I mean any spiritually mature person who will stand up for what is right and biblical. We see this in verse 15 where Nehemiah says previous governors took advantage in the of the oppressed and the people of and oppressed the people and so did who their subordinates. But look at verse 16. Not Nehemiah. He says instead I devoted myself to the wall and who all my subordinates. What is he saying? So Nehemiah as a leader he's a governor he's appointed Nehemiah and those he influenced set the example. He's saying I and those I'm in charge of are accountable and holding ourselves to a higher standard to God's word. Why? It wasn't just Nehemiah. It's others around him. And why? He says, "Because of the fear of God." How easily do you think it would have been for Nehemiah to take advantage of the Israelites at this time? I think it would be really easy because previous governors paved the way. They laid a foundation of exploitation. Nehemiah could have just came in and kept all the same policies and kept raking it in, right? Taking advantage of people. But he doesn't. Why? Because of the fear of God. He knew who he was ultimately accountable to. Now let me ask you something. When you or I when we are confronted with the enticement of the sins of this world, can you say I didn't do so because of the fear of God? I don't look at that stuff online or participate in those shady business practices because of the love of Christ. I don't walk in those ways. I don't participate in those sins. I don't use those things or talk that way or act this way because of the fear of God. Our relationship with God should affect how we live. Look at Nehemiah. It affected and dictated what he did and didn't do. Nehemiah is an example of what he does and doesn't do, by the way. But what was it driven by? The fear of God. in obedience to him, it should affect us the same way as well. So our closing thought is this. Gospel community requires godly unity. If we as God's people are fighting each other, then we are not fighting the real enemy, number one. Nor are we going to get any real work done for the Lord, number two. And I wasn't sure if I'd share this or not, but I did in first service, so I will now. even though we're running a little bit late, but there's a really cool cross reference that I want to share with you. I'm fascinated by these things. Um, you may have a note in your Bible, you may not, but a New Testament cross reference for this is Acts 18:6 where Paul does the exact same thing Nehemiah does in verse 13 in shaking out the folds of his robes. If you remember in Acts chapter 18, Paul is preaching Christ to the Jewish people. He's proclaiming Christ as the Messiah to the Jewish people and they're not listening. They don't believe. And so Acts 18:6 says, "And when they opposed him," that they is the Jewish people who are rejecting Christ. When they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads. I am innocent. From now on, I will go to the Gentiles. If you know Paul, he wanted his Jewish brothers and sisters to come to Christ. And it broke his heart that uh that they didn't. But the shaking of the robes was this s served as this warning, right? This warning that um if you're not going to listen and do what is right and godly, um the warning from Paul was like, "Your blood be on your own heads." Like, that's pretty serious. Um, and also Nehemiah's like, I hope God takes everything from you until you stop. Right? And so, we've talked a lot about church unity, but let me tell you something. You can't be united in the church without first being united to Christ. Romans 6:5 says, "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. But you cannot you will not be united in the resurrection of Jesus Christ if you are not in Christ. And the only way to have union with God is through Christ, knowing him as your personal Lord and Savior. And the invitation is wide open, right? It stands open right now. You can come to Christ today, the first Sunday of 2026. Come to know Christ as personal Lord and Savior. And if you don't know him, come talk to me afterwards. I'd love to chat with you about Jesus Christ. That is first and foremost of utmost importance. Um, now [clears throat] we're going to transition into communion. So, if you have not picked up a communion packet in the back, you can get up and grab one if you'd like. Uh, we'll give you a second. And, uh, there's some admonitions that I give anytime we do a Lord's Supper or communion. And if you're joining us online, you can feel free to grab uh some elements as well. We'll give you a second. If you have trusted Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are invited to partake. You don't have to be like a member of Cross Church to participate in the Lord's Supper. Um this is for all believers. So if you know Christ, we invite you to participate. But I do have to say if you're here and you don't [snorts] know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Number one, you can you can come to him today and I'd love to chat with you about that. But number two, we would also invite you to watch and not partake because God's word says that we must do this in a worthy manner and to do it and to drink in eat and drink in an unworthy manner is very dangerous and we take that seriously. I do. So we do this. The way that the scriptures teach this is we do this looking back, looking forward, and then looking in. Paul says we look, we do this in remembrance of Jesus, looking back to what he did on the cross. We do this, we proclaim, when we do this, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So, we're looking forward to Christ's return. But then he says, "Therefore, examine yourselves looking in." So the way that I memorize 1 Corinthians 11 is looking back, looking forward, and looking in. So I want to invite you now, take a minute to examine yourself. Are there sins that need to be confessed to the Lord? Is there anything in your life that you need to turn over to him before we partake? I want to give you a moment to do that now. >> [snorts] >> And if you're praying or or just having some time with the Lord, don't let me interrupt you. But um I want to take a minute to read some scriptures before we pray and partake. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11:23, "For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the broken body of Jesus Christ who went to the cross. Not for our not for his sin. He had none. For our sin, we have plenty. And God, it required it required the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save us because we have sinned against an eternal God. And a temporary payment won't do. It needs to be an eternal payment. So something only God can do. We thank you God for sending Jesus Christ to save his people from their sin as we learned is the point of Christmas. Christ comes to die. Thank you for the broken body of Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen. Let's partake. If you will flip it over and um peel back the juice part, Paul continues to write in 1 Corinthians 11:25, "In the same way he Jesus took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes." Just like our unity as a church tells communicates something to the world that the father sent Christ and that the father loves us. So too our participation in communion. The Lord's table is a proclamation as well. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross for sins. Lord, your word says without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. Lord, you could not just write us a certificate of forgiveness and hand it to us on a piece of paper, but say, "I'm not sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross for for your sins." It required it. The shed blood of Christ was the only possible way in the universe to save us from sin. And we thank you, God. We thank you for that. I pray I pray now that you would rid us of any lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, or pride of life. Those things are not from the father but of the world. But fill us with your spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the things that are of the spirit. We thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, saving us from sin. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Let's partake. At this time, I'm going to invite the worship team back up to lead us in our last song. And I'm going to close us in a word of prayer collectively. Uh, Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for just who you are, God. You are a righteous, holy, and just God. I pray Lord even now that you would that you your Holy Spirit would convict people that you would also encourage people Lord whatever we need in this moment if we need to be convicted of our sin and our need for salvation freedom from that sin I pray that you would do that I pray Lord if we need encouragement to just stay the course whether we're hurting sorrowful experiencing pain and distress and depression and and and hurting, God, that you would encourage us, empower us to just stay the course, to remain [music] faithful, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. In whose name we pray, amen. Let's uh stand as we sing our last song.